The West Newbury PTO Meeting October 20, 2014 6:45 Social 7:09 Welcome and Opening Statements Erin Antonopoulos welcomed everyone to tonight s meeting. Introductions were made. People Present Erin Antonopoulos Beth Smith Joy Tewksbury Pabst Kelly Woodsum Kellie DiFilippo Jody Feudo Marie Felzani Calli Towne Krista Niles Mr. Gray Jeanne Kelleher Jennifer Pilz Sara Rigoli Jane Ciccone Michele Beegan Alyson Tedeschi Cheryl Fuccillo Julie Givens Suki Wellen Jamie Sullivan Tamea Bacon Lindsay Goff Melanie Cosgrove Karen Dennen
7:08 Acknowledgements and Thank You s Thank you to All Volunteers that donated time to the PTO and Page School over the last months. Thank you to all event chairs and program coordinators that have completed their terms. Cali Towne and team were thanked. Jody Feudo was thanked for all her efforts and contributions as a member of the Executive Board. Mrs. Niles class presented the PTO with a thank you note for the playground paint. 7:11 Approve September s Minutes and May and September s Treasurer s Report Jody Feudo made a motion to approve the Sep 2014 Minutes s Report. Marie Felzani seconded the motion. All were in favor. Marie Felzani made a motion to approve the May 2014 Treasurer s Report. Jody Feudo seconded the motion. All were in favor. Jeanne Kelleher made a motion to approve the September 2014 Treasurer s Report. Marie Felzani seconded the motion. All were in favor. 7:20 Business Updates Ski Program Melanie Cosgrove spoke to this. The ski program has been approved for Fridays. Signups are Nov 6 th from 6 8pm in cafeteria for any students grade 4 6. Prices and forms are in from Bradford. Melanie s goal is for 100 kids to enroll in the program. This year 2 of the 6 Fridays are early released days. Melanie highly recommends that the armbands be purchased with some of the funds generated. She stressed that the armbands are color coded by school and are for the safety and ease in identifying the children. (bands are bright colored and passes contain the ski passes inside). o Melanie would like to have someone shadow her this year, as this is her last year with the program. One or two people can run the program. Some of the duties include: Organizing and running a sign up night Setting up the bus with Salter Working closely with Bradford to set up program Printing the paper work for enrollment and waivers Organizing payments and getting them PTO treasurer Supervising the other volunteers and children on their ski trips Road Race Calli Towne spoke to this great event. The race was a wonderful success. Callie thanked Erin Antonopolous, Beth Smith and Joy Tewksbury Pabst. She presented them with a personal gift for their support. Calli discussed that the future growth of the profitability of the race be from sponsorships. This dovetails in the PTO s strategy to streamline fundraising for the organization at large. o Open positions for next year are
Kids Carnival Coordinator Food Coordinator Race Director ASAP Cheryl Fuccillo spoke to this. 91 students have signed up for this session. Cheryl will stay on as ASAP coordinator but proposed not having a 2014 winter session. This time would allow Cheryl to assess some current practices of the program: o Streamlining data o Forms being more accessible and uniform o Rates being set in collaboration with the PTO and not solely from the teachers o Limits per class being kept BOKS Build our Kids Success Jane Ciccone spoke to this wonderful program. We received the grant, but due to the strict timeline of the grant we would not be able to accept it. Jane proposed charging $40 per student for and eight week program that would begin in the spring of 2015. The cost would be used for the equipment. The program is offered for 2 days, Tuesday and Thursday from 7:30am to 8:15am. All students grade K through 6 could participate; attendance would be capped at 40 with 2 instructors. Jane and Mr. Gray discussed including a healthy breakfast prior to the start of school. This may be at an additional fee. Jane would need additional support. She is also planning on researching what support is needed so this program could be accessible to all students. Book Fair Jennifer Pilz has booked the Scholastic Book Fair for Dec 1st Dec 5th. The evening hours will be on the 4 th coinciding with the parent teacher conferences. The book fair will be titled Scholastic Sir Read A Lot Book Fair. Jenn will work with Pam Atwood on the schedule. Craft Fair Marie Felzani spoke to this. The event is scheduled for November 1 st. There will be two raffle baskets from crafters. Marie has set up two signups on Sign Up Genius for bake table and help for the fair (raffle table, the bake table, guessing jars, kids craft corner, clean up crew after hours). This year children can make a craft for a small fee. Marie also expressed the need for a fundraising group that could support all PTO events. Cultural Arts Jeanne Kelleher spoke to this. Upcoming events include Scott Santino (3 rd grade), Scott Santino soils (2 nd grade), Plymouth Plantations (3 rd grade), Geography game show (grades K 4) and a whole school event of Zach Fields steel drum. Destination Imagination Kelly Woodsum spoke to this. DI is open to all students K through college, Grades K, 1, and 2 are grouped into Rising Starts. Grades 3, 4 and 5 compete against each other. 6 th grade goes against middle school students. March 14th is the final contest. The parents cannot offer any advice as the students independently determine how to execute a challenge. Currently there are 2 teams (fifth and sixth grade). Both Kelly Woodsum (grade 3 parent) and Courtney Lucey (grade 2 parent) are looking to see if there is interest in their respective grades.
Dining Out Fundraiser Beth Smith spoke to this. Tonight was the first event at West Newbury House of Pizza. Jamie Sullivan has also been working on this. Beth asked for people to pass on the information about these fundraisers when they occur. Fundraising Committee Erin spoke to this. The PTO would like to approach fundraising as a whole organization rather then segmented efforts. This would allow fundraising to be more effective. Currently there are some other passive fundraisers that can be accessed through the PTO website. o Target Red Card o Mabel s Labels 20% of sales to benefit PTO o Tricia Mansfield ornaments $6.30 from each ornament purchased through the ebay Giving Works Program will benefit the PTO o Scrip gift cards benefits varied based on the store o Amazon Smile 0.5% of sales will benefit the PTO o Box Tops for Education o Page Spirit Wear Holiday Helper Julie Givens spoke to this program. We have sponsored 25 children in the past. Julie would like to reduce the number to 20. In the past we have been unable to complete all the desired items. She recommends doing a few less and completing them. She also would like to allow people to donate funds to the Holiday Helper program in order to complete any items that the West Newbury PTO has committed to sponsoring but has not received. Any excess funds will be donated directly to the Santa's Helper program in Salisbury, MA. 8:12 New Business Steering Committee Vote October Appropriationso 25 Snowshoes Wilson $1,250 o LCD Mounting Hardware & Screen Wood $400 o Elmo Document Camera repair Tierney $30 o Elmo Document Camera repair Boisvert $30 o Five mini steel drums Manning $545 o Justand and ipad Wood $700 o Chromebook Cart Gray $7,500 o 12 Laptop Batteries Gray $1,200 Social Committee Chairperson there is an expressed interest for more events that are adult, family and student social events. The Chairperson would lead a committee to plan these events. ASAP Coordinator Shadow for this Fall/Spring to takeover in Fall 2015 Next Meeting at Michaels Harborside 6:30pm November 17th 8:42 Adjournment Kelly Woodsum made a motion to adjourn, Alyson Tedeschi seconded. All
were in favor.