Tavelli PTO
Meeting Minutes
November 9, 2004
Kristen Draper called the meeting to order at 7:00
p.m.
Kristen gave a welcome and introduction as the new
PTO President. The other officers and
people in attendance also introduced themselves and gave some information about
their involvement at Tavelli.
Kristen pointed out the lanyard and identification
badges that the Board was wearing and that they are available for use by the
volunteers thanks to all of the hard work by Roxanne Powers and Karen Yunker.
Kristen next reported a note written in Spanish will
be placed at the top of the Thursday Notes stating anyone needing Spanish
interpretation contact Tavelli’s Spanish interpreter and give the interpreter’s
contact information.
Bev. Bachman/Dr. Lawler Report:
Dr.
Lawler reported on the following three items:
(1)
New Security Measures. Dr. Lawler
has gotten lots of positive feedback from teachers, staff, and parents on the
new security measures in place, being installed, or to be installed. These measures include the following:
(a) Identification badges worn on lanyards are now in place and
being used by the volunteers in place of the Volunteer sticker and
badge. Through their use, it has been
easy to spot volunteers and visitors not wearing them, which has enabled
teachers and staff to easily identify which volunteers are not registered with
the School District, and to inquire as to the visitor’s purpose for being in
the School. Rob Deakin has a computer available for registration purposes.
(b)
Building
security has been increased by locking many of the doors that remained unlocked
in the past. The District requires that
certain doors remain unlocked during school hours. One door in a hallway leading to the playground remains unlocked
during school hours, which allows students access to the bathroom while on the
playground. Tavelli has been chosen to
be one of the first schools in the District to have an electronic security
system which will consist of electronic badges to unlock doors, timers on the
doors, and a button for the use of Title I teachers needing to gain access to
the School. This electronic system is slated to be installed early next
year.
(c)
A
fence is currently being installed on the west side of the building where the
picnic tables are. This will increase
security along the west side of the School.
Gates have also been installed on the existing fence.
(2)
The
School has received a Read to Achieve Grant of approximately $40,000 per year
for the next three years, $120,000 total.
In order to receive the Grant for all three years, the School will need
to show a continued increase in the levels of achievement. Dr. Lawler hopes that this money can be used
primarily in the second and third grades.
(3)
The
School has also received a $16,000 Bohemian Foundation Grant, which will be
used primarily for one-on-one tutoring twice a week.
Bev
Bachman reported on the following three items:
(1) CSU has used our School for a research project called, “Just for
Kids” which is a national organization.
The committee looks for Schools with higher achievement than others with
the same demographics. Their study
identifies the characteristics that make our School successful in order to help
other schools with the same demographics achieve similar success. The committee interviewed parents, teachers,
staff members, and Dr. Lawler as part of the project. Our School will be featured on the national Just for Kids
website featuring some of the programs that make our School successful such as
the Read to Achieve, Dream Team, and parent support. There will be a link to our School’s website. This is expected to take place at the end of
this calendar year or early 2005.
(2) Discovery Science Center has not been as successful in
getting the minimum required number of kids to sign up for its after school
classes. It will try again after the
holidays, early next year to see if there is a better response.
(3) The planning for the Mexico Multicultural Event has begun. The festival will take place on May 5th,
which is the week of Cinco de Mayo.
There will be dancers, bands, food, and an opera, which will be
presented by Opera Colorado. The opera
will perform its version of “Caps for Sale.”
The first committee meeting will be on Monday, November 15th
at 3:45 in the art room. Anyone wishing to help out with this event is invited
to attend the first meeting. A
bilingual letter will be sent to Tavelli’s Hispanic families requesting their
input and assistance with this event.
Approval of Minutes:
A motion was made by Jane Spomer that the
meeting minutes from October 5, 2004 be approved. Roxanne Powers seconded the motion.
Treasurer’s Report:
Kristen
Draper reported in Dawn Dorsch’s absence.
An Income and Expenditures Report was available. There was a discussion on the field trips
portion of the Report. Each teacher is
given $125. However, one kindergarten
teacher has two classes, but was only given $125. A motion was made by Connie Dohn to give the teacher a
total of $250, $125 for each class.
Kris Clagett seconded the motion.
The Report will be revised to reflect this clarification.
Committee
Reports:
Cornstalk: Stephanie
Beckley handed out a summary of the Cornstalk Carnival. She pointed out that there were 67 adult
volunteers and 54 college, high school, and junior high volunteers. Around 543 students and children attended
the Carnival. The Carnival showed a
profit of $935.06 this year. Stephanie
thanked the volunteers for their help with the Carnival. She received positive feedback from
volunteers and the Tavelli families.
Anyone wishing to take over this event next year should contact
Stephanie.
Innsbruck: Stephanie Barber-Haile
reported in Ellen Holmes’ absence.
There are orders at the School that still need to be picked up. There are some orders in which no money was
collected by the students. These items
will be available to teachers and staff at cost. These items consist of wrapping paper and candy. One student collected the money for the
orders, but has since moved away. Ellen
will contact the people and deliver the orders on the student’s behalf. A reminder will go into the Thursday Notes
requesting that the orders be picked up by Friday, or they will be sent home
with the kids. Anyone who did not
receive his or her order form back with his or her order should contact
Ellen.
Directory: Kris Clagett reported that
the Directory has been well received by students and staff. It made a total of $1,550 in sponsorships
for the PTO. The form sent home at the
beginning of the school year did not include a request for the parents’
names. This information will be
included in next year’s form to be included in next year’s Directory. Kris requested that the parents thank Dave
Baran when they see him for printing the Directory at his cost this year.
Book Fair: Kristen Draper reported that the Book Fair has been
scheduled for November 16th – 19th. The
teachers and students will preview the Book Fair on Tuesday the 16th. They can fill out book requests. The students’ book requests will be sent
home with them. The teachers’ book
requests will be available at the book fair for purchase by the parents. The Book Fair schedule is as follows:
Tuesday (Family Night) 6:00
p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday 8:00
a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Thursday 8:00
a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Friday 8:00 a.m. - 4:00
p.m.
The committee will be doing the Project Christmas
Mouse again this year. Kristen
explained that donations are given by the parents and staff, which allow
students who are not able to purchase books at the fair the opportunity to do
so at no cost.
Kathy Toomey is a business owner that donates to
Project Christmas Mouse. She requested
that suggested donation amounts be included in the requests. She suggested that dollar amounts be given
as guides to show what their sponsorship supports, i.e., $___ supports the
purchase of a book by _____ children; $___ supports the purchase of a book by a
class; and $___ supports the purchase of a book by the school. If a business owner who usually donates $100
saw that with a $125 donation they could sponsor a class, then they might
choose that option, instead. Kristen
will pass this information along to the committee for consideration at next
year’s Book Fair.
Gold C: Jane Spomer will close the sale of Gold C books on
Friday, November 4th. The total amount
sold to date is $730. PTO will make a
total of $4.50 profit on every $10 book sold.
VIPS: Roxanne Powers reported that she and Karen Yunker
are working to have all volunteers registered online by the end of the
November. Roxanne pointed out that all
registered volunteers have a nametag in the box. Anyone having trouble registering online should contact Roxanne
or Karen. Those who have students at
both Tavelli and in junior high should double-check that they are still
registered to volunteer at Tavelli.
Sometimes, the database automatically moves their volunteer information
to junior high. Anyone who is not
registered online by the end of November will receive a reminder call from Dr.
Lawler. After that time, Roxanne and
Karen will continue checking for new volunteers. In the future, volunteer forms will be available at new student
and kindergarten orientations. Roxanne
pointed out that junior high and teacher volunteers are also required to
register online.
Odyssey of the Mind: Odyssey of the Mind only has one team this year,
which is the sixth grade team being coached by Jane Spomer. Cindy Vanderheiden expressed an interest in
putting together a fourth grade team and asked that anyone whose child is
interested contact her.
Boundary Committee: Dr. Lawler reported that with all of the new
construction taking place and slated to take place in this area, public
preliminary boundary issues meetings have been scheduled for this Friday and
next Friday from 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
He expressed his desire that a parent volunteer representing Tavelli
attend the meetings and report the findings at next month’s meeting. Kris Clagett volunteered.
Proposal for Spring
Fundraiser: Kristen Draper presented a proposal for a
Read-A-Thon as the spring fundraiser.
It would coincide with Read Across America Day, which is on March 2nd. This is also Dr. Seuss Day. Kristen proposed heading the committee. Jane Spomer and Cindy Vanderheiden expressed
interest in helping on the committee. A
suggestion was made that the committee use the VIPS volunteer list for parents
available to read to students and classes.
The committee will report the results of their findings and research at
the December meeting.
Beth
McCarthy and the sixth grade teachers were special guests.
Beth McCarthy discussed the play put on by the 6th
graders this evening and what fun they had with the performance. She will begin working with the classes on
this year’s Christmas program, starting with this Thursday’s music groups. Kris Clagett discussed the desire to
purchase a videotape of the Christmas performance so that the parents could
avoid the need to videotape the performance since Rob Deakin videotapes it,
anyway. Mrs. McCarthy pointed out that
the music and materials she uses are licensed, which makes it illegal to sell
videotapes of the performance. Kris
asked if Mrs. McCarthy and Mr. Deakin would consider having copies of the
performance for sale at cost – with no profit, which would not violate the
license law. Mrs. McCarthy will discuss
this with Mr. Deakin, but pointed out that they have videotapes of every year’s
performance available for checkout by parents and staff, and that the parents
and staff are welcome to make copies themselves of the performance.
Will
Evans discussed Eco Ed week. It was
very successful and a fun event. Every
student was able to attend due to scholarships and fundraisers. Mr. Evans also reported that the teachers
have started out the year on a strong academic note and that they are really
digging into lots of writing. They have
just finished science and are moving to social studies where they will be
focusing on Canada. They are using the
Open Court literacy program and also focusing on higher level reading and
spelling. The students are doing
research to prepare Power Point presentations with Rob Deakin’s guidance. The teachers are putting higher achieving
students together to work on projects that run from two to three weeks,
each. This allows students will similar
academic levels to work together. This
has been successful and the teachers hope to continue this type of learning
throughout the year.
Hayden
Camp next reported that all three teachers are following the same topics and
are on the same schedule. They are
working on models and designs in science.
They will be creating a bridge from toothpicks and will have a building
contest. They will also be doing an egg
drop project. They offer a study period
on Tuesdays and Thursdays for students needing extra help. More than half of the students scored
advanced in math for the first time.
Where there is usually a bell curve, there has been a steady upward
climb, instead. The teachers have been
pleased with their students’ hard work.
They have also felt that there have been a high number of advanced
students this year.
Budget
Requests:
There
were no budget requests.
The
meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
This
was the second PTO meeting for this school year.
Respectfully
submitted,
Stephanie
Barber-Haile
Board
Secretary