Tavelli PTO meeting

February 6, 2007

 

The PTO meeting was called to order at 7:08 p.m. Paula Metcalf, President of the Tavelli Parent Teacher Organization.  A sign-in sheet was passed around.

 

I. Approval of Minutes:  Kristen Draper approved.  Amy Schumer seconded.

 

II. Treasurer’s Report:  Given by Crystal Long, Treasurer of the Tavelli PTO.

Sally Foster and Gold C raised $4000 more than predicted.  Directory not paid for yet which is $750.  David sent a bill that was a sizeable difference in cost which was quoted $750.00 due the cost increase. Ellen and Paula are working on the price and will see what will happen with cost that was quoted. Cost is more than last year since directory is larger.  Dr. Lawler said that is a sizable difference and should be looked at.  The book fair did well.  The Read-a-thon we are waiting on, but will hopefully do well.  Albertsons we have $3725 in the account.  T-shirts were paid for with a cost of $3200.  Three deposits:  $750 in July, $782 in August, and $643 in January.  PTO approved Vicki’s Title 1 request of $308.40 for the Kindergarten books with conditions that stickers will be placed in the books to let parents know who donated the money and that this is one-time payment assistance, as they should apply for grants for this money. (Crystal handed out letters of Vicki’s request and the PTO’s response).  Multi-culture is not being held this year due to new staff. We budgeted for that, and used the money for the book request.

 

III. Committee Update:

Read-a-thon:  Kristen reported that the Read-a-thon is “so far so good”, “excited to come in”, and “books going out”.  The Read-a-thon is going to be all day on March 2nd.  They are making rules for voting.  Winner will be going to donation form.  There will be a note in this Thursday’s notes.  Next week Kristen and Lynn will be in each classroom to talk to the kids and explain what this is about.  They are sending a check sheet home with the children, and a donation form with name, pledge, and amount paid, as well as which poem was voted for.  Parents will have two opportunities to see it..  Barnes & Noble donated stickers and gift cards ($80, “nice!”).  Stickers are Biscuit, Dinosaurs, and Reading ones.  They ordered “Cat in the Hat” stickers and bookmarks ($50) and a banner to put in the lobby to replace the Box top banner.  Will leave the Dr. Seuss banner for the month.  The display case is set up with the Dr. Seuss books.  The students can pick their favorite book and display it on the wall.  Friday they will pick the winning poem.  Also on the bulletin board is pick your favorite book.  The donation form will be going home in the Thursday notes on February 15th on colored paper to stand out.  If we get 250 donation forms back we will have Dr. Lawler and Bev dress up as Thing 1 and Thing 2, and Rob Deakin will dress up as the Cat in the Hat.  The schedule is on the web site.  They want to encourage the kids to bring in anything they want – books, magazines, stuffed animals, pillows (however, no pajamas)  - concerning Dr. Seuss.  They want to encourage the teachers to talk this up – how much PTO gives back to the students and helps the school.  Rob will talk of rules of voting – they don’t want the kids to vote more than once.   See www.seussville.com  which donates books to underprivileged children every time you go on the site.  You can also learn about Project 237.  Dr. Lawler said “sounds great”, “good job this year”, and “the display case looks great”.  Dr. Lawler will read over the intercom again this year.  He said “The kids did a great job”. 

 

Barnes & Noble fundraiser:  Kristen talked about organizing a fundraiser with Barnes & Noble.  If you go to B&N on this day, then a percent of the purchase would go to Tavelli.  It was tentatively scheduled for April 13-15 to coincide with “Biscuit” being there at 10 a.m. on Saturday.  It also could be rescheduled to have a specific time for Tavelli in which Biscuit could be there.  The timing seemed good as the 13th is also a no school day and could give parents more time to go to the bookstore.  It total purchased price is under $2000, then 10% would be donated back to the school, and if over $2000 then 15 to 20% would be donated back.  “Great” said Crystal and Paula.  This also could be done in December, before Christmas.  Also students could even do the book wrapping for even more profit.

 

Book Fair:  April 16-20.  Paula is trying to coordinate the pancake supper with the Book fair to get the parents into the Book fair. Paula asked about doing another fundraiser like a silent auction at the breakfast, as we don’t know about how much money the Walk-a-thon will create next year and we possibly need a cushion.  Also that Gold C is going to be sold out of the office next year and could only raise $500-700.  Dr. Lawler said to not increase the number of fundraisers, as he thinks the Walk-a-thon will do really well.  Thus, it was decided to not have a silent auction.

 

Mexican Restaurant:  Paula said that the Café Mexicali Restaurant offered a “Family Night Out” for one set day.  They would give out a coupon and then the restaurant would give a kick back to the school.  She passed around a sheet with this information.

 

IV. Special Guest

A.  3rd and 4th Grade Teachers

1) 3rd Grade  Julie Bolton said “Thank you to PTO for the “Little Shop of Physics” and gave a card to the PTO that the children had made.  Rhonda Hitchcock used the money for “Everyday Math”, and Rachel Nelson said that they used the money for “Stand-Out Math”.  Both explained what these programs were.  The money from PTO went for the books that go with these special math series.

2) 4th Grade Janise Coughlin said, “Thanks for the financial support”.  They have a poetry event on pirates, which the parents are invited to showcase the poems and limericks to the parents, and the money is used for the flowers and food.  Money also went to buy the book “Treasure Island” “This book is expensive, so thanks!” during their pirate series in which the children also do drawings and stories.  Mary Moore said that the money went to children to go to the Colorado History Museum by bus.  She said that this is a great opportunity for the children.  Money was also used for the President’s event on one evening where they also showcase the work to the parents that the children have done.  The day of the program can be 100-200 people and “without PTO this would not be done”.

 

B.  Dr. Lawler

1)  Grade Configuration.  K-12th grades.  Four different configurations are being considered.  Like possibly 6th grade moved to Junior High.  Community forums are out there.  This information is on the web page and will be in the Thursday notes, and on Channel 10 program TV.  This is a big issue for the district, which will affect the kids and community.

2)  People Based Budgeting.  Money based on per pupil instead of present system.  It looks like that will move forward.  This will create equity across the system.  Dr. Lawler will work with our leadership team.  Old system created disparity, inequity in how funds were distributed as was based on a projection ex. 600 students.  New system would create more equity, more transparency and could affect Tavelli by giving approximately 4-5% new dollars.

 

Next months guests are the Kindergarten and ESL teachers.

8:24 Meeting Adjourned

PTO Meeting notes

Jill Williams PTO Secretary