Attendees: Diana Spurgin, Margot O’Connor, Baer Tierkel, Molly Whalen, Ann Marshall, Jane Gamache, Sarah Auerbach, and Mary Kiely. Minutes will be given to attendees and to all other members of the PTO Steering Committee. These notes will also be made available to the Wildwood public via a Wildwood Wire link.
Agreed-upon jobs are in boldface.
I. Review of Minutes from Last Meeting
Thanks again to Kristen Ford for doing such a nice job on the minutes of our January meeting. No one in attendance had additions or corrections to those minutes, so they were approved as written.
II. Budget Items
Treasurer Margot O’Connor reported that the PTO budget is in good shape at this point. All fundraisers for this year have come in at or over target. Since we have an adequate reserve fund in place for unanticipated expenses, a motion was made and seconded to have the PTO allocate up to $1,000 for the purchase of new soccer nets, frames, and anchors for the playground. The motion passed unanimously. Margot O’Connor will coordinate this purchase.
Margot also reported that in the future, the PTO will allocate up to but not more than $4,700 per year in support of Fine Arts programming at Wildwood. That amount will be sufficient to cover the cost of an artist-in-residence and also pay for 2/5 of the costs associated with having all Wildwood students attend 4 Fine Arts performances per year. We expect the $4,700 to be raised from the Arts Brown Envelope program plus School Photos.
III. Teacher/Staff Grants Program
Everyone agreed that the Teacher/Staff Grants Program, which currently awards $600 in grants once a year, is very much in need of a substantially-increased pot of money for distribution. Given the current budget climate, teachers and staff members often have very few available sources of funding for worthwhile projects, and the feeling was that it would be appropriate for the PTO to try to meet some of these needs if possible.
The suggestion was made that perhaps monies raised through Scrips or through something like the Electronics Recycling could be dedicated to this program. Diana will speak to Bill Miller, who is organizing Electronics Recycling, to see if he would be in favor of earmarking some or all of the funds raised through that program for Teacher/Staff grants.
The suggestion was also made that Teacher/Staff grants should be awarded twice during the year rather than once. This would make it possible for teachers and staff members who find themselves with a great idea or need mid-year to also take advantage of this funding source.
IV. Scrips
Diana reported that Wildwood has 91 families signed up as participants in Stop & Shop’s “A+” program, which awards funding in varying amounts to schools. The formula that Stop & Shop uses to determine funding levels is not entirely clear, but as it is free money, it makes sense for the Wildwood PTO to encourage as many families as possible to enroll. Thanks to Diana, who has advertised this program widely in recent months in an effort to increase participation.
Since the program only operates from Sept.-April, however, it will be necessary to re-enroll everyone next fall. The suggestion was made that perhaps we could send enrollment information home to parents very early next year, perhaps along with directory information forms and the rest of the “first week” packet. A definite decision on this will need to be made during the summer.
V. PTO Newsletter
Diana, who meets weekly with Mark Prince to discuss PTO-related business, said that recently they had been exploring the possibility of having a PTO newsletter, complete with photos, go out on a regular basis. Baer said he thought this was a good idea, since not everyone has or reads email and people often need or like to get their information in a variety of formats. Baer also cautioned, however, that it would be very important to make sure there was coordination of information between the newsletter and the Wire, so as to avoid a situation in which people were not sure which information was correct. Everyone agreed that Baer’s concern was very valid, and that care would have to be taken to address it.
VI. Wildwood Spring Sock Hop/Family Dance
Jane Gamache, who has volunteered to coordinate a family dance event in the spring, reported on her planning to date. The event is intended to be a community building event rather than a fundraiser. Jane hopes to hold the event in the Middle School cafeteria on one of two Friday evenings: April 27 or May 4. The choice between the two dates will depend not only on the availability of the site, but also on what else Naomi Elliott and her team might have planned for TV Turnoff Week, which this year runs from April 22-27.
In order to settle on a definite date, Jane will talk to Naomi first to see whether she has anything else planned for April 27. If Naomi does not, and would like to have the dance included as part of the TV Turnoff offerings, then Jane will call the Middle School (Facilities Planning) people to try to book the cafeteria for that night. If Naomi has something else planned, or if TV Turnoff Week is looking too full already, then Jane will try to book the Middle School for May 4. In either case Jane will report back to Diana with the definite date for the event.
The group felt that
Finally, Jane suggested that it might be fun to hold a “50/50” cash raffle at the event (one in which people buy tickets, a winning ticket is drawn, and the profits from the ticket sales then get divided 50/50 between the winning ticket holder and the event sponsor, in this case the PTO). Everyone thought it was a good idea. Jane will look into getting some raffle tickets, perhaps at
VII. Upcoming Parent Ed Forum
Our next Parent/Guardian Education Forum is scheduled for Monday, March 5 from
In preparation for that event, Diana will contact Millie Zweir to verify that a flyer is being produced to advertise the event, and to verify that Jennifer Keller Jackson will be able to coordinate refreshments. Mary Kiely will book babysitters for the event and get them set up at the beginning of the evening. Sarah Auerbach will take over later.
VIII. Family Reading Night
Diana reported that a Family Reading Night will take place sometime during TV Turnoff Week, possibly on the Monday (April 22). The current plan for that event is to have readers grouped by age to pass successively through a series of three stations: one in which “celebrity readers” read aloud, one in which they have a snacks, and one in which they do a craft (probably making bookmarks of various types). Diana will talk to Jane Thurber to see whether she might be interested in coordinating the crafts part of the evening.
IX. Teacher Appreciation Breakfast
The event is scheduled for March 7 this year. Sarah Auerbach, who is coordinating the breakfast with Ann Marshall, said that an initial flyer will go out this week, notifying parents and guardians of the event and requesting help with set-up, clean-up, and donations of food and paper goods. Baer will also advertise the event in the Wire, and a final reminder flyer will go home in backpacks the week before the breakfast.
X. Open House Babysitting
Sarah reported that the subcommittee that was formed to look at the issue of whether the PTO should provide childcare for Open House had met several times and had collected feedback from parents and guardians on this issue. The subcommittee will be meeting again on Feb. 27 at
XI. Next Year
In recent months concern has once again been expressed about the small number of parents and guardians who attend PTO Steering Committee meetings. The question was raised as to whether formalizing the structure of our PTO with by-laws, etc. might help to increase participation levels.
In today’s discussion of the issue, the point was made that while having a set of by-laws would probably not change PTO participation levels, they might be very helpful with decision-making, and that it would make sense to put some by-laws in place for that purpose alone.
The consensus about participation levels was that having more PTO-sponsored community-building activities would probably be the best thing we could do to get new parents involved. The feeling was that while it would be nice to have more people attend our monthly Steering Committee meetings, it was not absolutely essential, and that the PTO could continue to operate with a small monthly planning group if necessary. The point was made that as long as the PTO continued to fundraise successfully and to sponsor events open to the whole community (such as our Parent/Guardian Ed Forums and schoolwide picnics), then we were probably fulfilling our basic mission.
One question that was raised was that of links between the PTO and teachers. Many parents have expressed the desire for more involvement by teachers with the PTO – e.g., by attending some of our meetings and events. Diana will discuss this with Mark, but one suggestion that was made was that if it is not practical for teachers to attend PTO meetings, then perhaps the PTO coordinator could “bring the PTO to teachers” by attending the monthly staff meetings at Wildwood.
XII. Upcoming Events
-March 5: Parent/Guardian Education Forum.
-March 22: PTO Steering Committee Meeting.
-March 25: Wildwood Day of Chess
That’s it for now. Thanks to everyone for all your wonderful efforts on behalf of our school community.
-Minutes submitted by Mary Kiely, PTO Secretary
