Attendees: Mark Prince, Margot O’Connor, Ann Marshall, Tina Graber, Kristen Ford, Jane Thurber, Sarah Auerbach, Molly Whalen, Donna McCallum, Susan Wennemyr, Vivian Liu, Deb Krumholz, Anna Butler, and Mary Kiely. Minutes will be distributed to all 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. PTO Leaders for Next Year
As of right now, the PTO leadership team for the 2007-2008 school year is as listed below. Welcome to our new volunteers, and thanks to the stalwarts who have either agreed to continue in an existing role or stepped up to fill an identified need.
-PTO Co-Chairs: Ann Marshall and Tina Graber
-Treasurer: Margot O’Connor
-Secretary: Anna Butler
-Coordinator of Class Parents: Jane Thurber
-Coordinator of Volunteers: Kristen Ford
-School Directory: Bill Miller
-Parent/Guardian Education Series: Jennifer Keller Jackson
-Hospitality: Millie Zweir
-Childcare: Sarah Auerbach
-Facilities Booking: Mary Kiely
-Teacher/Staff Grants: Donna McCallum
-Summer Reading Program: Liz Rosenberry
-Arts Brown Envelope: Margot O’Connor
-School Photos: Anne Duffy
-Coffee Sales: Donna McCallum in the absence of Molly Whalen
-Book Fair: Kristen Ford, Vivian Liu, and Tiffany Ross-Mitchell
-Gift Wrap: Kate MacGregor and Lisa Sussman
-T-shirts: Susan Waite and Joy Howard
-First Day Coffee (grades 1-6): Jennifer Keller Jackson
-Kindergarten First Day Coffee: Kristen Ford and Tina Graber
-Book Swap: Joyce Thatcher
-Bus Driver Appreciation Breakfast: Tina Graber and Vivian Liu
-End of Year Picnic: Claire Hamilton
(My apologies in advance if I’ve forgotten anyone!)
Many important positions are still in need of volunteers. If you can help out with any of the following roles, or know someone else who might be interested, please contact either Ann Marshall (annwmarshall@comcast.net) or Kristen Ford (krisdave23@comcast.net). Many thanks!
-Scrips Coordinator
-Wildwood Wire Editor
-Production Person for Fliers
-Photocopying/Distribution Person for Fliers
-Organizer for Teacher Appreciation Luncheon
-Box Tops Coordinator
-Liaison to the
-Point Person for Print Cartridges Recycling
Kristen will also staff a “PTO Volunteer Table” at the orientation for new Wildwood families in August (Mark said it will be held sometime after August 20 – the final date has still not been set). This is a good place to enlist interested volunteers as they join the Wildwood community.
II. Fundraising and Budget Update
Margot reported that our PTO fundraising total for the year will be approximately $19,500, an increase of over $3,500 from last year. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed to this stellar performance on behalf of our kids! Two fundraising “newcomers” accounted for a big chunk of that increase -- coffee sales brought in about $1400, and electronics recycling almost $1200. Kudos to Molly Whalen and to Bill Miller, respectively, for their terrific success with those fundraisers.
Margot reported that our earnings from Scrips-type programs were approximately $2300 for this year, up from $600 last year (well done, Diana Spurgin!). The breakdown was roughly as follows: $1200 from the Stop & Shop Bonus Bucks program, $400 from Atkins cards, almost $280 from the Target Red Card program, and the balance from gift cards for Stop & Shop and Big Y. Our success with Scrips this year underscores the need to find a volunteer to run this effort going forward.
We still have approximately $750 in Big Y gift cards left, so it was agreed that Big Y cards would be made available for sale at the picnic on June 11.
Margot mentioned that Wildwood needs to re-enroll for the Stop & Shop Bonus Bucks program by August. Since we don’t yet have a Scrips coordinator, Mary Kiely will sign Wildwood up with Stop & Shop in time to participate for next year.
Given the success of the PTO’s fundraising efforts this year, we expect to have a revenue surplus of somewhere between $1200 and $2000. The consensus at the meeting was that we should wait until the fall to decide how to allocate these funds.
Also, approximately $400 more than was needed was collected for the Staff Appreciation Lunch this year. Those monies will be held in reserve to help defray the cost of next year’s luncheon.
III. Amherst Education Foundation Business
The point was made that the Amherst Education Foundation currently is sponsoring a challenge grant, under which funds donated to the schools (up to a total of $14,000) will be matched at a rate of 100%. The program is slated to end August 1. A question was raised as to whether funds donated by the Wildwood PTO to the AEF (for the benefit of Wildwood) could possibly be eligible for such a match. Margot will call Alison Curphey to check on this.
Molly suggested that it would be very helpful if the AEF website could list specific programs at Wildwood for which we are soliciting donations. Everyone thought that was a great idea, and the group came up with the following list of programs in need of financial support:
-Teacher Grants: new program development, professional development
-Arts Programming: field trips, artist in residence, instrumental instruction, materials
-Sports and Fitness Programs: maintenance of grounds, and equipment including nets, recess balls, rackets, etc.
-Library: books and periodicals
Molly will put these items up on the AEF website (thanks, Molly).
IV. Safe Routes to School Program
Mark reported that a small group of interested parents recently had met with him and with a representative from the state-sponsored Safe Routes to School program, which seeks to encourage walking and bicycling to schools. The program is of interest not only because of its ecological, community-building, and anti-obesity emphases, but also because it will eventually have funds available for things like sidewalks, walking lanes, road signs, etc. in participating communities.
Anyone who is interested in getting involved in this program is invited to attend a follow-up meeting on June 19th at
V. Update on Soccer Nets
Margot reported that as of right now, a total of $1,384 has been earned or allocated for new soccer nets and frames on the playground. Thanks to Margot for all your hard work and research on this! The purchases have been temporarily put on hold, however, until it is decided whether Wildwood wants to have two smaller or one larger soccer field(s) out back.
V. Recruitment of New Class Parents
Mark said that (barring any last-minute difficulties) the target date for the release of class lists is August 6. Once those class lists have been made public, Jane Thurber can then proceed to the recruitment and assignment of one or more class parents to each class.
In an effort to reach as many potential class parent volunteers as possible, Jane will put recruitment notices in the Wildwood Wire and the Wildwood Window.
VI. Plans for the End-of-Year Picnic
Under the supervision of organizer Claire Hamilton, the picnic, which is scheduled to take place on June 11 from
(Editor’s note: the picnic was well-attended and was a great success. The rain even held off long enough for everyone to socialize and to enjoy cake and drinks! Thanks to all the people who helped out that night, but especially Claire Hamilton, the overall organizer, and Diana Spurgin, who bought all the cakes, drinks, and paper goods.)
VII. Parent/Guardian Education Forums for Next Year
Several possible topics for next year’s Parent/Guardian Education Forums were suggested, including:
-the Safe Routes to School Program
-Youth Sports (Chris Felton at
-How to entice/interest reluctant readers
VIII. Summer Meetings
Ann and Tina, our co-chairs for next year, said that before they convene the next meeting of the Steering Committee, they would like to gather a smaller group to work on identifying and recruiting volunteers for unfilled PTO positions for next year. They would also like to find some way (binder, or database?) of collecting and organizing the wisdom that is out there in our community about how to run various PTO functions and activities, so that the “wheel” doesn’t have to be re-invented every time a new person takes over a PTO job.
That’s it for now. A great big thank you to everyone who helped out with the PTO this year, and don’t forget to come back for more fun in the fall. Have a safe and happy summer, everyone!
-minutes submitted by Mary Kiely
