PTO Steering Committee Notes: 6/07/2007

JUNE 7, 2007 PTO STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING

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 Amherst Education Foundation (AEF)

-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 10 a.m. in Mark’s office. Also invited will be representatives from the state, the superintendent’s office, the police department, and the department of public works.

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 5:30-7:30 pm on the playground, has been advertised in the Wire, the Window, and through a backpack flier. The following people have volunteered to help with set-up and clean-up: Ohmead Snow, Margot O’Connor, Ann Marshall, Donna McCallum, Jane Thurber, and Mary Kiely. Tina Graber and Kristen Ford will also staff a table where Big Y cards will be sold and parents/guardians can sign up to volunteer for PTO programs and activities.

(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 Fort River was suggested as a possible contact person for this topic)

-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

PTO Steering Committee Notes: 4/24/2007

APRIL 24, 2007 PTO STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING

Attendees: Diana Spurgin, Margot O’Connor, Mark Prince, Baer Tierkel, Joy Howard, Elaine Shumway, Sarah Auerbach, Meg Vickery, Jane Thurber, Ann Marshall, 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 Susan Waite for doing such a nice job on the minutes of our March meeting. Two small amendments to the minutes were suggested, as follows:

-Molly Whalen should be added to the list of attendees; and

-the passage describing the Wildwood Day of Chess should read, “Over 60 kids have signed on to participate in the tournament this Sunday; others will play for fun or staff the ‘parent teaching table’.”

II. Presentation by Target

Two representatives from the Target stores came to the meeting to present Wildwood with a check in the amount of $276.99. This represents the money earned by our school during the most recent six-month period (Sept. 2006-March 2007) through our participation in Target’s Take Charge of Education program.

The use of these funds will be determined by Mark Prince.

The Target money is easy to earn. Parents, guardians, or other school supporters simply have to sign up for a Target Visa or a Target Red Card, and designate a particular school to receive a % cut on all purchases made using that card. Currently, Target is giving away $3 million per week to schools, libraries, and community centers across the country, and has given over $200 million to schools since 1997. Target also awards arts grants and field trip grants, and gives out Target gift cards to non-profit organizations that are raising funds in the community. Anyone who is interested in obtaining further information on Target’s community efforts can contact Andrea and Mike (the community involvement coordinators) at the Hadley store, or visit target.com.

III. Family Dance

Jane Gamache filled us in on details of the Family Dance, which will take place on Friday, May 4 from 6-8 pm in the Middle School cafeteria. The DJ has been booked and the space reservation confirmed. Admission will be free, but slices of pizza (which Jane Gamache will obtain from Pizza Rama at a reduced price) and bottles of water (which Diana Spurgin will supply) will be sold.

Since the 6th grade is no longer interested in holding a bake sale at the dance, the 5th grade (led by Jane Thurber) will step in and hopefully earn some money that can be applied towards the cost of their 6th grade activities next year.

Jane Gamache said that Town Hall needs proof of our organizational status before they can grant us permission to run a 50/50 raffle at the dance, so Diana will get a letter from Jennifer Ryan in the main office to give to Jane Gamache.

Joy Howard will prepare a flyer about the dance, and Diana Spurgin will copy it and get it into teacher boxes. Mark will talk to Amy Jackendoff about the possibility of having the Savuka after-school program at the Middle School hang up some balloons and streamers (to be supplied by the PTO) in the cafeteria on Friday afternoon.

IV. Update on Soocer Nets

Margot reported that Belchertown Sports is prepared to sell us two new soccer frames at cost (i.e., $1500 including shipping). $220 has already been earned for this purpose from the sale of Big Y gift cards, and the PTO has also approved the use of up to $1,000 from our reserve account to purchase new frames. Margot said that we may or may not need to take the full $1000 from reserves; it will depend on how much the PTO earns from the Electronics Recycling fundraiser on April 29.

On top of the $1500 for frames, new nets will cost about $150. Margot will order the nets either through the main office (possible school discount) or through Belchertown Sports.

V. Update on Scrips

Diana said that we have approximately $1,000 left in Stop & Shop gift cards, and that she will buy $4,000 in Big Y gift cards later this week. Joy Howard will sell Big Y cards at the Family Dance on May 4.

VI. Electronics Recycling Day

Bill Miller was unable to attend the meeting due to illness, but it was reported that all systems were go for the first Wildwood Electronics Recycling Day on Sat., April 28 from 10 am-12 pm in the school parking lot. (Editor’s note: Bill’s event was a huge success, earning $1198 for our school. Many thanks to Bill for all his hard work on this and to Baer for suggesting the idea in the first place!)

VII. Teacher/Staff Grants

Margot reported that third grade teacher Judy Beyer had once again donated the proceeds ($175) from a bus trip fundraiser at Immanuel Lutheran Church to the PTO. Many thanks, Judy! The monies will go into the account for Teacher/Staff grants. Following the Electronics Recycling fundraiser, Margot will look at our budget and see if the PTO can afford to run one more round of Teacher/Staff grants for this year.

VIII. TV Turnoff Week

TV Turnoff Week was in progress at the time of our meeting, so participation totals and full reports on the featured events were not yet available. Parent organizers Naomi Elliott and Janet Brown had planned a number of fun events, including an all-school assembly featuring a performance by the Villa Jidiots, an Ultimate Frisbee clinic, a Family Skating session at the Mullins Center, and a Family Games night. Naomi obtained donations of $500 each from Integrity Builders and from Aquadro Insurance to pay for the Villa Jidiots performance (total fee $1,000), and the PTO paid for the ice skating event at Mullins ($240). Many thanks to Naomi and to Janet for making all of this possible for our school community!

IX. Next PTO Parent/Guardian Education Forum

Next up in our parent education series will be a film and discussion on May 1 from 6:30-8:30 pm at Wildwood, led by Meg Vickery. Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” will be shown. In preparation for that event, Jane Thurber will alert class parents and request that get the information out, Baer Tierkel will publicize the event through the Wire, Meg Vickery will do a flyer for backpacks, Millie Zweir will organize refreshments, and Sarah Auerbach will line up babysitters.

X. Class Parents Party

The party for class parents will take place on the evening of Sunday, May 20 at the home of Diana Spurgin (57 Tanglewood). Jane Thurber has already sent out a “save the date” email to all class parents. Assignments for that event are as follows:

-Mark Prince will bring the wine;

-Jane Thurber and Mary Kiely will solicit donations of appetizers, desserts, and non-alcoholic beverages from Steering Committee members; and

-Diana will send out an official invitation to all class parents (Steering Committee members are automatically invited).

XI. Safe Routes to School Project

Mark said that the state is sponsoring a Safe Routes to School program, which seeks to educate parents and students on the value of walking and bicycling to and from school. The goal of the program is to reduce congestion, air pollution, and traffic conflicts near schools, while increasing the health and mobility of school-aged children. Participating schools receive free student give-away items to initiate and promote the Safe Routes to School program, plus no-cost educational materials targeted to students, parents, and community leaders. Participating schools also MAY become eligible for state monies for infrastructure projects (e.g., sidewalks) specifically targeted to enhancing safe access to schools.

A PTO subcommittee will be formed to look into this program more closely and to determine whether/how Wildwood should participate. At this point, the volunteers for the subcommittee include Mark Prince, Sarah Auerbach, Meg Vikery, Jane Thurber, and Mary Kiely. Mark Prince will invite Nils laCour to participate. Other volunteers from the Wildwood (or greater town) communities are most welcome.

The first meeting of the subcommittee will be on May 29 at 9 am at Wildwood, when a representative from the Safe Routes to School program will be available to discuss the program and to answer questions.

XII. The Amherst Plan

After some discussion, the PTO Steering Committee voted unanimously to come out publicly in support of the 3-year Amherst Plan, which includes a tax override. Baer will run a special edition of the Wire, announcing this, and he will also print up a flier independently (i.e., not using school funds) and give it to Jennifer Ryan for inclusion with the next edition of the Wildwood Window.

XIII. Summer Reading Program

Liz Rosenberrry, who has done such a fabulous job in recent years of running the summer reading program (and through it, raising much-needed funds for the school library), requested that the Steering Committee look afresh at the goals and methods of the summer reading program. Liz was unable to make it to the meeting, so Mary Kiely led the discussion in her place.

With respect to the question of whether the summer reading program should continue to be a fundraiser or should, instead, just be a reading incentive program, everyone agreed that (given current budget realities), it would be very helpful if the summer reading program could continue to earn money for the library. There was also agreement that ideally, for the sake of coherence in our school fundraising efforts, the summer reading program should remain under the umbrella of the PTO. It was understood by all that the monies earned through summer reading were “earmarked” for the library and were not be used in any other way. Having those funds be designated for a specific purpose is not a problem, since the PTO is trying to move anyway in the direction of having monies from all fundraisers designated for specific purposes in advance. In that way Wildwood community members can have a better sense of what their contributions are helping to fund, and they can also pick and choose among a range of worthwhile programs.

Everyone agreed that we should continue to award prizes to summer reading program participants, and that the expenses associated with those prizes should come from the proceeds earned, and not from Liz Rosenberry’s pocket!

An interesting suggestion made was that we hold an all-school assembly early on in the school year and give the awards then. Awards could go not just to individual kids but also, perhaps, to the GRADES that accumulated the highest number of books (or pages) read. If kids knew that they cold accumulate points for their grade by reading during the summer, and that the books read would cont even if they didn’t get monetary pledges to back them up, then maybe we could address the goal of wanting to encourage reading as well as earning, and also broaden the base of participation. This discussion is to be continued at our next meeting.

XIV. PTO Leadership for Next Year

For the 2007-2008 school year, the following PTO leadership positions have been filled: Co-coordinator (Ann Marshall), Treasurer (Margot O’Connor), Class Parent Coordinator (Jane Thurber), and Childcare Coordinator (Sarah Auerbach). Quite a number of other positions still need to be filled. In order to help expedite the filling of these positions, Ann Marshall will prepare brief descriptions of the jobs that are available, along with a recap of recent PTO events, and run that text in the Wildwood Window and the Wildwood Wire.

XV. Other Items from the Treasurer

In other news from our treasurer, Margot reports that the Amherst Cultural Council (ACC) sent a check for $1254 to Wildwood for arts-related programming. This money gets added to the $4700/year that the PTO has agreed to contribute towards arts programs and events. When added to the $1,000 grant that was obtained by Elizabeth Fernandez O’Brien from Target this year for the arts, the total available for arts programming at Wildwood this year is $6954.

The PTO will buy flowers to be given to retiring 5th grade teachers Kieser and Penniman at the 5th grade concert on May 31.

XVI. Open House Babysitting

Sarah Auerbach and Mary Kiely, who have been working with Mark and the rest of the Open House babysitting subcommittee to come up with recommendations about childcare at next fall’s Open House, will prepare a draft letter for Mark’s signature, letting the community know in advance the conditions under which (a very limited amount of) childcare will be provided for that event. The childcare will be off-site, will only be for a limited number of children, and will require advance registration with the office.

That’s it for now. Thanks to everyone for all you do on behalf of our Wildwood school community.

-minutes submitted by Mary Kiely

PTO Steering Committee Notes: 3/22/2007

March 22, 2007 Wildwood PTO Steering Committee Meeting

Attendees: Naomi Elliot, Kristen Ford, Jane Gamache, Karen Lowe, Ann Marshall, Bill Miller, Margot O’Connor, Mark Prince, Diana Spurgin, Meg Vickery, Susan Waite, Susan Wennemeyer

Action Items:

· Ann Marshall will create a Big Y/Stop & Shop Scripts Purchase flyer to go home via backpacks and will contact Baer about Wire inclusion.

· Ann Marshall will work with Jane Gamache to create posters for school Family Dance publicity.

· Jane Gamache will contact Town Hall to see if a special permit is needed for a Family Dance raffle.

· Bill Miller, Molly Whalen, Diana Spurgin, and (maybe) Jane Thurber will collaborate to determine goals of a teacher input survey so Bill can create it to specs.

· Diana Spurgin will make a list of 07-08 PTO roles and position vacancies to frame discussion at the April meeting.

Opportunities:

Scripts coordinator needed to lead 07-08 school year efforts (see item II)

Chess Club volunteer(s) needed to guide Club during 07-08 school year (see item IV)

Coffee coordinator needed for 07-08 school year (see item IV)

TV Turnoff Week activity coordinators sought to augment week’s activities (see item IV)

Family Reading Night coordinator sought to organize worthy event (see item V)

Family Science Night volunteers sought to present/lead activities on May 30 (see item V)

I. Review of minutes

No changes to the February minutes.

III. Budget Report

Margot O’Connor reported that the School Picture fundraiser appears to have netted us only $1,000. She is investigating why we made $1,300 less than last year.

Soccer Nets: Margot’s research found that we may anticipate spending about $1,400 for a pair of nets. A Wildwood Playground Fund with approximately that amount was recently closed out during a District consolidation effort. It is believed that the Fund was comprised of money leftover from the construction of the playground structure project several years ago, and the money was to be used for playground structure maintenance. According to Karen, the money from the Fund is still available to Wildwood.

Scrips: BigY offers a 6% return on pre-paid coupons purchased in April and October. Diana Spurgin sought input as to whether we should make a purchase next month. We are currently out of Big Y coupons after having sold about $8,000 worth this year, but still have over $1,000 in coupons from Stop & Shop in hand (sales have been lackluster). Margot said cash flow would support a purchase.

After discussion, it was decided that we will arrange a pre-order opportunity with a tie-in to the Soccer Nets (e.g. “The money we make will go towards new playground soccer nets!”) and then decide whether to purchase additional coupons with PTO funds. Ann Marshall volunteered to create the “backpack” flyer and will contact Baer about Wire inclusion.

Diana believes it would be beneficial to have one person in charge of the various Scrips programs next year. The combined income from our first year participation in Scrips is about $1,500. Diana was lauded for her work this year getting this program off the ground.

III. Reports on Recent Events

The Math Parent Ed Forum led by Amy Wolpin (March 5th) was a great success. About 30 parents (mostly of lower grade students) attended and participated in activities. Several other teachers assisted with the program.

Karen Lowe reported that the Appreciation Breakfast (March 7th) was appreciated by all. People were overwhelmed with the abundant and lovely food. Sarah Auerbach did a great job organizing the food and volunteers. Diana read a thank you note from Micheal Silverstone.

IV. Upcoming Calendar Events

Wildwood Day of Chess (March 25):

Some 60 kids have signed on to participate in tournaments, others will play for fun or staff the “parent teaching table.” This Sunday. With PTO funds, organizer Molly Whalen has purchased trophies and prizes (age-appropriate books on chess). She has also purchased duplicate books for the school library. There will be no food sold this year, as last year food sales were poor and the effort time-consuming.

Molly brought up the fact that due to her husband’s sabbatical next year, she will need to find a coalition of parents (culled from the ranks of the chess-knowledgeable parents who now help with the Club) to largely or entirely run the Chess Club during the 2007-08 school year. She also expressed an interest in creating a long-term plan for the Club’s continuance, and mentioned possibilities such as seeking outside funding to pay instructors.

Molly will also need to hand over the reins to the Dean’s Beans fundraiser next year. It’s a minimal time commitment – perhaps 3 hours a month, is very simple, and yields good money for the PTO ($1300 so far the first year). Ideally, the volunteer will work with her for a couple of order cycles this Spring to learn the details.

.

TV Turnoff Week (April 23-27):

Forms will be sent home to parents this year in order to get participation statistics (not for contest winner determination). Once compiled, the stats will allow school goal-setting in successive years for kids to rally around. Naomi Elliot presented the current slate of activities:

Monday 4/23 2PM school assembly Kickoff with the Villa Jidiots performing group. Sponsored by Peter Jessup of Integrity Design & Build and Chris Aquadro of Aquadro Insurance Co.

Thursday 4/26 Ultimate Frisbee Clinic with Coach Sue Morello at 3:15

Possible Wildwood Ice Skating Night (TBD)

Friday 4/27 Family Game Night in the Library at 6pm. Toy Box will again bring their staff to teach games. Families will be encourage to BYO game and the Chess Club will make chess sets available.

There is still time to add other events to the week’s activities. People with ideas and energy to organize an event should contact Naomi or co-coordinator Janet Brown.

Electronics Recycling Day (April 28):

Out of a concern over low profit margin for television sets, organizer Bill Miller is attempting to solicit business from sources outside of the school community. Bill has been in touch with several local computer service companies who are enthusiastic about participation, which will save them disposal costs. Delcie Bean of Valley ComputerWorks has expressed an interest in sponsorship of the event next year. Bill is considering seeking a storage location so computers, etc. can be collected over several weeks and will contact the contracted disposal company about potential environmental risks or hazards. It was suggested that the flyer include an explanation as to why electronics require special disposal (many contain hazardous material such as lead and mercury).

“An Inconvenient Truth” Parent Ed Forum (May 1)

Meg Vickery reported that the date of 5/1 has been finalized for a 6:30 pm showing of Al Gore’s movie. The goal is to create a supportive, fun environment for a childfree viewing of the movie. If time permits there will be discussion time afterward. Meg would like to encourage those who have already seen it to attend for discussion purposes.

Family Dance (May 4)

Jane Gamache has secured DJ Dana Collins at a reduced rate of $100.00 per hour (she played the kid./family card). The dance will run from 6-8pm. Set up time may be limited due to an prior reservation of the Middle School cafeteria until 5:30. Pizza (by the slice) and water will be available for sale. A bake sale and 50/50 raffle (winner gets 50% of proceeds, PTO gets 50%) are also being considered. Jane also suggested a donation jar be present so people can contribute to the Soccer Net purchase.

The plan is to post signs in school, advertise in the Wire, and send flyers home. Ann Marshall volunteered to help create posters (4) about the event for posting in school, and Jane will contact Town Hall to see if a special permit is needed for a raffle.

Class Parent Party (May 20)

Diana Spurgin will host the Class Parent Party at her home on Tanglewood Road. She will provide another sumptuous spread as a end-of-school-year thank you for all the PTO Parent Coordinators. The party will begin at 6pm.

T-Shirt Fundraiser (May-June)

Joy Howard will again serve as designer of the shirts. Susan Waite has been in touch with art teacher Sarah Sausville to get the ball rolling. In order to generate sustainable sales, they are considering items other than T-shirts such as dish or bath towels. Aprons sales were suggested.

V. Proposed Events

Family Reading Night

Diana Spurgin is excited about the concept of a Family Reading Night, but is unable to orchestrate it this year. Her visions include celebrity readers (e.g the fire chief), Reading Rainbow videos for the wee ones, etc. The national sponsor of the effort is Target Corporation and great organizational material is available. It would be a terrific addition to TV Turnoff Week, or a neat way to celebrate the culmination of the Summer Read-a-thon next fall. Is anyone interested in taking this on? Please contact Diana.

Family Science Night

Diana has started publicizing Family Science Night on May 30 and collecting names of science-minded parents to participate. If she does not get a big response from her flyer, she will cold call some parents based on email addresses. Names generated by meeting participants include Jennifer Wellborn, Todd Tripp, and Hilary Barber.

Diana said that her daughter is interested in starting a Speed Stacking Club.

VI. Putting the “T” in PTO

Lack of teacher involvement is a recurring issue for the organization. Potential reasons could include fatigue, busy schedules, and avoidance of opportunistic parents seeking consult. After discussion it was agreed that the PTO’s goal is to make sure that what we do is meaningful and coordinates with their needs. Molly Whalen suggested a survey/questionnaire with questions that are open-ended enough to encourage new ideas. Mark Prince suggested that we might get more valuable info and a better response rate if the survey were given to teams (e.g. Special Ed, 3rd grade) instead of individuals. Bill Miller offered to write a draft of a survey. Bill, Molly, Diana, and hopefully Jane Thurber will collaborate to determine goals and the procedure.

VII. Next Year’s PTO Lineup

Jennifer Jackson and Millie Zweir will swap responsibilities, so that Jennifer will now coordinate the Parent/Guardian Education Series and Millie will coordinate Event Hospitality. Diana will make a list of 07-08 roles and position vacancies to frame the discussion during the April meeting.

VIII. Next Meeting Date

The next PTO Steering Committee Meeting will be on April 30 at 8:45 am in the Conference Room.

-minutes submitted by Susan Waite

PTO Steering Committee Notes: 2/12/2007

FEBRUARY 12, 2007 PTO STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING

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 6-8 pm would be a good time for the event (the building has to be cleared by 8:30 pm). Jane will call Elaine Shumway, who helped to coordinate our last Sock Hop two or three years ago, for her advice on running the event. Jane will also talk to the owner of PizzaRama to see if he would be willing to give us a good deal if we bought a bunch of pizzas to be sold by the slice. Admission to the event would most likely be free, but the PTO might be able to earn some money through sale of pizza slices. Margot and Diana also mentioned that the sixth grade, which is still in need of funds for its trip to Boston later in the year, might be willing to organize and run a bake sale at the dance, with the understanding that all profits would be put towards the sixth grade trip. Diana said that she could get bottle of water donated for the event.

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 Hastings.

VII. Upcoming Parent Ed Forum

Our next Parent/Guardian Education Forum is scheduled for Monday, March 5 from 7-8:30 pm in the Wildwood library. The topic will be the Math curriculum at Wildwood. Childcare will be provided in the cafeteria.

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 9 a.m. in Mark Prince’s office to review the input from parents and to come up with recommendations. Anyone who is interested in this issue is welcome to attend.

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. 7-8:30 pm in the Wildwood library.

-March 22: PTO Steering Committee Meeting. 6:30 pm at Wildwood.

-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

PTO Steering Committee Notes: 12/12/2006

DECEMBER 12, 2006 PTO STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING

Attendees: Mark Prince, Diana Spurgin, Margot O’Connor, Joy Howard, Sarah Auerbach, Kristen Ford, 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

No one in attendance had additions or corrections to the minutes of our Nov.6 meeting, so the minute were approved as written.

II. Upcoming School Council Elections

The Wildwood School Council, whose existence is mandated by state law and which provides advice on strategic decisions that impact our school, currently consists of 4 parents, 3 teachers and the principal. At the moment there is one opening for a parent representative on the School Council and two openings for teachers. Forms have already been out to the Wildwood community soliciting names of interested parents. As soon as candidates have been identified, elections will be held within the parent/guardian community. The PTO will count the ballots, with Diana, Joy, and Margot acting as our representatives (thanks, guys). If no parents step forward to fill the empty seat on the Council, then the number of teachers on the Council will be reduced to maintain a 50/50 balance between parent reps and school staff reps.

III. Electronics Recycling Day

Fliers for Wildwood’s first Electronics Recycling Day fundraiser, scheduled to be held on Saturday, April 28, 2007, have already been going home in backpacks, singly and attached to the Wildwood Window. Baer and Rod have also been advertising the event in the Wildwood Wire (thanks, everyone, for that).

There was discussion at the meeting about other ways in which we might publicize (especially to the communities beyond our school) this very worthwhile event. Suggestions were made that we might advertise in the Gazette (possibly even getting a story about the fundraiser), send information to other PTOs, and have the sixth-graders staple fliers to telephone poles downtown and ask for permission to post fliers in shop windows/bulletin boards. For the time being, Kristen will speak to Bob from the Gazette about getting newspaper coverage of this event.

IV. Fundraising Updates

Margot reported that the Brown Envelope fundraiser netted $2,226.04 this year, an increase of approximately $550 over last year’s effort. Congratulations and many thanks both to Susan Waite, who helped draft the solicitation letter, and to Margot and her kids, who did all the rest of the work on this critically important fundraiser that supports our arts programs at Wildwood.

The Coffee Fundraiser racked up another impressive month, netting $349 from the December order. Way to go, Molly! We appreciate your continued hard work on this.

Margot also reported that we received a check for $37.84 from Goodsearch.com, which pays Wildwood $.01 for every Internet search done under its umbrella by a Wildwood subscriber. If you don’t currently use the Goodsearch service for your searches but are interested in helping to earn money for Wildwood in this way, go to http:www.goodsearch.com/. Once on the website, go to the bottom where it says “I’m supporting” and enter “Wildwood” and click “Verify.” You’ll then see the option Wildwood Elementary School (Amherst). Choose it and you’re set to go. If you bookmark the page you can use it for all your searches.

V. Update on Ready, Set, Relax Event

Mark reported that regretfully, Deb Krumholz had had to cancel the “Ready, Set, Relax” event that she was planning to hold in March because she was unable to find enough volunteers to help her plan, organize and run the event town-wide.

The question was raised as to whether Deb might possibly be interested in running a much more low-key version of the event at Wildwood only. Sarah will follow up with Deb to see whether Deb might be interested in that kind of smaller-scale event, and report back to the Steering Committee at our next meeting.

VI. Scrips Update

Diana noted that we are now completely sold out of Big Y gift cards. The Scrips program as a whole (which at this point involves gift cards from Big Y and Stop & Shop, and a 5% sales credit from Atkins) has earned over $850 since September. Well done, Diana and Andrea!

Diana said that she and Andrea would be looking into the possibility of expanding the program to other stores, especially Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, which had not been participants in Scrips-type arrangements in the past. (Editor’s note: Since our meeting, Diana has been able to verify that Trader Joe’s does not have a Scrips plan now and does not intend to offer one in future, since their prices reportedly only allow for very slim profit margins as is.)

VII. School Directory

Joy had brought sample copies of the new school directory to the meeting, and everyone was very admiring of the thoughtfulness and the artistry and the great care that so clearly had gone into its planning and execution. Congratulations to the directory leadership group (Joy, Baer Tierkel, Susan Waite, and Bill Miller) for this standard-setting product (which, apart from being beautiful and useful, is also raising funds for Wildwood for the first time). And thanks from all of us for the many, many hours of effort that obviously went into it. Cheers all around!

Joy reported that approximately 475 copies had been printed at a cost of $530, and that she expected the copies to be going home in backpacks within the week. (Editor’s note: The directory has since been distributed.)

VIII. MCAS Night

On Jan. 10 from 7-8:30 pm in the Wildwood library, Mark will lead a presentation on and discussion of the MCAS: what it is, how to interpret the scores, and how we are doing as a school. In preparation for that event, Millie will coordinate food in conjunction with Jennifer Keller Jackson. Since we don’t currently have a babysitting coordinator, Mark will check to see whether his intern will be in town at that point and able to coordinate childcare. If not, then Mary and Sarah will step in to arrange babysitting for this event. (Editor’s note: Mary and Sarah are in the process of organizing sitters for that night.) Mary will also verify that the library and the cafeteria have been booked.

X. Open House Babysitting Survey

The survey forms that the subcommittee on Open House babysitting prepared and had distributed to parents and guardians have now been returned and are ready for review. Sarah will collect the survey forms and arrange for a follow-up meeting in early January of the following people: herself, Mark, Diana, Joy, Elaine Shumway, Taryn LaRaja, and Mary Kiely.

XI. Other Upcoming Events

-Bookswap: (tentative date) Feb. 7

-Family Reading Night: Feb. 8 or 9

-March 5: Parent/Guardian Education Forum. Topic: the Math Curriculum at Wildwood.