April 2011 Meeting Minutes - Draft

APRIL PTO MINUTES 2011

Present: Sally Sproat, Jason Gutting, Amy Petersburg, Tara Fry, June Hicks, Ron Lacasse, Jennifer Nevins-Lacasse, Cindy Roark, Tammy Deppong, Elizabeth Clifford, Jen Zambiasi,
Tara Bogle

I. Call to Order (7:05) – President Sally Sproat

II. Welcome and Introductions - President Sally Sproat

III. Approval of Minutes
a. Motion by Cindy Roark to approve the minutes. The motion was supported by Tara Bogle. The motion was approved.

IV. Additions to Agenda –
     a. Tammy Deppong – Edru Skating
     b. June Hicks – Scrip Fundraiser

V. Special Presentation – Summer Playground Program
The summer playground program promotes healthy living and activities and is held at Central School’s playground. The program typically runs from June 20th to August 11th Monday through Thursday. The programs hours for this coming year will depend on available funding. The program serves children K through 12 years old and typically serves about 100 kids with anywhere from 20 to 40 kids dropping in per day.

The program has been historically funded by Meridian Township with some funds coming from Central Elementary and Cedar Creek Apartments. Both Meridian Township and Cedar Creek Apartments are no longer funding the program due to budget problems.

Hiawatha Elementary, Bennett Woods Elementary, and Kinawa Middle School PTO’s have all pledged $500 each to the program. Chippewa Middle School PTO tabled the discussion without committing any funding.

The program is not a daycare program and the children are free to come and go as the please. People who staff the program are usually known by the parents but do not go through any formal background checks. Lunch is being provided Okemos Community Churches.

VI. Principal’s Report – Tara Fry
a. Family Fun Night – Tara thanked the PTO for hosting FFN. She said that from her   observations, that everyone enjoyed themselves. 
b. March is Reading Month. The students read over 300,000 minutes and Mr. Mowry dyed his hair blonde and Mrs. Fry will spend a day in May on the Cornell roof reading.
c. There was a surprise visit from Sparty for Mileage Club.
d. MEAP Scores
• All scores except the writing were in the 90’s.
• Writing is always low for all districts. Tara was unsure why this is the case but it appears that the expectations placed on 3rd and 4th graders in the writing category is too high. Tara also reported that they change the scoring every couple of years so it is difficult to compare scores from year to year.
e. Placement forms for next year are due May 2, 2011.
• They were trying to schedule a move-up day but was unsure what the schedule would be.
f. Field Day – Tara asked for a report on the status of Field Day. Jennifer Nevins-Lacasse noted that Jamie Baldwin had volunteered to run field day. It was reported that Jamie was looking for direction from those who had been involved in Field Day in the past. The date discussed was June 7th or 8th but that would be verified with Jamie and the office.

VII. President’s Report – Sally Sproat
a. Sally passed out thank you’s from Mrs. Kelly’s class, Mrs. Mayer, Mrs. Rush, and several Cornell students.
b. Sally thanked Tara Bogle and all who helped run the FFN activities.
c. Sally discussed attending the Town Hall Meeting with Representative Mark Meadows. She reported that it was very informative and that he presented several facts and figures that she had not heard before. She offered to email a link to the data for anyone who was interested.

VIII. Treasurer’s Report – Jason Gutting
a. Passed out overall PTO budget and spending/revenue to date, however FFN numbers had not yet been finalized.
b. Charter One Bank automatically enrolled the PTO in Recovery Now. This program continues to request funds from an individual’s bank when a check is bounced. This will automatically continue until the funds are received. The PTO will have to opt out of this program if this is not the desired approach.

IX. Parent Council – Cindy Roark
a. There was a parent survey conducted of the 5th/6th grade Kinawa building. It was identified that some parents are unhappy and feel that the building needs more cohesiveness.
b. There was a discussion of an Adult ESL program utilizing the Wardcliff building. The use would be budget neutral.
c. The Bennett Woods parent, who was referenced in the March PTO Meeting Minutes, wanted each Parent Council Representative to send e-mail blasts to everyone in their school regarding the budget and to encourage people to become involved in the State’s budget. Cindy was uncomfortable with this and was looking for feedback on what direction she should take. There was a lengthy discussion of the State budget process with opinions given on what actions by individuals impact the decision making process. It was decided that the PTO would simply supply links to information and Jen Zambiasi would supply Sally with the links to this information.
d. The May meeting for the Parent Council is at Cornell Elementary.

X. Committee Reports
a. Mileage Club – Kathy Fortin
• So far it is going smoothly however less than half of the students participating are registered.
b. Lugnuts outing is May 13, 2011
c. Family Fun Night – Tara Bogle
• The variety show was a great success and was larger than in past years.
• Traditional Cornell games were blended with some traditional games from Wardcliff’s Family Fun Night.
• Tammy Deppong had four items remaining for sale left over from the silent auction.
d. Fundraising Survey Results – Sally Sproat
• The results were disappointing due to lack of participation. There were only 23 respondents. Since the participation was so low, Sally did not feel that the PTO could make any significant fundraising changes based on the feedback.
• The PTO will renew with Innisbrook for next year.
e. Edru Skating Party Fundraiser – Tammy Deppong
• Edru is offering a card for $25, $10 of which comes back to the PTO. The card is for 10 open skates from 6/21/11 through 9/11/11. The card is for one child and includes skate rental.
f. Scrip Program – June Hicks
• A trial run will be conducted with PTO families to make sure that everything is working properly before opening it up to all parents.

XI. New Business
a. Funding Requests
• Items 1 through 4 on the budget committee recommendation list were funded in March and the remaining three items were to be revisited after Family Fun Night income was verified along with any other funding requests.
• Item 5 – The playground fence came in less expensive than expected due the playground committee deciding to remove the center gap in the fence and due to the fact that Clery Fence was able to salvage fence mesh which was removed from the High School baseball field. New galvanized posts and hardware will be installed with reused black vinyl fence mesh from the baseball field. Total cost for the fence is $1,323.44.
• Item 6 – Raz-Kids Subscription renewal for 2012 is $899.25
• Item 7 – Letter Tiles for Reading Instruction is $312.48
• Positive Behavior Support Banners – Tara Fry reported that she was unable to find a competing bid for fabric banners. The cost for nine banners is $942.40
• Safety Patrol Lugnut Outing – Tara Fry reported that all other Okemos elementary PTO’s were funding a Lugnut outing for their safeties. The safeties had raised money from the cookie dough sales and the pumpkin raffle. The total amount needed to supplement existing funds was approximately $275.00.
• Meridian Township Summer Playground Program – It was discussed that the program was pretty far removed from Cornell and that parents donating money to the PTO have an expectation that the money will be spent at Cornell to the benefit of their kids. It was also discussed that the PTO should save its remaining money until the extent of the budget cuts by the District is known. There will likely be several areas next year to consider for funding which were cut by the District to balance it’s budget. Motion by Jennifer Nevins-Lacasse to table this item. The motion was supported by Tara Bogle.
• A motion was made by Tara Bogle to approve the playground fence for $1,323.44, the Raz-Kids subscription renewal for $899.25, the letter tiles for $312.48, the positive behavior support banners for $942.40 and the safety patrol Lugnut outing for an amount not to exceed $275.00. The motion was supported by Cindy Roark. The motion was approved.
b. Summer Playdates – Sally Sproat
• Looking for volunteers from each grade to host summer playdates on the Cornell playground.
• Kindergarten – Tara Bogle, 1st Grade – Vacant, 2nd Grade – Tara Bogle, 3rd Grade – Cindy Roark, 4th Grade - Vacant

XII. Old Business – None

XIII. Adjournment (9:26 pm)
a. Motion by Jen Zambiasi to adjourn the meeting. The motion was supported by Tara Bogle. The motion was approved.