Winans PTO Meeting Minutes


Tuesday, May 1, 2012/ 5:30 pm/ Winans’ Library



Attendance: Jim Huntzicker, Luke Shelton, Lora Brown, Lessie Sites, Jamie Melin, Patty Durgan, Christina Howell, Muffy Norquist


I. New Principal Luke Shelton- introductions, etc.

II. Teacher Appreciation Week

-Wish Tree: is in the lobby and ANYONE is welcome to come pick a leaf and give a teacher a gift of classroom supplies for Teacher Appreciation week (Please be sure to re-attach leaf or label the item :)

-Week “treats”- Lora will send out an email later this week nailing down the details and we will put a little “what to expect” postcard in the Teachers’ mailboxes on Monday.

-So far, what we have planned is Monday: Scentsy travel tins from Muffy and cookies form Caroline, Tuesday: Hand/lip treatments from Andrea, Wednesday: another “treat from Andrea + lunch, Thursday: Foot spa & possible chair massages organized by Christina, Friday: Potluck luncheon organized by Sarah Knecht , cookies from Caroline-Luncheons-Wednesday catered by school board, Friday PTO Potluck by Sarah Knecht


III. Treasurer’s Report/ Finalizing Carnival numbers and discuss setting up a carnival account

Carnival (Reimbursement to Muffy) 1217.37

Civic Center 100.00

Ads in the Enterprise for carnival 122.20

Total Money from Carnival 3327.40

Profit from Carnival $1439.57

Box Top Check $553.35

Braided Bread profit $5040.00

One stipend check wrote to Sabrina Hester for 200.00

Ending Balance is about: $11,500.00

Muffy made a motion to create a Carnival Account for Eastside and Winans to use for next year’s carnival with a starting balance of $1400; Christina seconded her motion; the voting was unanimous in the affirmative.


IV. Discussion about school needs (upgrading TVs, getting IPads or Kindles for special needs classes etc.)

-Jim present teacher feedback-Jim and Luke went over ongoing teacher feedback; ultimately, Luke wants flatscreens in every classroom, as well as a “video marquee”-type screen for the lobby; this is the long-term goal which we will help reach any way we can, starting with the teachers who will use them most. Nothing was decided for sure, but we just listened to the plans and the needs and got a feel for the goals. -Other issues: Patty Durgan showed us her awesome little Nook Tablet, which functions like an iPad but is less than half the price ($199), has similar content (apps run between $.99-$3 on average, and it comes with tech support at Barnes & Noble stores and as an educator, any apps or content she buys can be used on all the tablets in her classroom at no extra charge.

Carolyn Long, speech therapist, submitted a touching request for a student with communication issues who has experienced success using the iPad. She has requested $399 to purchase an iPad that would follow this student through Winans and Eastside and become property of the special education division. Lora suggested splitting the cost with Eastside; we will revisit this topic when we settle accounts in June; everyone seemed to want to help make this happen.



-Teacher Stipends

- we discussed doing Teacher stipends differently [per Mrs. Boyd], carrying over accounts to use in August, etc. Jamie talked with Michelle Boyd and thinks this is a good idea; We decided to finish out the 2011-12 school year on our regular old system-let the teachers submit receipts and use their $200 stipend for this year. THEN give each teacher (this includes resource, title 1, and Library) $100 in August (at a cost of $1900), and another $100 in the 3rd quarter( February –ish, depending on fundraising success) so they have cash on hand for projects. If they choose to save it all to make a $200 purchase at the end of the year or just use it little by little all year, it’s all there and the treasurer will only have to cut checks twice a year.

Everyone was in favor of this, but we didn’t want to make it official before discussing it with Jessi (treasurer). We will let the teachers know what is officially decided by putting a letter in their mailboxes in the next week or two.



V. PTO "PSA" announcement

- Lora has an outline and proposal to create a video “PSA” style video to familiarize parents with PTO which will run on a loop (on a tv or laptop) at August registration and at all PTO activities. The video will tout the goals and accomplishments of PTO with interviews, slides shows, statistics, etc. Please let Lora know if you are willing to “testify” on the video about the awesomeness of PTO.

-Jamie proposed giving Lora $100 to complete the video project, Patty seconded the motion, the voting was unanimous in the affirmative.



VI. Retirement Party: Jessi needs to get a check to Kitty Springer to help with the costs of the Retirement Party.



VII: OTHER: Lora will send out an email about (a) having a combined Good-bye Jim/ Hello Luke party (parents meet-and-greet) at the school toward the end of this month. Let her know what you think; (b) meeting in August to get our ducks in a row for next year and to organize what we want to put in the registration packets. Also, if you have headed a committee this year or served as an officer, PLEASE document your experience and create a "training manual” for next year’s PTO, & if you have any interest whatsoever in serving as an officer PLEASE plan on attending the September meeting & submitting your name. WE NEED YOU, & we are doing our best to make your job EASY next year!Spread the word & support our school!


***

Late-Breaking News from Sarah Knecht re: Friday 5/11 Potluck Luncheon


Friday May 11th- Drop off food to Winans office by 11am

223-7481 Sarah Knecht -contact


Angie: Green Salad

Madeleine: Black eyed pea salad

Kristen: 2 salad dressings and one fruit tray

Cassandra :fruit salad

Sarah: 1 Gallon Roasted Tomato Vegetable Soup

2 dozen sandwiches

Ashley: 2 dozen Sandwiches

Jacqueline: Lemon Cake

Julie : 2 Chocolate Cakes


Need

2 Cheesecakes

2 dozen sandwiches

April 2012 Meeting Minutes

Winans April PTO Meeting Minutes

Thursday April 12, 2012 - 5:30pm - Winans Library

Attendance: Jim Huntzicker, Lora Brown, Muffy Norquist, Christina Howell, Jessi Tyner, Cara McNeely, Caroline Rehder; Jenn Volk, Brooke Weimer, Terry Chambers

I. Carnival: Here’s the run down from Muffy from earlier this week--

- PTO Spring Carnival is Friday, April 20th from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. Admission is $3 each & children under 4 are free.

- We are still in need of lots of volunteers:o The three volunteer committees are SET UP, RUN GAMES, and CLEAN UP.

-Our contact for donating baked goods is: Caroline Rehder at mtcorazon@earthlink.net-All other volunteers, please contact: Cara McNeely at t_madden@hotmail.com or 223-8610

- Set up will begin at 9 am Friday morning, the sooner we get it set up, the better! We could use some very strong people to help with the tables, etc. first thing Friday morning. PLEASE contact Cara McNeely if you can help; we can start as early as 8:30 Friday morning if that works for our volunteers

- Megan & Dusty have all the games ready and signs made for each. Games include face painting, tattoos, zumba, funny picture booth. There was some discussion and detail about the games and the set up; Mrs. Huntzicker is helping to coordinate the High School volunteers; a few may be able to help with set up, Eastside is buying their dinner from their PTO budget, and Lora Brown has donated water to give to volunteers.

- Mustang Catering will be selling dinner

o Agnew Ranch donated local grass fed beef, so Carole is making Sloppy Joe’s with Mac & Cheese & fresh veggies with dip; the price should be “the same as last time” and proceeds go to PTO—we decided on $4 for dinner

o Carole will also be selling Mustang Catering sandwiches (geared more toward the adults at the carnival), and she will just keep track of how many she sells and subtract that from the total in the register at the end of carnival (keeping one cash register).

- Carnival will sell water, popcorn & cotton candy for a dollar a piece

- The Floyds will be selling their famous snow cones IF their truck can fit in the building.



II. Treasurer’s Report from Jessi

[Treasurer’s Report attachment]

-We figured we have roughly $5,000 after stipends and other expenses. I t was decided to give some money to help with retirement party, hold off on big decisions about iPads, and help upgrade TVs for classrooms; We will discuss more about allocation of funds in May after we see how Carnival goes down.


III. Teacher Appreciation Week, May 7-11, 2012

- Sarah Knecht is heading up the Friday Potluck lunch, PTO provides papergoods

- Jamie & Rich Melin will set up Wish Tree; leaves for teachers to write wishes on will be in the teacher’s lounge beginning April 25th; parents can start taking leaves & shopping on May 2nd. All “wish fulfillments” should be back under the tree by May 9th (Wednesdays).

- Lora, Christina, Jessi, and Jamie will organize small gifts for the teachers’ mailboxes Monday –Thursday of that week, each taking one day



IV. Retirement Party and the future of PTO (Lora Brown’s recruitment ideas) will be discussed at May’s meeting, to be held Tuesday May 1st at 5:30 pm in the Winans’ Library.

Three Things

First, CONGRATULATIONS on a stellar fundraiser! Because of your hard work and the generosity of our community, we surpassed our goal of $3,000...we raised over $5,000! So the "cool slide" repair is paid for and field trips & teacher stipends & carnival now have funding. SO HOORAY FOR YOU!

Second, DON'T FORGET THAT BUTTER BRAID ORDERS COME IN FRIDAY MARCH 23rd after school! They must be kept frozen, so please make arrangements to pick up your orders & keep them cold. If you'd like to help us sort the orders, please come to the Winans lobby at 1pm Friday (TODAY).

Third, Mr. Huntzicker, who has been our principal for 28 years, is retiring this summer. The Livingston Enterprise published a nice article about him this week--click HERE to read it. We are grateful for Mr. Huntzicker's dedication and service to us. You might think of your own way to thank him and wish him well before the school year ends.

PTO Meeting Minutes for 6 March 2012

Combined Meeting with Eastside PTO, Eastside School Library

Attendance: Bob Stevenson, Jim Huntzicker, Angie Tinsley, Angie Printz, Terri Chambers, Brooke Weimer, Muffy Norquist, Christina Howell, Julie Bartz, Jamie Melin

I. Combining Winan's & Eastside PTO
After discussing pro’s and con’s, the decision still seems to be up in the air, with most of the Eastside PTO satisfied with the status quo and most of the Winans PTO wanting to combine. This is because the Winans PTO members are stretched thin trying to participate in both PTOs and we know we will eventually be part of Eastside PTO anyway, so why not start combining our talents and efforts (if not our leadership and treasury) now?

A median approach was agreed upon, that we begin the 2012-13 school year with a combined meeting since membership in both groups will change drastically between now and then. The decision can then be made about how much of the PTO we will combine and how often we will meet together. We did decide that we will continue to work on carnival together, that we should do all 4 fundraisers (2 in each school) next year, and that the Crazy Mountain Productions workshops will remain exclusively for Eastside students.

II. Carnival Report
Spring Carnival April 20th from 5:30- &:30 pm at the Civic Center

• Muffy is in desperate need of volunteers to lead three groups of more volunteers for Carnival.
o Set up Crew
o Running Booths
o Clean Up Crew
If you or someone you know can motivate and organize a group of volunteers, WE NEED YOU! Please contact Muffy ASAP. We also plan to recruit at PHS to offer students a chance to complete their community service hours by helping at the carnival.

• Eastside offered to cancel their Family Fun Night for this year and channel that energy, time, and money into the Carnival. Their budget will now cover meals for volunteers. (THANK YOU, E-PTO!)

• If you have gently used books to donate to the book walk, please bring them by the Winans office before March 30th.

• Angie, Brooke , and Jane have individually wrapped cookies frozen for the cake-cookie walk.

• Mustang Catering will have a food booth again, and the Floyds will bring the snow cone truck

• Brooke and Jamie discussed “marketing strategies” for next year’s PTO and plan to have an info booth at Carnival with fresh new material introducing PTO to parents (and TEACHERS, too).

• We have plans to advertise the Carnival as “The Spring Carnival presented by Eastside and Winans School Parents”. Muffy is creating newspaper ads, flyers/posters, and sandwich board signs. We are looking for materials donation for the signs, Brooke offered to look into a labor donation, and we plan to use the Insty-prints 50 free flyers for non-profits offer. We will also look into putting the carnival info on marquees around town.

***

[the "just Winans" part...]

III. Read Week Finalization
March 19-23, 2012
• Jim will decide on the “fun days” and we will send a flyer home on March 15th or 16th
• Christina will put an ad in the paper asking for volunteers and perhaps send home a form to recruit community readers.
• Coordinate with Marcia & teachers to schedule readers?---ask Jim about organizing details

IV. Braided Bread Fundraiser - Delivery line up and Order submissions
• Jamie & Jessi will enter orders by computer this weekend
• Anyone who wants to help Jamie & Jim sort orders, they are scheduled to arrive on Friday March 23rd at 2pm. Jamie will send out a reminder email.

V. Teacher Appreciation Week May 7-11, 2012

• We agreed to do wishing tree, Friday potluck, and mailbox surprises again.
• We will need to recruit a volunteer to head up the potluck- Sarah Knecht has done it the past 2 years, and a couple of people to brainstorm and create mailbox surprises.
• If you know anyone willing to donate or offer discounted items please let us know—for example, DQ donated ice cream tokens, a nursery sold us discounted potted herbs, the flower shop gave us half-price flowers one year—ask around and let us know your ideas!

WE DID NOT GET TO THESE THINGS…
VI. Box Top Report/ Treasury Report
VII. Follow-up on T-Shirts or any other possible 2011-12 projects (wrap up), new mascot= the Eagles
VIII. Jim Retiring; Retirement Party for Jim, Jane Welch, and Doreen Reich—check if anyone else is making plans for this (district?); if not, Muffy will look into scheduling something with The Elks Club toward the end of the school year.

**Reminder: Meeting with Rich Moore regarding the new Winans Principal on Wednesday, March 14th at 5:30 pm in the Winans Library

BUTTER BRAID ORDERS DUE!

Our Butter Braid fundraiser ends TODAY! Please turn in all orders & money at the office ASAP!

Also, please make arrangements to pick up your orders on FRIDAY MARCH 23rd around 2pm and keep them frozen.

THANKS for your help! I'll be back soon to post the results of our efforts!

Principal Meeting

ATTENTION WINANS PARENTS:

Our Principal, Mr, Jim Huntzicker, will be retiring this year.

Dr. Rich Moore, our Superintendent, would like to have a meeting with the Winans parents on March 14th at 5:30 PM at Winans school to find out what qualities and characteristics parents are looking for in a new principal.

Dr. Moore would also like to have a meeting with Winans staff at Winans on March 14th at 3:30 for the same purpose, to find out the qualities and characteristics they would like to see in the new principal.

Please come participate (bring a friend!) and help make this change as positive and smooth as possible. A flyer should be coming home later this week.

Thanks!
Winans PTO

A Few Reminders

I. Our next PTO Meeting will be COMBINED with EASTSIDE SCHOOL. The meeting will be held Tuesday, March 6th at 5:30 PM at the EASTSIDE LIBRARY. Please join us and bring a friend!

II. This weekend, Eastside and Crazy Mountain Productions present "The WILDEST WEST SHOW EVER" at the Dulcie Theater. In addition to being a really FUN show, this is a fundraiser for the PTO, so please come to the show if you can, support the older kids in our community, and bring some extra cash for the PTO concessions sale. All seats $5, $20 per family, shows Friday night at 7PM and Saturday at 2PM and 4PM.



III. Our spring fundraiser, Butter Braids (that delicious filled pastry!) begins this coming Monday and runs for 10 days (February 27th- March 7th). Please check backpacks for the order form and be sure talk it up this coming week. The price is $12 per braid and we keep $5. We came close to earning $3,000 last year and we hope to reach that goal this year. The money will help pay for the repairs to the playground ("The FUN Slide"), replenish the field trip fund, and support teacher stipends. Thanks in advance for your help.

Also, please be sure to bookmark this blog and share it with friends. You can email jamiemelin@msn.com if there is anything you would like to contribute to the blog--field trip photos, special recognition, community events, etc. Right now it's just PTO updates but it could be so much more! Thanks, as always, for your support!