PTO meeting 12/6/22
Attendance: President Lucy Bennett, Principal Matt Gibson, Alora Chirchick, Amy Saylor, Steph Howard, Pamela Badolato, Amy Terlecki, Shirley Osborne, Jenny Ham-Roberts, Brittany Ortiz, Rachel Kramer, Emily Carteen, Erika Dawson, Anjali Gupta, Judy Reiter, Laura Olah, Lesley Farrell
Lucy Bennett – Introduction and description of agenda
Mr. Gibson Report
- Winter Concert: 7/8th grade Winter concert Wed. 12/7 (day performance during school) & Thurs. 12/8 (evening performance). 5/6th grade concert will be Wed. 12/14 (day) & Thurs. 12/15 (evening). Attendees of evening performance need not be in Raptor system but must be if attend day performance during school hours
- 7/8 Winter Dance: Scheduled for Friday night 12/9. Parents should drop children off at gym. School front doors will not be open. Children must stay until dance is over. VFMS will send this out to parents.
- 8th Grader course selection for 9th grade year: Course selection and transition process to high school will pick up in New Year (Jan-Feb)
- Course selection night – Thurs. Jan 26 at Conestoga HS. Parents can learn about course selection/options, schedule, hear from teachers in different departments.
- Breakfast Date TBD at VFMS: Likely in last week of January. 2 HS guidance counselors will come to MS for questions.
- 2d marking period almost halfway over. Progress reports to be out before winter break
- Question re: Bus pick up: Why are lots of kids outside in cold? Mr. Gibson said – 5/6 go to auditorium at end of school day; teachers supervise. 7/8 go outside; teachers outside to supervise/call busses. Done to spread kids out and separate older/younger kids. Safer for younger kids to be inside auditorium. If too cold, older kids can stay inside.
- Will continue to try to do outdoor activity for 5/6 graders when possible. Parents, please dress kids for cold. May have to stay inside if not dressed for weather
- Magazine drive fundraised about $21,000 (may not be net number to school, Mr. Gibson did not have the details on hand)
President Update: Lucy Bennett
- Introductions all around
- Introduced Lesley Farrell as new secretary
- Approved Minutes from last month’s meeting
- Reapproved Amy Terlecki’s power to sign contracts for school assemblies this year
- PTO member social- will try again in January or February
Reports from PTO members
DEI: Erika Dawson & Jenny Ham-Roberts
- Mr. Gibson approached them about hosting cultural gallery/museum in Spring in conjunction with social studies class (Mr. Weeks typically spearheads this). Will further discuss with Mr. Gibson to see what the school needs. May model after cultural event that TE Middle does.
- Suggestions provided as to cultural fairs that elementary schools have held including diverse cultures from community
- This may be smaller event with focus on understanding how kids from different backgrounds learn differently.
- Lucy: Erika and Jenny will speak with Mr. Gibson and report back once have more direction and information
- Planning speaker series starting in Feb.
Treasurer: Anjali Gupta
- Raised $1,395.00 in monies for teacher Gift cards (for approximately 125 teachers). Collection ongoing. Emily noted “Last Call” email can generate gifting
- Donations to PTO total $9,758.00. Giving Tuesday not as successful as last year
- Filed state tax exemption, awaiting approval
Golden Apple Grants: Pamela Badalato
- Teacher Chris Kilby requested grant of $165.00 for 1 year membership of Skill Share, an online learning community that provides educational videos and offers creative themed, teacher focused classes. Would be used to increase teacher’s usage of Adobe Suite to enhance lesson planning and so can provide students with real world applications of Adobe Suite.
- Question raised as to whether learned knowledge could be shared with other teachers as could be cost prohibitive to have this request from multiple teachers. Also, request could be more specific as to why needed.
- Lucy: This could be treated as pilot study – if approved, teacher could report back as to usefulness and ability to share information learned with other teachers. Need to measure success of program.
- Pamela will reply to teacher with questions raised and report back; once further information provided, can vote via email.
Fundraising: Emily Carteen & Amy Saylor
- Flyers – Emily
- Family night with Flyers: Sold 43 tickets, may be more now. PTO profits $5.00/ticket, currently $215.00 for PTO
- Also selling tix for rest of Flyers season games – Sold 4 (may be more now after Black Friday email)
- Main Point Books – Amy
- 3 day sale to be held Fri.-Sun. Dec 16-18. Any book purchased online or in store, PTO will get 20% back. Must mention VFMS during sale.
- Tile Fundraiser – Amy
- Mr. Gibson said can proceed; plan for Jan./Feb. Mr. Gibson can provide tiles, which will increase profits. School is undecided as to where tiles will go; Amy will continue to discuss with Mr. Gibson
- Spiritwear – Emily
- Working hard on coordinating Spiritwear sale with new logo despite supply chain and delivery issues. Goal is to hold sale in January for 2 weeks, then close store, and re-open later with added Spring items. Will be rolled out in 2 waves. School will continue to use Eagle logo but this is new logo for spiritwear. Consider doing with school sport items as well.
Volunteers: Amy Saylor
- Have 5 volunteers for Dance out of 6 spots.
- Winter luncheon to be held Thurs. Dec. 22, at 11. Catering from Maggiano’s. Need helping hands for that.
Cultural Arts: Amy Terlecki & Alora Chirchick
- April 12 event – “Through the Eyes of a Friend” about young people living through the holocaust. Told from the point of view of Anne Frank’s ‘best friend,” a historically accurate composite character. More info at http://www.livingvoices.org/
- Working on 6th grade event
- Main Point Books working on link for Author Nathan Hale sale. Will run a week past event (Feb. 16). Will not personalize books but will sign them. If buy books now, can bring them day of event.
Communications: Judy Reiter -no report
Directory: Stephanie Crill- no report
Blast: Rachel Kramer -no report
Facebook: Stephanie Howard – no report
Green Team: Laura Olah -recycle bins going out Dec. 15
- Ordered 3 recycling bins for green initiative at school
- Start date of Dec 15. Collection through Jan 15
BUILD T/E: Laura Olah
- BUILD T/E holds monthly meetings that are good way for parents to meet each other
- In Jan. Laura will do blurb of what BUILD is, when meetings are, why parents may want to be part of it, etc.
T&E Care: Amanda Miller & Kim Jamme Howard – no report
School Board: Brittany Ortiz
- Attended Nov and Dec. meetings of SB
- Student reps discussed student initiatives – Blood drive, etc
- Roberta Hotinski is new school board president
- Annual comprehensive budget and demographics report to be available in next month on school website.
- District finances audited before Nov. meeting – district had unmodified and clean reporting.
- Virtual school option discussed – enrollment increased to 21,000 students
- School district Looking into potential real estate acquisition
- New transportation online system implemented
- If anything that would like Brittany to present to school board – email her at Brittanyortiz1988@gmail
Next Meeting
· Next Meeting January 10, 2023 via Zoom
Notes Compiled by Lesley Farrell
