January 2017 General Meeting Minutes

Helman Elementary PTA

January 2017 General Meeting Minutes

Date, Time, Location: Thursday January 10, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. in the library.

Meeting called to order by Joe Shannon at 6:34 p.m.

Attendance: Michelle Cuddeback, Shane Hunter, Joe Shannon, Kari Smith, Katie Ali, Avril Betoushana, Jessica Bendaw, Dave Herring, Becky Sniffen, John Williams.

There were 9 in attendance and a quorum was reached. We have no guests.

Minutes: Meeting minutes from 12/08/16 were read and approved with an edit under Lego League, the Lego Robotics Club will continue until Spring Break, not the end of the year.

Old Business:

Ashland Pond Days- given by Joe Shannon

All students and parents in attendance had fun and worked hard! It’s fun to see trees planted by students years ago, maturing into tall trees and the landscape filling in beautifully.

Giving Snowflake- given by Michelle Cuddeback

At the deadline for submissions, teachers submitted a strong amount of gift requests, which were able to be fulfilled.
High school students, with a generous donation from Harry and David, handed out large gift baskets including grocery gift cards to some super grateful families!
There was a last minute confusion with a gift. Kari helped purchase a gift which she will be submitting a receipt for reimbursement to Shane. In the past, PTA has fulfilled remaining unclaimed snowflakes.
One family, who wished to donate, despite no more available snowflakes, offered $100. Avril purchased two $50 Shop-N-Kart gift certificates and these were gifted to families as well.
There were tears and much gratitude from receiving families. This is a Wonderful school event!
An idea for next year is to send the promotion flyer out before Thanksgiving break with a follow up email or flyer on return from the break.

New Business:

Winter After School Lego Club– given by Becky Sniffen

Traditionally takes place Friday afternoons 2:50-4:00 p.m. in January in the cafeteria. It is free and open to any student, kinders accompanied with adults. Its run by parent volunteers who can roll out our giant cart of legos and the kids pick blocks and build. Parents make sure everyone is accounted for.
Permission slip/parent volunteer request flyers are sent out. Malinda compiles and maintains the list of participants.
This year Lego Club will be 4 Fridays after school, the weeks of Feb. 3^rd, 17^th, 24^th and March 10^th. Michelle will ask Malinda to send a flyer ASAP.

Valentine’s Day Assembly– given by Michelle Cuddeback

As in the 2 years past, Valerie McCoy is booking the Taiko Drumming group to perform for this event.

Talent Show-

This is scheduled for Friday, March 17^th. We need to find the parent volunteers/committee to run this event. Amy Merwin, the music teacher has already volunteered to run the event with assistance/committee.
Katie Ali will contact the women on our brainstorming list: Denise Finney and Cara Carlson. She will put these women in touch with Amy. Stacy Poole will be contacted for the info pages and fielding questions on running this event.

Science Fair- given by Dave Herring

Dave and his wife Daisy are happy to run this event again. Yay, thank you!!
Science Works assembly will be held before Spring Break; Dave will contact Lisa Murphy at Science Works. The assembly will be scheduled for the week of March 20^th.
Joe will forward Dave the list of volunteers who have signed up for the event.
There are a lot of boards left in the PTA closet. Boards will be made available to take home before Spring Break.
April 13^th is the potential date for the Fair.
Short classroom presentations for the event will happen, with Henry the Dragon.
Dave finds judging volunteers by begging via email. Those who have lab coats are highly sought after!

Committee Reports:

Treasurer’s Report- given by Shane Hunter

A lot of activity over the break, teachers are submitting receipts for classroom expenditures. He will be working on this promptly.
Moved money from our checking into our savings account, for an extra $2.00 per month in interest.
We Have More Money Than We SHOULD and we need to SPEND IT. Shane looks forward to discussing ways to utilize this money and Hopefully pass some motions during our Open Items discussion.
Our Henry the Dragon costume will be paid in full soon.

5oth Anniversary Event- given by Joe Shannon and Michelle Cuddeback

The Henry the Dragon costume will be ready to debut for this event! Its set to be complete this weekend. Who will play Henry??? Maybe Jessica.
Flyers need to be hung around town and contact needs to be made to JPR to promote the event.
Anniversary tees/hoodies will be complete and ready for purchase/ presale pick-up.

School Board Report- given by John Williams

Snow days- we used to be able to sign a waiver that allows the schools to not have to make up snow days. New state laws now require us to make up missed days. The School Board is looking into how to make those days up, with one being the only schedule make up day, March 24^th. They are looking into tacking them on the last days in Junes, which isn’t ideal. Other ways of making the days up can even be by the hour, perhaps adding extra hours to certain days. A final decision will be made within the next week or two.
District School Calendar- this year, they are working on a 3-year calendar, which will essentially mirror this year’s schedule.
Superintendent search is going really well, there have been many great resumes received and they will continue accepting resumes through February. A Community Screening Committee made of teachers, principals and community members, will be helping with the resume and interview process.
Facilities Committee- These meeting are always open to the public. A Bond as big as 100 million dollars is being talked about and how this can be spent on our districts various facilities.
Budget Committee- Always looking for input from the community.

Open Items:

Mosaic Art Proposal- given by Jessica Bendaw

Materials fees clarification; an example of materials fee for a large scale, detailed project is $700.
The best way to get the most accurate estimate of what the project could cost, what must be first considered is: size and location of the project and then the creative idea/theme/design for the piece can determine the level of detail.
At the last meeting, Mia expressed an opinion that all the students should be involved and the best time for that would be during school hours. To give the students an “authentic creative experience”, rather than a “quick craft”, Lisa has worked in the past, 3-4 students for 40 minutes at a time.
Michelle will speak to the teachers at a staff meeting about having a project like this and how it can best fit into class time schedule. Would it be better in spring or fall? A school wide, large scale project or a smaller one that doesn’t affect class time as much? Do the teachers want to dedicate class time?

Money Spending Proposals- given by Jessica Bendaw and Becky Sniffen

Storage solution for Mayfair prizes- Could we rent a temporary POD to have stored on the concrete pad on the playground? Becky will investigate pricing/size options and create a proposal. A permanent long term storage solution is ideal. Joe will look into steel structure options.
Sound Boards for the Cafeteria-

Michelle will set a meeting to speak with the new head of maintenance, David Summer. During this meeting info will be gathered on how to proceed with making this project happen. Q’s: How to mount? Time needed by maintanence crew to install? Exact product need, like the sound boards in the library, you can also hang things on it? Long term maintenance cost?
Will Becky head this project? Who, from past PTA boards, knows the details from when the project was attempted in the past, Gus Janeway? Anyone else who wants to help move this project forward are welcome to come to that meeting.

Next Meeting on Thursday February 9th 2017 at 6:30 p.m., in the library

Meeting adjourned at 8:06 p.m. by Joe Shannon

Minutes compiled by Jessica Bendaw, Recording Secretary