Meeting Minutes

Meeting Date: Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012 at 8:15am Officers in Attendance: Nicole Seitz President Jen Bishop Vice President of Parent Relations Lisa Harmon Vice President of Teacher Relations Kathy Ware Vice President of Fundraising Kelsey Heitkamp Secretary Shanda Still Communications Secretary Location: Van Buren Elementary Cafeteria Next Meeting: October 9, 2012 7:00pm *This meeting was open to parents. 1. Mr. Newcomers news (presented by Nicole Seitz): Stevie Bs night is Sept. 20, Blood Drive is Oct. 15 with an assembly for the kids on Sept. 17. There will be a magazine sale this year to maintain the garden. He is also working with Boz to look into getting Netbooks for the 5th graders. The Golden Apple Award is coming up. A representative is coming to the PTO meeting next month to talk about nominating a teacher. 2. With the Family Movie Night, were starting to run into copyright issues so Nicole and Mr. Newcomer discussed buying into a program for $200/yr that will enable us to show current movies for Family Movie Night and at school. There was some discussion about how to cover that cost, maybe doing a concession, or charging more for pizza, or using the money we make from Roller Skating Night. Also, well have to see if the school is willing to split the cost since they will be using it as well. 3. Lisa Harmon announced that Julie Switzer has volunteered to be Chairperson of Teacher Appreciation meals and discussed possible ideas for a lunch or dinner around parent/teacher conferences. However, a more immediate need is to recruit a few more Room Parents so all of the classrooms are covered. Right now, there are still a few spots open. Lisa has already put together a description as to what the Room Parents would be responsible for. 4. Jen Bishop announced that Molly Heitkamp volunteered to serve as Chairperson of the Caring Committee. Jen also thanked everyone for their help on the Open House and asked that if anyone is willing to help or serve as the Chairperson for next year, to let her know.

5. Kathy Ware and Hollie Haley stated that we had 38 orders for the first Market Day order, giving us a profit of over $200. The first pickup went really smoothly. We are still looking for volunteers for the next pickup day which is Oct. 4. 6. Market Day offers Bonus Days which includes a pie sale in the fall. These would be ordered at the end of October and the regular delivery date is Nov. 1, but if we ordered over 250 pies, we could schedule a late pick up on Nov. 15, which would get us closer to Thanksgiving. We are going to try to push this as a major fundraiser because there is a potential for quite a large profit. 7. The can drive is coming up on Sept. 28. We need volunteers to sit at the drop off site from 7:45 noon. 8. Amy Mason will be done as Treasurer after this year so we will be in need of someone to step up and serve who has experience in accounting. 9. This will be a learning year for the budget since we still dont really have a whole year under our belts to see what actual costs and profits are throughout the year. 10. Kelsey Heitkamp announced that Shanda Still has been brought on as a Communications Secretary which means she will be handling the PTO email, the new bi-monthly Newsletter, and assisting Kelsey with keeping the new Facebook page (www.facebook.com/VanBurenPTO) updated. The bi-monthly Newsletter will be sent out to parents starting this month. This is an attempt to cut down on multiple flyers going home each month and to let parents know what is coming up. The Newsletter and Meeting Minutes will be posted on our Facebook page, which exists in order to further our communication and contact with parents. 11. The Directory is coming. When it is complete, we will probably have parents send in a request if they would like a copy so we avoid making too many copies and wasting paper. There is some talk of parents paying a $1 or $2 or getting sponsors to cover what costs we do end up having. 12. It has been decided that this year we are making Box Tops and Labels for Education due on the 15th of every month. This will be stated in our bi-monthly Newsletter, but we will probably still send home reminders each month until December to give parents time to remember. Reminders will also be posted on Facebook. 13. Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday October 9 at 7:00pm in the library.

*As always, please contact me with any corrections. Kelsey Heitkamp, Secretary