Monroe Elementary PTO Meeting Minutes October 20, 2011 6-7 p.m.

Attendance: Anne Rydesky (President) , Diane Blanco (Vice President), Kevin Bower (Treasurer), Sarah Vrem (Secretary), Kimberly Clause, Sara Rasmussen (Principal), Bill Lawrence, Jamie Lawrence, Lori Smeltzer, Serene Shook, Swaniee Grubb, Jennifer Fodness, Cortney Peters, Paulette Phillips, Kim Schler.

1. Welcome President thanked everyone for coming to our meeting. 2. Introductions Sign in sheet passed around to take attendance. 3. Assign roles (time keeper, process checker) Serene volunteered to be our time keeper and Diane volunteered to be our 4. 5. 6.
process checker. Time keeper will help us keep track of time so all agenda items can be addressed within our hourly meeting. Process checker will identify when we are off topic from the agenda and keep us focused on agenda items. Review of Agenda-additional items. 1. Will PTO approve paying for childcare for parents to be able to attend SAC Meetings? 2. Nick and Willys-asked to do a short presentation to the PTO about a fundraising option. Review of Goals for 2011-12. (increasing participation, communication, and fundraising). See below. Minutes. PTO secretary provided the September PTO meeting minutes for review. No additions or changes were recommended.

Standing Reports Financial: Kevin (PTO Treasurer) passed out a rough draft of the 2011-12 budget. It still needs further development and he will continue to work on it to provide the best projections of our income/debts for the year. In addition, he gave the following budget report. i. Albertsons: received check for $29 ii. Baskin Robbins Spirit Night: $289.65 iii. Private Parent Donation: $50 Funding Items Discussion Form for requesting funds from PTO was presented at meeting. Anne asked for any feedback on the form. No immediate feedback suggested. Form can be updated as needed. Draft of the form will be presented/discussed with Principal Rasmussen. Funding Request: Mrs. Smeltzer (Music teacher) presented a request for PTO funding. In the past, she has been able to borrow a loudspeaker from another school she was teaching at. With current changes to her schedule, she is no longer able to borrow this specific music equipment to use at Monroe. The equipment requested is a high performance speaker that would be used during music showcases and choir concerts. This request would benefit all students at Monroe. Request approved by PTO attendees at meeting. Request approved as long as the funding required is $425 or less. PTO does typically request at least two proposals from different companies to identify possible options in the market. Mrs. Smeltzer will continue to research to find an additional price bid. Participation-list of Volunteer opportunities, volunteer coordinator. Anne suggested developing goals around increasing participation. Discussion of appropriate goals to strive for were as follows: o 1. Increase the # of volunteer hours for the month. No specific % was determined. At this time, we need to establish a baseline and determine a % increase that we can strive to achieve to determine if we are meeting our goal. o 2. Increase the # of attendees at PTO meetings. Mrs. Rasmussen suggested it would be great to see at least 13 parents (essentially one parent per each classroom). PTO president suggested that each member at tonights meeting try to bring a parent to the November meeting. At our September PTO meeting, we had 13 parents, 2 teachers, and Mrs. Rasmussen. Volunteer Opportunities The Holiday Shop coming up in December will need volunteers. More specifics coming at our next PTO meeting on the specific dates and times needed will be provided. December 12th would be the first day of sales. Volunteer Coordinator Jamie reported that things are going well. She has several ideas to help increase volunteer hours at Monroe to support the school and the teachers. One idea that she is working to implement is having the teachers fill out a calendar for the month. On this calendar, they could indicate specific days/hours that they could benefit from volunteers on those days. Jamie would work directly with teachers to fill these volunteer requests.

Jamie has been able to identify resources in the district to support her volunteer coordinator position. She is very positive and excited about these resources. She plans to send out thank you notes to volunteers to show our appreciation for their support.

Communication-Website/Newsletter, Facebook Page Website Have been posting PTO minutes, reminders, and meeting agenda. Will continue to use this source to get information out to parents. Anne asked if there is a way to tell how many hits we are getting on the website. Sarah will check with Mr. Arakaki to determine if this number is available. Newsletter Anne asked for feedback on newsletter. Easy to read and informative. Keep up the good work Diane Other Signs were made and laminated to use each month to advertise SAC and PTO meetings. They will be placed on the main entrance to the school and the doors on the north side of the school. One sign will continue to be placed on the fence by where parents pick up/drop off students. Facebook Page No further progress on Facebook page to report at this time. The goal is to have this operational by 12/31/2011. Fundraising-upcoming events Cookie Dough/Butter Braids. Forms will go home to students Friday, October 21. Selling occurs until 11/4/11. Product will be delivered on November 18, 2011 after 3:30. A flier to explain the rewards that students can earn will be sent home with students. Diane asked for fundraising feedback. Are we doing too much? Responses indicated that fundraising requests are not overwhelming. Members like the spirit nights and the demand on teachers is not too much at this time. Additional items added to agenda Cortney Peters (SAC chair) asked if PTO would approve paying for childcare for the SAC meeting that is before the PTO meeting. They do not have any budget to fund childcare but would like to continue to offer childcare as an option for parents to be able to attend the SAC meeting. PTO approved this request (it will be an additional $160 to fund this request). Fundraising opportunity: The owner from Nick and Willys presented PTO with some fundraising options. One option would be preordering the pizzas and we would make approximately $5 a pizza. Parents would fill out order forms etc and have a scheduled day to pick them up or the owner could bring pizzas to the school if that would be beneficial. Another option might be to have a designated night as a fundraiser at the restaurant. The owner believes that preordering could allow for more success in raising funds. 7. Adjourn Next Meeting November 17, 2011 6p-7p