St. Brendan’s PTO Board Meeting

September 2004 Minutes

 

 

Attendees:     Margie Schmutz, Monica Carlin, Julia Walters-Burns, Liz Kieffer, Sue Iverson, Lynn Wygant, Marianna Cannon, Huong Vo, Cindy Seib, Lisa McCole, Brenda Roberts, Tim Kennedy, Maria Perez-Torkildson, and Mike

 

The Board, Committee Chairs, School Function and Enrichment Coordinators met in the 8th grade classroom.  Margie and Monica called the meeting to order at 7:07 pm.  Margie led all present in a prayer.

 

REPORTS

 

Fundraisers:

 

Auction (reported by M. Schmutz in the absence of D. Loutsis and J. Maccarone) - The Hyatt has been reserved for March 5, Auction Night.   Pat Hall (auctioneer) and the DJ have also been reserved.  Still needed are auction committee chairs for Family Night and for Thank You’s.  Invitations are currently being designed..  The upgraded version of Auction Maestro software has been installed on the new computer and will also be installed on the old.

 

Box Tops (C. Seib) – The number of box tops turned in last year approximated 6,800 with the school netting almost $700.  Cindy inquired as to which type of products list (visual with pictures or listing of product names) should be distributed to school families.  Visual was preferred by meeting attendees.  Also decided, was that the product list would be distributed in black and white.  Color copies are expensive and the funds raised were not supportive of this option. 

A note will be put into the church bulletin to encourage parish members to save and donate box tops to the school.  A suggestion was made to include Box Top information with the information that new families receive.

 

Sally Foster (reported by M. Schmutz in absence of J. Hobgood) – The fund wrap sale is currently in progress.  Orders can still be placed through the Internet.

 

Holiday Craft Fair (M. Cannon) – Jan Carroll may offer to run the kitchen.  There has been a great response from vendors, possibly as a result of advertising done during the summer.

 

Scrip (L. McCole) – For the 2003/04 school year, approximately $360,000.00 was generated in scrip sales including summer sales at Mass.  The school makes 5.4 percent.   From the profits made, funds were distributed for the playground ($5000) and to PTO ($10,000).

Albertson’s is no longer using a partner card in lieu of scrip; they are only using the Albertson’s Preferred card.  Customers can link the partner card to the preferred card online.  This can also be done at the store level.  If cards are not linked and the preferred card is used, the school will not receive any rebate.  A notice will be placed into the school bulletin notifying families of the change.

At this time, Mon.- Fri. volunteer coverage is adequate.

 

See’s Candy – Peggy Harnden will be chairing this fundraiser.

 

School Lunch (S. Iverson and L. Wygant) – The lunch program is returning this year with lunches offered on Mon. and Tues.   Lunches will be served beginning in October and running through May.   Monday’s lunch will alternate between Uncle Peteza and Subway.  Tuesday’s lunch will be provided by My Favorite Caterer and will rotate between 8 menu items.


There are 8 teams/6 people each operating with a 4week rotation.  Each team has one member that has a Food Handler’s permit.  The school website has the order forms posted for printing, the current menu’s and the team serving each week.  A designated student from each table will help read the names for their grade as lunches are being served.

Order forms for October/November have been distributed to the families.

 

Membership (B. Roberts) -  The picnic was a huge success, as18 new families are attending St. Brendans.  There was concern that the new families should be made aware of the carpool rules.  Also, for last year’s 12 new families, a January survey was conducted and it was determined that the parents would have liked for the teachers to touch base with them sooner than the time scheduled for conferences.

 

Playground (reported by M. Schmutz for T. Lucas) – Signups for playground duty are in the PTO room.

Tom Burns has a list of six items to fix after an inspection of the playground was done.  Mrs. Sullivan   suggested that the curb against the side wall of the playstructure be removed. There is concern that a child could jump or fall off the side wall and onto the curb resulting in injury. The playground supervisors and teachers will monitor the concrete wall to see if there is going to be a problem with children jumping off the edge. A possible solution would be a fence around the edge of the wall that is against the storage container.

 

Technology – New server hardware was installed on all teacher’s computers.  Printer hardware was updated and/or replaced.  

An inquiry was made to see if families could order hot lunch on-line; payment would still be made by phone or in person; this would be possible.  The format would also allow the hot lunch orders to be emailed and downloaded into an Excel format for the scrip chairs to view and work with.

 

PTO Photographer (Tim Kennedy) - Digital formatting for photos was discussed and that it would be easy to place on a database and that a CD could be issued. 

Tim requested information on types of events to be photographed and kind of photos needed.  Tim was asked if he could take the CYO team photos this year; Jim Jacoby had done this in the past.  He said he would consider it.   Another possibility would be to hire someone for team pictures.

It was also suggested that any photos taken be shared with the people putting together the memory book.

Hospitality (reported by M. Schmutz for T. Lambert and K. Rourke) – In October, St. Brendans will host all the Catholic School Principals for a luncheon.

 

Memory Book (reported by J Walters-Burns for R. Colleran and L. Weldy) – Suggestion made to ask the room parents to help solicit photos from the parents for their class.

 

Parish Publicity (M. Torkildson) – Updates were made throughout the summer in the parish bulletin.  Any items to be placed in the bulletin need to be in the office by Monday so they may be reviewed by Mrs. Sullivan.

 

Jr. High Play (J. Burns) – Students will vote on type of play; musical or non-musical.  Marcia has scripts available for each type; decision will be made by end of Sept.  The Everett PUD has again been reserved  for April 8 and 9.  Because the facility needs to be reserved a year in advance, Margie will be calling to reserve for the 2005/06 school year.

 

Speech (reported by M. Schmutz for S. Louthain) – The Blanchet tournament will be held Dec. 4.  Speech preparation will begin the beginning of Oct.  The next tournament will be the Seattle Prep tournament held in Jan.  The students will be given an opportunity to practice their speeches for a group of kids and adults prior to the tournaments.  It may be necessary to recruit more speech coaches. 

 

Young Authors (reported by M. Schmutz for E. Vandenberg) – They are currently looking at speakers; will report back.

 

NEW  BUSINESS

 

Uniform Evaluations -  To be conducted every 3 years.  It is recommended that when the next evaluation takes place that the entire uniform be reviewed.  Julia will review the evaluation process.  .  The evaluation is completed by the school commission.

 

Wednesday Envelope – A new envelope has replaced the manila envelopes used last year.  There is a different color for each grade.  The front of the envelope has a pocket with the envelope procedures listed.  It was requested that the committee chairs be reminded of the process due to volume of communication they send.  A reminder was given that last year’s calendar should not be used when addressing mailings as this information is no longer correct.

 

Phone Tree – Julia is almost done.  Email addresses will not be listed; only family name, main phone # and cell # for each parent.  It will be sent out in the Wed. envelope with changes to be sent back to the room parents for each grade.  Alexandra Burns and Julia will maintain the list in an Excel and Powerpoint formats.  Master copies of the list will be held by the Exec. Chairs, the Head Room parent, office and a list will be given to each teacher for their class.

 

Margie and Monica adjourned the meeting at 8:15 pm.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Liz Kieffer