Mt. Erie Elementary PTA

Mt. Erie Board Meeting
November 10, 2009

CALL TO ORDER: The Mt. Erie PTA Board meeting was called to order in the PTA room at 2:30pm by Vice-President Catherine Houck. Those present were Catherine Houck, Leslie Tyssling, Ashley King, Silja Shjarback, Lara Young, Bob Knorr

MINUTES: The minutes of the October 2009 Board meeting were approved as submitted.

TREASURERS REPORT: No report given.

PRINCIPALS REPORT: Bob reported that How it Works, Premier Printing, and an anonymous donation have been made that has allowed the Anacortes School District to be printed and distributed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS
Volunteer Coordinator: Silja reported that the WOW cards are being turned in. She will visit with the Para Eds to ensure that the WOW cards are given out evenly throughout the school.

Silja will send out a communication to the PTA liaisons regarding communications with the teachers.

Fundraising: Leslie said it is almost wrapped up. Only 3 reorders. Internet orders are about the same as last year. Volunteers did a great job and are very appreciated for all they did.

T-Shirts: Cathy Hoy said they will be in at the end of this week.

Family Nights: December 3 is Craft Night. Volunteers are still needed for craft night and each volunteer will be asked to assist at a specific table/craft. Ideas for crafts are welcome.

RIF: First RIF will be December 3. February 11 and April 29 will be the remaining dates and Gina Thomas will head this up.

Reflections: Forms are available outside the PTA room.

Missoula Children’s Theatre: Sign up is open for Fall 2010. Do we want to continue having two per year? This is reaching the same kids both times. Do we want to scale back to one per year and use the money saved to reach another group of kids?

Hospitality: Spirit Day is this Friday. It was suggested that a set number of kids be selected who show the most Spirit. These children could be awarded a coupon for ice cream. This would encourage school spirit.

NEW BUSINESS
Upcoming Levy: A PTA meeting is coming up regarding the upcoming school levy. On December 7 there will be a district meeting at 7 pm in the Middle School Commons. Chris Borgen will be speaking about the School Board Resolution regarding the school levy and strategies and how to get parents involved. The levy is for operations only and is for four years.

Young Authors: This program had been offered through the schools in the past, but this program has been cut from the school budget. A similar program is available through the ESD (no longer in the schools). Margo Cunningham is looking at having authors and illustrators come to the school. More information will be coming about this.

The meeting was adjourned by Catherine Houck at 3:30.

Mt. Erie Board Meeting
October 13, 2009

CALL TO ORDER: The Mt. Erie PTA Board meeting was called to order in the PTA room at 2:30pm by President Suzy Gilbert. Present were Suzy Gilbert, Ashley King, Joan Ockerman, Leslie Tysseling, Jennifer McGill, Katherine Houck, Meredith Laws, Silja Shjarback, Lara Young, Rhonda McLaughlin, Cathy Hoy, Bob Knorr.

MINUTES: The minutes of the September 2009 Board meeting were approved as submitted.

TREASURERS REPORT: We are about $4000 short of target on Sally Foster without internet sales. Budgeted $10,000 but we are approximately 3-4,000 short of where we needed to be.
Field trips, project/teacher grants: we do not want to reduce budgeted amounts so we do not want to cut funds here.

Are there some places that we can cut in the budget?
• Take out $600 in read-a-thon
• Take out $100 in science enrichment
• $250 out for science animal care
• Assemblies $250 cut
• Family nights $200 out
• $100 out of staff appreciation
• $50 out of reflections
• $100 lice kits/lice combs
• This totals $1600 out of the budget without much impact.
Also need to increase awareness of box tops and increase emphasis on eScrip.

Can the money be put into a money market account or a CD account? Want to make sure that the money can be accessed if needed. Research will be done and best options will be presented.

Silja moved that the budget be approved as stated. Seconded and motion passed.

PRINCIPALS REPORT: Bob said it would be a great time for the PTA to look at new ways to help students and supporting parents. Reminded that parent resources are available in the Library and the GET program through the state is great way to begin college planning.

COMMITTEE REPORTS
Membership: Membership is at 170 right now. We are down about 40 from last year but we should be getting sign-ups through October. Suzy would like to have a table at the Harvest Fest for Membership. Bob suggested that PTA forms be put in teacher boxes again.

Communications: Meredith – Encouraged everyone to update on the PTA website. She can show you how.

Silja – Raffle box – be sure to put your name in the volunteer raffle box. There will a raffle at the General Membership Meetings.

PTA liaisons – Silja is looking for volunteers to be liaisons. Would like to ask that each Board member take a grade as a liaison. Silja will send out a list of areas in which a liaison is still needed.

When you sign in at the front of school, be sure to list your child’s teacher so you get credit for Mustang points.

Fundraising – Leslie – One of the prizes for Sally Foster is that anyone involved gets to go to a movie. November 7 will be the movie day at Anacortes Cinemas. Please send Leslie list of any movies that might be good for the movie.

Need to get more parents, families, friends sign up for escrip. Will have a laptop available for signup at Harvest Night.

Family Night – Eleven 6th grade service club kids will be helping with games on Harvest Night.

November movie night has been cancelled. Craft night will be in December – will need many volunteers for this.

Yearbook – Jennifer McGill will be heading up yearbook. Would like to have a parent/child team with each classroom and these photos can all be uploaded to a particular website. Jennifer signed up for Google calendar so people can look at the calendar to see where we are regarding the yearbook. Jennifer is looking at vendors for the yearbook and will get quotes. Sheila is looking into getting software on about four computers in the lab so that a Yearbook club can work out of the lab.

Competition for the yearbook cover – would be open to 6th graders. Would have a panel of judges to select the winner for the cover. It was suggested that this be done at the beginning of the new year.

Jennifer will set us a Picassa site for all photos to be downloaded to.

T-Shirts: Cathy How reminded everyone that orders due on October 20.

Legislative – WA state PTA is opposing I-1033.

Suzy adjourned the meeting at 3:30.

Norton Cyber Safety Challenge – Mt Erie can win up to $20,000!!!

 Imagine the great things Mt Erie PTA could do with $20,000!

 There are still three weeks left to work towards winning $20,000, $10,000 or $5,000 for our school by signing up for a FREE subscription to OnlineFamily.Norton.  Mt. Erie has registered to participate in the challenge but there hasn’t been too much activity from our families yet!   The contest is still WIDE open – the leading schools have about 40 families registered, so we definitely have plenty of time to surpass that number.   And, you have up until November 15^th to sign up for the service!

 To participate in the contest and get your free copy of OnlineFamily.Norton, follow these easy steps:

• Go to https://onlinefamily.norton.com/familysafety/
• Set up an account for your family and be sure to enter our school’s promotional code when you register so we get credit toward the school prize:

School Name:   Mt Erie Elementary

Promotion code:  PR-WA-24-3032

• Follow the easy instructions to install the service on the computers your kids use
• Login to check up on kids’ online activities, view reports showing search items and websites kids are using, set limits on kids’ computer time and monitor Facebook and MySpace activity, etc…

We are doing great work to help protect families and create better online experiences for all.  At its core, that is what this contest is all about – making the Internet a safer and more rewarding experience for the entire family. 

 At the Harvest night family night on October 29, we’ll have a computer set up to sign you up and get you going!

 Finally, here are a few links that may be of interest to you:

 Internet Safety Tips for Parents

What Kids Do Online

Talk With Your Child About the Internet

School and the Internet: What You Should Know

What is Your School’s Internet Policy?

Prevent Online Bullying

8 Steps to Peace of Mind Online

MySpace and Facebook: What You Should Know

 Thanks for making the Internet a safer place for our kids and for helping our school!

 Suzy Gilbert

360.588.8380

360.202.9098 (cell)