Garden City PTO Meeting

Monday, February 7, 2005; 6:30 p.m.  

M I N U T E S

Present: Parent/guardian representatives from about six families; Nancy Wavrin, Principal; Nan Brown, Intervention Specialist; Tracy Corwin, PTO Vice President; Gary Weiser, Fourth Grade Teacher; Julie Linder, Volunteer Coordinator; Kim Graske, PTO Secretary.

Minutes Approval

No changes were made to the December Minutes (there wasn’t a regular PTO meeting in January). A motion was made, seconded and passed to approve the December Minutes as submitted.

General Discussion

The spaghetti dinner in January did not draw as many people as we had hoped, but Mary Cecconi from Parents United gave a terrific presentation regarding public school funding.

There will be a rally for education funding at the State Capitol on Monday, February 28, at 4:30.

Thanks to Amy Watkins for her work on the Scholastic Book Fair last month.

There will likely be a dance with a ‘mini-carnival’ instead of a big carnival this year. April 29 is the tentative date, as it is a release day. Maybe the Firefighters will fund this for us. There will be a rummage sale on Saturday, May 7. Volunteers are needed for both of these events.

Site Council Report

Revisions have been made to the School Improvement Plan per a federal audit, and it needs to be re-submitted by February 18. They were basically language changes to the document, not actually any significant changes to the plan itself.

Principal’s Report

Planning next year’s capital budget. The kitchen may be remodeled as early as spring. The kitchen is out of compliance with many state codes, and will require about a $400,000 renovation, which hopefully will include acoustical tiles. Will try another means of funding for the acoustical tiles if the district won’t pay for them. The company to do the work has already been approved.

No cuts expected to staff next year.

New superintendent of the district should be named by late March.

New Business/Fundraising/Additional Comments

Concern was expressed about the lack of help and participation with fundraising. We are probably not even halfway to the amount the PTO usually raises for funding programs next year.

Many ideas regarding possible and already planned fundraisers and motivating people to help with them were discussed. Some of these thoughts:

Internet fundraising – wristbands, car magnets, candy, ribbons, etc.

Flyer asking for donation to PTO for people who don’t participate in fundraisers; perhaps some employers would match funds

Providing families with a list of what’s likely to be cut next year if the funds aren’t raised but try to keep the tone of the document positive

The combined total for the Maple Grove and second Brookdale gift-wrapping in December was about $80

Parent Involvement Day is Wednesday, March 2, the same as Read Across America Day. Kids whose parent/guardian(s) visit will get to pick out a free book with their visitor, the rest of the kids will get a free book the following day

Companies that have had prior involvement/given donations to Garden City include Park Dental, Medtronic, Vision World, Lions Club and Rudy Luther. We’d like to involve them--and others—again

Seven teachers wrote and received District Foundation grants this year, which is great

Conference attendance was about 94%, which is also very good

Only about 12 people showed up for Focus groups, but about 30 questionnaires total were filled in and submitted. The content of them was not discussed. Maybe a parent/staff coffee/donut time would produce more feedback

Perhaps we should submit a letter/list to the firefighters and Knights of Columbus regarding what we are attempting to fund

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The next regular PTO meeting is Monday, March 14. Regular PTO meetings throughout the year will usually be scheduled on the second Monday of each month.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kim Graske

PTO Secretary