PTO Meeting Minutes 3-12-07

Attendees: Amy Watkins, Kim Winkelman, Julie Linder, Sandy Sivertsen, Nan Brown, Todd Tischer, Pang Moua, Pai Vu, Yia Xiong, See Vang, and Maria Garcia Cedillo.

Principal’s Report: Todd Tischer

*ELL students have completed their TEAE testing.

*MCA testing for grades 3-6 will be April 16-27.

*Math testing for ELL students will be during MCA’s.

March 15 – Family Literacy Night 5:30-7pm

March 21 – Effort Assembly 10:20a. Parents are invited to attend.

March 30 – Class picture day

April 2-6: Spring Break

April 12 – Family Night K-2 5:30 – 7:00p

Staffing Changes for next year:

Maren Dahl is retiring at the end of this year. Courtney Knutson will move to 1 st grade next year. The opening in 2 nd was posted within the building. At the time of this meeting it was not known if anyone came forward.

At this time, staffing for next year is expected to remain the same as this year; however, compensatory money is expected to come in lower than this year.

Carnival Planning : Pang Moua

25 letters have been sent to area businesses asking for donations.

The next planning meeting is April 10 th. Marketa and the pastor from ANCF have been invited to attend as they are planning to help at the event.

Kim Winkelman suggested sending a letter to Brook Park Dental as they gave us a nice donation 2 years ago and they are willing to donate every other year.

Volunteer Coordinator Report: Julie Linder

The next Parent Volunteer Work Day is this Friday, March 16 th at 9:30a.

February volunteer hours were over 280. YTD volunteer hours are over 1300.

Treasurer Report : Kim Winkelman

* Scholastic book fair – we took in $1,613.10 but still need to pay the bill, so the profit is TBD.

* Our account balance is $15,695.67

* Club Choice spring kick-off is March 28 th. There won’t be an assembly. The info just goes home in Wednesday envelopes.

* Kim will start publishing a Treasurer’s Report in the monthly newsletters.

Family Project Update

The second meeting for K-2 was March 8 th. There was a good turnout again, with just a few less families than last time. Nan talked about the behavior system at GC. An Early Childhood educator made a presentation. A representative from transportation will present next month. Sandy Sivertsen mentioned that teachers need to promote Family Project to students. There are fun activities for kids during the meeting.

Art Adventure: Amy Watkins

If anyone would like to sit in on a presentation, let Amy Watkins know.

Other: Sandy Sivertsen and Todd Tischer

Pang Moua has been nominated for an Investment in Youth award for the time and effort she gives her family, school and community. Sixth grader, Kina Vang, has also been nominated. They will be honored at a banquet on May 6 th.

New Business

PTO for next year was brought up by Pang Moua. What direction do they want to take? Parent involvement in PTO has been declining each year. It was suggested that maybe PTO as it is organized currently, disbands. Sandy Sivertsen suggested having just a fundraising committee, with a couple of parents on it and a couple of staff members. They would not have monthly meetings, but instead meet as needed (couple times a year). It was suggested that if this group needed a sounding board, they could use Site Council. Everyone at the meeting seemed in favor of this idea. Further discussion will be needed at the next meeting. It will need to be determined if PTO should be in charge of the money through a treasurer or if it should go directly to the school, monitored by Jill.

Our next meeting is Monday, April 16 th at 6:00p in the Media Center.