PARKSIDE PTO

Parkside Elemetary School
PTO Board Meeting Minutes
January 8, 2006

MEMBERS PRESENT: Chris Nichols, Julie Workman, Kathy Berry, Michele Sampson, Dianna Cordero, Chris Rhodes, Donna Leamer, Kris Stayton, LaNell Greenberg, Cindy Fleri, Shelly Erickson, Jen Schumacher

The meeting opened at 6:35

BOARD REPORTS:

Co-Presidents: Chris welcomed the assembly and thanked/recognized the individuals in charge of the Santa Secret Workshop. It went very well. Great job, Cindy Gilliam and Jen Schumacher!

Thank you to Kathy Berry for coordinating our room moms for the winter parties. Room parties also went well.

A Unit 5 wide PTO Board meeting will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 16 at Hudson.

Treasurer’s Report: Michele Sampson – Made $300 on Secret Santa Workshop, Teacher’s Christmas Presents were presented and Wish List items are still being received, Magazine sale numbers will be available soon.


Principal’s Report: Mrs. Shelly Erickson – Thank you to PTO for the Christmas gifts.

School Improvement Plan Bulletin board posted with some information. School-wide plan includes to major goals.

[1] The first concerns improving mathematics basic facts. Each grade level is working on improving competency and speed in math facts at age appropriate levels. 1st/2nd +,- 3rd/4th +,-,x 5th +,-,x,/

[2] The other major goal of improvement is vocabulary. The January Institute Day will be devoted to the development/planning of strategies to reinforce vocabulary skills.

Study Island – This is a ISAT review program that is available to families to access on the internet. The school purchased the program through School Improvement funds at a cost of $900. The goal is to improve ISAT test scores by allowing students to practice and reinforce via the computer. (Higher interest reinforcement, teachers can track progress and remediation needs.) Families also have access on the program from home or any other internet capable computer (i.e. public library) The school password to log on is “parkside” (case sensitive). Teachers can individualize the program for student to meet particular needs. They can also use the program for review by printing out worksheets as reinforcement. Mrs. Erickson purchased the site license for every child in grades 3-5. The web address is: www.studyisland.com (Mrs. Erickson was double checking the website address and will also post it in the newsletter.) If a child works at home, the practice lessons they’ve completed will be emailed automatically to their teacher for review and assessment. The program has been found to be very user friendly and the company has been provided excellent tech support thus far. Other schools in the district have used the program in the past with great success. For example, Fox Creek purchased it and used it last year and they saw big improvements on ISAT scores the following year.

Project Wisdom: This is a “Character Counts” program. It is similar to The Pillars of Character program, respect, responsibility, fairness, citizenship, etc…

Mrs. Erickson would read a scripted message 1-2 times a week. The message would begin with a few “Words of Wisdom” referenced to a famous American from different facets of life and experience. Example: Background and history about Gerald Ford. A little background about the focus famous person of the day is given. It is then related to a life lesson or moral. The program ends with “Make it a great day or not, it’s your choice.” It reinforces the Golden Rule and it comes with an educator resource packet that is available to teachers online. The cost of the 1st Binder in the program is $450. Mrs. Erickson asked PTO to cover the cost of the binder for use in our school to improve character education resources. Additional packets can be purchased in sets at a later time if the program proves beneficial.

A motion was made by Robin Poston to purchase the Project Wisdom binder. Julie Workman 2nd it. A vote was taken and the motion passed. This will be purchased pending financing availability in the budget. Michele Sampson believes that we can restructure to budget to accommodate the expense.

January 10th – Freshman Orientation at West High School

January - There will be a meeting on referendum with the Board of Education in January. Watch for dates and times.

Change of school times are still being considered – Elementary schools would go to 8:45, Middle school would start a little earlier, High school would start very early in the morning.



COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS REPORTS:

Secret Santa Shop: The sale went very well. They ended up having extra volunteers show up at the last minute. The two day shopping/sale made a little over $300. Jen has already ordered things for next year so we received a discount. She will be moving at the close of the school year, so we will need a replacement for next year. Cindy Gilliam may be willing to do it again for next year.

Spirit Wear: We will make a decision concerning Spirit Wear purchases for Family Fun Night at the next meeting. The items would take 2-3 weeks to order and they could have Family Fun Night printed on them.

Room Parent Coordinator: Thank you to all parents who helped with winter parties. One parent was upset because no one was able to coordinate the party for Mrs. Burger’s class. All parents who had signed up to volunteer on the PTO volunteer forms were contacted and no one was able to take the duty. After that, Mrs. Burger chose to have a movie party instead. Kathy Berry took the responsibility of making phone calls to get money donated. She then went and purchased snacks and paper products before delivering them to the school for the 2nd grade class.

If another situation like this arises in the future, the suggestion was made by that parent to send a note to everyone in the class if no coordinator can be found.

Valentine’s Day are coming soon. There are 4 classes that still don’t have party coordinators. KS, 1A, 2BU and 4H. The party will be on Wednesday, February 14th at 2:15.

Kathy is looking into finding a way to computerize the Room Parent Coordinator job to make the task faster and more organized than the old paper form format. Chris Nichols will help her with that project.

Girl Scout Recognition: Kathy Berry called the Girl Scouts to request this year’s forms and information. Last year she went to the Student Council meeting with a letter and some information about the program. Students are supposed to be part of the nominating process. The student council members were given the opportunity to fill out nomination letters. Last year Mrs. Burger was nominated. She was honored at a recognition dinner that she attended with her husband and Kathy. Kathy will follow the same nominating procedures for this year after receiving the packet from the Girl Scouts.
Newsletter: Articles for the newsletter are due on January 15th. The newsletter will be a combined Jan/Feb. letter.

Sunshine: In December a get well card was sent to a teacher who has been ill. LaNell will continue in this role next year.

Box Tops: LaNell will be receiving the code in the mail for sending in our next box top mailing. There will be more information in the newsletter concerning this.

Playground committee: Chris Nichols assessed the current playground status and compiled pictures and concerns. He felt that we could have a work day to do some of it ourselves to improve conditions. We will need to remove the rocks from the grassy areas and put them back within the borders of the railroad ties. In the spring or summer, the Eagle’s Nest will need sanded and painted.

Game Time was contacted concerning the missing rings on the play set. A representative from Game Time will come by to evaluate the equipment and then get back to us. A price was quoted at $28 per ring + shipping.

Mrs. Erickson will ask Larry Simpson if we still have the old rings.

The pavement area with the Hopscotch and Four Square grids also needs repainted.

Home Depot will donate some materials; Lowe’s also offered to donate additional materials. Menard’s said we would need to go through their main office for donations. Some railroad ties may need replaced. The possibility of donated railroad ties was mentioned, but the decision was made to purchase them instead or get them donated from Home Depot due to the tar on old used ties.

Erosion is another concern. The Town of Normal has assisted some schools with getting their playgrounds up to code. They may be able to order things for us at a discount and may even help with some of the cost. We may want to research other ground covers (Crown Vetch was one suggestion) to help prevent the erosion problem or at least slow it down.

Chris Rhodes will review PTO insurance and school liability issues with Mrs. Erickson before inviting parents to volunteer to help. Watch for details on possible work days if you would like to help with the physical labor part of this task.

The meeting adjourned at 7:35