Waukee District PTO Meeting Minutes
December 6, 2011
Present: Tiffany Briggs, Duane Sundo, Janelle Rouse, Kim Kroll, Kristin Jeffries, Cheryl Philpott, Heather Doocy, Allison Hamling, Todd Thorson, Ginnie Coleman, Erin Lantz, Diane Halbur
I. Meeting called to order at 7:01 p.m.
II. Secretary’s Report
a. There were no questions about the September minutes. A motion to approve minutes was made by Tiffany. Motion 2nd by Cheryl. Motion carried.
III. Treasurer’s Report
a. The verification of gambling funds was discussed. There was also discussion about the requirement that a single item over a certain amount (either $50 or $100) and the person who wins that item must be reported separately. Todd found out that social security numbers and information pertaining to the person who won an item valued at $600.00. The $50 and $100 apply only to bingo games and are not applicable to us as we do not have monetary or prize amounts equal to these numbers as prizes for winning bingo.
b. NSF charges: There is a 3.00 fee assessed for reviewing checks that have come back as NSF. This charge is not waived for business accounts and is only charged when you look at the item, not only a monthly basis. This charge can be avoided if you go into the bank and have them pull the information for you. The original check gets mailed to Todd. You can elect to try to redeposit the check, however, if there are not sufficient funds again you will be charged a second NSF fee.
c. Most financials have been received by the schools, however, they need to be reviewed and checked by Todd before they can be approved. There are a couple of schools that need to separate the information according to their budget. Financials tabled at this time. The information needs to be to Todd by the end of next week so we can approve financials.
IV. Old Business. No old business to discuss
V. New Business
a. Diane Halbur from Custom School Supplies came to discuss the issues this year, specifically the return on profit and short supply. Custom has been doing our orders for 7 years. This year they entered into a new partnership with Education Products, Inc. As such, they will be able to offer more products and benefits. The company is based out of Dallas; however, Custom School Supplies will still be the main contact. Initial orders will still be done online and reorders will be allowed after the initial ordering deadline. Returns will be allowed for additional orders that are not purchased. You will have access to see what has been ordered by your school. The approximate shipping time is 5 days. They do have plans to sell at Hy-Vee again, but the price is not allowed to be lower than what the PTO sells them for. Profits will be returned in a timely manner, approximately two weeks after a complete order. They will also offer two types of packaging, box or shrink-wrap. Discounts will be offered for preorders; however, orders cannot be placed until the school supply lists are available. In the past two years the lists have not changed. They have offered as compensation 100 free customized shirts, two colors, available to the elementary and middle schools. They can be ordered this year or next and additional can be ordered for a price. You can use a logo or they can design one for you.
b. There was discussion about the issue with the school directories. One parent questioned why we don’t do school specific directories. Many people utilize the district directory as a whole, especially because of the many boundaries/school changes that have taken place. The issue this year was not related to the size of the District in any way, it was specifically a technical glitch beyond anyone’s control. It is important to note that there have been errors in the past as well because of it being a manually entered system as well. There have not been a significant amount of complaints and the issue was well communicated. A committee headed by Janelle will be formed to look into options for next year to ensure that some type of entry verification will happen before the directory is sent to the printer. The PTO will continue to make sure the directory is a reasonable price. As a reminder, Ginnie discussed the necessity for a District directory. The profits support the District costs, start up funds for new schools and teacher conference meals support for schools that do not do fundraising (SMS, WMS, PV and HS).
VI. School Updates
a. Brookview: They had their carnival in October with their highest raffles sales to date. They offered a “Principal for a Day” and “Lunch with a teacher” as incentives. The book fair was less than last year, but they had two additional days. Their fall fundraiser products will be delivered next week. The numbers for final profit were not available. They used Great American and were pleased with them. They hosted Cindi McDonald, the new school associate superintendent to speak about the school board strategic plan. In January they are having their technology instructor come in to demonstrate why iPads are an important tool in the classroom and the educational learning opportunities they can give students. The principal also has a link to applications that they use on his blog.
b. Eason: Our fall bingo/basket raffle event went well. The Winter Carnival is set for January 29th from 4-7 at Prairieview. We had great parental support for the teacher conference meals. Talking canvas is in progress and doing well. Cultural Day will be in the spring and we are working on volunteers at this time. Our fundraising efforts with Mr.Z’s netted a profit of around $11.000. These funds will be used to purchase an iPad for each classroom. A check was given to Mrs. Erke in the amount of $4500 so she could purchase them for the upper grade levels so the 5th graders could utilize them since they worked so hard for them. Book fair was a success as well. There were 185 teacher wish list books bought by our wonderful Eason parents.
c. Maple Grove: Bingo for books went well. MG has the bingo supplies in their closet. The book fair did the same as last year. MG used Great American for their fundraising and had a profit of almost $17000. They have met their goal and are done for this year. They also had $2000 in direct donations for those who opted out of fundraising. During conference week the PTO acted as “Flight Attendants” and took around a cart of goodies for each teacher to pick out.
d. Shuler: They hosted Diane Williamson, the instructional coach, at their last PTO meeting. They made 8000 profit on entertainment books and 9000 from direct donations. Their apparel sales netted 1515. These funds will be used to fund field trips, wish list items, playground equipment, benchmarking kits, walkie-talkies and document scanners. The book fair had 14,000 in sales with 2,000 in loose change. They will be starting a website that will be linked through the District PTO website. The Miners Mart craft bazaar was successful although advertising was a hurdle. They also started a science club and 100 kids showed up for the first meeting! They will be starting an art club as well. There has been concern expressed to PTO leaders about classroom sizes and student resources. Parents have also talked about the lack of enrichment due to the cap of the top 3% that are asked to be in ELP and whether or not ELP is even addressing the needs of those students. They talked about forming a separate committee/group to help educate and if needed, develop a plan of action to address the concerns. At this point the Board discussed whether this is a District wide problem. There was also concern about the lower achieving students and whether they are getting the special enrichment they need.
e. Walnut Hills: No report.
f. Waukee: The fundraising they held in October with Clubs Choice netted a profit of $22.000. They also tried an incentive in which 12 or more orders or 20 cumulative family orders received a lunch inflatable party. They are still doing the Sunny D labels for books. Their PTO meeting held Oct. 17 focused on the way iPads/itouches are used in the classrooms. Their next meeting will be Jan. 17th and Family Fun night will be held Mar. 3rd at WE. They will also be holding a Spring Book Fair during conference week. The PTO is sponsoring a Winter Mega Magic Show during half of the Classroom Winter Parties on Thursday, Dec. 22nd for reaching our fundraising goal this year .
g. North Middle: No report
h. South Middle. Ginnie did a sign up genius for conference meals and we had a great response. There were items that needed to be purchased amounting to $180.65 putting them under the budget of $250.00 for the fall.
i. Prairieview: Conference meals were arranged by Ginnie. Due to short notice pizza was ordered in the first day and Subway the next day. In the spring I will try to get more parental support by doing a sign up list. The cost was $254.31, $4.31 over budget that will adjust in the spring by doing a parent sign up sheet.
j. High School. A check was issued for the conference meals in the amount of $250 for the high school to spend based on their needs in excess of what is provided by the student food program. Another check will be offered in the spring in the same amount.
VII. District Report
a. Address the independent function of the PTO from the district. Ginnie suggested that any correspondence from the PTO, whether it be District PTO or individual school PTO boards have the following excerpt:
The Waukee PTO is an organization that has no official association with any other organization. Although the organization encompasses the entire Waukee School District, is it separate and independent.
VIII. Other Business
a. Ginnie spoke with someone at the Westview Church food bank and he mentioned that there were issues in summer with the pantry items getting low. She discussed a possible joint venture food drive at the end of the school year to try to help get them stocked up for the summer. The VP’s all agreed that this is something to plan and will be further discussed at our March meeting.
b. Dome Theater information is available if schools are interested.
IX. Meeting Dates
a. Next meeting will be held on March 13th. Since slate is schedule for April 3rd, notices will need to go in the papers and in the school newsletters by March 3rd. Schools will need to have their slates completed and to Ginnie by February 20th. Ginnie will assign a slate committee in January. Our June meeting will be held in Boardroom on east side of building due to elections.
X. Adjournment
Waukee District PTO Meeting Agenda
Date September 6, 2001
Present:
I. Meeting called to order at 7:04 p.m.
II. Secretary’s Report: Ginnie motion to approve the minutes from the last PTO meeting of the school year for 2010-2011. Cheryl 2nd the motion. Motion carried.
III. Treasurer’s Report: Walnut Hills still shows a balance in their account, as they have not set up their individual account. Todd will send out a spreadsheet the each school must us to keep track of their expenditures. This sheet will need to be brought to the meetings for Todd to have on file. Any questions school treasurers have can be directed to Todd. There was also a request for the treasurer’s emails so they can be included in the distribution list when emails are sent regarding financial matters. Motion made by Ginnie to approve the August 31st financials. Motion 2nd by Wendy. Motion carried.
IV. Old Business
a. There was concern expressed about Custom School Supply not having enough extra school supply boxes for late orders. Custom had a lot of orders this year and therefore there were not extras available. There was also discussion about their online ordering system being non-Flash compatible. Cheryl was going to direct questions to Custom about that. There were 731 school supply kits sold, versus last year’s number of 675. Checks should be sent to schools by the end of September. 31 total paper orders. Profits rounded for the schools are as follows
i. Brookview $1137
ii. Eason $971
iii. MG $809
iv. Shuler $1274
v. WH $354
vi. Waukee $720
vii. North $383
viii. South $423
V. New Business
a. Reminder that incomes earned that utilize the gambling license must be reported within 2 weeks of the event to Todd for reporting and tax purpose UNLESS you are right at the close to the tax reporting timeline, then it must be reported immediately. Any questions about reporting dates can be directed to Todd.
Directory orders have been going well. There was discussion about one last effort being sent through the District List Serve. As of Monday, September 19th that request had been granted through Dr. Wilkerson. There were questions about whether or not the emails in the directory were going to be underlined this year, as you cannot tell if an email address has an underscore in it. This will be address to the print company.
VI. School Updates
e. Brookview:
i. Wendy said that kindergarten evens for families went well. They included a FAQ session with the principal. There was also a bring your own picnic the week before school. Brookview gear orders are in process. Their first event will be held on October 9th from 2-4. Fundraising efforts will start in November.
f. Eason:
i. Ginnie reported that the PTO had an informational table on curriculum night that went well. October 8th in the annual Eason basket raffle, bingo and dinner. Fundraising efforts will be held in November. This years efforts will once again be used towards technology purchases, teacher wish lists and covering the cost of classroom parties that in the past has been requested of the families.
g. Maple Grove:
i. Allison reported that their first meeting would be held on September 19th. They sent out a direct donation sheet this year that has done well. Fundraising for MG will start in October.
h. Shuler:
i. Janelle reported that the PTO had a table at Back to School night. They also had a t-shirt available for sale. They had punch cards for visiting areas of the building, with cookies as an incentive. This was coordinated through the Boy Scouts. Classroom party sign ups will be held on Get to know PTO night. Panera will once again sponsor Shuler this year. Their tailgate party will be held Friday, September 23, 11.
i. Walnut Hills.
i. No report.
j. Waukee:
i. Tiffany reports that they held and ice cream social for teachers on August 12th. They also held a kindergarten meet and greet. Clubs Choice will be their fundraiser this year as well as a raffle on back to school night. There will not be a fall book fair at Waukee as all of the dates were taken, but they will hold one in the spring. Their first PTO meeting will be held on September 19th.
k. North Middle. No report
l. South Middle. No report
m. Prairieview: No report.
n. High School. Person found for conference meals. Ginnie will contact her.
VII.District Report
a. Please read and be informed of District events via District bulletin.
VIII. Other Business
o. Meeting Dates: Meeting dates have been set for the remainder of the year: December 6th, March 13th, and June 5th with location TBA. Time will be at 7:00 p.m. Please review the bylaws in regards to attendance policies. Slate will be held on April 3rd with notice out on March 2nd.
IX. Adjournment at 8:47 p.m.
