Waukee Elementary/Vince
Meyer Learning Center
PTO
Meeting – Monday, October 27th, 2014
Agenda:
·
Welcome
·
Treasurer’s Report/Budget Update
·
Committee Reports
·
Additional Announcements
·
Upcoming Events
·
Questions/Comments
In attendance: 20 parents/teachers
Leader In Me Book Discussion:
Prior to the official PTO meeting,
Mrs. Tjaden facilitated a discussion of the book, Leader In Me. The first two
chapters were covered through conversation about how the idea got started, what
it means to be a Leader In Me school, and efforts underway at WE/Vince Meyer.
Our school is one of only 3 schools in the District who have earned this
designation and are leading students through this valuable program. This “book club” will continue starting 30
minutes before the official PTO meeting in November.
Welcome:
This was the second official PTO meeting of the year. Much work is already underway, and we are off
to a great start to the school year.
Treasurer’s Report/Budget
Update:
We have a budget of $8,408 for the year.
The budgeted amounts by committee are as follows:
Committee
|
Budgeted Amount
|
Activities
|
$3,210
|
Book Fair
|
$850
|
Conference Meals
|
$500
|
Fine Arts
|
$1,250
|
Fundraising
|
$100
|
Gardening
|
$300
|
General Fund
|
$568
|
Party Planning
|
$500 + asking for $3 per student
|
Teacher Appreciation
|
$1,130
|
TOTAL
|
$8,408 (plus
$3/student for party costs)
|
Program and
Committee Updates - committee updates were provided by
each committee chair, or if absent, by the PTO President, LuCinda Beltman.
Activities:
·
Movie Night will be held on November
14th in the Waukee Elementary gym.
The Disney movie, Maleficent,
will be shown. The event will be
similar to last year where we’ll serve popcorn, candy and water. Students can wear their PJs and bring
blankets to “camp out” on the gym floor to watch the movie and enjoy a snack. The doors will open at 6:15pm, and we plan to
have Kid’s Bop music for the students to enjoy and dance to before the movie
begins.
·
Family Fun Night will be on Saturday,
February 7th at Waukee Elementary.
Activities will take place in the gym, cafeteria, and in the
hallways. Various activities, including
the themed basket raffle and family games are planned.
Book Fair: The book fair will take place during spring conferences occurring Feb.
25 - March 5. The book fair will be held
in the Waukee Elementary media center. A
sign-up will go out the first of the year to request volunteers for set-up,
working at the book fair, and tear-down.
Conference Meals: We were able to secure a significant discount from our local Gusto Pizza
Co. to provide pizza and salad for the teachers during conferences. We will soon be asking for parents to donate
drinks and desserts.
Fine Arts: Again this year, students will be attending live performances at either
the Temple Theatre for the Performing Arts or the Civic Center at a cost of $1
per student. As shared in last meeting’s
notes, the shows by grade level and dates of attendance are as follows:
Grade
|
Show
|
Date
|
Kindergarten
|
Stella, Queen of
Snow
Two children discover the
world of winter in this charming story told through whimsical puppetry. Adapted from the award-winning STELLA and
SAM books
|
Nov. 6th
|
1st Grade/2nd Grade
|
Peking Acrobats
Based on the ancient
Chinese tradition from more than 2,000 years ago, the Peking Acrobats perform
astounding acrobatic feats accompanied by live music. This group holds a world record for
balancing 6 people on 6 chairs, 21-feet high.
|
Feb. 12th
|
3rd Grade
|
Schoolhouse Rock
Live!
Megahits like
“Conjunction Junction”, “Just a Bill”, “Interplanet Janet”, and “Three is a
Magic Number” explode onto the stage for a whole new generation.
|
Nov. 4th
|
4th Grade
|
Adventures of
Robin Hood
In a forest somewhere
near you, a band of brothers seeks to rid the land of evil and return hope to
the poorly treated. Fire up student
imaginations with this clever and unexpected take on Robin Hood.
|
May 20th
|
5th Grade
|
Peking
Acrobats
|
Feb. 13th
|
Fundraising: This year, we had two different fundraising options in the packets – the
Save Around booklet with local merchant coupons as well as the traditional
Club’s Choice. For the Club’s Choice
orders, we will have a pickup night on Wednesday, November 12th from
3:30pm to 6:00pm.
The totals are still being determined, but we have estimated collecting
around $34,000 in orders and cash donations.
Our profit margin from the food sales is 40% and from gift wrap and
other items is 50%. The coupon booklets
also have a margin of 50% equating to roughly a 45% margin overall or $17,000
in profit. This is slightly higher than
our profit in recent years. We still
have 120 leftover Save Around books we may try to sell.
Parent feedback about the fundraiser was positive and parents liked the
option of the Save Around books. There
was one issue with misprints of the books, but this has been addressed, and
there was a question about whether local locations of merchants like McDonalds
and Subway would honor the coupons even though Waukee wasn’t listed as a
location that will honor the coupons.
Bob, the fundraising coordinator we work with, said he’d contact local
merchants to confirm, and we will be notified regarding what he hears back. One parent commented that she’d used many
already at these locations, and there were no issues.
There was a question about whether WE/Vince Meyer had considered
alternative fundraising options like the mile runs that other Waukee schools
are hosting. They buy t-shirts for the
students and local merchants donate supplies, and donations made by the
community sponsor students on the run. Schools
have also lined up the high school band, cheerleaders, the fire department,
etc. to participate. A significant
amount of funds have been raised. This
may be something to consider for future fundraising options in the coming years
since we have already completed our one fundraiser this school year.
Gardening: This committee placed summer and fall flowers at the entrance to the
school and again worked with the special education students to help with
planting. The upcoming projects include
fixing the landscaping fence at the entrance and starting soon will be the
development of the reading garden (space behind the kindergarten and art room).
The materials have been delivered, and we should be done by early
November. There will also be a Phase 2
where the committee will work with Mrs. Doud, the art teacher, to use student
artwork to tie into our Leader In Me theme.
Membership: This committee coordinates school supply kits and district wide
directories and is now wrapping up the delivery of the district directories to
those who ordered them.
Party planning: The first party of the year will be held on Friday, October 31st. Each party will include a craft, snack, and a
game. There are still a few supplies
needed, but the PTO will cover this cost.
Thank you to all the parents who made donations and helped with the
planning and will assist at the parties.
For our next party in December, the
Winter Party, we are considering options to try to incorporate a service
project as part of the party, which will allow students to demonstrate the
behaviors connecting to our Leader In Me theme.
The goal is that each project will be appropriate by grade level. Most of the funds will come from the PTO, but
some items (for example, if we collect books to donate to shelters, can come
from parent donations or through purchasing at a discount book store). We may also ask the students help wrap the
books. At this point many ideas are
being considered.
If anyone has ideas about any
organization that can benefit from our assistance, please send your ideas to LuCinda
Beltman. Some ideas mentioned in the
meeting include: the food pantry (birthday party materials, food, etc.), YESS, or
maybe donating to Blank Children’s Hospital on one of our student’s behalf who
may need to use these services.
An informational flyer will go out the
second week of December sharing our plans.
Teacher
Appreciation: Instead of doing teacher treats this
year, the PTO decided to purchase teacher “Leader In Me” books for all
teachers. This will help them facilitate
the student learning of the leadership concepts in the book.
Yearbook: Planning for this year’s yearbook is
underway. Last year, we sold 335
yearbooks, 90 with personalized covers at a slightly higher price. Each had 44 pages. This year, we’re going with a 40-page option
to keep costs lower. We anticipate the
cost will be the same at $15 for the basic yearbook and $20 for the
personalized cover.
The group was asked if they wanted the
autograph pages at the end of the yearbook.
Most said they didn’t need these and to include pictures instead. The group also voted on the cover for the
yearbook and chose “Words to Live By” as the cover title to connect to the
Leader In Me effort. For now, we are
collecting photos from teachers and from the 4th and 5th
grade student photographers.
Program Updates:
·
Box tops – Please send in your box tops, or
you can save them for an upcoming competition between classes in January.
·
Sunny D – The Kindergarten through 4th
grade classes will be using Sunny D for their Fall party. We will turn in the labels (20 labels = 20
books) for the book spree which runs through November 30th.
·
Labels for Education – We are collecting these labels on
foods, mostly Campbells. We earn double
points from now until November 15th.
·
Pizza Ranch, Tyson, – no update
Additional
Announcement: Our Giving Trees will go up before fall
conferences. On the trees will be
ornaments listing requested items needed by local families in need. Parents who wish to participate should take
an ornament(s), purchase the item(s), and then return the item(s) to
school. Both trees will include items
that will go to our own WE/Vince Meyer families in need.
In the past, we had also partnered
with the Waukee Police who sponsored families in need by giving them names of
families in our schools. However, the
individual who had coordinated this in the past has retired, so we won’t have
as many families receiving assistance this year (2 vs 40 in the past).
Therefore, if you know of other
organizations looking to sponsor a family, please contact Mrs. Tjaden who can
give you the names and needs of our local families to ensure we can help as
many families as possible. This could be
for specific items, or if an organization/group would want to adopt an entire
family, this can be arranged as well. We
also plan to reach out to local churches proactively to ask if they’d be
willing to assist.
Upcoming Dates:
·
Fall harvest party is October 31st;,
- 2:30 to 3:15 pm (see Mrs. Tjaden’s note about coming by to pre-register
to get in the system to speed up the sign-in process; if not in the system,
will need to bring your ID before you’re allowed to be in the school)
·
Fall fundraising delivery on November
12th in the gym (3:30 to 6pm)
·
Family movie night on November 14th,
at 6:15 pm in the gym
Next PTO Meeting: Monday, 11/24 at 7pm; Before the meeting at 6:30pm, Mrs. Tjaden will be
leading the second Leader In Me book
study. Please read chapters 3-4 for this
discussion.
