November 25, 2014 PTO meeting minutes

 Waukee Elementary/Vince Meyer Learning Center

        PTO Meeting – Monday, November 24^th, 2014

Agenda:

·         Welcome and Introductions                                                          

·         Treasurer’s Report  

·         Committee and Program Updates                        

·         Dates to Remember

·         Questions/Comments        

In attendance: 10 in attendance

Welcome and Introductions

Treasurer’s Report

We have spent $2,595 of the $8,400 budget thus far this year. 

Activities:

·         Movie Night was a success.  Attendance was down a bit, but we still had an estimated 100 attending. 

·         Family Fun Night planning is underway with the date set at Saturday, February 7^th. We will have a basket raffle with themes by grade level as in prior years.  We are also planning some activities for the families.  More information will be coming as additional details are finalized.  The event will be held at Waukee Elementary.

·         The group is looking for additional volunteers to help with Family Fun Night.  Any help will be appreciated.  Please let Alysha Mash or LuCinda Beltman know if you are interested. 

Book Fair: The book fair will take place during the second conference session running Feb 25-March 5.  The book fair will be held in the Waukee Elementary media center. 

Conference Meals: Gusto Pizza Co. gave us a discount on pizzas for teacher conference meals.  We also received generous parent donations of salads, snacks, and drinks. 

Fine Arts: No update this meeting.

Fundraising: This year’s fundraiser is complete.  The total net proceeds were just over $16,000.  The fundraising committee would like to thank all the parents for their assistance and for the successful fundraising delivery process that ran very smoothly this year.

Gardening: The reading garden is complete and looks great.  Mrs. Tjaden also recruited help from the groundskeeper to put up new pavers at the front entrance.

Membership: No update this meeting.

Party planning: Planning is underway for the winter parties which will be held on December 19^th.  A portion of each of the parties (approx. 20 minutes) will be dedicated to a student service project.  The Kindergarten and 1^st grader students will be making well wishes cards for after the holidays. 

The Kindergarten cards will be sent to a local nursing home, and the 1^st grader cards will be sent to a troop in the armed forces out of St. Joseph, Missouri.  The 2^nd graders will be making tie scarves, the 3^rd graders child-sized tie blankets, and the 4^th graders larger blankets.  These items will be donated to the YESS (Youth Emergency Shelter Services) and the local police department.  The 5^th graders will be wrapping donated books (approximately 300).  We will be asking parents to donate wrapping paper.  These books will also be donated to a local charity. 

To prepare the materials for these service projects, we will be looking for volunteers to cut the flannel for the tie scarves and blankets.  Please watch for a message to come out about this shortly and the meeting to be held the first week of December.

The remainder of the party will include a game and a snack.  Please share any ideas you have for games or snacks. 

Teacher Appreciation: No update this meeting.

Yearbook: No update this meeting.

Program Updates:

·         Box tops – Please send in your box tops, or you can save them for an upcoming competition between classes to be held in February.  More info to come on this. 

·         Sunny D – Please send in all your Sunny D labels soon.  The book spree ends the end of this month. 

·         Pizza Ranch, Tyson, Labels for Education – no update

Upcoming Dates:

·         Winter Party: December 19^th

·         Family Fun Night: February 7^th

Next PTO Meeting: Monday, January 26^th at 7pm in the Media Center