January 26, 2015 PTO meeting minutes

Waukee Elementary/Vince Meyer Learning Center

        PTO Meeting – Monday, January 26, 2015

Agenda: 

• Welcome 
•  Treasurer’s Report 
• Committee and Program Updates 
• 2015/2016 Openings
• Dates to Remember
• Questions/Comments 

In attendance: 12 in attendance

Treasurer’s Report 

We have spent $4,266 of the $9,794 budget thus far this year leaving $5,528.  In addition,

the PTO was pleased to present Ms. Tjaden with a check for $10,000 for school purchases

from the PTO budget.  

Activities: 

• Family Fun Night is Saturday, February 7th. We will have a basket raffle with themes by grade level as in prior years, and the event will be held at Waukee Elementary.  In addition, local businesses have donated money to purchase big ticket items that will be part of the raffle. 
• We are also planning some activities for the families, including: a duck pull, balloon twisters, face painting, a photo booth, photos with cut-outs, and put-put golf.  The book fair will have a table at the event, and we will have a table selling spirit wear.  
• The group is looking for additional volunteers to help with Family Fun Night.  Any help will be appreciated.  Please refer to the email with the sign-up genius link or the link is also referenced on the flyers sent home with students.  

Science Fair: 

• The Science Fair will be held on February 24th.  Applications are due February 5th,

Book Fair: 

• The book fair will take place during the second conference session running Feb 28-March 5.  The book fair will be held in the Waukee Elementary media center.  Volunteers can sign up via sign-up genius which will be going out soon.  This year’s theme is “Under the Sea: Explore an Ocean of Books”.

Fine Arts: The 1st and 2nd grades will be traveling to the Civic Center to watch the Peking
Acrobats on February 12th.  The 5th graders will be also attending this show on February 13th.

Fundraising: No update this meeting

Gardening: No update this meeting.

Membership: No update this meeting.

Party planning: The Valentine’s Party will be held in classrooms on Friday, February 13th.
As a reminder, candy cannot be given with the valentines.  The classrooms will receive approved treats.

Teacher Appreciation: No update this meeting.

Yearbook: No update this meeting.

Program Updates: 

• Box tops – Please send in your box tops for the competition between classes for next month.   
• Sunny D – no update
• Pizza Ranch, Tyson, Labels for Education – no update 

Openings:

The following positions will be open for the 2015-2016 school year:

• District PTO secretary
• Building PTO secretary
• Gardening Chair
• Yearbook Chair
• Box Tops, Tyson, and Pizza Ranch Coordinators 

Please consider volunteering for the PTO for one of these important positions.


Upcoming Dates:

• Family Fun Night: February 7th 6-8pm
• Valentine’s Party: February 13th  
• Science Fair: February 24th 
• Book Fair: February 28th – March 5th 

Additional announcements from Ms. Tjaden:

• Dr. Wilkerson took a recommendation to move 5th grade students back to WE next year and to move Walnut Hills 5th graders to Vince Meyer.  This is due to the growth in the number of students at Walnut Hills relative to the growth at Waukee Elementary. No action will be taken until February when the school board will review this recommendation.  
• The Waukee School board will also appoint a boundary committee this spring to review boundaries for the elementary schools.  This will, in turn, impact the middle schools due to the feeder pattern where certain schools feed into Waukee Middle School and the others feed into South Middle School.   
• Additional topics discussed in Dr. Wilkerson’s district bulletin included: school start date and the supplemental aid the governor is considering for school funding at 1.25%.  This is not nearly enough.  4% would be a great increase, but we really need 6%.  Please email your members of congress to discuss this important issue and advocate for greater funding levels to support our schools.  In addition, Dr. Wilkerson shared that Waukee receives $6,125 per student, but the amount is set in October from the prior year’s enrollment.  Due to enrollment increases, we are educating over 400 students without funding creating an additional economic strain on our schools.  
• Finally, Ms. Tjaden shared a song about the 7 habits written by a member of the 5th grade staff, Jason Dean, and 5th grade student, Molly McGinness.  It was very impressive!  The song will be shared with students at a future assembly.  

Next PTO Meeting: Monday, February 23rd at 7pm in the WE Media Center.