SPiE Board Meeting Minutes

January 27, 2011

Call to Order: The January 27, 2011 meeting for SPiE convened at 4PM at Southmoor Elementary School.

In attendance: Stacy Roode, Julie Roseto, Trish Cook, Sam Hanson, Lynn Wells, Aaron Kelly, Nicole Wartell, Maureen Bennett and Annie Leuthold (CSC)

  1. Past Minutes: MOTION was made by Stacy to approve the minutes of the December 16, 2010 meeting, motion was seconded and carried.
  2. Treasurer’s Report: Aaron. Documents attached.
  3. Deposited $1500 in checks yesterday: $1,300 from Duffy Roll sales (we net $500) and $200 in corporate support for the auction. Need to pay school $15,000 for para hours.
  4. Need to spend some money for auction in the next couple of weeks.
  5. ACTION ITEM: Aaron will prepare a status report on Grant Spending for next meeting.
  6. New raffle license received for 2011. Aaron needs to become a Games Manager. ACTION ITEM: Stacy will give Aaron information on a class.
  7. Board Positions: MOTION was made by Sam to accept Maureen Bennett as Secretary, replacing Nicole Wartell, for a term through the 2011-12 school year. Motion was seconded and carried.
  8. Auction Update: Sam
  9. Sponsors are slow; donations are good, coming in – more expected next week.
  10. Biddingforgood.org is a non-profit auction site (charity on-line) which would provide a venue to showcase items (separate items from auction night) and give people who can’t come to the event a chance to bid on some things. Cost for one-year membership is $595.
  11. Invites will go out in Thursday folders on February 3, 2011.
  12. Class projects will be displayed on a Preview Night so people can come and bid early (no physical items, just teacher outings and class projects). Top bid from Preview Night will be base bid on auction night. Trish suggested we showcase some of the new technology or some of the items that were funded this year as a way to show where parents’ money went.
  13. Duck Drop Update: Lynn
  14. Will take place May 1, 2011 at George Wallace Park at 12:30PM (drop at 2PM)
  15. Sam and Karen Bries-Long volunteering; need more volunteers for day of or lead up.
  16. A new idea for this year is to have a formal kick-off for selling – visit the classrooms to rally the kids and/or have a “Wear Your Yellow” day.
  17. Southmoor is largest school involved, we need to contribute a little more. Peggy Lehman’s office wants schools to start promoting event early. Will work in next week to do timeline and flesh out details.
  18. Last year we allocated $200 for prizes – Lynn proposes similar - $150-200 (pizza party, etc.). We may be able to sell tee-shirts as well.
  1. Principal’s Update: Trish
  2. Trish has been focusing on technology in a big way. She is happy to see enthusiasm among the teachers after staff development and trainings. We have not had a technology teacher at Southmoor or someone to focus on it here, yet there is real passion among our teachers to pick up tech and run with it. And with the technology that has been implemented so far (Flip Videos, Reading Eggs program, interactive white boards) we are achieving an exciting level of engagement with the kids. Trish is asking now, where can we go for the future? Six teachers in grades 3-5 are going to go to training and bring Apple technology to school next year. Trish’s goal is to purchase 75 iPads and 75 iPods (Touch) to span over six classrooms, with charging stations and warranties, etc. In seeking funds, she has written four grants since November but has unfortunately received no funds. Cost would be $78,000. $17,500 could come from bond money; $11,000 came back from budget for nurse services we did not get for Fall. Of the $60,000 that was allocated for paras with SPiE, Trish is asking for the $8,000 that was not used. She also is looking for the approximately $3,000 from last year’s Duck Drop. She will need $37,000 if the rest is accounted for from the above and is asking SPiE for support. In the budget process for next year, Trish is looking for allocation in next year’s federal funds to go toward technology items for K, 1 and 2 – whiteboards in those classrooms (we can also hand down technology to lower grades when replaced in higher grades). In Trish’s needs from SPiE for next year, first priority is instructional funds for paras and second priority will be technology. Trish will have to work a cycle or maintenance plan into budget plans; plan to go forward with purchasing scaled to however much money is garnered. Stacy asked for clarification on how the technology will be used in the curriculum and Trish reviewed ideas like digital storyboards, websites or blogs in place of book reports, science applications, etc. SPiE will need to look at its total funds and have a discussion with Trish to prioritize dollars and in doing so would like to see specifics for the uses of the technology to support the request.
  3. Trish reports that the she expects a 2-3% decrease in budget next year (instead of 10-12% as previously thought).
  4. On enrollment, Trish has been marketing Southmoor to try and boost “who we are” – concerned about the numbers for HGT. Michael Acosta put a video on-line for kids who qualify and can choose between Southmoor and Cory. Updates to Southmoor’s website are needed – we are not selling the school. Trish would be happy to work with parents who could be good at web mastery. We can work within the DPS rules and still update the information, make it more enticing and have more content. Annie Leuthold will ask Michael Acosta for assistance or leads.
  5. Stacy thanked Nicole Wartell for above par service as Secretary – she will be greatly missed.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 5:20PM.

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Maureen Bennett, Secretary Date of approval

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