As an Organization We Are Making Greater Efforts to Improve Communication

Christine Abbatemarco welcomed everyone and discussed the PTO’s intentions to support the Washington School staff and community.

As an organization we are making greater efforts to improve communication.

Look for a PTOCommunication Folder to regularly come home the first week of the month. It will contain all the proposed events and fundraisers for the near future. Parents are encouraged to return the folder (& whatever forms they have filled out, payments etc.) back to the classroom teacher in a timely matter. This will enable the PTO to easily access your responses, by keeping PTO correspondences separate, and the folders will be reused the following month.

{October’s folder contained PTO Membership Forms, an Event Calendar for the year, order forms for School Store Gift Certificates, Pumpkin Patch Info. (a Volunteer Form along with proposed schedule for classes) and Delicious Orchards fundraising order form.}

Check out the school website:

It contains a PTO link. The school calendar is also listed here, with information regarding events and fundraisers.

The PTO has a Facebook Page – Washington Elementary School PTO

In addition to providing information regarding upcoming events, and fundraisers (including reminders), posts can be made by anyone who “likes” the page. Feedback and (parent approved) photos/videos can be shared. This can become an easy forum to get questions answered.

Volunteer Spot is another website-based service we are utilizing to organize those who wish to volunteer. An email message will be sent to those who have provided email addresses with a direct link to the event. Recipients will have the option to click on the link and sign up for a time slot. A reminder will be sent out as well.

Those who prefer to opt out of the emails, or are uncomfortable navigating the web, will have the option to respond directly to the Volunteer Coordinator at :

This email can be used for direct correspondence & questions regarding volunteering as well.

Cheryl Berner delivered the Treasurer’s Report. [see attached] After purchasing School Agendas for students, outlaying funds for the Ice Cream Social (supplies & DJ), stocking for the School Store, issuing T-Shirts to the entire Kindergarten, allotting disposable cameras for the 5th graders at Camp Bernie, and donating a small snack to Girls On The Run, the PTO has an approximate account balance of $3500. We are hoping for this to increase as PTO membership forms/funds are received, and as fundraisers like the Fall Plant Sale & Yankee Candle filter in.

Our first event of the year, The Ice Cream Social was very successful. Much gratitude to the parents and staff members who helped out! Over 300 dishes of ice cream were scooped, topped and enjoyed. Students, staff and family members got to socialize and enjoy downtime with Wes, Wessic, the DJ, and the new principal, Mrs. Schlatter, & her family.

Gail Schuetz described the School Store. {During recess/lunch periods, students have an opportunity to gain some independent life skills, while making small purchases of school supplies. No item is over $2. } They are held, periodically, on Fridays this year. Next School Store is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 16th. The first School Store was held on Oct. 2nd and earned a profit of $205. School Store dates are listed on the School Calendar, and reminder slips are sent home the night before.

Several fundraisers will be conducted on an ongoing basis:

Please collect Campbell’s Labels and Box Tops For Education. Cut them off of participating products and send them in periodically with your child. They are redeemed for various supplies for the school. Box Tops also has a web-based program where purchases made can be credited directly to Washington Elementary School, in Edison NJ. Many of the items acquired are donated as prizes for the PAWS Program (to positively reinforce appropriate behavior).

Scrip Gift Certificates allows the purchase of many gift cards to provide a certain percent of the purchase price as a reward to our school. The gift cards are sold at face value, never expire, and have no activation charge. Payment is usually rendered to the PTO, and we order your cards. If you are interested in using this service, contact the PTO ( ) .

We are looking into other services like Shoparoo, where receipts from sales can translate directly in percents back to the PTO. Hopefully, more on this will follow.

Other fundraisers are scheduled.

-Comedy Night / Tricky Tray (in March) – WE WILL NEED A COMMITTEE TO FACILITATE THE SUCCUSSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS EVENT

-restaurant events {a % of the in-store sales are donated to the PTO} :McDonald’s, Wendy’s, ChuckECheese, Frank’s (conference night), to name a few

-Fall Plant Sale

-Yankee Candle

-Gertrude Hawk candies

-Vermont (nut free) chocolate

-Delicious Orchards (pies, donuts)

-Individual Sales: Halloween Bake Sale, School Apparel, Holiday Sale, Mother’s Dale Sale, Father’s Day Sale

-Book Fair – week of Parent-Teacher Conferences. This year we are opting to solicit Teacher Wish Lists. Parents will have the opportunity to donate to classes/teachers by fulfilling these lists, while also gaining credit for the PTO. After last year’s purchases we have acquired of $4883 in Scholastic book credit. The Librarian has been made aware of this balance so she can supplement the school’s needs.

Mrs. Ales & Dr. Ulrich are the teacher representatives for this school year, and are excited to embark on a new year under the direction of Mrs. Schlatter, the new principal. (Mrs. Conway will fill in for Mrs. Ales when she leaves for Maternity Leave next month) They thanked the PTO for giving the Faculty Room a facelift, and for their support of the PAWS Program by assisting with materials. Mrs. A. & Dr. U. are to be commended for obtaining 100% participation from the faculty as far as PTO Membership is concerned 

Mrs. Schlatter- Our new principal brings a variety of experiences in the field of education to Washington Elementary. Having last worked at the high school, she made the suggestion of tapping into resources from Edison High and potentially utilizing students from the AVID Program, or various service organizations @EHS to assist with babysitting on night events, such as Parent University, Conference Nights – allowing the older students to earn community service hours.

The next PTO Meeting is scheduled for November 4th at 7PM in the ART Room.

All subsequent meetings are scheduled for the first Wednesday of the month.