Conestoga PTO Meeting Minutes November 5, 2014
October Meeting Minutes Approved.
Budget Approved- Largest expense was the bus cost for the 6th grade field trip. 3rd grade had their field trip as well.
Mobile Ag Lab: Kids loved it. The lessons are age and grade appropriate so it benefits the entire school. The cost was $1,000 after receiving two grants totaling $1,500. One grant was from the PA Soybean Council and the other was from being one of the first schools to sign up.
Game Night was a fun night with about 110 people in attendance. Rock collected many donations. Eighty pumpkins were entered in the pumpkin contest. Winners were posted on the blog.
Recess Running Club: Tomorrow ends the fall session. Mr. Schettler and Mrs. Garpstas classes had the most laps and won the trail mix party. They will do the same thing (contest and trail mix party) for the spring session.
Book Fair is next week. It will be held for three days on 11/10, 11/11, and 11/12. It will be open for evening conferences. They may do a full week in the spring.
Conferences- The hospitality committee is planning on providing dinner for the teachers. Many soups, salads, sandwiches, and desserts will be provided for 21 staff members.
Garden committee- Beth Horst held the garden meeting last week. They have a great group of involved parents who have young children. They are working to make the lessons as easy as possible for the teachers. There is discussion about each class adopting a vegetable to plant, grow, and harvest for a salad party with their buddies. There is discussion about a possible wellness week. They will have definitive plans in February. They are planning on recycling milk cartons from the cafeteria to use as planters for an earth day project to be done on or around 4/22/15. A garden work day is planned for 11/15 from 8 to 10 am. All are welcome to attend to help! Wreath making will be done at the December PTO meeting. The cost will be $5.00 per wreath. It will be more streamlined with sturdier greens.
Santa Shop- Five craft vendors are lined up. The committee would like to have one or two more vendors in addition to the other products supplied by Gifts N Things. Wreaths will also be offered for sale. Cookie decorating and hot chocolate will be offered. We are still in need of a Santa!
T-shirts will be ordered for each student. The committee is deciding how best to collect the students sizes. Adults and siblings can purchase a t-shirt for $10, but it must be pre-ordered and paid for. The shirts will be gray with blue lettering. The Conestoga Elementary/Penn Manor magnetdesign will be on the front with Conestoga Proud on the back. Estimates were collected and a decision will be made on who will print them. The shirts should be available in January.
Box Tops were due in October- 6,159 boxtops were collected & $615.90 was earned.
Fun Factory printing cartridges- Bonnie Martin is checking into the details to see if this will be offered.
Wolfgang Candy discussed as a fundraiser to replace Cruising for Conestoga this year. It is easy to do and will net a profit of 40% to 50% depending on the total amount sold. If each student sells 3 items, the school would earn $5,000. The money would be used to purchase tickets and buses for the students to go to the Fulton next year. It will fund the Drop and Read program. 6th grade will sell to fund their graduation/end of year party. They currently only have $90 left in their budget due to the cost of their field trip. The top sellers in the primary and secondary grades will win a café lunch. There will be a top seller prize as well which will be determined at a later date. . The company also offers flower bulbs and that will be included with the orders. There is discussion about forming a committee for this sale to help with unloading the delivery and collecting money. The candy will already be sorted by class and students when it is delivered by Wolfgang. They offer free delivery of any sales of $500 or more. This was voted on by the 10 people in attendance at the PTO meeting and it was approved. The sale will run from 2/2/15 to 2/18/15 and the candy will be delivered by Easter.
There will be a fundraising committee next school year to run Cruising for Conestoga due to work all the work involved.
We are reminding the committee chairs that they running an event, not a committee. Please involve all committee members in discussions and decisions.
Teacher/Principal Report- Thank you to Bonnie Martin for coming in to take pictures of the 2nd graders. 4th grade had so much fun with their Mystery Day. The Garden Club had their last outdoor day. The club will continue to meet over the winter months.
School Directory- Research is being done to determine the best way to collect information. More information to follow.
LH Brubaker- Go onto Facebook to click on the Conestoga Elementary chalk board to vote. The school receiving the most votes will win $500.
Staff Christmas presents were voted on and approved by those in attendance at this meeting. The PTO will once again purchase a gift for all staff members.
The December PTO meeting is rescheduled to December 3rd in order to make wreaths to sell at the Santa Shop. Those in attendance can make a wreath for a cost of $5.00. The start time is to be determined.
The January PTO meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 13 at 6:45 pm.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Dee Greenawalt, PTO Secretary.