Country Hills Elementary School PTA
Board Membership Meeting
Thursday, September 20th, 2012
CALL TO ORDER A meeting of the Country Hills Elementary School PTA was held on this date in Portable 12. Christine Fris called the meeting to order at 9:20am.
MINUTES Minutes were provided from the e-mail meeting held on August 30th, 2012. The minutes were reviewed and approved as presented.
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT Mrs. Stroup reported that we have 796 children attending CHE this year and that it is pretty stable right now. No big influx is expected. Mrs. Stroup expressed her thanks to PTA for all that we do and how important we are to the school.
Our Specials are all up and running - P.E, Music, Art & 50% Science. There is an eight - day rotation, which gives the students free media time.
Mr. Andriesse is starting a chorus - it's already up to 96 kids who are participating and there will be performances. Mr. Piccanelli, the Band Director at CSMS, is offering an after-school activity at CSMS at a cost. Flyers to 3-5th graders will be distributed.
North Area Advisory Meeting Dates: tonight at 7:00 pm at Forest Glen Middle School. Even though it is District centralized, there will still be Area Meetings. On 10/18 -Deerfield High School. 11/15 - Lyons Creek Glen Middle School and 12/13 - Coral Glades.
Zone Meetings -feeder schools will go to Stoneman Douglas. Tuesday 10/30 –Park Trails @ 9am, 1/29 Heron Heights @ 9am, 5/14 -location to be decided.
Mrs. Stroup introduced our new social worker for CHE, Mrs. Pardo-Posse whom will be at CHE on Wednesdays, as we share with other schools. Mrs. Pardo-Posse, spoke about the upcoming Harvest Drive. Mrs. Padro-Posse has been in charge of the Harvest Drive for several years and informed PTA that the Harvest Drive was started 20 years ago by PTA moms. This program provides food for Thanksgiving to needy families as well as fill meals for up to 1 to 2 weeks. West Glades Middle School will be the distribution point again. All kids are encouraged to help at drop off night on 11/14. It will start at 4:30 pm until completed. On 11/15 at 8:00 am there sorting and packing will take place and on the 16th at 8:00 am all families can come to pick up. No students are allowed – helps with confidentiality of the families. Clothing, shoes toys etc are also collected to be given away. Another way to contribute: 10/27 – If you go to Mythos a percentage will go to the Harvest Drive; 11/19 – Festival of Flutes – A percentage will go to the Harvest Drive as well
PRESIDENT'S REPORT Cathi Rush and Christine Fris introduced themselves to everyone, old and new, as the 2012/2013 PTA co-presidents and asked everyone to introduce themselves. Cathi reported that PTA renewed the RISO copier for the year at a cost of $590. The Yankee Candle fundraiser has started. Christine reported that author. Andrew Toffoli, will be visiting CHE next Thursday and Friday. A BiG thank to Mrs. Anderson who was able to arrange this for free. $ 1 of all books sold will be donated to CHE PTA.
October 2nd will be our first Assembly and Family Event - ProKids. It will be different from last year.
Lisa Stefans couldn't be here, but there will be a Room Parent Meeting on 10/5.
Book Fair will be Oct 15 -19. The theme is All- Star Book Fair. A sign-up sheet for volunteers is being sent around as Rhonda explained about the different ways & needs to volunteer for book fair. Set-up is on 10/12. McDonald's night - 10/16. PTA will continue to do its One- For-Books program. It goes directly to kids at CHE who can't afford to buy books. Scholastic has a matching program and donates books nationally.
Christine reported that Red Ribbon Week would be from Oct 29th – Nov 2nd. This year Officer Gasper will be auctioned off and kids can have lunch with him. There will be raffle tickets for all the kids.
Cathi reported that if PTA decides to purchase extra Ipad’s for CHE, Mrs. Cancoyoc (Noah’s mom) offered to donate Ipad covers to CHE PTA.
Christine and Cathi are working on a Procedure Manual that will be placed in the front office.
Cathi reported that she attended the NPTA Training and that she has learned a lot.
TREASURERS REPORTIrene Brenner gave the Treasurer’s Report for the month ending August 2012. The cash receipts for the month totaled $ 16,301.45; cash disbursements totaled $19,016.58, leaving ending cash balance of $11,148.57.
Irene presented a new program called MoneyMinder at an initial cost of $79 for the first year and $150 every year thereafter. Irene thinks this is better that Quicken – easier to read and understand. It can be set-up so that the Executive Board Members ca have online access and won’t have to reach out to the Treasurer every time for financial enquiries. No changes can be made to the budget by anyone, just the treasurer.
Some general questions regarding the new program was asked to clear up some confusion about the report, as well as a discussion about the Budget vs. Actual. Wendy Shepard mentioned that MoneyMinder is especially good for Non-Profit organizations like PTA.
Wendy Shepard made a motion to vote on purchasing MoneyMinder at $79 for the 1st year, and to try of for one year whereupon it can all then be reviewed. Nicole Renert seconded the motion. The motion was approved by all.
Irene reported that $10,000 was deposited from Meet & Greet.
Gladys Garcia pointed out on the proposed budget that there should be a 2nd Assembly added to the budget. That will ensure that Programs has enough funds allocated to its budget. It should also be raised from $6,000 to $8,000.
Gena Kaplan raised a question regarding the outgoing proceeds for the 5th Gr DVD. During a previous PTA meeting it was voted that the profit made from the proceeds should go to the following year’s 5th Grade Celebration, therefore the $600 profit from the 2011/2012 5th Gr DVD sales should be added to this year’s 5th Grade Celebration.
Beth Garfield made a motion to approve the budget as amended. Juliet Blanchard seconded the motion. The motion was approved by all
SAC/SAFChristine Fris reported that there will be a meeting on Monday 9/24 at 6:30pm. It is a great meeting and highly encouraged to attend. Wendy Shepard reported that Mr. Runcie said that the Advisor Board should decided what it will look like since there is no North Area anymore. Wendy also explained how the Advisory works, i.e. the bullying program.
OPEN FORUMGena Kaplan explained the new School Supply program. PTA came close to tripling our profit, $1,670 compared to $600 that was raised last year. Many supplies were purchased and there is still a lot left for next year.
Debbie Coleman and Erica Basso are the chairs for the Banner and Yearbook program. Anyone who has pictures, please send it to , and include the teacher, grade, event and date, OR give it on a flash drive or CD. Please send an email to inform either Debbie or Erica. If you are interested in banners, please email . There is a new order form that will go out soon. The cost is $400 for 1 year and $600 for 2 years.
PTA is looking for a volunteer to chair our Coin Drive. We need to decide where our monies raised from the coin drive will go. Kim Mills who headed up the Coin Drive for the past two years explained how the drive works.
PTA Welcoming Committee is another position that is open at the moment. The role entails checking in with Mrs. Parisi in the front office for any new incoming parents, then calling up the new parents, welcoming them to CHE and giving them all the info that they might need.
Cathi and Christine asked if PTA would be willing to fund Teacher Vouchers for Clubs. This would be for clubs run by teachers for CHE e.g. Safety Patrol, Student Council and Chorus. It was suggested to budget $700 with a stipulation of a maximum of $100 per teacher. Mrs. Stroup informed us that the district would not pay for this. Wendy Shepard made a motion to budget $700 for the clubs with a maximum of $100 per teacher. Jodi Espinoza seconded the motion. All in attendance voted in favor. The motion was passed as stated.
Christine Fris brought to our attention that Mr. Andriesse needs funds to update musical equipment/instruments: - update to Garage Band program, 4 keyboards @ $99 each as well as new strings, a replacement a/c adapter. The total cost would be $655. Francesca Kivitt made a motion to purchase the musical equipment/instruments. Wendy Shepard seconded the motion. All members voted in favor and the motion was passed as stated.
A PTA audit needs to be done. PTA needs 3 volunteers to audit the books, to ensure that everything was entered correctly – it has to be none-check signers. Anyone interested should let Irene know.
PTA needs 2 people (non-signers) to sign off on bank statements as well.
Jodi Espinoza brought the Danimals Promotion – Rally for Recess to our attention and explained how it works. PTA can win up to $30,000 to upgrade playground equipment.
Wendy Shepard talked about a possible fundraiser with “Just Between Friends” consignment.
Please contact Fran Wernersbach if you need any volunteers.
Yankee Candle is due Monday.
The dates for the upcoming PTA meetings are: October 16th, November 13th, January 15th, February 19th, March 19th, April 9th May 21st.
ADJOURNMENTThe meeting was adjourned at 11:15am.
ATTENDANCEChristine FrisCathi Rush
Gladys GarciaKaren Souliotis
Juliett BlanchardAnne Sanders
Kellee StroupJodi Espinosa
Deena NelkeLaurie Leavy
Thilika SritharanKim Mills Susanna Keyes Jill Rambowski
Claudia FajardoCami Caton
Nicole RenertWendy Burch
Wendy ShepardJennifer Paccione
Deena AccardiRhonda Bible
Becca LossBeth Garfield
Astrid SuradiprajaErica Basso
Gena KaplanIrene Brenner