Higley Traditional Academy PTO

Meeting Minutes

Parent Teacher Organization Open Meeting held on February 19, 2015 at 7pm

Present:

/ Deanna Hayden, Michelle Cadiz, Caryn Bacon, Nicole Schumacher, Mrs. Ziegler, Mrs. Bryant, and Approximately 15 Parents

Next meeting:

/ Open meeting on Thursday, April 16, 2015 in MPR at 6pm

Introduction

Deanna opened with past information since we have not had a meeting since October. She announced that I, Nicole Schumacher, took over secretary from Laura in November. She introduced Michelle Cadiz to everyone as PTO Vice President since Kerri left in December.

Meghan M. will be taking over Box Tops as well as continuing with Campbell's Labels for Education. Labels for Education has had a few hiccups with changing the school's name to HTA and getting points added towards the school's account. All communication with Box Tops or Labels will come from Meghan.

Boosterthon

Higley Traditional Academy students received $26,898 in pledges. We were able to collect 92% of this and collected $24,790.08 total. The percentage was based on a sliding scale this year which differed from the first Boosterthon. The first Boosterthon last spring HTA received 50% of what was collected and the Boosterthon team received 50%. This school year, since it was our second run, the profits were set on a sliding scale based off of our first year's collection. This means HTA received 38% and Boosterthon staff received 62%. In total HTA made $9,400 this last Boosterthon run. We had to surpass last year's collected amount and collect $31,000 to keep 15,200. We lost 14% margin.

On 1/21/15 Deanna and Mrs. Bacon met with the Boosterthon staff to determine if HTA would hold another Boosterthon in Aug./Sept. of 2015. Deanna and Mrs. Bacon decided it was too close in months to fundraise and at our meeting we decided it would be in the school's best interest to pass on this fundraiser in 2015. It was more profitable to have the run in the spring as well.

We are still seeking new fundraiser ideas that will profit us just as Boosterthon had. The school community enjoys the physical activity and character building associated with Boosterthon and would like to mimic that. Some ideas that have been brainstormed are gofundme.com. We'll be brainstorming all summer and ideas are welcome. Cookie dough sales are an option too. We have made around $7,000 with those.

Penguin Patch

Many students enjoyed Penguin Patch. We had the highest profits yet with $5,400 sold and the school receives 20%, which is $1,400. The benefits of the Penguin Patch are that the kids enjoy it, it's easy to have it sent and we ship back anything not sold. We would like to keep a holiday shop but are open to new ideas such as ordering from a site like Oriental Trading so it is more profitable. The con was that grades 4th-6th did not have as much of a selection to choose from on their day.

Restaurant Night Fundraisers

Somburros - Nov. 2014 made $106.11

Peter Piper Pizza - Jan. 2015 -received 20% from restaurant equaling $541.

Yo Waffle- Feb. 2015 - made $108.25

Box Tops

We are succeeding with Box Tops! We submit Box Tops twice a year and receive a check twice a year.

Movie Night

Movie night was a success and had fun. Thanks to those who volunteered.

Safety Buckets

Safety Buckets are an emergency preparedness kit to help in an emergency or lockdown situation. Some of the items include a bucket, tarp, flashlight, water, items to create a make shift bathroom, etc. We have 35 buckets that need to be filled. One for every classroom including specials. We have storage so there's no limit on what we need and we can use those items to replace if ever necessary.

PTO is offering free admission if a family brings in one item to the Hoe Down on Feb. 27th. Otherwise admission is $2.

HTA Hoe Down

Scheduled for Friday, February 27th from 6-8pm. There will be a whipped cream pie eating contest, light refreshments, but no dinner.

Night of Excellence

Staff puts on this event. Students are able to bring in their families to show off their work and tour his/her classroom. Usually the band or choir performs. The date is TBA.

Teacher of the Year Banquet

Scheduled for May 7th

Yearbook Signing Event

Peter Piper Pizza would like to host us again and offered a party for signing yearbooks towards the end of the year. May 15th is a possible date after the yearbooks come in. It would be similar to the Restaurant Night with pizza and tokens deal.

Join the PTO

Deanna is putting together all of the positions that we could use volunteers for to help. She would like to have the PTO Board established by summer since PTO meets in the summer to organize events for the upcoming school year.

School Cents

We have a trial coordinator through the end of this school year and hope it works out. We have moved up to 4th place! You can hand in any receipts dated Aug. 15th-Apr. 15th. There are quadruple points for restaurants and double points at female oriented stores throughout February. You can send your receipts into your child's teacher, the front office, or drop them off at the upstairs main office above Yankee Candle at the San Tan Mall.

District News

You may find Dr. Birdwell's February newsletter here. http://www.husd.org/cms/lib08/AZ01001450/Centricity/Domain/740/Feb15HUSDNewsletter.pdf

In her letter, Dr. Birdwell addresses that as a state, Arizona is not required to have all four specials that we provide at HTA. These include Music, Library, Art, and Physical Education. Next year things could be different if the district and school does not have the budget to put forth these specials. All day kindergarten is also not funded completely so we need to vote to approve the override of the "Maintenance and Operations Fund" to continue to provide adequate classes for our students. Our district is transparent about the funds they do have and the programs that are funded. The Maintenance and Operation's budget includes teacher's salaries, HVAC systems, lights, renovations, and the day to day operations of each school to operate as it is. For example, if an Air Conditioner unit needs repair or to be replaced this is the budget it would come from, and we need to have the funds to provide for our schools to run the way we expect. The vote would be in November 2015 for the approval of the bond or override of the Maintenance and Operations Funding. In the past it has come down to 15-20 votes of not being passed.

Next Meeting

Our end of the year PTO meeting will be on Thursday, April 16, 2015 at 6pm in the MPR. Please join us to discuss our PTO community and available positions.

Page 1 Submitted: Monday, March 2, 2015