Houserville/Lemont PTO Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2012
Call To Order: The October 17, 2012 Houserville/Lemont PTO was called to order at 7:00PM by President Melanie Zajac. Ann LaMotte introduced the September 19, 2012 minutes and noted the date for the Primary field trip to the State Theater has been corrected. Mardi Frye moved to approve the minutes and Jen Conklin seconded the motion.
Principal Report: Principal Todd Dishong commented that he had a great time attending the Harvest Fest. The cookie dough fundraiser is off to a smooth start. Todd also stated he is excited about the school mascot announcement and the upcoming spirit wear sale.
Division Highlights
Junior Primary:Jen Conklin reported that the Kindergarten classes had their field trip to Wasson Farm and it was a great day! The children were able to see some of the animals, go through a corn maze and received a pumpkin and goodie bag to take home.
Jen also commented on how much smoother the penguins were handled this year with the 1 day distribution each week. She also mentioned the students will be attending the production of Imagine Ocean at the State Theater on November 9, 2012.
Primary: Dorothy Christensen started her report by saying they will also be attending the production of Imagine Ocean on November 9. They will also be visiting the Palmer Art Museum. The primary grades are continuing their butterfly project. “Apple Crunch Day” is scheduled for October 24. Dorothy also stated that she has had requests from children receiving their “Star Reward” that they would like to have a “special table” for them to have lunch.
Intermediate: Lynn Darlington reported that she is also happy how the distribution of the penguins has been handled. They students are progressing with the Native American unit and next will be studying the Astronomy unit and will be visiting the Davey Lab on the Penn State campus.
Upper Intermediate: Linda Andrews started her report expressing her pleasure with the penguin incentive this year. On November 5th, the fifth grade classes will be walking to Spring Creek Park for a water enrichment study. While there, they will rotate between 4 different stations exploring various aspects of their current studies. Ms Andrews reported that a group of 15 fifth graders have been meeting to select a school mascot. The students choices were based on life found around Spring Creek and Centre County. They researched the choices and made a short video in which they talked about their selected mascot choice. The video was shown to all students at Lemont and Houserville. The students then voted on the mascot they would like to represent the schools. The choices were:
Painted Turtle, Spotted Salamander, Dragonfly, Red Tail Hawk, Great Blue Heron, Brook Trout and the River Otter. And the winner is….the Red Tail Hawk!
PTO Housekeeping
Harvest Fest: The annual Harvest Fest was a success with a profit of $706. Of the 257 people who attended, 204 purchased the meal and 53 attended the event only. Deb Norloff, the current chair of the committee is stepping down and we are looking for a new person to take over for next year.
Box Tops: Andrea Albert is currently working on the Fall Box Top collection.
Cookie Dough: The cookie dough fundraiser was once again a huge success with over 2100 tubs sold!!
Book Fair: The Fall book fair is lined up to be held on October 18 & 19 during the Parent/Teacher conferences.
Spirit Wear: Michelle Craighead is heading up the apparel order for this year. She is planning on incorporating the Red Tail Hawk mascot with the shirt design. The order form should be going home on Friday, October 26 in order to have the items ready by Christmas.
Giant A+ Rewards: Ann LaMotte reported that the current rewards program started October 7 and runs through March 30, 2013. There are currently 128 bonus cards registered.
Yearbook: Emily Wilkins informed us the student cover contest was well received and all of the students that submitted artwork will have it printed in the yearbook. Emily also told us about a website, ReplayIt.com, where pictures can be uploaded to be considered for the yearbook. She is hoping the order form will be sent home in the near future.
Forms: A reminder will be sent for parents to please read and sign the parent volunteer forms which will be kept on file.
International Fun Night: Scheduled to be held on January 17, 2013. More details to come.
Girl Scout Troop 41227 postponed their presentation until November PTO meeting.
Library News
Mardi Frye reported that students at Lemont have been participating in a Monarch Watch. They are collecting date for a program at the University of Kansas. Houserville students are again participating in the Project Feeder Watch and the information collected is sent to Cornell University.
Books and Basketball will kick-off January 16, 2013 with a visit from the State High Girls Basketball team. The Pizza and Basketball night is January 25, 2013 and the program will wrap up with a visit from the State High Boys Basketball team coinciding with Read Across America.
Visiting Author update: The original date of April 15, 2013 may be changed due to a schedule conflict. We are also looking for a person to “shadow” Cristina Houtz as this will be her last year assisting with the Visiting Author program.
Mardi also expressed her thanks for the Grant money as it allows her to make purchases as needed.
Treasurer’s Report: Bruce Aungst reported that we raised $1200 from the membership drive. We spent $30.00 on Barnes and Noble gift cards for the Box Top collection and also purchased a $25.00 gift card for the driver of truck used for the 5th grade homecoming float.
Our expenses for the month included payment for the field trip to Wasson Farm, the purchase of new dodge balls for intramurals and snacks for Homework Club. The PTO also received a $20.00 donation from Jack and Riley Clark and Eric Pavolski. They had a lemonade stand and decided to donate the money earned! Thank You!
Those in attendance at the meeting were: Melanie Zajac, Ann LaMotte, Bruce Aungst, Dorothy Christensen, Laurie Pagnotto, Lori Smith, Kris Hahn, Michelle Craighead, Lynn Darlington, Linda Andrews, Mardi Frye, Jen Conklin, Todd Dishong, Emily Wilkins, Ashley Corvin, Kelly Fragin and Heather Parizek.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:50PM. The next meeting will be Wednesday, November 14, 2013 at 8:00PM in the Houserville library.
Respectfully Submitted,
Ann LaMotte
Recording Secretary