Madeira Elementary School PTO Minutes
May 1, 2015
The May meeting came to order at 9:20 am at the Madeira Elementary School.
1. Superintendent Report - Kenji Matsudo
a. Changes for the 2015-2016 school year.
New incoming principals David Kennedy at MHS and Tom Olson
at MMS.
b. Assistant principals will be added for MES and MMS.
c. MHS adding a new counselor to help with college admissions, etc.
d. Susan Fraley accepted a new position at Reading Schools. Currently looking for a new guidance counselor for MMS.
e. Community meeting with Steve Kramer about current state and federal testing took place. Testing has increased substantially (almost doubled) from last year. The testing has proven to be time consuming for Tim and Chanley and is not helpful in gaging the needs of our students. We have our own evaluations that we perform to make sure individual needs of students are in place by the third grade. Opting out of the testing is not an option as we are a public school. Funding for our schools could be cut. A senate committee has been formed to make recommendations for changes in the testing. Parents have the strongest voices and are heard more than superintendents. Letters and phone calls are important and have been proven to work. Hand written letters are more effective than emails.
2. Principal Report - Tim Weber
a. Mr. Weber was honored for National Principals Day. Two students from each grade presented him with posters written by each grade and signed by all students.
b. 3rd grade finished the PARCC test.
c. 4th grade will take the AIR test Tuesday - Friday.
d. Young Authors Night is Tuesday, May 19th at 6:30pm.
e. Classroom placement is currently being worked on. Please turn in your child’s info form if you haven’t done so already.
f. Flyers on opportunities for summer programs will be in the main lobby outside of the office doors.
g. Kindergarten Roundup is May 14th.
h. A full day Kindergarten class will be added for the 2015-2016 school year. Mrs. Swallen will be teaching this class. Teacher helpers will be added to accommodate the increase in students per class.
3. PTO Report - Katie Maney
a. Volunteer Spots will be available for the Book Swap, Got Art and Field Day, all taking place May 18-22. Please consider volunteering for these events.
b. Registration for the Foreign Language Programs are currently going on. Forms and links are on the PTO website.
c. Forms will go home for ordering school supply kits from Staples. Ordering will be done on-line.
d. Open House for grades 1-4 will take place the day before school starts. More info to come.
e. The dates for the fall and Spring Changing Hands Sale have been set. The fall sale will take place Saturday, September 12th and the spring sale will be on Saturday, March 5th. Still looking for volunteers to take over this committee. Contact Brandi Maples if you are interested.
f. 2015-2016 PTO board: Beth Demis - President, Kyla Hemler -
Co-President, Deb Dobelhoff - Vice President, Tina Isgrig - Treasurer, Jenn Goldy - Secretary.
4. Treasurer Report - Tina Isgrig
a. Currently we have $28,000 in the bank.
5. Teacher Appreciation - Kasey O’Reilly and Melissa Bishop
a. Teacher Appreciation week May 11-15.
b. May 12th flowers for the teachers.
c. May 13th Kindergarten sponsored meal for the teachers.
d. May 14th Preschool sponsored dessert bar.
f. May 15th Tim’s grill out for the teachers.
6. Got Art - Ann Ramos
a. Workshops will be done with K-4.
b. Wednesday, May 20th performance by the Children’s Theater of
The Wind and The Willows and the 4th grade singers will have their last performance.
c. Meet the artist day Thursday May, 20th. Volunteers are needed for preparation and for the day of. A volunteer spot will be sent out.
Meeting was adjourned,
Respectfully submitted,
Jenn Goldy
Secretary
Have a safe and wonderful summer break!