DFC Meeting September 1, 2015

Present: Leslie Keefe-Hernandez, Lexi Mitchell, Aleah Mickelson, Margo Rogers, Erik Dodge, Del Carmichael,Ken Jones, Willow Jones, Rissa Eggleston, Lindy Kollman, Anabelle Kollman, David Weyeneth, Brian Levitan , Charlie Levitan, Nina Reiss, Ben Zeigler, Shelly McWain, Miriam Hubbard, Michael Rhine, Steve Churchwell, GoretiAbantara

Meeting called to order at 6:32 pm.

Minutes of the 8/5/15 DFC meeting were reviewed. Margo Rogers reported the Treasurer’s Report needed to be amended to state the DFC will start the 2015-2016 with approximately $5,000 in reserves. Margo closed the books after last month’s meeting and higher-than-expected expenditures reduced the David Weyenethmade a motion to approve the minutes with the above-noted correction. The motion passed unanimously.

Reports:

  1. Cookie Dough Fundraiser: Leslie Keefe-Hernandez introduced Lindy Kollman, new chairwoman of the Cookie Dough Fundraiser. According to Lindy, the fundraiser will start September 9 and fundraising packets will be sent home with students that afternoon. Lindy is planning a kickoff assembly for September 8, the day before the fundraiser begins.There will be different incentives for elementary and middle school students. The 8th grade class will keep 50% of net proceeds to use for their 8th grade class trip. Also, if 50-60% of students in a classroom participate, teachers will get an award. Lexi suggested a classroom competition with the winning classroom earning an award. Margo said the DFC budget includes $100.00 for a classroom award party. Lexi suggested a pizza party for the winning classroom. GoretiAbantara suggested the possibility of having pizza donated for the party. Discussion of middle school incentives included sliming, duck-taping, or smashing a pie in Mr. Cooper’s face.
  1. Principal’s Report: Del Carmichael gave a brief overview of the purpose and role of Discovery Family Connection (DFC). DFC is a parent-teacher organization (PTO) with the purpose of raising money and organizing volunteers to support teachers and fund a variety of extra-curricular events. Del introduced Ken Jones of the DLS Site Council, a school committee separate from DFC that is involved in general day-to-day operations and functions of school. He emphasized that parental involvement is key to a child’s development and success at school and in community.
  1. DLS Student Packet: Leslie reviewed the DLS student packet sent home the first week of school. Forms include a volunteer application, parking lot rules, housing questionnaire, media opt-out form, photo permission slip, and a DLS Directory info form.
  1. Open House/Potluck:The Open House/Potluck is scheduled for Monday, September 14. The open house starts at 6:00 pm. Parents will have an opportunity to visit classrooms and meet teachers before reporting to the Discovery Center for the potluck at 6:30. Discussion ensued whether we should change the food recommendations for potluck. It was decided everyone should bring a main dish and either a salad, side or dessert.
  1. Website/Facebook Page: Lexi reported the Discovery Lab School website is administered by the Yakima School District. This has proven an obstacle to keeping content up to date. However, there is a new contact person in the YSD Central Office, which will hopefully make it easier to update our DFC content in a timely manner. Lexi reported the DFC Facebook page was launched this summer and currently has about 40 members. The purpose of the DFC Facebook page is to highlight DFC and schoolwide events, but not to be a parent forum for complaints or rants. There will be no photos of students posted to ensure student privacy and safety. The page is currently set to be an “Open Group” but the goal is to eventually close the group to keep content secure.
  1. ASB Report: RissaEggleston reported a current roster of 19 ASB representatives. (2nd Grade: Giselle Mendoza, Maisy Kollman, Ruby O’Connor; 4th Grade: Hudson Deyette, Luke Hernandez, Sienna Kerrigan; 5th Grade: Anabelle Kollman, Tessa DeLozier; 6th Grade: Kara Mickelson, Zitlaly Garcia; 7th Grade: Sarah Churchwell, Ruby Collins, Daniel Diaz; 8th Grade: Ian Eggleston, Dallen Gray, Daniel O’Connor, Darien Hatton, Alexa Lopez, Leah Rau. There will be additional representatives selected from the 1st and 3rd grades in the coming week to fill open positions. Deadline for forms is this Friday. The first ASB meeting was held August 20 at Rissa’s house. ASB members received T-shirts that they wore the first day of school. On the first day of school, ASB representative were encouraged to arrive early to greet students and families. Feedback from the first day was positive. New students felt welcome and warmly greeted. The next ASB meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 10 at lunch. At this meeting the ASB will elect officers from among the middle school representatives. Rissa reported ASB-funded anti-bullying posters will be laminated and hung at the school. Mr. Rhine said the posters will be distributed to teachers tomorrow. Additional ASB News: The ASB has collected 18,000 Labels for Education points, which need to be used. Rissa suggested the points be used to acquire electric pencil sharpeners for classrooms. Mr. Rhine talked about tomorrow’s event - Joe Fendburgwill visit DLS tomorrow for skill building and team building activities. Theme is “RESPECT” – anti-bullying.
  1. Treasurers Report/Budget: Margo reported the carryover from the 2014-2015 is lean. DFC has just under $5,000 to start the year due to special projects like the wireless microphones and library project and lower-than-anticipated fundraising proceeds from last year’s cookie dough fundraiser. Margo emphasized the need to increase participation in this year’s cookie dough to boost profits to the $5,000 to $6,000 range over last year’s $4,000 proceeds.Nina Reiss suggested it would be helpful to provide parents and students with key talking points on the specific uses of DFC fundraising money.
  1. Book Fair Discussion: Leslie reported that last year’s two Book Fairs only netted $400 for DFC. Based on the amount of work involved and paltry returns, we may want to reconsider the book fair. One option is a “Family Fun Night” – a one-night book fair event. However, to make any profits for DFC we would have to sell at least $2,200 in product. Another option is to host a Family Night at Inklings Book Store in the Chalet Mall. The event is still waiting approval from the owner but tentatively DFC would earn about 5% of all purchases that evening. English Country Market may also be willing to participate that night. Aleah Mickelson suggested we reach out to other businesses in the Chalet location as well. Another fundraising opportunity is McDonald’s family night. DLS teachers and volunteers would work from 4:30-7:30 pm andMcDonald’s would give 15% of sales to DFC. Staff members including Ms. Monasmith and Mr. Rhine have already expressed interest in helping at the event.
  1. Quarterly DFC Parents Town Hall Forum:In addition to the monthly DFC meetings, Leslie suggested a quarterly “Parents Town Hall” forum to allow for more parent interaction and questions answered regarding DFC.
  1. Open Forum:Mr. Rhine discussed the Student Drum Circle. First drum circle is scheduled for 8 am on Thursday, Sept. 10 at Mr. Rhine’s office. Goal is to start off with a core group of drummers then transition to lunch time and expand to additional students.
  1. Next Meeting: October 6th at 6:30 pm.
  1. Meeting adjourned at 7:36 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Aleah Mickelson

Secretary