MMS Parents Group
September 6, 2016Minutes
In Attendance: Joy Myers, Holly Yeko, Kelly Battersby, Katie Lilla, Michele Scherdin,Lisa Ryan, Andrea Ehle, Erin Turk,Laura Jennaro.
Called to order: Andrea Ehle called the meeting to order at approximately 6:05 PM.
Minutes: May, 2016 minutes were reviewed; Lisa Ryanmoved to approve; Katie Lillaseconded; approved.
Treasurer’s Report: Joy Myers moved to approve the balance sheet; Andrea seconded; approved.
2016-2017 School Year Officers: Former Vice President Andrea Ehle was nominated and approved to be President this year. Michele Scherdin volunteered to become Vice President and was approved. Holly Yeko was nominated to retain her office of Treasurer and was approved. Joy Myers was nominated to retain her office of Secretary and was approved.
Old Business:
Magazine sale: Kickoff is slated for 09/15, and order turn-in dates will be 09/19, 09/22, and 09/29, with lunchtime spin-the-wheel dates of 9/20, 9/23, and 9/30 for those students who qualify. The movie reward date is 10/20 before early release that day; this is in lieu of the baseball game prize from previous years. Parents are reminded that there is the buyout option for your children to qualify for prizes if your family chooses not to sell. Andrea will find out what the distribution date is for the food products; parent volunteers will be needed that afternoon. Parent volunteers are needed at school at 5 p.m. each order turn-in day to assist in tabulating the orders in preparation for the prize wheel spins the following days. The more parents we have the less time it will take to get through the forms.
New Business
2016-2017 School Year Meetings: The parent group meetings will be on the first Monday of the month with the exception that we will meet Tuesday, January 3, 2017.
Rec Nights: Rec Nights are held on designated Fridays from 6:30-9 p.m. This year’s scheduled dates are 09/23/2016, 11/18/2016, 01/27/2017, and 03/24/2017 with tentative make-up date of 05/19/2017 if any are canceled. Parent volunteers are needed to staff rec nights. Otherwise, the parent group must pay teachers to come supervise. Please email with your availability and any questions you may have. Activity ideas were discussed.
Additional Fundraisers: Suggestions for additional fundraisers were solicited for future consideration. We did Little Caesar’s and the Amazon Smile-link last year. Other ideas included sales of kringle and World’s Finest Chocolate. We will see how our September fundraiser goes and pursue other fundraisers as needed.
Conference Meals: Fall conferences are 10/19-20. Mrs. Jennaro will solicit staff ideas and provide feedback so that the menu can be finalized by the October parent group meeting.
Budget review and approval discussion: Holly presented a draft budget based on last school year’s actuals. We need to understand if there will be any changes to line items. For instance, Mrs. Jennaro discussed that the 7th grade teachers are considering a request to drop the two usual field trips to the Milwaukee Public Museum and the Discovery World Museum in lieu of a single trip to the Medieval Times; however, this would cost the parent group approximately $1000 more plus be more costly to the students, so it will bear additional review and discussion. The parent group is requesting that teachers submit requests well in advance of expenditures sot that we have time to review and approve them. The budget will be discussed further at the October meeting after we have results from the fundraisers, and we expect to finalize it during the November meeting.
Funding Requests: No immediate funding requests. However, Andrea discussed that she would like to see the parent group make some more tangible contributions to the school beyond field trips, such as a water dispenser for the gymnasium. As we have a greater-than-usual balance to start the school year, we approved a limit of $1000 for this so that Andrea could pursue the purchase, although we expect that the final cost will come in quite a bit lower than that. We also need a soda cooler for rec nights, and Katie will investigate. Other ideas are welcome.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m.