Patterson PTA General Meeting Minutes 10/12/17

Meeting called to order by Megan Fastabend at 9:31am

Minutes were approved from September 13th, 2017

VP Administration

  • Directory – ready to be published this month
  • Party Planning – all treats have been purchased and we are under budget
  • Halloween still needs sign-ups, check the s’mores link for openings
  • Liaisons – if you are not hearing from your liaison, let Shannon know
  • Hospitality – American Education Week – taco bar, Thursday, November 16th
  • Items to be delivered by 11/14 to Anna Ruge’s house
  • Special Needs Liaison Report
  • Need more members, teachers, TAs, parents, etc.
  • Raffle each month
  • Quarterly drawing for schools to earn money
  • Reflections has a special category for students with disabilities so they can participate
  • Lego tech park district program
  • Sensory garden in Lisle, free, DuPage Country Forest Park
  • Eating therapy program - contact Nutritional Therapy Program coordinator
  • IPPA PTA
  • Chic-fil-A fundraiser today

VP Finance

  • Home Run Inn restaurant day, all day on November 7th
  • Oberweis in December on Chorus night
  • Fall Photography – success, made $1600 this year
  • Pictures with Pete – Shannon has the pictures and if you didn’t order, you can contact Shannon to order
  • Membership – 303 general and 38 staff

VP Enrichment/Social

  • Walk to school day –Despite the weather, it was a success! Pete the Prairie Dog and a police car joined the students on the walk to school. Thank you Michele Soper and Leslie Ruffing for organizing the event!
  • Reflections -Projects aredue October 30th– theme is “Within Reach”

oFormswere sent home to each student, andcanalsobe found onlineor in the weekly announcements. Please read the rules and guidelines carefully before submitting or your entry may be returned. For more information, see contact Amy Dawes.

  • Red Ribbon Week –Watch the announcements for the theme days and activities.

oTheme –"Your Future is Key,So Stay Drug Free"

oWeek of October 10/23-10/31

oThemes will include wear red, wear peace/tie-dye, and wear your costume. Activities will include a key to color for the bulletin board.

oUsing the Box Tops bulletin board for Red Ribbon week

  • PublishingCenter - First Grade Thanksgiving Books planned for end of October, there is a sign up website for volunteers. Volunteers always welcome for interviewing and typing.
  • Winter Family Fun - Cultural Night - February 23rd - Information will be available before winter break.
  • STEAMAcademyDay-March 9th
  • Science Fair-March 7th

oCo-chairs forScienceFair are Simi Krishnan and Nina Huang

  • Fall Family Fun – 133 families participatedin the event, watched Wall-E under the stars and enjoyed face painting and ice cream. Thank you to Jessica Maglaris for organizing this fun event for the Patterson families!

Treasurer

  • Bank balance from 9/7/17 - $23,893.54 today – 10/4/17 - $23,021.29
  • Income $3084.51 = Family Fun Night $1310, Mod Pizza $34.56, Fall Photography $1600, Apparel Sales $139.95
  • Expense Family Fun Night $1375, Face Painter $350, AIM Insurance $395, Donation to STEPS for $100, Illinois PTA Membership $1309, RePro $30.28, Room Party Snack $397.48
  • Make a motion to spend $150 from the profits of the Orange Ruler to give all of the kids Kona Ice - made by Colleen Garrison and seconded by Karen Ambrosine, no objections, motion was passed

President

  • Orange Ruler was a success and the feedback was good from the kids
  • Taking suggestions for ideas on how to spend any of the excess and we will vote in January on how to spend those funds
  • Ideas should be under the category of enrichment, not curriculum or building improvements
  • $31,494 raised (before Orange Ruler takes their 30% cut) with 79% participation about the same amount of money as last year even though we have fewer families
  • All classes will get Kona Ice this year that we will split with Orange Ruler organizers for the classes that didn’t make their goal
  • IPPC Meeting
  • Audit is already done for this year, but next year if we collect money in other ways, we have to audit those ways (PayPal, etc.)
  • Coat drive happening now – coats go from Patterson to Kendall on 10/31
  • November 1st, volunteers needed to sort the coats, contact Sarah Stevens to get involved with this
  • Dues and insurance have been paid
  • October 24th, legislative day in Springfield
  • Want something on the district website – contact the PTA board first
  • Predicted 1400 student decline in the district overall, looking at boundaries for the elementary schools, but will not change the MS and HS without consulting with parents
  • Food Service is now Organic Life
  • Bussing issues – fully staffed in June and the day before school started 30 people quit and they needed to restaff those jobs and retrain those people – working on the issue but if you have issues, call your principal first
  • Community engagement program to talk about changes to be made in the district and to make recommendations starting in October once a month in the evenings

Principal’s Report

  • AIMS Web test – first benchmark coming home on 10/13/17

o Questions, call classroom teacher

  • CogAT testing just finished up for grades 2 & 5 only
  • First quarter ends in October
  • Parent teacher conference sign-up email went home and sign-ups begin on 10/17

o You should have one for each student in the district

  • Parent University links coming soon
  • Scott Gustafsen author visit here last week due to our participation in the Glow Run
  • Scholastic visitor – Mr. Schu – coming free with our participation with scholastic book fairs
  • IPEF Half-Marathon on 10/22 – please support our runners!

o This is the biggest IPEF fundraiser for the district for the whole year

o Lots of resources and events come to us from the district because of IPEF

  • Homework club starts next week for students who need the extra time/support to work on HW in a supported environment (Monday-Thursday after school)

o Talk with your child’s teacher if you think this would benefit them as they need a teacher recommendation to participate

  • Playground update – the district discourages using fundraising monies to replace the playground, they have fixed safety concerns on the playground and removed the bridge because it wasn’t safe.

o District wants to maintain the same playgrounds around the district

o The priority is safety and not necessarily aesthetics

o Feedback is to ask if we can help pay to get the playground replaced quicker, knowing it will be district selected / standard equipment

Future Meetings

  • Regular PTA Meeting Wednesday, 11/9 at 9:30am

Meeting Adjourned at 10:31am