PTO Meeting Minutes--- December 18, 2009

Marketing and Communications:

Danielle Dehmler-Buckley gave an update on theAround Brown newsletter format and Brown school calendar. In December,Shannon Radak, Keely Scott, and Rivka Morgan-Sherman worked with the school office staff to combine the PTO newsletter with the school’s. The result was a comprehensive and attractive newsletter in both English and Spanishwith attached calendars for December and January. The newsletter and calendar were distributed through the classrooms and posted on the Brown Yahoo group and Website. However, the distribution was a bit delayed due to the challenge of combining both newsletters and allowing time for the Spanish translation. Upon review, the Communications team has decided to keep the two newsletters separate and to assist in the distribution of the PTO newsletter directly to the classrooms. If you'd like to write something for inclusion in the Brown newsletter, please submit that to Shannon by the beginning of each month. Newsletter submissions and events can be on topics that might be of interest to the Brown community (article written by a Brown student, charity events, local festivals, family friendly recipes, keeping healthy in the flu season, etc).

The Brown school calendar will also be managed and updated by Danielle. This calendar will include DPS scheduled events as well as classroom events and is maintained on the Brown Yahoo site (there is also a link from the Home Page of the Brown Website). You must be a Brown Yahoo member to access it. For updates to the calendar, please send them to Danielle at

Suzanne and Sally Updates:

Sally gave an update of Brown’s Title 1 Status.

School Tours have continued and have been well-attended, and they are anticipating a high volume of application for the 1st Round Choice Deadline. Applications will be available online January 4th, and the school office will have hard copies available on Monday January 5th—the 1st day to submit these applications.

Suzanne thanked the PTO for providing coffee and goodies on Student Assessment Day. They are continuing to monitor student progress and at the January CSC mtg on January 21st, will be discussing the Brown’s implementation of the RTI intervention model. Renaissance Learning is a partnership sponsor of RTI, which includes the Accelerated Reading Program, Math Facts in a Flash, and other assessment tools. Renaissance Learning has recently published an article about Brown in a national journal which is posted in the lobby, and has been so impressed by Brown’s cutting edge work in student monitoring that they are pushing Senator Bennett and Arnie Duncan to visit Brown to observe our teachers in action.

Amy Highsmith will begin transitioning to her new role as Principal at Lake in January and will only be at Brown part-time. She will begin full time at Lake in February. They have posted the Brown IB coordinator position and have some possible internal candidates. May hire a part-time teacher to assist during this transition.

Bown has also a teacher to assist teachers in 3rd, 4th grade, also a few additional paras to assist with math and reading time in various grades.

Fundraising:

Rebecca Caldwell shared that the PTO raised $200 at the Denver Oktoberfest for providing volunteer beer-pourers at the beer booth.

Pepsi booth at the Highland Street Fair generated $?

Casino Night has been scheduled for Saturday, February 27th at the Historic Grant Humphreys Mansion, 770 Pennsylvania Street. Tickets are available to sell to parents, neighbors, friends etc. $40 per person or $75 per couple (teachers and staff pay half). This is PTO’s biggest and best fundraiser so spread the word! There will be a silent auction (no raffle this year), and if anyone has contacts for an item to donate for the auction, please let the fundraising committee know.

General Updates: (Nicole)

Budget updates

PTO spent $1,100 to purchase food to put together 48 food bags for needy Brown Families to get them through the holidays. 8 Brown students helped to sort the food and fill the reusable bags which were donated by a Brown parent (name?)

$120 spent on purchasing small items for the Santa Store (which was a great hit!)

$120 spent to support the Brown Running Club (entrance fees for races)

$800 spent on Recess Baskets (balls, jump ropes, games etc.) for students to use on the playground during recess

New proposed expenditures were put up to a vote and were unanimously approved by the PTO:

~$100 for new DVD player for the Auditorium to be used on cold weather days

$? For new educationally minded DVD’s which support IB focus.

Before and After School Clubs - a big thank you to all the volunteers who made these possible in 2009. More volunteer coaches and new club leaders are needed for the rest of the school year. If you have a hobby or talent you’d like to share with students before or after school, please contact Gretchen

New agenda items:

Parking: it was reminded not to park in the staff parking lot across the street from the cafeteria. Suggestions were made to look into contacting Councilman Rick Garcia on how to get support for a crosswalk at King Street and flashing school zone signs.

New volunteer needed to monitor Lost and Found items in the hallway. Angie ? and Sarah Kreider volunteered.