Valley View Elementary PTA Meeting November 13, 2012 @ 5:30 pm
Welcome
Brenda and Stephanie welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Attendance: Brenda & Stephanie (Co-presidents), Janet (parent), Mr.Kubas & Mr. Roberts (VVE Principles), Michelle(teacher), Melissa(parent), Jason & Tonya(Parents), Rosio (school liaison)
*VVE PTA NEEDS FOR SCHOOL YEAR 2012-2013
*Secretary Role- Vote in new Secretary
All voted yes for Tonya Yzaguirre/Jason Blatz to be Co-Secretaries
THANK YOU BOTH for taking on this very important role of VVE’S PTA
*Box Top Update- All milk caps are counted. Box Tops for Education are about halfway done
TOPICS
Volunteers
Memberships/How can we get growth?
41 members joined PTA this year. We now we are platinum status from MN PTA again this year, two years in a row.
One item brought up is maybe reaching out to our Latino families by inviting them to have lunch with their students then come to the media center to met with Brenda, Stephanie and Rocio to learn more about the PTA and what we do and they can do to help. Rosio is working on a letter to our Latino families and will work with Brenda and Stephanie to come up with a family letter explaining what PTA is about and how to get involved. Ana and Rosio will help build relationships with families and connect them to resources, acting as family involvement coordinators, and finding needs in our community. Anna will attend our Friday night event to help with the communication to our Latino families. This is one of her many tasks here at Valley View,
We received around 25 completed “Pledge two-hour” forms.Brenda is working on a n email list for these 25 including the 41 memberships.
We have also affiliated with the Methodist church on Portland. They plan to help VVE with coats, jackets, and boots for kids this winter.
Fall Fundraiser- Wrap Up
Last pick up date is November 15th 2-4:30pm. Parent phone calls will be made and any left over items will be donated to VEAP
Fundraiser is $10,000 short of previous years
Lunch with Kubas/Roberts will be decided amongst the families of the top 5 best selling students. The students will also receive a T-shirt
Magic Show-December 7th at 6:30
The magic show is open to all students for a$3 fee. Adults get in free. Students that sold 15 items or more for the fundraiser will have special seating and free admission. Light concessions will be sold. Cookie Dough will be here also for students selling 15 items or more
Culvers Fundraiser (November 20th)
Culver’s Night is November 20th from 5-8pm/ volunteers/ signage/ flyers
10% of all sales are donated to Valley View. We are looking for volunteers to serve food between the hours of 7-8 pm. Volunteers must be 18 years or older.
Fliers have been completed for Culvers. Teachers should get copies this week. Also, 5th graders made signs and 5of them were chosen to be hung at Culvers. These students will receive an award for their art.
Plan for spring
We are planning a spring fundraiser with Otis Spunkmeyer (cookie dough sales). We need more funds or some of the carnival events will be cut.Brenda and Stephanie are working with Sheila on dates.
Craft Saturday December 8th 10-Noon
We will set up Friday during the Magic Show. So role out on Saturday will be smooth. HOPE FOR NO SNOW STORM!!!!
Please meet at 9am. (Who will open the building?)
All supplies are already purchased. The fliers have been made and should be in Friday folders for the next 2 weeks. There is a $5 fee that needs to be paid ahead of time. Also, parents must sign a permission slip for kids to enjoy the snacks.
Lakeshore
Michelle (Teacher) will write a letter to Lakeshore Learning to ask for funds or donations on behalf of the PTA.
Classroom Parties
Visa cards feed back:
Michelle- “It was nice to have funds for fall parties .We (teachers) liked the gift cards”
Please remind teachers to keep receipts. They each received $20 per classroom for the fall party. The next holiday gift cards will be $20 and will be given the week of November 26.
Update-Fundraiser/Spirit wear
We suggest ordering more Spirit Wear and selling it at Open House next year. Our goal is to re-sell Spirit Wear in the spring. This will all depend on the fundraiser profits.
Budget
5th grade t-shirts/ field trip to Valley Fair/ Cost for families/ t-shirt order
We are looking for alternatives this year as our funds are low. We are thinking of placing the cost of the field trip on the families of the 5th graders. Money raised from Culvers will help with this cost and also be used towards the Musical.
Proposals brought forth
Musical
Mr.Topscher would like $480 to purchase a license, books, DVDs, etc. to perform a school musical. We will be performing Cinderella. The musical is open to students’ grades 3-5. The musical will be sometime in the spring. We are looking for volunteers to help with costumes, props, lights etc. We will also do concessions that night. All Members voted yes on proposal.
Principle Notes
This year the school board awarded 1.4 million dollars to Valley View. We will be building preschool classrooms in the very near future. We are hoping to enroll kids in school earlier, which will better prepare them for Kindergarten and lay a better foundation for their futures. There is a delay in the money award .The state put the money into the wrong account, but we are hopeful to open the preschools in March. There will be a cost for the preschool program. However, a sliding fee scale will be available. We will also be partnering with the PondCenter to help make this program a success.
Barb Dalia from the Gifted and Talented Program will be coming on December 10 to meet with staff and give resources to help strategize better ways to challenge our students.
The AVID National Conference is about a new program at Valley View which will prepare our students for Honors and AP classes. The 4th and 5th graders will be taught Cornell note taking strategies. The goal is for AVID students to get a good foundation, leading to gifted college students. Four team lead teachers and Mr. Kubas will go to this conference, located in California, this December.
Traditionally, Valley View has been on the “Needs Improvement Plan.” The state wrote a waiver to government recognizing the same schools aren’t growing and we are now a “FocusSchool”. The bottoms 5% are “Priority Schools.” Valley View falls in the bottom 10% which makes us a “FocusSchool” which means we have a subgroup lower than most. What can we do different? Valley View plans to submit a plan on how we are addressing this new program.
Parent Question: “How can we better control climate in the classroom this summer?
In the past there have been discussions about the heat. Summer school was canceled last year due to the heat. Extra fans have been placed into some of the classrooms to help. They passed a levy to do possible construction and are thinking about AC, as the school board also wants the building to be utilized year round, but this has not been finalized.
Adjourn meeting! Thank you for coming and for the great conversation