Minutes from January 10

Treasurer’s Report
There is currently $2,588.93 in the PTO account.

Parent Volunteers
The first grade room needs volunteers for children to read to in Mrs. Koerselman’s class. Volunteers are needed every day between 8:45 – 10:00. The other 1st grade teachers would welcome volunteers as well. If you are interested in volunteering for one or more days, please contact Laura at the school (725.2381).

Christmas Gifts
Classroom letters were not done by all the grades at Christmas time (it was optional if a parent decided to coordinate the effort for a teacher). Next year, the PTO will request each teacher write down their needs on a piece of paper, put it in a bucket, and then during fall conferences, a parent could take a need out of the bucket and give it to the classroom at Christmas. This way, each teacher could benefit.

Completed Items
Completed items the PTO has successfully completed in fall 2007 include:

1. Welcome back teachers on first day of school: brought in cakes
2. Purchased popcorn machine
3. National Educators week: brought in big cookies for staff
4. Fall : gave t-shirts to all staff and option for children to purchase
5. Parent teacher conferences: meals for teachers
6. Scholastic book fair: new books for library and teachers
7. Red Ribbon week: provided parent volunteers to pour juice and PTO matched plant a seed funds brought in by students to be used for landscaping in the spring
8. Christmas: Pop/candy and $5 Hull bucks to staff
9. Mr. Kerr’s birthday: brought in cake
10. Provided daycare for Christmas program

If you were in charge of any of the programs listed above, please write down your notes and provide them to Crystal R. for her records. Example: how many volunteers were needed, how many hours did the project take, how much money was earned, timeline to follow, and your recommendations for next year.

Pam will provide for the newsletter some of the activities the PTO completed since the last newsletter: Christmas gifts, daycare during the Christmas concert, cake for Mr. Kerr’s b-day.

Spring Conferences
Meals will be provided for at the spring conferences. Cheri B and Nancy R will coordinate. If you are interested in donating bars, please contact Cheri. Conference dates are February 26 and 28.

Future Fundraisers
Reach for the Stars will be done February 25 – March 7. Parents will have the opportunity to see display books during conferences. Some options for money raised: laminator, purchase the Read Nationally K-7 system, landscaping, Time for Kids subscriptions.

Elementary Yearbook
Greta reported cost for color yearbooks will be approximately $700 if purchased through Demco. Software could be purchased at a cost of $400 to be used for scrap book pages. It was not decided if we will go ahead with this. Greta will talk with Sandy Groom-Meeks about working with TAG and student council students on scrapbook pages, and she will also look into licensing for above potential software purchase. Mr. Kerr will encourage teachers to continue to take pictures throughout the year. Some yearbooks from last year are still available and can be purchased from the office.

Principal’s Report

• PBS (positive behavior system): Pam Wielenga and Mr. Kerr reported on this new system that will be implemented in February of this year to acknowledge students for their great behavior.
  
  Highlights:
  PTO will purchase a Rubbermaid container and fill it with a variety of prize options for the students to pick from. Area businesses may be contacted to see if they would be willing to donate prizes. Note: if you have any extra ice cream buckets, please give them to Mrs. Rensink.
  
• Mr. Kerr reported Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM) testing is going on currently. Mrs. Klarenbeek is in charge of this and will present information to the school board. Testing will be done three times a year. This will provide better data to assess and assist students.
  
• ITBS testing will take place beginning January 26 for 2nd – 6th grades. There may be a need for volunteers to help with listening to some students read for a portion of the testing.
  
• Pop can collection dates will be Thursday and Friday, January 17-18. These funds are used for field trips and library books.
  
• Mr. Kerr announced a new program called “The Proud Principal Program." Two students from each grade will be selected to have their academic work posted in school. A certificate will be signed by Mr. Kerr and the teacher, along with being displayed in the main hallway before given back to the student to take home.
  
• Mr. Kerr will begin a new program called “When the Principal Reads the Whole School Reads”. This is being implemented by some area principals, and they go to classrooms and read one of five recommended books to the students.
  
• Mr. Kerr presented the idea of a book club for students. This would be for students in grades 3 – 6. A parent volunteer will be needed to meet with the students and frequency would be determined. This will be tabled for future discussion but the idea was met with excitement.
  
• The teachers appreciated the gifts they received from the PTO at Christmas. The extra Hull bucks will be used as prize incentives for the PBS system.
  

Next Meeting
The next meeting date is Tuesday, February 26, at 7:30. It was mentioned we may begin alternating the location of the PTO meeting between Hull and Boyden. This will be decided at a later meeting. New members are always welcomed and appreciated.