• Faith Wolfe-Culver – President
• Lisa Gage – Treasurer
• Pam Bussell– Secretary
• Becky Prain, New Fundraising Coordinator

• Welcome and introductions of all those present.
• Faith Wolfe-Culver congratulated Cindy Sullivan on her recent win as a new School Committee Member for the City of Westfield. Cindy is a Highland parent with a daughter, in fourth grade.
• Also, parents and friends, please note that due to the economic crisis our country is in and with the upcoming holidays, Milk and Cookies with Santa has been cancelled. Instead, we will hold a Winter Carnival on January 29, 2010 for all to attend. We will have arts and crafts, goodies, a snowman and possibly a raffle.
• Please note, Highland Elementary Falcon’s Day is scheduled for Saturday, January 23, 2010. Watch for details after the holiday break.
• Our fall fundraiser, Original Works, went well. We are still in the process of calculating our profit. More information to follow at the December meeting.
• We have scheduled an enrichment to take place on January 15, 2010. Aexeous Robot should be enjoyed by all grades! This enrichment cost the PTO $425.00.

• A recent newsletter went out in October. Parents and families are enjoying the newsletter each month. The School Council is working on Children Helping Children. This program will have all classes participate in a school wide community outreach where Highland Students adopt three needy families.
• As well, they are setting up a mitten and hat tree for donations and this will be set up by the office. The mitten and hat drive will be a winter long outreach.
• Ms. Bronson, a special education teacher, raised over $1,000 last year with Pennies for Patients. She will host this outreach again this year. As well, Mrs. Wailgum’s third grade class is conducting a food drive.

• Ms. Flinner, 5th grade teacher, was present and was pleased to announce her student, Meaghan, won 2nd place in the Spooky Story Contest. Her submission can be read in the November newsletter.

• Fundraiser money is still coming in. We are still waiting to find out the final profit for the Original Works Fundraiser. Also, the PTO purchased large bottles of hand sanitizer for each classroom in the school this past month in addition to purchasing planners for the 5th grade class totaling $274.13.
• The PTO Executive Board will be getting together in the coming weeks to discuss allocations for the school year pending the fundraiser totals.

Fundraising: Becky Prain

• We are pleased to announce that 4th grade parent, Becky Prain, has stepped forward as the new Fundraising Coordinator. Fundraising is an on-going effort and in the coming weeks, we should have a total for our fall fundraiser.
• We’d like to participate in a “dining to donate night” at a local restaurant in coming months and sell cookie dough like we did last year.
• In addition, we will also participate in the Usborne Books Reach for the Stars Program. Usborne Books Reach for the Stars- Aimee Engley has hosted this fundraiser over the past years. It usually takes place in January or February. The children read for 300 minutes over a 10 day period. The children collect sponsors and pledges. 100% of the profit comes back to the school library in the form of books, the participating students in the form of books and the PTO in the form of cash. Every child who participates will receive a book even if they only collect a few dollars in pledges. This year the percentages will be as follows: 35% return to students in the form of books, 35% to library in the form of books, 30% return to PTO in the form of cash. If a family prefers, they may donate their portion back to the library in the form of books.
• As always, the PTO accepts donations in lieu of fundraising if a family would rather. In this instance 100% of the donation goes directly to the PTO.
• Principal Carrier reminds parents to be mindful that Highland has a high percentage of children that participate in the free and reduced lunch program and for many of those families participation in fundraisers is a hardship. As well, we should be sensitive to those families with children attending both Juniper and Highland Schools regarding fundraising.

• Westfield Into the Arts Festival will be held in February. If you are interested in volunteering, please get in touch with Rhonda Miller. The festival will be held on February 26 and 27, 2010 at the Westfield High School.

• No report at this time. The 5th grade parents will meet in the coming weeks.
  

• Highland School @ the Falcon’s, Saturday, January 23, 2010. Information will be available for this event after the holiday break.
• Winter Carnival to take place January 29, 2010.

• Aimee Engley has submitted 2 grants for enrichment programs. One is through the Home Depot in the form of a gardening grant. The other is through the Health Sprouts Award which ties in with school improvements and professional development for teachers.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m.