SEPTEMBER 2009
September 15, 2009
6:00 p.m.

Officers in Attendance: Faith Wolfe-Culver, President Lisa Gage, Treasurer
Pam Bussell, Secretary
Principal: Linda Carrier
Number of Parents and Staff in Attendance: 42
Meeting called to order at 6:09 p.m. in the school library.
President: Faith Wolfe-Culver
Welcome/Introductions

• Faith Wolfe-Culver introduced herself and the officers of the P.T.O. and introductions around the room took place.
  

Principal’s Report: Linda Carrier

• All of the kids are settling in. The older children are settling in easier than Kindergarten – which is to be expected. We have 481 students. The Fire Code is at 460 at this time. All exits are clean. We will have a formal fire drill this coming Friday. The buses have traffic patterns figured out. All of the buses have assigned seats which takes up some time. The kids are being great about it.
• We had a family tragedy over the weekend for a Highland Student and the PTO has advised me that they will be sending something over to the family. Let’s keep this family in our thoughts and prayers.
• Kristen Koziol has been keeping the school website up to date with upcoming events, newsletters and school information. Please use the website as a tool. Going forward, Highland is trying to reduce the amount of paper to go home and would like parents to visit the website on a regular basis.
• Open House will take place on Wednesday, October 14, 2009. A notice will be sent home regarding Highland’s Open House.

Faculty Forum

• Ms. Kells, Faculty Member reported that the PTO sponsored opening day breakfast was very nice and offered a thank you on behalf of staff.
• Ms. Flinner, 5th Grade teacher, reported she is new to the school. She is still learning who everyone is at this time. She is very happy with the great staff and wonderful principal.
• A parent, Kathleen Webster, asked present staff their opinion on the Agenda Planners the students from Juniper used in past years. Another parent, Karen Hannan, announced she had already purchased 120 planners for the 4th grade class as her donation to the school. The teachers in attendance thought the planners were a good idea. However with budgets cuts in the past years, the school could not afford to purchase planners. A motion was then made and passed for the PTO to purchase additional planners for the 5th grade students. This order will be placed once teachers in the 5th grade classes all agree to use the planners with the students. Ms. Flinner offered to speak with the other 5th grade teachers to find out their opinion on the use of the planners.

Treasurer’s Report – Lisa Gage

• The beginning balance at this time is $11,573.19. Expenses this month are as follows: Supplies and snacks for United Way Day of Caring $412.85, Opening Day Breakfast for Teachers $144.09. Balance after expenses is $11,016.25.
• Of our balance, $8,960.75 was received from the PTC of Juniper Park Elementary School. These funds were given to the PTO with a breakdown on how the funds should be used for specific grades, field trips, enrichments, etc.
• The PTO Executive Board will be getting together in the coming weeks to discuss allocations for the school year.

WHIPS (Westfield Helps It’s Public Schools) – Rhonda Miller

• Rhonda Miller is the WHIPS representative for Highland School. The WHIPS committee meets once a month. Anyone is welcome to attend the meeting. Rhonda serves as a liaison between Highland and the Superintendant’s Office.
• If anyone has questions for the Superintendant’s Office, please get those questions to Rhonda and she will present them at the meeting. If you have any questions about WHIPS and the meetings, please contact Rhonda at lostinma926@msn.com and put in your subject line “WHIPS”.
• At the present time, WHIPS is in the process of planning the Into the Arts Festival that will take place in February.

FUNDRAISING – Faith Wolfe-Culver

• The school wide fall fundraiser this year is Original Artworks. The kids will shortly begin to work on an art project in their art class that will be sent to Original Artworks. Original Artworks will then get the students art work processed and parents, families and friends will be able to purchase products such as magnets, mugs, t-shirts, mouse-pads, etc. with their child’s original work of art! Highland PTO will receive 35-40% of the profits.

On-Going Fundraising Efforts:

• Box Tops for Education representative is Dawn Cullen. Please continue to cut out your box-tops and send them into school.
• Campbell’s Soup Labels representative is Scott Mortimer, please send those labels into school as well.
• 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.
• Principal Carrier reminds parents to be mindful that Highland hosts approximately 65% free and reduced lunch program students and for those families participation in fundraisers is not always easy As well, we should be sensitive to those families with children attending both Juniper and Highland Schools regarding fundraising.

5th Grade Representative – Kara Gentle and Kathy Irwin

• Kara asked for 2 additional parents to volunteer from our new Juniper Park families and join them as 5th Grade Representatives. The representatives will keep the PTO apprised of upcoming 5th Grade fundraising and field trip ideas.
• As for the overnight at Wilderness Experience the 5th Grade teachers have to be willing to attend. Kara will speak with Ms. Tudryn and see who is on board.

Upcoming Events

• The Family Picnic will be held on Thursday, September 24, 2009 on the front lawn of the school. Families will bring a picnic dinner and a dessert to share at the dessert table. Cory and the Knightmen will play from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. We are sure this event will be a huge success.
• Open House will take place on Wednesday, October 14, 2009. The PTO will have a table set up for families to visit. As well, we will hold our traditional bake sale in the cafeteria. A notice will go home for help at the bake sale as well as for the donation of baked goods.

Open Forum

• Parents were asking numerous questions this month as there were many new families who joined Highland School. The PTO got away from the Agenda this month.
• At the November meeting, we will finish the Agenda and then hold an Open Forum for questions at the end of the meeting.
• Some parents suggested that questions regarding curriculum get addressed directly to the classroom teacher and/or principal.
  

Meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m.

Board Members in Attendance:
Faith Wolfe-Culver, President, Lisa Gage, Treasurer, Pam Bussell, Secretary,
Aimee Engley, Fundraising Chairperson
Principal: Linda Carrier
Number of Parents and Staff in Attendance: 11
Meeting called to order at 6:40 p.m.
President: Faith Wolfe-Culver

Welcome and introductions of all those present.

Welcome

• Spoke about upcoming Open House on October 1, 2008 and the possibility of PTO having a booth as well as a bake-sale. New principal has no objection to bake-sale and would like a booth set up at Open House by PTO.
• Spoke briefly on some ideas for fundraising this year, Applebee's Breakfast and Friendly's night and the possibility of selling scented pencils.
• Need of WHIPS representative for 2008/2009 school year - anyone interested please let a Board member know. Meetings are 2nd Wednesday of every month.
• Also looking for new volunteer to head up Box Tops for Education and Campbell's Soup Labels campaigns. Anyone interested, please let a Board member know.
• Would like to discuss the possibility of changing meeting days and times to accommodate teachers to attend. A parent suggested that the teachers select a 2 teachers a month to attend who would be willing to report back to all staff teachers and that would perhaps help to get teachers to attend meetings.

Principal's Report: Linda Carrier

• Would like to see more parents and teachers in attendance at meetings. Suggested having meetings paired with Title One event nights held at Highland and then in months where there are no Title One events being held to just hold and Executive Board Members meeting.
• Upcoming Title One event nights are as follows: November 17, 2008, January 13, 2009, February 5, 2009, March 26, 2009, and May 6, 2009. Board will take this suggestion under advisement before setting up meeting schedule for 2008/2009 school year.

Faculty Forum

• Mrs. DiSanto was present at meeting and would like to know if the PTO would be paying or the weekly readers this year. Lisa Gage, Treasurer, advised Mrs. DiSanto to submit a note to PTO and a check will be sent for weekly readers.
• Mrs. DiSanto also asked where we stood with Enrichments this year. It was decided that perhaps we find someone who is willing to be an Enrichment Coordinator since the staff member who handled the Enrichment Program in the past is no longer employed at Highland Elementary.

Treasurer's Report: Lisa Gage

• Recap on expenses and available funds.
• Balance in PTO account as of September 4, 2008 is $4,549.70.

WHIPS - Westfield Helps It's Public Schools

• WHIP representative was not present at meeting.
• Need of WHIPS representative for 2008/2009 school year - anyone interested please let a Board member know. Meetings are 2nd Wednesday of every month.

5th Grade Representative

• In the past a parent representing the 5th graders was asked to be present at all PTO meetings to coordinate fundraising and events between the 5th graders and underclassmen at Highland.
• If anyone is interested in becoming a 5th grade representative, please let a Board member know.

Fundraising Update: Aimee Engley

• Have not picked a fundraiser at this time. Last year we used Christoline. Some board members were not happy with Christoline. Christoline is willing to do fundraiser again this year. Aimee and Board members are looking into other alternatives, perhaps smaller fundraising ideas that would allow all Highland families to partake in fundraising.
• Lisa Gage brought up suggestion that we again let Highland families know that in lieu of participating in fundraisers, a straight donation to the PTO is not only a great way to participate, but 100% of the donation goes directly to PTO and families aren't purchasing things they would otherwise not purchase just to partake in a fundraiser. We suggested this last year as well and received quite a few donations.
• Aimee spoke about Reach for the Stars. A read-a-thon type of fundraiser the school does every year in January. Students read for 300 minutes and collect pledges. There is a 100% return to the school with this program. 35% to library in books, 35% to students in books and 30% in cash to PTO. Last year the PTO received over $900 from this program. The program is sponsored by Usborne Books.
• 5th graders partake in their own fundraising to pay for their Boston trip and 5th grade breakfast. Once a 5th grade representative is selected to attend meetings, we will learn more about their efforts for the upcoming school year.

Upcoming Events

• Open House is October 1, 2008.
• PTO will have a bake sale and will set up a PTO information booth.

New Business

• Elections. Elections have been put off until the Open House. At that time ballots will be available at the PTO booth. All are invited to participate. A vote will be held at the meeting following the Open House. Positions available with job descriptions will be posted at the PTO booth.
• School Banking. We will continue to use United Cooperative Bank for school banking as we have in the past. This year school banking will start the first week of October; however, the new day of the week for banking will change to Thursday or Friday.

Meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m. The PTO has not yet scheduled a date for the next upcoming meeting, pending a discussion as to how future meetings will be held by the Executive Board, a list of meetings will be posted on the PTO section of the school's website.

Next meeting TBA