hardy pto agenda minuteS
Hardy PTO Meeting Agenda
January 15, 2025
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT Gretchen Saunders
- Working with committees this year, so teachers have some choice on what they want to work on. Equity, assembly, enrichment and school spirit are some examples of the committees. Goal is to put in “fun” activities that build culture. Hardy’s birthday was celebrated at the last assembly. This idea came directly from teachers through their work on these committees. Art classes made a large birthday card and students made crowns. This went along with the “responsible” assembly, where the students were introduced to earning blue tickets for responsible behavior.
- EL implementation is going very well. Students are building on each other’s conversations and teachers are happy with what they’re seeing in student writing. The school will be walked by administrators across the district on January 30th and then staff will work with an EL coach all day on January 31st.
TEACHER REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT Emily Vecchione & Susie Smith
- Kindergarten- weather unit, have a meteorologist visit next week. Next unit is on trees.
- First grade- studying the sky, measuring the lengths of things in math.
- Second grade- Harvard Natural History Museum field trip next week to go with fossil unit
- Third grade- unit on frogs, writing stories that explain something about nature (“why are poison dart frogs colorful?” is an example).
- Fourth grade- switching from informative to narrative writing. Students are researching four different types of animals and writing about them.
- Fifth grade- earthworms coming to visit because they’re learning about compost. One project example - students are thinking about what a compost bin should have and creating their own through sketches.
- Art- Ms. Fleming is introducing the youth banner project to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Banners will be displayed on lampposts around Arlington. This is an at home project for whoever wants to do it. 3rd, 4th, 5th graders- will introduce it in the next week. Slideshow that can be shared with grownups too.
- PE- hockey unit. Working on safety pieces- sticks on ground, goggles on, safe with equipment, etc.
- Library- voting for mock Caldecott is going on in the library
COMMITTEE REPORTS
- President - Becky
- Idea: replace kindness week treats with a lunch in March (Jennifer Kupiec) - budget discussion- lunch is more expensive, can maybe pull from the Teacher Appreciation budget. Becky, Jennifer, and Julia will take a look at this and report back once it’s discussed.
- Book Fair - Mar 10-14 - status update
- Prep is underway! Sent email to Mary to let teachers know the date and that info on teacher funds will be coming. Sent email to Abi so that the dates will be included in the newsletter this month. Will get a signup genius and flyer ready soon to be distributed.
- Literacy Night - Wed Mar 12th - will talk to teachers about using classrooms.
- Hardy Auction/100th Birthday - Saturday March 29th, Donut Villa. Discuss time, fundraising goals, teacher wishes and donations
- Teachers- ask for donations of experiences. Everyone will get a raffle ticket so that it’s equitable. Previewing choices with students ahead of time to make the process go more smoothly.
- What will be the wishes for the school this year? Is there something everyone can benefit from, rather than individual grades? One big goal or small goals again? Large printer to make posters? Gretchen will discuss and brainstorm with teachers and get back to us.
- Field Day - kick off with Lisa Cleary. This is Lisa’s last year doing Field Day. There are also new PE teachers, but they have done it before at other schools. It’s been working well to have K at Hardy and splitting other grades between Hardy and Thorndike. Need a committee to come on and learn the management part of it since it’s Lisa’s last year. No one last year wanted to take over as point person, so need to find someone for this role. Same routine year to year, so much of the prep work is already done. Dates- Friday, June 6th with Monday, June 9th as the rain date. Email Lisa if interested: lisadfuller@gmail.com
- Valentine’s Day question- Gretchen will ask what other schools do, as we don’t want Hardy to be the outlier. In the past, “holidays are for home” was the motto. If it’s a no because of religious underpinnings, we will find another way to celebrate it. Thompson and Pierce- kids make mailboxes and exchange cards, no food, cards for everyone. Gretchen will talk to staff and other principals and get back to us.
- Spring Junk in the Trunk- anyone want to lead?
- APS Budget Meeting - Feb 21st at Arlington High School
- Fundraising - Ashlin
- DDD and other results update
- Raised $34,365 of our $35K Goal (98%) - donations trickling in
- $642 short (~4.5 kids short @ $145/child)
- December 13th: Henry Bears Park Present Wrapping -$298. Small time commitment for each individual person, is this worth doing again next year?
- How do we feel about a Read-A-Thon during Literary / Book Fair week? How can this be done equitably? Classroom or school goal? Now that we’re closer to our fundraising goal, this may not be necessary. Going to pass on this idea.
- Setting dates for other fundraisers -
- Maxima Shopping - spring date?
- Blue Ribbon will be Friday, January 31st. We can get a percentage of a catering order that is ordered between now and the end of May. Kindness Week lunch?
- Daily Bloom March 25, 2025
- Flatbread Pizza - April 22, 2025 (during spring break). There was a discussion around reserving some lanes for Hardy families.
- Bake Sale for other events - HS sports, town meeting (April 2025), school committee meeting, Literacy Night? Becky will follow up about town meeting bake sale.
- Treasurer’s Report - Julia
- 24/25 Budget Review
- Fundraising has caught up, the auction will help to cover any shortfall in addition to teacher wishlist items.
- Discussion: budget to assist families- PTO received a request through school to assist families. We want to come together as a community to do that. The Welcome Center can also help with this. Do we want to earmark a budget for this going forward in case there’s an immediate need? Example given from the Welcome Center was that some families need grocery money and don't know where food that day is coming from. Can we have grocery store gift cards in hand for situations like this for social workers to hand out? Or a budget towards this? Welcome Center is also working on a Community Closet and will be looking for items for this.
- Fifth grade teachers- asked Becky today if Skate Night and Trash-a-Thon are still happening. Who is leading these events? Becky will have classroom coordinators reach out to 5th grade parents to have someone take these on. Need to contact the rink ASAP to get a date on the calendar. Annie asked Becky to do a fundraising Zoom to get parents on board. Gretchen said that she can create a time of 30-45 minutes for a 5th grade teacher to be a part of the meeting. This would help get parents and teachers on the same page.
- Reallocation of two items towards STEAM fest (DIG library and EATS)
- Communications - Ashlin, Abi, Desiree
Newsletters
- Hardy Weekly Round-Up - streamlined and shorter.
- Monthly Hardy Happenings - also streamlined, no President’s update. Nurses corner now covered by the school. Good delineation between PTO and school content.
- DIG - Abi
- PTO Draft Inclusive Event Checklist - Request for feedback & input to be shared in late January alongside call out for DIG participation and focus areas - with apologies for delay
- Connecting with Thompson DIG
- Town survey is out and can be completed online
- Safe Routes to School - Marloes & Ashley
- OPEN - can the SRTS team coordinate the yard sale sign competition? Need parental approval of submissions. HASP is creating submissions for this.
- Kiss and go signs - Ashley will reach out to Julia asap.
- Anti-idling signs - Ashley is looking to connect with Gretchen on this.
- Parking map of the neighborhood - Ashley made notes of the parking restrictions. Need to put it into a map. Will get to. Egerton is one street over from Chandler with no restrictions.
- Linda’s Notes - question for Gretchen - is the loop ok to use for drop off in the AM if the buses are not there? Gretchen hasn’t seen it be an issue yet. She will go out one day with Linda to observe what is happening. Reminder to go slow on Brooks Ave (staff and caregivers). No turn on red sign is still broken.
- Winter Walk is Feb 05. Looking for volunteers to help pass out stickers/bookmarks.
- Enrichment - Becky, Mary Beth, Katey, Aparna & many coordinators (thank you!)
- Animal assembly idea sent to Mary - could do 3 groups to cover the whole school.
- First grade would like help: chick hatching, police station visit, enrichment visit at school
- 3rd grade encountered a problem with Acton Discovery Museum- will only set up in one space and won’t move around. So 3rd grade won’t be able to do it this year because of these logistics.
- 4th grade doesn’t seem to have any field trips - do they need help? Will not be doing Nahant field trip this year because of the timing of the buses. Ms. Smith will discuss with Ms. McGuire. Did a Discovery Museum enrichment last year that they liked and might like to do again.
- FYI that parents can no longer book buses
- Need input/direction from teachers - if they want to reach out with ideas/timing/requests, please email Becky (president@hardypto.com) to get connected with the correct volunteer
- Classroom Coordinator - Kate Allen
- EATS - Annie Clarke-Lauer
- Reminder for teachers to text or email Annie if they take the last bag
- Could teachers email caregivers to remind them to send in lots of snacks please?
- Spirit Wear - Emilie & Julia
- Spring pop up - timing? Should we time it after the auction?
- SEPAC - Tunde
- Meeting about the budget yesterday for next year. Hoping to hire more special education teachers for Gibbs next year.
- Parent survey will be out at the end of January. If anyone wants to be a beta tester, let Tunde know.
- Louisa Popkin - Hardy/Thomspon Sped coordinator - casual coffee chats Feb 11, April 15, and June 18 - 8AM - location might be Gretchen’s office or staff lounge
- Garden - Alham, Amisha, and Erica
- Alham worked on clearing out stones and bricks from K playground. Can facilities assist with this too?
- Winter sowing enrichment/fundraising project - Over 30 kinds of native seeds have been collected via donation. Alham has all the seeds and supplies in place. Sowing will happen in January 17th-24th.
- Potential grant for raised vegetable and fruit beds and materials from Delta. Discussion around rodents and whether or not this would make the problem worse.
- Buddy Program - Megan Rucupero - we have a host volunteer, but not requests
- Green Team - Emily Lapolice - would crayon recycling be needed yet by school/families?
UPCOMING EVENTS/PLANNING
- Caregiver coffee (4th grade) and treat train (3rd grade) Friday Feb 7
- STEAM Festival - winter - Alham & Jason Fligg - Feb 8 - contributors needed and welcome!
- Planning is going well, with lots of activities and folks to lead them. Need to get a final number on budget and finalize sign-up genius by the end of this week/early next week (will try to get it by Sunday night, so it can be in the monthly newsletter). Lots of tables will already have people leading them, so won’t have a huge need for volunteers. Sponsors will show up and bring activities as well. Live axolotl and photo booth. Because of sponsors, the activities won’t be high cost, so will offer pizza for the community.
- Need to plan or need volunteers:
- Hour of Code - Matt Clarke-Lauer - Feb 3-7 - looking for volunteers to teach (no coding knowledge needed) & will email teachers
- Literacy Night - Wed March 12th - need organizers to work with Becky
- Auction - will need donations and night-of assistance
- March luncheon Jennifer Kupiec
- TA Week (May) - Jennifer Kupiec - need other organizers for 4 days of activities
- Field Day - new PE teachers - start planning in January. Need an apprentice to the lead planner Lisa Cleary
THANK YOU & RECOGNITION
- Garden - Alham for picking up stones and debris
- Teacher and Staff Conference Night Dinner - Jennifer Kupiec and volunteers and donations
- Caregiver coffee (3rd grade) Becky and treat train (2nd grade) Friday Jan 4 - Kate & Kelly
Please find archived minutes here:
PTO Agenda Minutes 2024-2025 School Year
Archived PTO Agenda Minutes 2023-2024 School Year
Archived PTO Agenda Minutes 2022-2023 School Year
Archived PTO Agenda Minutes 2021-2022 School Year
Archived PTO Agenda Minutes 2020-2021 School Year
