hardy pto agenda minuteS

 

Hardy PTO Meeting Agenda

June 4, 2024

 

INTRODUCTIONS

 

TEACHER REPRESENTATIVE REPORT Susie Smith 

  • Field day is postponed to Monday because of predicted rain. 5th grade is gearing up for the end of the year. They visited Gibbs (6th grade school) and are looking forward to helping K, 1, 2 during part of field day. 
  • 4th grade: Nahant Marine Science Center. Perfect weather day for it! They walked on rocky shores and explored animals in touch tanks. 10 day countdown starting tomorrow, finding ways to take away some of the academic and put in fun to celebrate
  • 3rd grade: Added reading unit about fairy tales and attended a presentation about understanding our differences (students that live with deafness or are hard of hearing).
  • 2nd grade: Museum of Science last week. Got back just in time for the egg drop. 
  • 1st grade: Field trip day it was pouring. They had a great time.
  • Kindergarten: Wrapping up the year because their end date is June 13th. 
  • Librarians: Get out the message that they’re collecting books and not lending out anymore. Encourage caregivers in newsletter and facebook to help find books.
  • Egg drop: kindergarten class won! Ms. Bussiere’s class was the final winner. Some protests from other grades.

THANK YOUS & RECOGNITION

  • Treat Train - Patsy, Rachel
    • 5th grade this week on Friday. 5th grade parents are burnt out, so maybe we can ask other grades too to help out?
    • For next year, let’s flip the order so that 5th grade doesn’t end the year when the parents already have lots they’re doing
  • Election Committee - Kate, Sonya, Emilie
  • Student Supplies - Emily & Susie (teacher reps)

ELECTION

  • Got 27 votes!
  • President: Becky Gibree
  • Treasurer: Julia Twarog
  • Secretary: Rachel Miller
  • VP of Communications: Ashlin Bolton
  • Write in for VP of Fundraising
    • Ashlin Bolton (feels like VP of Fundraising and Communications role are tied together, so can do together). Sonya Khan will help with fundraising.

FINANCES / BUDGET

  • Treasurer Report 
    • Budget is doing well. We have some overage from prior years to carry forward.
    • Working on school supply lists with Emily V (spent $7500 last year). Took some things off the list, like Flair pens, that cost more. Put in some stuff for non-homeroom classes, like Clorox wipes. At $7800 right now. We will vote on this in August when we set the budget, but we are comfortable with that number. Commitment happens now, purchasing happens soon (prices may go up as it gets closer to back to school time), deliver closer to when school starts after the deep clean. 
    • Waiting for last reimbursement checks to clear, last purchases of the year, will get info prepped for taxes (year end June 30, 2024)
    • Massachusetts Children’s Book Award books will be purchased for 4th and 5th graders for the library.
    • 57 water bottles sold, $285 to the PTO for the water bottle fundraiser. Can do this again in the fall. Maybe combined with spirit wear?

COMMITTEE REPORTS

  • President 
    • Last week a small group of the PTO Board met with incoming Principal Saunders, had a productive discussion about communication, parent volunteer opportunities
    • Continue to think about PTO organization for next year, calendar of events, documenting process. Confirm by July the following roles:
      • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - Katrina Bernstein, Abigael Shantz-Vogt
      • Safe Routes to School Becky Gibree, Marloes Rozing, Ashley Kresl
      • Class Rep Coordinator - Kate Allen
      • Newsletter - Abigael Shantz-Vogt
      • Green Team - Emily Lapolice 
      • Hardy Garden Alham Saadat - would welcome a second lead
      • Grade 3-5 Field Trips: Aparna Sethi 
      • Enrichment Assemblies: Laura Saylor (to confirm)
      • Grade K-2 Field Trips: Katey Smith (to confirm), Lisa Morella
      • Volunteer Engagement - Needed, Julia is going to ask Mary-Beth. This role will be mostly organizing coffees. Could we instead have it rotate through the grades like the Treat Train? Someone will still need to be the touchpoint for this. Ashlin volunteered to do the first one for 5th grade parents and will write up a list of what to do to plan these coffees.
      • SEPAC Representative - Needed, Julia reached out to Alison Elmer to see who else is involved and maybe interested 
      • Spirit Wear - Emily Codega will take this on
    • We will need parents to “adopt” events next year. 

Harvest Fest

Hour of Code

Bike Rodeo(s)

Bookfair

Trunk or Treat

STEAM Fest

Caregiver Coffees

Literacy Night

Movie Night(s)

Craft Day(s)

Picture Day

  

International Day

Auction

Caregivers’ Night Out

  • Mary-Beth- trunk or treat.
  • Picture Day- Roslyn
  • Bike Rodeo- Marloes, Becky, Ashley
  • Book Fair- Rachel and Emily, need a 3rd person
    • Will Literacy Night be part of this? If so, teachers would like to be allowed to be part of it. Will ask Kat Picarde to read one of her books. 
  • Auction- Patsy and Annie
  • Caregivers Coffees- see notes above under volunteer engagement.
  • Suggestion is to have a description of each event to help get people involved in adopting events.

 

  • Communications - Ashlin
  • Safe Routes to School - 
      • Will meet during the summer to talk about safe routes and the arrival/dismissal plan and principal communications
      • Ashley listened to a presentation about a walking bus to build community and walk each other’s kids to school
      • Bike Rodeo with Harvest Fest again, maybe add a spring one. Could this go along with another event?
  • Enrichment - Julia
    • Reminder - discounts for early and multiple bookings. Would be nice to spread them out over the course of the year. Mary-Beth looking into creating a resource for all elementary schools to share.
    • New tab in Enrichment workbook with new EL curriculum topics, science and social studies topics to see if we can match enrichment/field trips to these.
    • Mock Town Meeting- The person that runs it does 3 1-hour sessions at school. Bring an article and they do a mock town meeting at Town Hall. Could be for 3rd or 4th grade. Susie said that there’s a civics unit in 3rd, 4th, and 5th, so it could work for any of these.
  • Volunteer Engagement - Incoming kindergarten playdate was very successful, several parents expressed interest in being active on the PTO. Thank you to Becky and Ashlin for organizing the lemonade and coffee for that day.
  • Classroom Coordinator - Kate Allen - end of year gifts. Sent out an email about field day being moved. From Kate Allen- Only supposed to receive an item of $50 or less. Can receive 2 $50 gift cards, but one can’t exceed $50. From Becky- thought it was $250 for the year was the limit. Can donate anything to the classroom. Maybe one individual can’t give over $50, but Becky thinks it can come from a class. From Susie- Different rules for if one family gives a gift versus a group gift from the class. Kate has been communicating with class coordinators about trying to be thoughtful in the gift of saying thank you, not allowed to just give an envelope of cash. Susie found this online- Public employees cannot receive a gift of $50 or more, except for a class gift which can have a value of up to $150.
  • Spirit Wear - Will plan for an early fall offering. Julia asked Ashley to write up the process through Gandy. Emily Codega will take this on for next year. People would like tie-dye and want to ask if they can do pride shirts in children’s sizes.
  • SEPAC - Allison 
  • Garden - Alham - there will be a sign up to water the garden in August when she is away
  • Buddy Program - Megan (need to confirm if she’s going to continue)
  • DIG - Katrina, Abigael
  • Green Team - Emily - committed to 6 years and continuing HASP Friday clean ups

 UPCOMING EVENTS/PLANNING 

  • Field Day - We will move to rain date June 10th
    • School has already emailed, and Ashlin posted on FB
    • Grade 3-5 sign up genius is being redone (tech issue)
  • June 14th:  End-of-Year Picnic/Play date - Julia/Anthony 
    • Ice Cream Truck is lined up - PTO to pay for 200 ice creams at $800, plus $3 for each additional ice cream
    • Live music is a possibility, pending confirmation from the band. Decided not to do this, will let the band know
    • Husky tattoos and lollipops are secured
    • Few volunteers so far, Ashlin will put the signup on Facebook 
    • Send home printed invitations - orange paper ordered
    • Need to make sure the messaging is clear that it’s bring your own food and pizza won’t be provided. Might consider ordering pizza for next year. Will invite teachers and they’ll get free ice cream!
  • Recognizing teachers/staff moving on. Plan to have card decoration at EOY picnic.
    • Carolyn Rabito
    • Annette (food services)
    • Janice Powers (4/5 SPED)
    • Ms. Bussiere (K)
    • Ms. Colovos (2)
    • Kathy Ryan (PE)
    • Everyone will get a card, gift card, and flowers for the people retiring (Carolyn, Kathy, Annette?)
  • Next PTO meetings - August (to coordinate with Gretchen)

Please find archived minutes here:

 

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

 

Archived PTO Agenda Minutes 2013-2019