hardy pto agenda minuteS

Hardy PTO Meeting

April 9, 2025

 

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT Gretchen Saunders

  • Correction to the Music Concert. All school: Families invited on Friday, May 23rd 9-11am. 
  • PBIS update: Previously, refreshed recess behavior. Now refreshing bathroom behavior/expectations. All classrooms are working towards the next round of clubs. They get to do the clubs if every class in a grade earns at least 150 tickets. 
  • PTO sponsored Animal Adventures assembly coming up.
  • After April Break, MCAS coming up. Dates have been emailed out in Gretchen’s newsletters. Specialist schedules flipped, so they have specialists first thing in the morning on those days.
  • Head of daycare lost a lead teacher and is looking for someone that wants to work part-time or full-time in the daycare at Hardy. 
  • Met with Abi and Becky about DIG work and talked about discussing race and culture with families and children. In the Panorama data that came up last year, it showed that there is a desire to be able to talk about race and culture and address things that have happened in the past. There is discomfort on the part of adults when we’re not sure we have the tools and don’t want to do more harm than good. Hardy has a guest speaker coming in to work with the staff. This work will carry into next year.

TEACHER REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT Emily Vecchione & Susie Smith

  • K- researching trees and learning how living things depend on trees, Massachusetts animals, how communities support each other
  • 1st grade- birds, studying beaks and feathers. 
  • 2nd grade- getting ready to do their final project writing non-fiction paragraphs about pollinators.
  • 3rd grade- literary classics. Reading Peter Pan right now, focusing on summarizing chapters and analyzing characters. Discussing how we can connect it to when it was written and talking about stereotypes because of when it was written.
  • 4th grade- Discovery Museum coming in to do Lights and Lasers presentation. Social Studies unit on immigration. Lots of good conversations and connections happening. Talking about how language has adapted and what terminology we use now instead. 
  • 5th grade- End of the year celebrations are starting. Trash Pick-a-thon, glow party, Ed Kennedy Institute in early May (go through how bills are passed in Senate)
  • Art show coming up. Ms. Fleming is getting things hung up and ready.
  • Ms. Deming getting things ready for the concert. Will have a dress rehearsal the day before the concert. 
  • PE- gymnastics with new Parkour equipment out and about. Lots of balance involved!

COMMITTEE REPORTS

  • President - Becky
    • PTO Presidents meeting with Dr. Homan - APS receives $2m federal funding (most goes towards special education), contingency plans being worked on.  Plan to stick to DEIBJ values and lose Fed funding. One option is to put special ed into the operational budget. There’s also a special ed reserve they'd have to do a Town Meeting vote on to tap into. Also a discussion of students bringing phones and devices into schools and how to be consistent with responses to this. Discussed students that are above average and APS is now working on scaffolding both up and down. 
    • Hardy Auction/100th Birthday - results - $19,000
    • 5th Grade:  4th Annual Trash pick-a-thon - April 13 2-3:30, rain date May 4.
    • 5th Grade:  Glow Party May 2, 6:30. First hour won’t be as dark, the second hour will be dark.
    • Field Day Fri June 6 - Lisa Cleary’s last year.  Working on inclusive, fun day for all with SLC teachers, Louisa Popkin, and Gretchen. Previewing the games with some children to make it more successful. Will be looking for around 100 volunteers. 
    • Hardy Arts Night Wednesday, April 16th - Ms. Fleming needs a few volunteers for clean up
    • End of year picnic - Friday 6/20/25 6:15PM - ice cream truck - Steve McKenna sponsoring. Last day for kindergarten is June 16th, can invite incoming K families at screenings on June 17th and 20th.
    • 25/26 - co-president position open - positions for reelection? Ashlin stepping down from one or both of her roles (Fundraising and Communications). Rachel stepping down as Secretary. Brian’s role as Treasurer is temporary this year and he will decide whether to run again as it gets closer. Maybe classroom coordinators can email about this. Can provide descriptions about roles for elections in June. Emilie and Rachel will count votes for the election.
    • Planning a meeting to review the PTO’s bylaws and potentially propose updates to vote on - open to all.
    • Potential AEF Grant for OT Swing Frame and Mat $7k. Swing was purchased last year, but needs a frame so that it can be moved from room to room. 
  • Fundraising - Ashlin
    • Book Fair: $11,900 total sales, ~$2,400 to the PTO - a check will be coming this week from Mike at the Book Rack.
    • Upcoming Fundraisers:
      • April 22nd (Spring Break): Flatbread Pizza, 4PM - 10PM, Donate $4 for all Large Pizzas, $2 for all Small Pizzas, 50/50 Raffle? Fabric and fabric markers for the banner are with HASP, Alham will pick up and deliver to Sacco’s on 4/14.
    • Setting dates for other fundraisers -
      • Maxima Shopping - Friday, May 2nd
    • Steve McKenna’s office open to sponsoring more events, will discuss with his office in May
  • Treasurer’s Report - Brian
    • Confirm we should remove Anthony Watson from the bank account and add Brian Gibree as Treasurer
    • 24/25 Budget Review: Bought a $4000 poster printer and the teachers are thrilled! Bought a new couch and flexible seating for the library. Boxes are showing up with items! Gretchen has a wish for a module conference table that we should be able to purchase. 3rd, 4th, and 2nd grade haven’t had secondary wishes, so please put them into the wishlist if they have any. Discussion about making the shipping container on the Lake Street playground look better. Maybe someone could paint a mural on it? We have Hardy parents and a HASP teacher that are artists and we can ask them about their interest. 
  • Communications - Ashlin, Abi, Desiree

Newsletters 

  • Humming along - Please submit write-ups by Friday
  • Rough calendar pulled together for the facebook blasts that need to happen for the events coming up. 
  • DIG - Abi 
      • National Public Health Week, Pride Fest coming up May 10 from 11-2 - Hardy Rainbow Alliance to have a stall
      • Follow up from March meeting & questions about rights based information, support and training offers
        • MA AG’s Flyer - Protecting Students & Information-  Shared by principal and PTO with accompanying invitation to reach out.
        • PTO Board outreach to Welcome Center and Resource Center and APS Director of DEIBJ, and AHRC/APS Schools and Education Work Group. Topic at PTO Presidents Meeting and Hardy School Council Meeting also.
      • Coordinating with Thompson DIG on a Training and Development option for Caregivers - Wee The People - proposed evening workshops in mid-May (5/15 and 5/19)
      • Building relationships with Thompson DIG and Dallin DIG
      • Noting EO:  Restoring Truth and Sanity to America and other Administration actions and EOs:  https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/restoring-truth-and-sanity-to-american-history/
  • Safe Routes to School - Marloes & Ashley
      • Please email saferoutes@hardypto.com with issues/observations
      • We need to plan pedestrian and bike training assemblies. Checking on dates from the rep and waiting to see if any of the dates will work.
      • Kiss and go signs - Julia and Ashley in process 
      • No-idling signs- can put these in once ground is not frozen
      • Next Wednesday- car-free campus day (essentially a walk, bike, scoot to school day)
  • Enrichment - Becky, Mary Beth, Katey, Aparna & many coordinators (thank you!)
    • Animal assembly - booked 4/15/25
    • Mr. Simon and teachers may be able to perform at Hardy - TBD (Becky, Mary, Mr. Simon need to connect)
    • 4th grade will be going to RoboHub in Cambridge
    • Social Studies coach booked a trip to the Jason Russell house for all third grade classes. Becky checked budget and it is in there as approved. (Emily wasn’t sure whether it had been approved yet.)
    • Kindergarten has money left if they want to book something.
    • 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 
    • Reminder about Teacher Appreciation Week - thoughtful gifts - May 2 at Maxima!  Teacher preferences are listed here
  • EATS - Annie Clarke-Lauer
      • If teachers need extra snacks for MCAS, please ask your classroom coordinator if they can buy some with their class funds (or get some donated)
  • Spirit Wear - Emilie
      • Spring pop up - 140 items purchased, $225 profit
      • Purchased 80 shirts for kindergarten next year to give each child a free shirt. Got those at the wholesale price. 
      • Will continue with twice a year
      • Great suggestions from teachers about getting more adult clothing 
  • SEPAC - Tunde
      • Louisa Popkin - Hardy/Thomspon Sped coordinator - casual coffee chats  April 15 (topic is school refusal), and June 18 - 8AM - location will be Gretchen’s office or staff lounge
  • Garden - Alham, Amisha, and Erica
    • Spring cleaning and planting TBD (likely early May)—--winter sown seeds have started to sprout, will hopefully be used in the Hardy garden plantings in late April with classrooms and maybe plant sale in late spring!
    • We will be getting our $500 E-card to Gardener’s supply this week! The shipment for the mobile food cart (cart, Vitamix, hot plate, other cooking supplies) and garden wagon + garden gear will be shipping in the next few weeks….supply chain delays due to international market instability.
  • Buddy Program - Megan Rucupero
  • Green Team - Emily Lapolice 
    • Hardy will be participating in a Savers FUNDrive this spring as a fundraiser for the PTO!  We will be collecting gently used clothing, books, and household goods that Savers will buy from us.  It’s an incredible way to keep usable items out of landfills, help families clean out their closets, AND raise money for Hardy at the same time! 🙂
    • Collection dates will be in late April and early May (4/18, 4/26, 4/28, 5/5, 5/9, and 5/10) and it will be a quick 15 minute drop off slot.  If anyone is interested in helping or has room to store items, please reach out to Emily Lapolice (greenteam@hardypto.com)
    • https://fundrive.savers.com/e/hardyelementaryschoolptofundrive032125
    • Discussed replacing marker recycling (they’re not actually able to be recycled) with crayon recycling all year round. Costs money to mail them in though.
    • Last year, did playground cleanup with Mr. Will and HASP. Would like to do this again this year.

 UPCOMING EVENTS/PLANNING

  • Need to plan or need volunteers:
    • TA Week May 5-8th - (Jennifer Kupiec) - planning in process, will need volunteers. Treats Monday, raffle Tuesday, lunch from La Victoria Wednesday, treat day Thursday, Gretchen Friday. 
    • Field Day (Lisa Cleary) Fri June 6 - hold the date to volunteer - we have over 100 people volunteer this day
    • Email to get high school volunteers:  AHSCommunityService@arlington.k12.ma.us

THANK YOU & RECOGNITION

  • Auction - Annie, Laura, Ashlin, Karen, Emilie, Vanessa, Felicia, Becka, Jen & Hardy Community
  • Raffle - Patsy, Linson, Sue, Ayelet (her mom), Paige, Tunde, Annie, Brian, Mare, Agapi
  • Treat Train (5th) - Ashlin and Lisa
  • Arlington EATS basket - Annie & donors

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

 

Archived PTO Agenda Minutes 2013-2019