Hoosic Valley Parent Teacher Organization

Regular Meeting Minutes:  October 18,, 2023

HV Elementary School Library

Attendance:

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President: Lissa Kalbfliesh

Treasurer: Carolyn Gifford

Secretary: Lisa Meehan

Members (in-person):

Sarah Weber

Jessica Hoag

Stacey Kyea

Amanda Myott

Members (online):

none

Called to Order: 6:34pm

Treasurer’s Report:

No monthly report

Currently working with Connie to prepare for taxes – reconciling items

Committee Reports:

none

Unfinished Business:

Plants for Teachers – still in process and expected to be brought in soon!

Yearbook – Megan Luskin has agreed to be chairperson for this year. This committee is in need of a few members to assist with editing and to coordinate taking pictures at school events. Please reach out if you are able to help.

Book Fair – arrived, prepping for preview days and for sales. Desperate need for volunteers during day and during trunk or treat. Large quantities of books were sent this year – may not need to restock but will struggle with space to get them all set out.

Tenure gifts – $274.34 was spent on purchase of gift cards for the 11 newly tenured teachers. These were presented to the teachers at a very brief reception held in the high school library.

Trunk or Treat – 18 have signed up for the event to be 10/27 from 6-7:30, can fit 24. NJHS has agreed to assist inside at book fair and also with candy distribution needs. The donation “monster” bin has been set out and a call for donations was put out. Carolyn Gifford and Carly Lorini are coordinating volunteers and doing setup starting at 4:30 that day.

Picture day – 10/25 and 26 with retakes on 12/6. Volunteers are needed during the school day. Please reach out if you can help – volunteers get free photo packages!

Color Run – nothing to report

Guptills skating night – nothing to report.

New Business:

Teacher potluck on 11/1 when teachers stay late for conferences. Liz will post signup genius to tap volunteers for food, setup and cleanup.

Web domain had expired, paid to renew it and it is now secure and should be easy to find!

Funding Requests:

Stacey Kyea and Laura Mooney requested $95.82 to purchase 6 lap trays for 1st grade classroom use. Motion approved unanimously.

Future Discussions:

Odyssey of the Mind t-shirts – Unanimous decision to discontinue purchasing Odyssey of the Mind t-shirts due to growing program and increasing costs. OM is similar to clubs, which purchase their own shirts. PTO will continue to support the OM program with needs through standard funding requests moving forward.

Ornament night – some interest in continuing this event. Liz will reach out to the previous coordinator as see if she is still interested in chairing this event.

Wreath raffle – Liz Ruepp, Jess Hoag and Sarah Weber have volunteered to chair this event. Potentially have wreaths due by noon on 12/1 to be hung that afternoon and have tickets for sale during ornament night (if that happens) and up for winter music concerts.

Next meeting 11/15 at 6:30 pm in the elementary school library.

Meeting adjourned at 7:11 pm

Submitted: 10/29/2023 LJM

Hoosic Valley Parent Teacher Organization

Regular Meeting Minutes:  September 21, 2023

HV Elementary School Library

Attendance:

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President: Lissa Kalbfliesh

Treasurer: Carolyn Gifford

Secretary: Lisa Meehan

Members (in-person):

Sarah Weber, Adam Myott, Jessia Clark, Amanda Myott, Val Lavigne, Bessie Baldwin, Kimberly Macica, Carly Lorini

Members (online):

Stacey Kyea, Denile Paro, Darcy Beaulac

Called to Order: 6:32pm

Treasurers Report:

Issue with TreeRing – TrustCo bank refused to deposit it but had no explanation why it happened. TreeRing will be issuing a new check with hopes it will not have any issues.

Staying with Money Minder for online transactions. $240 spent for yearly fee. It’s easy to use, and money is linked directly our TrustCo account where most PTO business is transacted. There is also a CapCom account that is linked to the scholarship requirements that we are required to utilize.

Committee Reports:

School Supply kits – Delivery of 86 kits was on 9/1 and was fairly smooth. Minor damage to 2 boxes required replacement of 2 items for 1 student. Upon unpacking, 6^th grade kits were missing several red binders and 12 were missing 3 subject notebooks. Vendor identified warehouse issues and eventually conceded that they were unable to resolve the problem and could not supply the needed items. Recommendation that the committee assess the need for this service and for possible alternate vendors to use going forward.

Unfinished Business:

Plants for Teachers – still in process and expected to be brought in soon!

New Business:

Yearbook – utilizing TreeRing again this year. Need at least 2 committee members ASAP. Please let Liz know if you are interested.

Book Fair – Have books for 2 weeks this year. Delivery typically comes the week before, expected 10/23-27 this year and will be open during Trunk or Treat. Need at least 2 volunteers to chair this committee ASAP. Please contact Liz if you are interested or would like to learn more.

Tenure Gifts – 9 teachers were awarded tenure. Motion passed unanimously to provide gift cards in the amount that matches last year for each teacher at or after the tenure reception.

Trunk or Treat – On October 27, 6:30-8:00 in conjunction with Book Fair. 6^th graders sign up for hosting trunks. If they do not sell out, they are offered to teachers/staff and then to anyone interested. For more information, contact Carolyn Gifford, Stacey Kyea or Carly Lorini. Candy donations will be collected during the 2 weeks leading up to the event. Darcy Beaulac and Carolyn Gifford will work with NJHS to provide help at the event.

Picture Day – will be on 10/25, 10/26 and 12/6 by Adirondack Portraits. Need 2-3 volunteers to assist during the day. Volunteers receive a free package. Contact Liz if you are interested.

Color Run – we are approved to host this. Looking at the possibility of hosting in the spring. No additional volunteers are needed at this time.

Fundraising – Discussion regarding hosting a LipSync contest with students, staff and community participating. Mr. Myott is willing to provide input and encourage participation for this event. Cost is minimal and fundraising will be by donation and perhaps sale of refreshments. Timing was discussed for a winter. More discussion to follow.

Funding Requests:

Nicole Neary – requested $100.54 to reimburse for pizza served at Responsive Classroom training. Motion approved unanimously.

Aimee Hanna – requested reimbursement for $17 for summer school ice cream outing. Motion approved unanimously.

Adam Myott – requested up to $50 to purchase 2 DVD’s that are used as part of his Spanish curriculum. Motion approved unanimously.

Future Discussions:

STEAM Night – hoping again to get this off the ground for winter night. Discussion needed to develop a plan for this event. Perhaps targeted for winter.

Guptills Night – received another flyer publicizing a skating night. Will again pursue this as an option for an activity night/fundraising event.

Odyssey of the Mind – program is growing which sparked discussion regarding funding of t-shirts. PTO is moving away from funding those and discussing other ways PTO can support the program. Liz will reach out to coordinator.

Upton Coffee in Stillwater has expressed interest in working with PTO to support the organization as well as the teachers and staff at the schools. 

Discussion regarding the need for a membership drive. Information will be provided through Parent Square and flyers may go home to encourage families to join the group.

2023-2024 meeting times – decided to plan for PTO to meet on 3^rd Wednesdays of each month where possible. Next meeting 10/19. Will publicize meeting on Parent Square, Facebook, on monthly menu, at BOE meetings and on website.

Meeting adjourned at 7:28 pm

Submitted: 10/4/2023 LJM

Meeting Minutes

Date: April 18, 2023

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: Hoosic Valley Elementary School library

In Attendance

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President: Lissa Kalbfliesh

Secretary: Lisa Meehan

Treasurer: not present

In Person attendees:  Denile Paro, Tiffany Hurley, Stacy Maxon, Jacqui Paglialonga, Kim Macica, Stacey Kyea

Virtual attendees: none

Call to Order:

The meeting was called to order at 6:35pm

Approval of Minutes

The minutes from the March meeting were approved.

Committee Reports

• Yearbook – Deadline to purchase has been set at April 30 in order to receive and distribute in a timely fashion. Currently,the  number ordered is down from previous years – flyers just went home so hopefully orders will increase in the upcoming weeks. Please help spread the word by sharing on social media.

Unfinished (Old) Business:

• Plants for staff room:  delivered soon.
• Senior gifts: 80 pairs of socks were ordered, similar to last year for a cost of approximately $400. These will be distributed at the senior picnic.
• Senior Scholarships: The committee will begin reviewing these in the next week. Deadline is 5/1. See Carolyn Gifford with any questions.
• Teacher Appreciation: Survey sent out, handful of responses are mixed. Will allow more time, but currently the results, with logistics and finances point to a boxed lunch. Liz will look into options and reach out for assistance in the coming weeks.
• Meet the Board Candidates Night: Currently appears to be only 1 petition turned in. In that case, this event will not be held. Deadline is 4/17 so will assess after that date.
• Learning Fair: To be held the day of the BOE elections in the gym (May 16). Flyers went home with kids recently. Open to 4th-6th grade students. Format and subject can be anything the student would like to focus on, worked on outside of school. See Amanda Akin for details or to assist with setup on that day.
• Stewart’s Holiday Match:  received an award of $1000 for classroom libraries. This falls short of the amount needed for giving a meaningful amount to each teacher. Still looking for ideas to raise those additional $2000 to meet this need. First avenue will be just to ask for donations for this and see where that ends up.
• School Supply Kits: Currently being coordinated with same vendor as last year: Bright School Kitz. Awaiting updated lists from 2 grades. Sale will be live in mid-May until mid-June.

New Business

• Book Fair Week Activity: Book fair is first week of May. Discussion regarding activity to be held in conjunction with it. Possibilities were discussed and consensus was Book Fair Bingo night on 5/5 at 6:30. See Liz or Denile if you would like to help out – with Bingo night or with book fair.
• Vendor Refund: Discussed and approved refunding $60 to a vendor who got ill and could not attend the vendor fair. Agreed to put a clause regarding this situation in to the contract for future years: that refunds will be granted on a case-by-case basis.
• Volunteer Recognition: Discussed acknowledging the small number of members who provide extensive volunteer hours for the PTO sponsored activities and programs. This was done in the past with mugs and pens. See Liz or Lissa with any ideas.
• Google phone number: Agreed to activate the google phone number to be associated with PTO to have a single access point that can remain consistent as officers change over time.
• Website Updates:  Liz and Lissa will be moving the website out of WordPress format into Google hosted site to create a more user friendly experience as well as being easier to keep contents up to date, accessible and relevant. Reach out if you would like to assist with this project.
• Calendar Magnets: Agreed to move forward with creating a magnetic school calendar for 2023-2024 to offer to dues paying members as a perk of membership. Liz will work on getting that set up through an online vendor in the coming months.

Funding Requests

• HV Community Partners requested a donation to support After Prom activities. Unanimous agreement to match last year’s donation of $400 for this event.
• Unanimously agreed to reimburse Liz $162 for cost of the banner in support of the Odyssey of the Minds Teams. Banner was purchased at Vital Signs in Cohoes and is undated so can be used for future years.

Future Discussion 

• Kim Macica would like to create a library tour similar to the one being done by UHLS. Discussed creating a similar activity possibly with prizes and/or with linking to PARP.

Next Meeting

Date: May 15, 2023, 6:30 pm Elementary School library

Motion to adjourn was at 7:40pm

submitted: LJM 4/24/23