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September Meeting Minutes

Written by PTO President on . Posted in Minutes.

Minutes 

Hoosic Valley PTO

_______________________

 

September 3rd, 2020 @ 6:30pm

Elementary School Parking lot (socially distanced)

 

Attendees:

Liz Ruepp, Lissa Kalbfliesh, Amelia Manders, Carolyn Gifford, Janice Lee, Brandee Silloway, Lisa Meehan, Bessie Baldwin, Sarah Weber, Darcy Beaulac

 

Accepted minutes from August 13th, 2020

Presidents/Treasurer’s reports were presented:  Next meeting will print off the official treasurer’s report for members to look at

 

Agenda:  

 

Committee Reports

  1.  By Laws Committee

 

Action Items:

 

  1.  Sarah (head of the committee) reported she looked through the bylaws and has made various notes.  She is requesting an email of the names of people willing to help form the committee.  Wants to see an editable copy of the bylaws. (if interested in helping out please email president@hoosicvalleypto.com or secretary@hoosicvalleypto.com )

 

Unfinished Business:

 

  1.  Yearbooks
  2. Zillah books
  3. Feed the teacher/chalk the walk

 

Action Items:

 

  1.  Yearbooks:  227 yearbooks were ordered for the 2019/2020 school year.  They shipped us 254.  They comped us 4 yearbooks.  8 yearbooks are still unaccounted for.  There are 23 extras we will be shipping back for a refund.  Possibility of a yearbook committee discussion (with Amelia as head if interested in helping please contact treasurer@hoosicvalleypto.com ).  Our contract with lifetouch is up, and we may look into other options such as treering.  
  2. Zillah books (update):  They were dropped off at school.  There are enough books so all students preK through 6th grade will receive one.  Cori and Kathy have both been contacted about distribution. 
  3. Feed the teacher/chalk the walk:  Friday September 11 (in conjunction with HVEF) there will be lunch provided by Joes dough 2 go & Mr. Dingaling for all teachers and HV staff.  On September 10th (the night before) Students, parents, community members were all encouraged to come and “chalk the walk”.  Write messages to teachers and HV staff before teacher appreciation lunch.  Social distancing will be maintained and everyone has to bring their own chalk to the event. 

 

New Business

 

  1.  Picture Day
  2. Form Audit Committee
  3. Brainstorm for future meeting locations
  4. Virtual book fair
  5. Approval for purchase of accounting software 
  6. Teacher wish list

 

Action Items:

 

  1.  Picture day:  Discussion of class picture (equally sized with child in the middle)  Will be October 1st (Thursday) and October 2nd (Friday).  There will be volunteers needed. Retake will be done either January or February.
  2. Audit Committee:  PTO is annually responsible to audit the treasurer.  Can be not less than 3 members.  The audit committee was formed (Lissa and Carolyn, still looking for a 3rd member, if interested please contact secretary@hoosicvalleypto.com )
  3. Future Meeting locations:  Since the weather will be turning colder sooner rather than later we will be in need of some new potential meeting locations.  (talked about Valley Falls library, Rescue Squad pavilion) with the idea of virtual meetings starting the month of November (if we can’t secure a safe socially distanced location before then).
  4. Book Fair:  There were no records of the spring order.  The orders didn’t ship until August or September.  Virtual? We need to look into the possibility of a better experience for our spring book fair if we have to do it virtually.
  5. Accounting software:  Money minder is the name of the program.  The cost would be 159.00/year +39.00 to hook it up directly with our bank account.  We could host different users with different rights within this program and would be able to track membership.  The deposits and withdrawals would be clear along with accurate numbers for the accountant easy to decipher.  We could create a “store” within it and run membership fees and donations (with a .45 cent transaction fee).  PTO motioned and voted to approve purchasing this accounting software. 
  6. Teacher wish list:  PTO would like teachers to create their “own” wish lists through amazon (if we use amazon smile through PTO we could get a % back as well).  We will include this idea into an email to Mr. Foti.  We could then create a PTO “teacher wish list” group and make it accessible through the website or facebook group, where parents and community members would have access to it.
  7. Amelia presented new business.  She would like to redesign the website.  Make it more user friendly.

 

Future Discussions:  

 

  1.  Virtual activities 

 

Action Items:

 

  1.  Discussion was had on the idea of doing 2 larger fundraisers (in the foreseeable future).  Generate excitement for only a few large ones instead of many smaller ones.  The idea of Bingo or trivia night thought cahoot virtually was discussed as well for safe activities now.  Then discussion moved to a halloween committee (Liz, Darcy, Janice, Sarah, Stacy, Lisa, Lissa).  Maybe doing a trunk or treat drive through, or doing grade level based decorations and being able to “drive through” and see them.  (possibly using the fair grounds as a location, where cars could drive through easily.)  Any ideas of safe socially distanced fun activities are welcome for the kids.  If interested or you have an idea please contact president@hoosicvallypto.com.