PTO Meeting Minutes

PTO Meeting - April 10th, 2008

The meeting was called to order at 9:20am. Approximately 20 people were in attendance.

Mrs. A-K piloted the Activboard at Nixon. This is her 3rd year with the board.
Originally piloted at Loring in 3rd grade and in 7th grade at Curtis
She showed how to use the ActivSlate, Activote and Activwands
There is a shared folder that the 5th grade teachers can access to facilitate sharing of flipcharts
She described how lessons can be uploaded to a website, so eventually students/parents can look at the lesson at home
She also showed how the Promethean website has some flipchart lessons available on standard topics

Laura outlined the success of this year’s auction and how we are well ahead of our fundraising goals for the year
At the auction, funds for 1.5 ActivBoards was raised directly. Over $3,000 of other wish list items were purchased directly (the entire teacher wish list).
Stacey reports that we have more than $125,000 in the bank (including a $30,000 CD)
Laura proposed purchasing additional ActivBoards to complete the 4th grade. This may be 2.5 or 3.5 more as we are not yet sure if there will be 4 or 5 sections next year, pending the final budget decisions. Ms. Jay encourages providing boards for an entire grade level for equity and synergy purposes.
Due to the amount of assets that the PTO has and potential changes in the donation policy for Sudbury Public Schools, it was further proposed to purchase 3 additional boards to complete the 3rd grade.
Further, the group discussed having sets of ActiVotes for each grade level. We currently have one set that is shared among the 5th grade. The cost of each set is approximately $2,000 for 30 voters.
Question of what might be other school priorities for purchase. Ms. Jay noted that the only significant expense could be updating laptop carts. Due to budget issues, the district does not have funds allocated for this in the near future. The Nixon computer lab was updated for this school year.
The following purchases of approximately $36,500 were voted and unanimously approved:

A total of 6.5 Activboards to fully cover the 3rd and 4th grade classes at Nixon. (This is in addition to the 1.5 ActivBoards that were purchased from the $7,500 of directed funds raised at the auction). Each set-up includes the board, laptop and projector for a cost of approximately $5,000 each resulting in a total projected expenditure of $32,500.
Two sets of Activotes, one for 3rd grade and one for 4th grade at a cost of approximately $2,000 per set resulting in a projected expenditure of $4,000.

Meeting adjourned at 10:10am.