PTO Meeting Minutes
PTO Meeting - May 10th, 2007
General John Nixon Elementary School
PTO Meeting Minutes
May 10th, 2007
The meeting was called to order at 9:20 am
Approximately 15 people were in attendance.
Treasurer’s Report
Most major fundraisers have been conducted, with a year-to-date total of $34,973.
The full-year forecast is 99% attained. Bingo Night was very successful, bringing
in $6,889. Invoices for Bingo Night are still expected. Nixon Gear sold a
large number of items at the Kindergarten Orientations. We still have the
Mexican Auction Fiesta Night and the General John’s March remaining.
Net Income is $42,659, which is 92% attained. Operating Losses for the year
are currently $834 vs. a budgeted loss of $13,787.
Co-President’s Report
The annual PTO dinner will be at Sky restaurant on Monday, June 4th. The All-School
Concerts and the Parent Appreciation Luncheon will both be on June 6th. General
John’s March and the School Picnic will be on June 8th. There will be
a 5th grade graduation party at Nixon on June 19th from 7:00-9:00 pm with
a Hawaiian theme. Next year, family curriculum night will focus on literacy.
There were suggestions made to combine the literacy event with a cultural
theme. Ideas included books from around the world or a cultural potluck dinner.
Parents commented that the nice thing about the Cultural Night event was that
the families worked on it together. It was also suggested to have an end-of-year
family picnic. Tracie Nathin and Scott Townsend have completed the bylaws.
They will be posted on the website next week for all to review. Please send
any questions regarding the bylaws to Tracie. At the June 7th PTO meeting,
we will review the bylaws and they will be voted on at the September meeting.
The Student Council has asked for approval to use the money collected thru
Boxtops for Education to purchase equipment for the playground. The total
request was for $674.10 and there is enough money in the Boxtops fund to pay
for this. Michelle Babikian has been nominated for PTO Co-President next year.
We will vote in all new committee co-chairs at our June meeting. There are
still a few PTO Committee openings. The budget process for next year will
begin shortly. Each committee chair needs to fill out a request form and return
it to the box in the PTO corner by June 15. They will be provided with the
actuals and the budget for this year. The budget will be created over the
summer and voted on in the fall.
Requests for Funding
Each year there is a 5th grade breakfast on the day of graduation. This has
historically been organized and funded by the 4th grade parents. This year,
the breakfast will be smaller (from 8:30-9:00 in the courtyard) and will be
followed by a more formal graduation ceremony in the cafeteria. There was
a request to have the PTO fund this event, rather than the 4th grade parents.
The request was for $300-350. This was voted on and approved.
A second request for funding was from Technix, which is a school committee that meets monthly to talk about technology at Nixon. We currently have a cart with 15 laptops on it that moves from classroom to classroom. However, some of the keys on the keyboards have been damaged. Technix is instituting new rules to better monitor the laptops and hold classes responsible for their damage. They are asking for $400 to fix the keyboards. This was voted on and approved.
Hospitality
The Teacher’s Appreciation Luncheon was yesterday and it was a huge
success. They had plenty of food, and each teacher received a mug with teas
and hot chocolate in it.
Fundraising
The Nixon Auction Fiesta will take place on May 11th. There are currently
205 people attending, 75 silent auction items and 30 live auction items. Tickets
will not be sold at the door.
Gardening
They are looking for ideas for sprucing up the courtyard. It was suggested
that they work with the aesthetics committee, who are also looking at ways
to improve the courtyard. It was also suggested that they ask the Boy Scouts
to help build a bench.
Yearbook/DVD
The yearbook and DVD have been offered at a bundled/discounted price of $30
all year. This special sale will no longer be available - the yearbook will
cost $20 and the DVD will cost $16. They are anticipating that they will sell
out. The 5th graders are scheduled to receive their yearbooks on June 11,
with the rest of the school receiving them the following day.
Comments from Joni Jay
A big thank you to the PTO. Now that she has been here a year, she sees how
much impact the PTO has on the school. The School Advisory Council has 2 openings
for next year. Parents vote on the candidates at parent’s night in September.
The positions are on a 2 year rotating cycle. Joni relies heavily on this
council. The deadline for the Nixon survey has now passed. She will summarize
the feedback and relay it to the Nixon community. There were over 85 responses.
The final PTO meeting for the year will be June 7 at 9:15am.
10:10 am meeting adjourned