Van Buren PTO Meeting Minutes

Meeting Date: Tuesday, May 22 at 8:15am Officers in Attendance: Nicole Seitz President Jen Bishop Vice President of Parent Relations Lisa Harmon Vice President of Teacher Relations Kathy Ware Vice President of Fundraising Kelsey Heitkamp Secretary Location: Van Buren Elementary Staff Room Next Meeting: TBD *This meeting was open to parents. 1. Kelsey Heitkamp reviewed Aprils Minutes. Jen Bishop made first motion, Shanda made second motion to approve. All in favor. Minutes approved. 2. Mr Lehmans report: Thanked everyone who has been involved in being part of the PTO. He introduced Mr. Newcomer as the new Principal. Ann Jackson has filled Mrs. Walerius position. Mr. Newcomers and Mrs. Vans positions are not yet filled. 3. Lisa Harmon gave the Treasurers report since Amy Mason was absent. Total income was $15 from a late Spirit Wear order, total expenses were $3,618.26 to Impulse Apparel for Spirit Wear cost, and $19 to Cheri Rhodes for her return of Spirit Wear. Total committed: $1,500 for teacher vouchers (could be more like $1,600 - $1,800), fees for tax exempt status $100 for state, $450 for federal. Balance after expenses and commitments: $5,153.57 4. Nicole Seitz said that we still need volunteers to help grill for the End of the Year Picnic. Max and Ermas is donating ice cream and will come serve it. We still need volunteers to help hand out plates for the younger kids. Timeframe is from 10:15 12:30. 5. Jen Bishop reported on the Great American Can Roundup by Ball Metal that Van Buren collected the most pounds (1,349.75) of cans and had the largest ratio of pounds per student (2.1). She was told that in the past, Ball Metal has paid out 80 cents per pound and has matched that with a donation. Even without the match from Ball Metal, that should raise over $1,000. 6. A large portion of the cans collected were from Jennifer Dieter. She donated some that her work had collected. She is also making a flyer about all the fundraisers for next year, noting that our next can collection will be in September and that people should save cans over the summer. 7. The money raised from the can collection is normally dispersed in February. 8. Kelsey suggested adding a note on the flyer about how much money was raised from the May collection to get people on board for September. Jen added that all the kids from the winning school will get an ice cream party from Dietschs . 9. Jen says we need more volunteers for the Safety and Open House Committees. 10. The Open House is on Monday August 20th and the first day for students is August 22nd.

11. PTO will have a kickoff after the fair break. 12. Lisa Oestrich brought up the subject of a prayer group that meets at the church. 13. Lisa reported that the Hancock Wood meeting regarding the grant is being held tonight. (It ended up being delayed from the original May 1 meeting.) Also, we will need to start thinking about a welcome back event for the teachers. Feedback from the teachers survey was positive and most said they need more assistance getting books and supplies. 14. Cheri Rhodes has spare school supplies for the next 2 years for kids who cant get them. She would like to see more parents involved, even if its just getting them into the school one time. She also talked about some businesses sending volunteers to the schools to come work with kids and followed that by saying we will definitely need more in-room help in the future. 15. There has been a LAMP (Literacy and Mentoring Program) program headed up by Susan Benson, where parents or older students take kids to a LAMP room for 30 minutes for extra help. 16. Jen asked if we had a respect or bullying program in place. Cheri says she teaches character words/lessons and doesnt like to focus on the word bullying because elementary kids dont grasp the concept correctly and overuse the word as a way to tell on someone. 17. We are going to try to get more lunch and playground help and possibly look into radios for the volunteers for emergency situations on the playground. 18. Cheryl Reinecke stated that she didnt quite know what to do when she did volunteer for lunch help. Hollie Hailey said she felt the same way. Lisa suggested a training session for volunteers. 19. Deb Lautermilch and Mrs. Kendrick received a grant that provides nearly $4,000 for an author visit for Right to Read for 2013. 20. Kelsey stated that we are going to develop a school directory for the 20122013 school year. She mentioned that during the Open House, along with other papers, we would have a place for parents to give permission to release personal information for the directory. 21. Kathy Ware talked about Market Day and that we would only need 2-3 volunteers once a month for pick up. There is no contract and there are possible fundraisers along with it. Cheryl Reinecke made a motion to give Market Day a try, while Hollie Hailey seconded it. Motion approved. 22. Kathy also mentioned that, according to old records, the candy bar sales have had huge profits. Cheryl liked the idea of this fundraiser because its actually something the kids can do easily. 23. The Walk-a-thon that is done now is for a donation for the Heart Association. The magazine sales are for the garden and Mr. Lehman suggested that we keep that separate from the PTO. This year the magazine sales profited around $3,000. Stevie Bs funds go into the Principals fund for him to disperse in areas he deems necessary. 24. Nicole asked if there are any other ideas for fundraisers. No one responded. 25. Nicole stated that we are going to take the month of June off but will start back at it in July. 26. The idea of some sort of welcome packet/program for new families was brought up.

*As always, please contact me with any corrections. Kelsey Heitkamp, Secretary