APPROVED NOVEMBER 8, 2011 Page 1 of 3 Minutes of Hill PTSA Meeting October 11, 2011 Call to Order: Nancy Lee-Ahler

called the meeting to orrder ar 2:05 PM. Attendees: Melanie Hinds, Darshana Prakash, Nancy Lee-Ahler, Beth Reiman, Laura King, Sunita Tandon, Cathy Piehl, Shefali Agrawal, Gretchen Pastore, Denise Orto, Rosie Sifuentes, Stephanie Mack, Darrell Echols Minutes: September 2011 meeting minutes were approved. Executive Reports: Treasurers Report: Darshana Prakash distributed a Profit & Loss Budget vs. Actual report running from July 1, 2011 thru Octobr 7, 2011. This report listed all the line items in this years PTSA budget broken down by Income items and Expense items. She also distributed a Register report showing all the checks written from and deposits made to the PTSA checking account at Chase Bank for the period July 1, 2011 thru October 7, 2011. As of October 7, 2011, the PTSA checking account has a balance of $18, 695.63. Committees Reports: Rachels Challenge: Beth Reiman reported that the students attended a presentation during school for Rachels Challenge which is a nation wide organization that was started by the family of Rachel Scott, who was the first child killed in the Columbine tragedy in 1999. The program was developed to help inspire more compassion and kindness in schools. The PTSA had budget monies to be donated towards this event. This year is the first time this event was being presented at Hill. There are plans to start a student organization at Hill, called Friends of Rachel, to help carry on Rachels message of compassion and kindness. PDAC (Parent Diversity Advisory Council): Cathy Piehl reported that the next PDAC meeting will be on October 18, 2011, focusing on strengthening the home school bond and encouraging cooperation between PDAC, school PTAs and the schools to increase parental involvement. All PDAC meetings are open to the public and are held at 7:00 PM at the Crouse Education Center, 780 Shoreline Drive, Aurora, IL. Cathy introduced Sunita Tandon, a Hill parent, who will be working with Cathy on PDAC efforts as they pertain to Hill. Sunita & Cathy are also exploring developing a Welcome Packet that can be made available to Hill families, particularly those who are new to the district, utilizing assistance via PDAC. One of the items being considered would be the feasability of offering babysitting at meetings so as to allow more parents to attend meeting. IPPC (Indian Prairie Parents Council): Melanie Hinds reported that the next IPPC meeting will be on October 20th. The IPPC is a D204 organization composed of D204 PTAs/PTSAs that works to try to facilitate and improve dialogue among all the PTAs/PTSAs and district administration, which meets monthly. After each monthly meeting Melanie will compile a summary of the meeting that will be distributed to the Hill PTSA Executive Board and any Hill families who may be interested. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math):Darshana Prakash reported that the STEM Club at Hill is working on an eCybermission science competition and has 17 teams (3 students on each team), 11 parent volunteers and 2 North Central College students that work with the teams. They are still in need of 4 more parent volunteers. Also, the STEM Club will now be meeting every other Wednesday afternoon (after school) each month, as opposed to every Wednesday afternoon.

APPROVED NOVEMBER 8, 2011 Page 2 of 3

Mr. Echols reported that on October 24th, Hill will host a STEM Night for Hill students and families only, from 6:00 PM- 7:30 PM. There will be stations set up throughout Hill with different hands-on STEM-related activities. He suggested that concessions of some types be available for sale and asked the PTSA to provide parent volunteers to help in this area. He also suggested that there be a table set up somewhere in the building with STEM-related brochures available for families to take home. Darshana & Cathy will work on getting these materials together. Gingerbread Junction: Laura King reported that this years Gingerbread Junction will be on Saturday, December 3rd, from 9A - 3 P. There will be over 50 vendors selling pottery, jewelry & handmade items by local crafters. This fundraiser is 30 years old and is used to support the students at Hill. Laura is still looking for additional ways to advertise this event throughout the community. Anne Ruden is working on booking musical groups that will perform at the fundraiser, including some of Meteas chorus as well as the Hill staff band (composed of Mr. Echols & Hill staff). PTSA Blog: Melanie Hinds reported that we have secured the domain name of www.hillptsa.org and that the format and information from the test blog she developed were in the process of being transferred to this new domain name. As soon as everything has been transferred over she will have the email subscription feature tested by some parents and then let Mr. Echols know when it is ready to go live and be publicly announced to the Hill community. The blog is an effort to help supplement the communication vehicles currently used at Hill including the Hill Daily and the electronic calls. There was a $10 registration fee in order to secure the domain name; the domain name needs to be renewed yearly (by October 10, 2012) or we could lose it. Melanie donated the cost for the initial 1year registration. The PTSA budget for 2012 - 2013 will need to include at least $10 for this expense. Student PTSA: Gretchen Pastore reported that the first Student PTSA meeting was held on September 29th and that 60 kids attended. They broke into small groups to talk about activities they would like to consider getting involved in. The next Student PTSA meeting is on October 20th at 3:00 PM in the Commons. All Student PTSA meetings are open to all Hill students; if the students family is a member of the Hill PTSA there is no additional charge to the student; if the family is not a member there is a one-time $5 to the student. Also, the Student PTSA will help in decorating and creating posters to use at Gingerbread Junction, but Gretchen & Tami Wagener would appreciate some additional guidance from the PTSA as to what contributions they can make. The PTSA Board agreed to help them in this effort. Nancy or Beth reported on behalf of the following committees: Art Club: the Hill Art Club will also be used to help provide decorations for Gingerbread Junction. Concessions: need to confirm that the master key is available Apparel Orders: an additional apparel order was placed in October Manna: cards should be available in time for Christmas Dinners Out: It appears that a Culvers Night is being planned for November Directory: Inkwells will once again donate the cost of publication of the Hill directory. This will allow the PTSA to allocate the $1,200 budgeted for this expense to other PTSA events. Boxtops: Next mailing is due by Oct 31st.

APPROVED NOVEMBER 8, 2011 Page 3 of 3 Labels4Education: There are approximately 8,000 labels collected and we need to confer with Mr. Echols to determine if there are any items that the school needs which can be obtained via label redemption. Winter Boot & Coat Collection: Going well. All items must be delivered to D204 storage facility on October 21st. Melanie will take care of this. Open Positions: There are a number of open chair positions and if these are not filled the PTSA may be forced to cancel certain events. Nancy will consider sending out an SOS via the Hill list-serve and/or Hill Daily: Ways and Means Chair Variety Show Chair ~ Two parents were approached about this position. One declined the opportunity and the other has not responded to the request. eScript Chair ~ consider getting additional information regarding the duties of this position. Principal: Mr. Echols reported that the Film Club needs special software for their activities and suggested that we consider if this could be obtained via the Labels4Education redemption process. PTSA will look into this and report back to Mr. Echols. Mr. Echols also reported that the student logo contest should occur sometime in October/November. At that time Ken Markiewicz will be at Hill to help paint the logo somewhere in the school. New Business: Hill will be hosting the IGSMA Solo and Ensemble (Illinois Grade School Music Association) competitions in February 2012. This event requires many, many parent volunteers to run smoothly and to help with concession sales. Nancy will work with Heidi Rogers (Band teacher @ Hill) to try to coordinate the PTSA volunteers to run concession sales (all profits to go to the PTSA) and to provide a buffet luncheon for the directors and staff (about 50-70 people). Beth will investigate food vendor and costs associated with buffet luncheon for estimated staff count and report back. Next PTSA Meeting : November 8th @ 7:00 PM ~ preceded by Ask the Principal session with Mr. Echols @ 6:30 PM. Meeting adjourned: 3:02 PM

Respectfully submitted, Melanie Hinds PTSA Secretary