Meeting Summary, September 17th, 2019

​Alder Creek Middle School PTO
September 17th , 2019

Meeting attendees:
Hein Larson, Ivazina Blaylock, Yvonne Moore, Stefanie Deuber, Birgitta Depaoli, Raughley Koehler, Courtney Murrell, Rebecca Meyerholz, Laura Garcia, Karen Plank, Kari Chalstrom, and Rosa Davis.

Greeting:
Welcome to new ACMS parents. The ACMS PTO is so excited for the new school year. Go Cougars!

Principals Notes:
ACMS principal, Mrs. Hein Larson, gave us an update.
Dining for School cards are for sale. Please get the word out to buy cards.
Enrollment is way up, 612 students. The historic highest was 600. This year there are 227-6 th Graders and 15 new students coming over from North Tahoe Middle School. Mrs. Larson was able to hire new staff quickly.
The new venue for the 6 th Grade Outdoor Education is at Grizzly Ranch run by Sierra Nevada Journeys, in Portola. The trip was re-scheduled for May 2020. This date might be a problem with H.S. counsellors juggling their A.P. testing schedules. Trip costs will be $200/kid, down from $260 for Shady Creek.
An Airport grant will pay for 10 kid. A Lahonton grant will fund training the H.S. counselors. About 1/3 of the kids will not be able to pay. Possible other sources for funding are Rotary, Sunrise Rotary, Optimist, and ASB. Also, transportation costs will be less – PTO will be responsible for the busses.
Shady Creek was too far. There were concerns with parents driving windy roads to pick-up sick kids at night. The 6th Grade teachers found this new camp.
ACMS Boys and Girls Club on Tuesday-Friday from 2:30-6. Its only $125/year. Usually attendance is 20 kids per day.
Homework Clubs – Math HW Club and English Language Arts HW Club, 2:20-3:20, 6 th -8 th Grade. Drop-in is okay and student must stay for whole hour. Mrs. Larson’s Site Funds will make this possible.
Concerns about bike safety at drop-off. PTO Members get the word out to increase driver awareness to slow down.
Riders should walk bikes on campus. Bikes are safe. The racks are out front in the view of cameras. New racks will be
installed back by Mrs. Larson’s office.
The Fall Dance is Oct 4th 5:30-7:30. All middle school kids in the region are invited. They must bring their school ids.
7th and 8th Grade Honor Roll Breakfasts is on September 26th and 27th will celebrate the hard work of students during Spring 2019 when they were 6th and 7th Grade students.
Spanish for Spanish Speakers is a Spanish Enrichment Class which is open to everyone but was designed as a bridge class for the students coming from the Spanish emersion program. It had been taught by Brianne Lopez in the past. This time Sarah Adams, TTUSD employee, will teach on Mondays 2:30-3:30 @ $105/class. There are 11 classes scheduled for now.
The charge is $10 per student for approximately 10 kids. Punch cards might work better than collecting checks or cash.

ASB News:
Associated Student Body (ASB) faculty representative Ms. Ivazina Blaylock presented the ASB News.
The 8th Grade Student Council representatives are voted by the student body. The PTO ASB Student Leadership Representatives are Sophia Bar or Emily Rubio. They will switch-off attending our meetings.
ASB Annual Total Budget is $30K. It is spent down to $5K each year. The Fall and Spring Dances raise $5K-$8K and the smaller dances raise $2K each. Other funding sources are snack sales at sports events. ASB spends $10K on athletics.
All funds must be spent on something for all students and cannot be spent on teachers. Any new expenses are approved by representatives during ASB meetings every other Wednesday. Ms. Blaylock will provide us with the ASB Budget at the next meeting.
Responsibility for paying for school assemblies will be taken back by ASB. PTO was covering them and lost $2000 last year by not knowing we could have been reimbursed.
ASB funds scholarships for field trips, $500/grade.
ACMS Cross-Country Meet at the Auburn Ski Hill, Boreal is Friday, September 27 th . PTO will run the snack booth. We are taking this fundraiser back from ASB. Also, we are helping out Ms. Blaylock because she is working at school during the event. She will continue to buy the snacks for the meet and Coach Dwight Smith will transport the snacks to the event site. PTO needs 2 and 3 parents to work at the meet. Cross-Country parents usually volunteer. We need to return unsold snacks to Ms. Blaylock.
Question for Ms. Blaylock: Can ASB buy sports equipment for recess? The equipment must be ADA compliant. ASB is not authorized to buy equipment fixed/permanent playground structures. We need to talk with Mrs. Larson. Tabled to next meeting.

PTO Board Members:
We nominated new board members and thanked exiting members.
Co-Presidents: Yvonne Moore and Stephanie Deuber
Secretary: Susie Overall
Treasurer: Raughley Koehler
All board members were approved unanimously.
Exiting Treasurer: Brigitta Depaoli; Thank you again for your hard work.
Transfer signing approval: PTO removes Brigitta Depaoli and Stephanie Bragg and adds Yvonne Moore and Raughley Koehler. They will meet at US Bank on D.P.R. Thursday, September 19 th at 9am to sign the bank papers. Approved unanimously.
Additional volunteer PTO rolls were organized.
Honor Roll Breakfast Co-Chairs: Courtney Murrell and Rosa Davis
Silent Auction Fundraiser Co-Chairs: Stephanie Deuber and Laura Garcia
Spanish Emersion Class Coordinators: Courtney Murrell, Laura Garcia and Reini Jensen

Other Business:
PTO meetings will stay set for 3 rd Tuesday at 7:45am. Mrs. Larson will be first on the agenda.
The PTO will facilitate and promote the Spanish Enrichment classes. Approved unanimously.
Review PTO August 15 th , 2019 meeting minutes. Approved unanimously.
Honor Roll Breakfasts will be coordinated by Co-Chairs Courtney Murrell and Rosa Davis, and helper Kathey Tanner. The PTO will buy minimum supplies for the breakfast – utensils, table clothes, bagels, coffee, and oj . A Sign-up Genius email has gone out for parent volunteers to bring breakfast treats and help with set-up and clean-up. Courtney will set-up the coffee maker the night before and Hein starts it early.
Silent Auction Thank you notes must be written and mailed by October. Please work from the address list, to avoid duplicates. Stefanie Dueber will send out the address list. Blank thank you notes are in the blue bin. Generously, Brigitta will donate stamps.
Question: Can we move all PTO emails to Google Account and use the shared Google calendar? Susie Overall will work on this.

Tabled business:
Recess sports equipment
PTO storage cabinet
Cougar Days – 6 th Grade School Supply kits
Movie night in October or November
Disneyland tickets Fundraiser
Tamales Fundraiser
Conference Week snacks
Teacher Appreciation Week snacks

Next meeting Thursday, October 17th , 2019 at 7:45 am in the ACMS Faculty Lounge.