March Meeting Notes

Alder Creek Middle School PTO Meeting Minutes
March 3, 2026
ACMS School, Truckee, Ca, 7:45am

Present: Brandy Christensen, Kathleen Gauthier, Erica Garcia, Paul Turner, Allie Reeves, Kristin Cooksey

Quorum Present?: Yes

Welcome/Intro, Brandy Christensen
-Meeting called to order on time at the scheduled 7:45am
-Adopt/Minutes/: No Minutes from the February 2026 Meeting to Adopt/The February 2026 PTO Monthly Meeting was held on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026 at the scheduled time of 6:00pm - 7:00pm at the Raley’s One Market Upstairs Reserved Meeting Long Table.  The meeting went well and followed the 8th Grade Celebrations Planning Team Meeting.
-MOTION to approve meeting minutes/Not Required at this March 2026 PTO Team Meeting/Made by:  N/A, /Seconded By: N/A, / Passed Withour Dissent - N/A.

Treasurer’s Report,  (Normally Reported By Kate L.)/To Be Reviewed at the next ACMS PTO Team Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April 7th, 2026/@ Location TBA To Be Announced @ either of the normal two options (6pm at Raley’s One Market /Or 7:45am @ ACMS School Teachers Lounge) :

-Overall General Discussion on PTO Financial Position:  Positive.  There is enough funding to support the programs for the remainder of this academic school year, as well as for a PTO for the next upcoming academic school year fall 2026 - Spring 2027.  No new funding projects were suggested or introduced at this March 2026 PTO Meeting.  

-There was a discussion around the June end of school year ‘Beach Day’ at West End Beach, Donner Lake, and the increase in cost that the Donner Lake Management has introduced for this coming June, including an estimated cost increase from $300 up to approximately $1,000 for this event.  The costs for the Donner Lake West Beach event covers lifeguard support, reserved beach area, and miscellaneous staffing and cleanup costs around booking the beach for events such as the school event.  We are guessing that the Beach Day cost also includes the entry fees for the students, staff and any adult supervision support.  It would be nice if they threw in some hot dogs for the kids!!  The event will continue as planned.  Principal Hien Larson indicated that there is a budget allocated to cover this cost.  This will be revisited for coming years and has been a great traditional event for the kids in Elementary and Middle School.  A discussion around investigating the Alpine Meadows Lake Area as an alternative is in play, and President Brandy Christensen is following up on some phone calls and investigation into this alternative option for ‘Beach Day!

-Fundraising continues to be an important initiative for the PTO intended to drive interest in sponsorship and supporting programs for students and initiatives for teachers events such as lunches during parent - teacher - student meeting weeks.  The use of a ‘push, utilizing texting to remind parents of these needs was discussed during this March 2026 PTO meeting, as well as at the prior February 2026 PTO meeting.  To Note: The SuperBowlMexicanFood Raffle fundraiser was discussed at the prior February PTO meeting and cancellation was considered as an option, however it was reported that this fundraising drive had raised between $200-$300 by February 3rd, 2026, and with the additional ‘texting and email reminder push to parents, there was additional interested and action taken by parents supporting this fundraiser.  A full account of the total amount raised for the SuperBowlMexicanFoodTamales fundraiser will be reported and reviewed at a future PTO meeting, April 2026 or before the end of the academic school year.

 -Kate to bring a check for $1,500 to Principal Hien Larson today, March 3rd, 2026 for PTO sponsorship of an initiative/event

-April 30th, 2026 Open House Event

-Note: For the Hermes / Fundraiser/Initiative:  PTO sells tickets and last year received a counterfeit $100 dollar bill.  Most likely an accident.  This year we will request “small bills only”, to avoid any embarrassment.  An ‘honest mistake is assumed, and not money laundering activity.  

Principal’s Report, Hien L.:
-Principal Hien Larson continues to manage many projects with success and the school continues to get top marks on the surveys and from the district.

-Discussion around the 8th Grade Celebrations and planning are ongoing.

-Carnival / Ohana / Aloha /Staff Appreciation Event Planning is ongoing.

-Week long event planning for Teacher Breakfast/Lunch/Beverage Cart planning continues and a basic initial outline was discussed including:  Monday Breakfast, Tuesday Beverage Cart, Wednesday Lunch, Thursday OpenForDiscussion, Friday Food Leftovers from the Week.

-Beach Day Donner Lake Students Traditional Event:  Principal Hien has funding for transportation and for the cost of the beach day which (as described above in finance) is an incrementally increasing cost this year in June 2026 by 2X or possibly 3X.

-”Peer Helper / Open Mike Night: Was discussed and Principal Hien L asked if the PTO would be able to support this event/initiative with approximately $500.

-March 19th, 2026 is the next ELAC Meeting.  Erica Garcia will be leading, and PTO President Brandy Christensen will be attending.  Additional ACMS School Administration/Management will be attending including Principal Hien Larson, and possibly others.

-April 30th, 2026 / Hermes Event Discussion/Ongoing and will be reviewed at the next PTO meeting scheduled for April 7, 2026 (*Location of the PTO Meeting TBA)

-Principal Hien Larson discussed the need for more parent / community support of events and specifically the need for more Chaperones to make the ACMS School Dance a reality.  A discussion of even cancelling the event if there was not enough support was raised.  Some additional PTO parents volunteered to be Chaperones at this coming Friday, March 6th, 2026 event, and agreed to ‘spread the word, to other parents in the ACMS community to get more interest in involvement generated.  Participation and support of the PTO, and all school groups and student activities is Essential to the success of our students, teachers, administration and community!

New Business, (N/A).:

-A discussion around the PTO working with the ACMS School Admin to co-promote PTO fundraising utilizing a text and email push, from time to time, as needed.  The PTO agrees that we saw success with this ‘additional marketing and promotion push, with the SuperBowlFoodFundraiser and additional parents took action supporting the event when they received a reminder and text promotion.  Reminders of a need for parent participation and support for events such as the School Dance and Chaperone Opportunities would also be good examples of a use of text and email reminders to encourage parents to become increasingly involved.  Reminder Note: Studies are showing that parent support of school related participation has dropped dramatically since the 2020 era times, dropping by an estimated and significant 40-70%.

-As discussed at the previous month February 2026 PTO meeting, President Brandy Christensen will be retiring from the PTO President Position following successful years of driving the group and initiatives forward.  There will be a need for a new PTO President and additional consistent support and participation in both the general PTO Organization, and also the events (ie:  Planned events require organizing, phone calls to sponsors, picking up food, dropping off information, collecting fundraising donations, managing financial components of the PTO, showing up, managing the SignUpMonkey, generating interest among parents in becoming increasingly involved in their children's student academic school community, and more.  Things don’t just happen without involvement, commitment and responsible sacrificial giving.  Time, Talent, Treasure.  

-Preparing ‘Baskets’ for fundraising was discussed along with options for potentially a different option, not including baskets, OR:  Have students on the leaders teams prepare the baskets and delegate the workload out.  A good idea.  

-The previously discussed ‘Silent Auction & Open/Live Auction’ organization that had been previously discussed will not be moving forward at this time based on today’s update.  There had been interest in leading this initiative at a previous meeting held in January 2026, along with support to volunteer to be a 2nd in command of this fundraising drive, however things seem to have ‘fizzled out due to time constraints and ‘bandwidth to make this event happen this year.  For now the event is on ‘Standby-Cancel’ We will call back into the ATC control once we’ve done some troubleshooting.

-Shirts for the School Event are being arranged (Kate), and a request for sizes is being sent out by Principal Hien Larson.  Collaboration and ordering shirts will follow shortly over the next few weeks.

-For the Teachers Appreciation Week, a discussion around planning, organizing the sign up wizard, ordering catering, funding the project, Costco supplies (*Estimated Costco Supply budget of $200-300), Monday - to - Friday planning outlined (as above), and more.

-Ally indicated that she may be able to get involved in making the ‘baskets project happen.  Ally will follow up moving forward on this project.

-Paul will speak with school administration about ‘sparingly using a text and email ‘push to students parents for projects, parent involvement, and fundraising reminders and sign ups on an ‘as-needed-basis.  

-A discussion arond the ‘Set Up, and timing for food and supplies drop offs around the events, specifically the Herme’s Event and the Teacher Appreciation Event were reviewed by the PTO Team with planning and outcomes to be clear on this in promotion and sign up wizard opportunities.  Sticking to the outlined times for participation in events, (*ie 7am start/2pm close) will be adhered to moving forward to ensure that parents who participate and show up every day on times indicated can contribute as per their commitments.

-Specific food needs for all events was discussed:  Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Fun Free, Vegetarien, Vegan, Lean Proteins, ‘Warm Food Options,” and other preferences will be met as much as possible.  

-Reminder:  Jill Cox contributes time and effort to managing the FaceBook page and the Instagram page.  Thank You Jill!  Please collaborate and coordinate with Jill as needed with information that the PTO group would like to promote out on these Social Media Resources.

-The Cougar News Survey was discussed.  The slight - to - moderate - challenge of opening up all of the pages on some technologies/devices was discussed.  Options for future improvement and increased engagement were discussed at the PTO March Meeting and will be ongoing as we endeavor to do our best!!  Kiezen!  Continual Improvement.  Good Change.

Meeting adjourned at 8:51am.
Next Meeting:  Tuesday, April 7th, 2026 (*Location TBC/Either Raleys or ACMS)
Minutes submitted by PTO Secretary: /Paul Turner