Meeting minutes - November, 2022

Alder Creek Middle School
PTO Board Meeting - November Meeting Minutes
Date: November 10th, 2022
Time/Location: 7:45 AM ACMS Staff Room
Next Meeting: 6:15 pm, December 8th, 2022 Raley’s Loft

Members present: Susie Overall, Nicole Reitter, Saira West, Yvonne Moore, Kate Lord, Denise Van Beek, Kristi Prochazka, Jessica Marr, Hien Larson

Welcome / Intro
Introductions were made and new members welcomed. The meeting minutes from October were briefly reviewed.  Saira made a motion to approve the minutes, Kristi seconded the motion, and they were approved at 7:52 AM

Treasurer’s Report & Budget Review
Our Treasurer, Kate Lord gave the financial update. We received $5600 in Sponsorship donations this year. We also brought in $189 from our Summit Swirl day at the beginning of the year.  
We received more donations than expected for Conference week - $692, which covered our costs for supplies and the hosted lunch.  The first dance made $330, and fees were $339 (the goal was for kids to have fun, not to fundraise). Spirit wear is finally in the positive - we have sold $1700 for the year so far, out of the $1600 we initially invested. The grant request / reimbursement form is available for staff and others. Our total account balance is approximately: $25,000. Annual information update was filed with the secretary of state.

Principal’s Update
Hien Larson gave her monthly update - we are almost to the end of trimester one, grades are being mailed out this time. She reminded us that these are trimester progress grades, not final grades for the year, thus will likely not be 4’s. Parents should look at work habits and qualifications for sports as they are students first - then an athlete.  They have been busy with planning the 6th grade trip to  Grizzly Ranch. 99% of students are attending with 20 counselors. They could not get enough parent drivers, so she called transportation and they made an exception for us - two buses each day. Parents need to send in Covid test results ASAP.  Sadly, the Fall Band Concert was canceled due to rescheduling.  Online tutoring is free 24 hours a day and paid for by the district. It is a live person tutoring, the link with more info is  in the Cougar News which goes to students as well. Homework club is starting up this week - it goes from 2:30-3:55 PM. There are 2 teachers per grade level to help and answer questions - Monday and Thursday, and students can drop in as needed. There is one “in town” bus available for pick up afterwards, as well. Thank you for the student led conference help! 
AVID strategies in school are being utilized to access more positive things. Some examples included college and career Thursday, incentives such as Cougar Pride cards one per grade level for prizes from stores to encourage positive culture. Right now, they are requesting bus $$$ for Grizzly Ranch and possibly scholarships for 20 kids from the PTO - and she is asking ASB as well. We have $2000 in our budget set aside for this. 30 kids each are allowed  in the new wellness center / library / tech center at a time during lunch, for 90 total. No tea or food allowed, it started to be too much. Eating is allowed in the Cafetorium only.  The current student body is at 580 students this year. 8th grade is always the biggest. Upcoming event of movie night: 12/2, 4:30 - 7:00, movie starts at 5, Hien has a popcorn machine. We need volunteers - it will be manned by PTO members. Leadership will decide on the movie. NO BLANKETS ALLOWED, but wear a onesie and get entered into a drawing for a prize. We need to reserve the cafetorium from the Boys and Girls Club - email Elvia. $5 for the movie ticket, and the PTO can sell bracelets. Skip pizza: just oranges, popcorn, gummies, rice krispie treats & water.

PTO Sponsorships
Denise VanBeek gave an update that the Sponsorship banner is up, website page updated, and yearbook pages submitted. We still need to send thank you notes and post recognition to Facebook. $5600 raised this year from a total of 9 sponsors!
Denise did research regarding the parent party at the community center: $35/hour for the space, old rec center, no reservations until 1/1, costumed event, alcohol sold, dance with DJ, bingo / trivia, etc? We are open to ideas. Spring is preferable to winter.

Spirit Wear
Currently we are just  selling through Sign Up Genius We recently reduced prices. Working to set up outside vendors to take orders and fulfill.
In contact with Carl, trying to emulate Truckee High’s sales website for next year. This year we will just try to get rid of our inventory. Kristi will be going to the basketball game, concerts - other events where parents will be present. Would be awesome to post on social media each week / FB posts of all of the upcoming games and events. Hien says that the games are pretty packed already. She would like kids to sell spirit wear at the events, although we believe a chaperone should be in charge of money. 

Family Photo Sessions
Nicole Reitter has been working on this great idea! The date is  Saturday, November 12th and we have spots available. 70/30 split of $100 with the photographer. In April there will be an 8th grade photoshoot with Whitby - they will receive 3-4 outdoor photos for $125-$150,  80/20 split with photographer.

Movie night
Movie night will be Friday December 2nd form 4:30-7:00.  Leadership will decide on a movie and the kids will be encouraged to dress in comfy onesies for the event.  No pizza served - just popcorn and gummy candies.  Susie Overall and Nicole Reitter will be the planners for this fun event.

Tamale Fundraiser
December will be our first one of the year. Elvia has a contact who makes tamales - we pay $200 and earn around $1000 for the PTO each time we have this fundraiser.  The link for Paypal is sent out in an email and Susie usually helps pack tamales up with Rosa the chef.  We buy 10 dozen for our raffle.  She keeps a spreadsheet of all purchases - $100 equals 10 chances to win, $20 equals two chances.

Conference Week
Everything was so appreciated - Thank you to our volunteers, Erin Videgan & Katie Smith!

Dance
Yvonne Moore and  Jenny Berger were our coordinating volunteers for this event. The PTO broke even - made $330, and spent $339. It was requested that for the next dance, no glow sticks will be allowed, as some kids were throwing them. The blinky glasses were popular and can be brought back for the next event.

Excellence in Education
Upcoming event is the Celebration of Education at Moody’s Nov. 15th - the ACMS Jazz ensemble is playing. Friends of Education is a program where you can set up a recurring donation and /or pull money out of staff paychecks.  Skiing For Schools - discount lift tickets sold at Tahoe Dave’s again this year. Dining with Schools cards are also still available. 

New Business, Questions, Ideas, Thank Yous
Ideas are welcome! Dances, Movie Nights, Mother’s Day Bouquets, Tamale Fundraisers, Spanish class. Mock Rock lip synching  - when is our next dance??? Need to ask Hien at our next meeting.  Before the next meeting / committee for the parent party should meet.  Maybe at Alibi.

Adjourn
​Meeting was adjourned at 9:05 AM