ACMS PTO Meeting Minutes
April 22nd, 2021 Attendees: Susie Overall, Hien Larson, Celli Baker, Kate Byus, Jenny Berger, Raughley Koehler. Call to order at 8:30. Adopt meeting minutes from last meeting. Principal’s Update, Hien Larson: Working on ideas for 8th grade end of year promotion, things are uncertain. Could have a ceremony on June 17th at 6 pm for pods of immediate household. 220 kids will be graduating. Staff really appreciates the treats PTO has been providing monthly, it makes a big difference. ELO District Grant - Stakeholder input is needed. We need to implement a learning recovery program. Ideas are due on May 4th, will be presented to the board on June 1st, then to the state. Funds available in September 2021 until 2023. Three factors:
-Team-based trivia done on Zoom, etc. Introduce kids, get them working together as a team to learn. Make things academic but fun! -Provide transportation for supplemental programs for those who need it to ensure inclusion -Non-sport related clubs - Minecraft, D&D, acting, music, chess, book club, etc. -Promote sports teams which may have stagnated -Field trips, dances, overnights, hands-on social activities - when safe -Team-based projects - for example: build a business and go through the steps - funding, planning, production, staffing -Field day - fun activities, sports -Day in the Arts Event - rotate through booths with artistic and cultural elements. Look to community members who can share their skills and crafts. I.e. mood boards, jewelry making, pottery, music, art mediums. -School assemblies - everyone gathers once a week to experience, learn something fun and cohesive -Enrichment classes: Handwriting/cursive, keyboarding, Spanish - immersion, partner with another student to learn together or teach each other. Peer to peer support. -Spelling Bee -Assign staff/counselor/tutor to each student to go through their grades, assignments, figure out what they need help with, how to catch up, what they’re behind on -Assign staff to follow up emotionally with students. Partner them with another kid who can support them, work on things together. -Provide education for parents - how to check on students’ grades, progress. How do they help their child and advocate for their learning? -Trusted adult program - make sure all students have one, check in throughout the year Treasurer’s Report and Budget Review, Raughley: Presented the Treasurer’s Report, our balance is $6,590. Grocery Outlet has been a huge supporter and our main source of donations. We are sending them a thank you and will try to promote them as much as possible. Discussion on possible online silent auction to supplement our budget. We don’t feel right approaching local businesses which have had to make so many changes over this past year for donations. We will work on other fundraising ideas which can raise money, like the tamale raffle. Disneyland tickets, lodging for a weekend, succulent plants, etc. Mother’s Day Bouquets: Orders are due Friday, April 23rd. We will meet for production at Kate’s house and have bouquets ready to distribute after school on May 7th. A reminder eblast will go out on Friday. Staff Appreciation Week, May 3rd - 7th: We reviewed a plan to do something special each day of the week for the 72 ACMS staff members rather than purchasing a gift card for each staff member as we did last year. We will provide snacks and gifts using a budget of $1,750. An email will be sent to staff on Monday, May 3rd to give them a heads up for some of the festivities. Excellence in Education Kudos Campaign: In lieu of the Fellows and Star Awards this year, Excellence in Education would like to recognize all TTUSD staff. An online form was created to submit Kudos and will be communicated to all parents. They have asked the PTO to help promote this campaign which will end April 30th. Meeting adjourned at 10:30 am. Next meeting will be Wednesday, May 12th at 8:30 a.m.
0 Comments
Attendees: Susie Overall, Hien Larson, Raughley Koehler, Hanna Malm, Jenny Berger, Jenny Suh, Celli Baker
Principal’s Update Wrapping up trimester. End of the year celebration? Goal at the end - all students to be celebrated. Honor roll - all student’s with all 3’s and up. No distinguished scholars. Want to celebrate other achievers, still not Sur how that will look exactly. Hope to know by this Sunday. Need to collaborate with north tahoe middle. Hoping to be back 5 days a week in the 3rd trimester. Soon as it is safe. Lots of work to do yet. Depending on classroom, students will be 4 ft apart. Schedule will go out. Will be a slightly extended day. 20 more minutes to support cohort C for office hours. Working on 8th grade graduation. Don’t know if we can do it live yet. Will update soon. Thank you for all the goodies from PTO. Yummy snacks are always appreciated. Sports: expectations are crazy right now. ACMS only one with turf field, so it is getting used heavily for high school sports. High schoolers have to be tested once a week. Still in limbo how sports will look. Might not be able to play outside of California schools. (No Nevada teams as of right now). She will update as she learns more. Will there be more buses running when we are back to 5 days/week? No, there will not be more because of CA safety guidelines. There will be no lunch period, just an extended outside break. Will there be 8/9th tennis? I don’t know. Will 9th grade teachers have the same expectation for rising 9th graders due to covid situation? We asked them what they wanted? Each grade level gave a wish list to send to the grade below including “must-have skills” for success next year. The high school has link crew and other systems in place to transition kids to high school. How about kids rising to 6th grade? Will there be an open house before next year? We don’t know yet. Hopefully. Will there be Cougar Days? We don’t know yet. Please remind your kiddos to stay 6 feet apart. Have this conversation with your children. Constantly remind them. Excellence in Education Update 90% of TTUSD staff has been vaccinated! They are trying to get to 5 days/week in class. 4 foot rule around every kid in the classroom. Need to redesign 289 classrooms, the district has ordered 900 plexiglass barriers. Placer Country was in the red tier for 6 days, now we slipped back to purple tier. County needs to be in red for 14 days to lift restrictions. Every week teachers and staff have to be tested once/week as long as we are in the purple tier. Thursday 3/11 the District will send out a long newsletter with updates. Link to the form about if they want kids to go back 5 days/week. Thursday survey will override what you said before on any other survey. Kudos Campaign instead of typical Star awards for teachers and staff. Everyone is working so hard this year, it’s too hard to honor just a few. Will be giving kudos to all teachers and staff. Either handwritten or online. Will be asking PTO’s to advertise this and help out. April 11th - Homewood is offering free skiing and breakfast burritos to all TTUSD employees. Treasurer’s Report Balance $6491. See attached Treasurer’s Report About $100 from Panda Express fundraiser. $91 from Amazon. Upcoming expenses? Just $100 for snacks… Staff Appreciation coming up in early May. We budgeted $500. Staff Appreciation Celli suggests we don’t do food items this year. We have been offering snacks quite a lot. Maybe something more creative. Perhaps we should ask the teachers what they would like this year. Should we do what we did last year, and buy them a $25 gift card to establishment of their choosing? Send out the google form like last year, see what they want. Include a thank you card. Mail them or drop them at school. Perhaps throw them a back-to-school party in the fall. Celli volunteered to cut succulents for each teacher. Awesome. Should we do more snacks? (Cliff bars, nuts, gluten free crackers, Pringles, etc.) Ask parents in the newsletter to contribute money or ideas for teacher appreciation week. Mother's Day Flowers We need to order the flowers a couple weeks before, probably from Costco. Fillers will be free. We need to make an order form. Also mention it in the newsletter. Set it up on sign-up genius. How much to charge? Distribute after school on Friday. Celli and Kate working on this. Ideas for Other Events No ice-skating day. District would not allow. Can’t enforce social distancing, etc. Maybe we just can’t do events this year. Next Meeting April 21 at 8:30 am. Attendees: Susie Overall, Hien Larson, Celli Baker, Jen Standheiner, Jenny Suh, Kate Byus, Raughley Koehler Principal’s Update, Hien Larson: Friday 26th will be distance learning, starting at 7:43 am due to teacher’s scheduled second vaccination dose, in anticipation of side effects. Tamales - thank you for doing it. Many happy parents. Thank you Susie for basket of treats. Teachers appreciated it. Site council wants to do a campaign to encourage kids to turn their cameras on, especially Cohort C kids. Needs to feel like classroom participation as normal. Positive reinforcement is needed. Maybe PTO can sponsor a drawing, awarding kids for having their camera on at random times. Summit swirl prize? Encourage engagement. Also, we are moving away from honor roll. How else can we celebrate learning? North Tahoe is moving away from honor roll also. We are surveying students, asking: What does a celebration look like? Tell us about a time you were very successful. How were you celebrated? How do you want to be celebrated? Email? Phone call? Swag? Will invite 3 students (1 per grade level) to join the celebration committee so we have student input. How can we celebrate life-long learning and celebrate skills to thrive? Will there be no celebration of academic success? Need to celebrate life skills. Celli - disappointed that this is going away. Academic achievement is important in our family. Jen: we are trying to look at broader skills that kids should be learning. What is an intrinsic motivator? What life skill are they developing in this difficult time? Perhaps a peer-to-peer nomination? Raughley: spelling bee, art contest, science fair, these are ways to celebrate differently-skilled kids. Kate: ask kids how they want to be rewarded. Each kid may have a different way they want to be celebrated. Maybe have a celebration day. Celebrate work habits, citizenship, and life-long learning. Kids set an academic goal and set a social/emotional goal. Passion projects. Accountability partners. Peer support. Can we do spirit wear at cost as rewards for these achievements? Hien is amazing, connecting with families and kids. If a kid is absent, she will drive to their house and ask how we can help them be successful. Kate: create an account, slush fund to support Hien. Do we already have this? Kate: coat closet to put things for kids, school nurse can pull from it to give to kids who they think need something. Annual staff gift? Raughley says we used to do this. Kate: White elephant (would it work for a group this size? Or would it be better to let them choose…)? Everyone brings a gift with a $100 value? Ask parents to donate. Ask teachers where they want a gift card too. Massage? Target gift card? Catered lunch for teachers - Tahoe Food Hub? Do a big gift now and then the food week for teacher appreciation week. Give teachers snacks every Friday? Or once a month? Set up a Sign Up Genius so we all take a shift? Move to budget $100 per month for teacher appreciation baskets and teachers. Jennifer S. - February; Celli/Kate - March. "ACMS Love" - ask for contributions to the monthly stash for teacher goodies. Reach out to Raley’s, Grocery Outlet, and Celli’s contact. Meals from Food Hub - how will that look. Meal every day? What is our budget? Sign-up genius? Allow parents to “sponsor” a lunch. Treasurer’s Report $7390 in account $940 profit from tamale fundraiser Tax issues due to our “employee” from last year’s Spanish class. Everything is worked out. Thank you to Raughley for taking care of that. How to get around paying fees? We aren’t really paying a ton in fees now. So let’s just stay the course as we are doing it. Other Fundraising Ideas: Tamale lady will sell batches (Marisol) for $18 and then we sell for $25. Could be ongoing fundraiser. Flowers for mother’s day? Celli and Kate will work on this. Fundraiser for kids to buy for their parents. Spirit Wear: Spirit wear sales are trickling in. Need to periodically market it. Maybe do a spring blast. Remind parents that these items are for sale. Should we keep a stash of 10 beanies on hand for Hien to give away? Adjourn: 10:00 am Attendees: Hien Larson, Susie Overall, Celli Baker, Raughley, Jen Standteiner, Nate Melon, Jenny Suh
Principal’s Update We had over 100 students participate in water reading challenge. Many great photos submitted about where and how and what they are reading. Participants will vote for winners, and they are working on a celebration. Always looking for ways we can we reward them and encourage continued reading. Opening schools: We are all working hard to reopen schools ASAP. Board meeting on January 20th to hopefully announce a plan for opening. Hoping for vaccination to come ASAP. We want everyone to come back and feel SAFE. Family Connection Night is tonight. First live virtual event. Sign in using your student account. Follow your child's schedule. Teachers Smith and King are out due to medical. Expect big turnout. Counselors will be there. ACMS had 12 nominations for Linda Brown and Star awards. Our own Elvia Esparza received the Star Award! Need yearbook photos, please email them to Mary Berelson. Encourage more yearbook contributions. Sports are still on hold. Cross country team is going to Auburn ski club, training themselves. Indoor sports are out for the rest of the year, as of now. Hoping for at least track, cross country, anything outdoors. Counselors are working hard with Hope Squad. There will be a parent night next week. Hope Squad already running. Kids train each other on how to be a friend and recognize key indicators of kids in need of help. Many lunch-bunch groups with the counselors are happening. Hang out and have lunch with counselors, great turnout. Past surveys ask kids “who is your trusted adult”? What can we do about kids with none? Organic strategizing to connect with students who don’t. We usually do connection data 3x per year. In November, about 80% had connection, end with about 95%. We will be surveying over next few weeks. Need to make sure our kids are connecting socially and emotionally. Kindness Week is coming up in the couple weeks. Activities to spread kindness. There is a load of tutoring available. One on one opportunities available, sign up (for math, language arts, social studies). Also high schoolers are tutoring our kids through Aim High. Demand for tutoring is high. Mrs. Larson has spent her discretionary funds on tutoring. Update on reworking the standards for this year? Working on Essential Standards. What do kids need to know to be successful at the next level? Ongoing meetings. Grades will remain the same for now. Hearing from teachers and examining what is necessary for success in the next grade. Parents and teachers need to work as a team to hold kids accountable for missing assignments. Hien has been doing 5-10 home visits per week to follow up on vulnerable kids. Hien attends classes with students, acts as a sideline coach. Making sure they have gotten the most out of a class. One parent is concerned that kids are descending into apathy, losing their motivation and spark. Hien says that are working proactively to address this. Committees, Advisory, studying what kids need right now - is it mindfulness, skills in tech, needing a tech break, etc. To get an easy to understand view of kids’ assignment: In Google Classroom, go to Classwork - View my work. To see a snapshot of all assignments, what is completed, and what is missing. Parents can set up an alert to get a weekly snapshot. Do the teachers or staff need anything from PTO? All staff appreciated Christmas gift and masks. Thank you to PTO! 8th grade promotion. Will need to speak to 8th grade parents. We haven’t planned it yet, because not sure if group activities will be happening then. Spirit Wear Update Kate: Sold 52 units, we made $504. Our margins were better than expected (30%!) Orders still to be picked up are at school. Website coming soon for online ordering. Very successful first go! Top seller was hoodies with black sleeves and grey body. Treasurer’s Report Raughley: Panda Express fundraiser raised $148; average $170 per month from Grocery Outlet; $504 from Spirit Wear; Balance is $7,347. Tamale fundraiser is ongoing. Taxes are done. Other Private Minecraft servers for the school. Can we do a district-wide game? Kate and her son will look into it. Looking at Creative mode, not Survival mode. Nate: Plug for lacrosse. Have your kids come out, as it may be one of the only spring sports happening. Rent out the Regional Ice Rink? Celli will follow up. Tamale Fundraiser $10 donation gets you one entry into the raffle to win one of 12 tamale dinners. Lots of people are donating $50 or $100. Random winner generation from a spreadsheet. Tamales will be ready for pickup Friday February 5th. Possibly sell tamale dinners after the drawing, will speak to the person who makes them. Adjourn: 9:45 am Meeting Minutes
Alder Creek Middle School PTO Meeting Date: December 9th, 2020 via Zoom Welcome: Call to order at 8:30 am. Attendees: Susie Overall, Hien Larson, Celli Baker, Jenny Berger, Kate Byus, Hanna Malm, Nate Melen Principal’s Update - Hien Larson: Olympic Week is the week before winter break begins. Each class has a theme - 6th grade is sports, 7th grade is decades and 8th grade is breakfast cereals. Will be virtual, will set up scavenger hunts, Cahoot games, etc. ACMS would like to remind students to keep their camera on for distance learning. If a student isn’t feeling well, call the front office and let the teachers know. If you have any COVID-19 symptoms/sick please do not come to campus. You need to notify your school site and your school nurse will be in contact with you to determine when you can return to school. A student with COVID-19 symptoms will need to stay home for ten days. If you choose to have your student tested they may return to campus with a negative test once they have been symptom-free for three days, as long as you are not the contact of a positive case. If you come in contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, please let the school nurse know right away. Testing at Rideout is available for symptomatic TTUSD students and staff. TTUSD hopes students will be able to go back to hybrid learning on January 18th. Please remind your student to attend teacher office hours. This is a great way for them to connect to the teacher and clear up any confusion. Tutoring is also available. All school sports are currently on hold. Holiday Gifts for Students and Staff: These may be dropped off at the school during office hours and the front office will notify the recipient. Most teachers are working from school. Treasurer’s Report: Current balance is $7,524. We received $1,420 for spirit wear sales but need to pay pending invoice from Twin Forks Trading, so unknown how much we made on this fundraiser. Susie will check the PTO box at ACMS for additional donations. We spent $450 on ACMS masks for staff. Spirit Wear: Spirit Wear should arrive the week before winter break. We sold items to around 50 customers. Kate Byus will package items up. Grocery Outlet has agreed to donate bags to use for distribution, Susie will pick up. We will include a thank you and a reminder to mention ACMS when checking out at Grocery Outlet. In the future, ACMS will have an online order form available on Twin Forks’ website. We will order some popular items ahead of time for sale at Cougar Days next August. Gifts for Staff: We now have masks. Susie and Jenny will put together packages with masks, coffee packs, tea bags and mints. They will be dropped off at school and the front office will distribute. Fundraising Ideas Flower Bouquet for Mother’s Day: Mother’s Day is May 10th. We could obtain flowers (Kate’s mom?) and fillers (Celli) and have different size bouquets available. We will only take pre-paid orders in advance so we know what materials we need. Celli, Kate and Hanna will work on this. Susie will set up Sign Up Genius, sales will begin April 1st. Tamale Fundraiser: This was a successful raffle in the past. Susie will follow up with We will look at doing this closer to the Super Bowl on February 7th. Tickets will be $10 each and winners will be drawn at random. Online Auction: We typically have a silent auction during Open House in the spring. We can look at doing this online in the spring. Glenshire Elementary is using biddingowl.com, we will likely use this so there’s continuity between schools. Mandarin/Fruit Sales: Growers over the pass offer fruit for sale by the pallet. We can pick up, package and sell for fundraising. Celli and Hanna will look into this idea for next fall. ACMS PTO Website: Susie is working on a Google Site to replace the current Weebly site. Nate has input on using Square features for fundraising, we will look into this. Next Meeting: January 13th, 2021 at 8:30 am via Zoom. Adjourn: 9:45 am. Thanks to everyone for showing up! We look forward to meeting in person one of these days! Minutes
Alder Creek Middle School PTO Meeting Date: November 12th, 2020 via Zoom Welcome: Call to order at 10 am. Attendees: Susie Overall, Julie Mill Peters, Raughley Koehler, Celli Baker, Jenny Berger, Kate Byus, Hanna Malm, Nate Melen Principal’s Update - Hien Larson: Due to commitments at school, Mrs. Larson wasn’t able to attend the meeting. However, she provided the following information to the PTO. Procedures to change to a new cohort will be shared in the Cougar News this Sunday. Changes may only occur at the end of each trimester. The last day of the first trimester is November 20th, and the last day of the second trimester is March 12th. The TTUSD COVID dashboard is viewable here. When we see that there's a positive case in our school, the nurse is in contact with all individuals to provide guidance and to approve them for return to school/work when it is appropriate to do so. If a student/staff is identified as a positive case follow-up phone call is made to determine contacts of the student/staff, if they were infectious on campus. Our nurse spends time speaking with positive cases regarding every class/contact they had on campus. If a student isn’t feeling well, call the front office and let the teachers know. If you have any COVID-19 symptoms/sick please do not come to campus. You need to notify your school site and your school nurse will be in contact with you to determine when you can return to school. A student with COVID-19 symptoms will need to stay home for ten days. If you choose to have your student tested they may return to campus with a negative test once they have been symptom-free for three days, as long as you are not the contact of a positive case. We have a sports league meeting on November 18th and will be letting families know about winter and spring sports. Treasurer’s Report: We received several donations from fundraising efforts this past month: Panda Express: $49.87, Box Tops for Education: $40.90, Grocery Outlet: $105.26. Total deposits: $196.03. We spent $232 on welcome back banners and coffee for the return to school. We have around $6,000 in our account right now. Spirit Wear: Kate Byus’ company, Twin Forks Trading, has created items to offer for ACMS spirit wear. The kick-off order will be discounted, we will send out order information in the next couple days. Pre-orders will be due November 23rd and will arrive in time for distribution before winter break. Susie created a Sign Up Genius which will allow people to submit their pre-order online. We will send out an eblast, links and info in the Cougar News and a magic text to remind people to order on 11/20. The PTO will receive 10-15% from spirit wear sales. Carrie and Hanna offered to help with distribution. Gifts for Staff: Since the Staff Room isn’t really available for distribution, we are putting together packages with masks, coffee packs, tea bags and mints. Masks arrive next week. There are 71 staff members. Kate, Celli, Susie and Jenny B. will put these together next week. Decorating the School: Thank you to Carrie for ordering and delivering the “Welcome Back to School” banners! Screen Protectors and/or Blue Light Glasses: Susie checked with the TTUSD Tech Department to see if they have contacts for these. They don’t have a good deal for them, but did recommend these settings for Chromebooks to help eyes in dim light. Fundraising Ideas Tamale Fundraiser: This was a successful raffle in the past. We will look at doing this closer to the Super Bowl on February 7th. Online Auction: We typically have a silent auction during Open House in the spring. We can look at doing this online in the spring. Glenshire Elementary is using biddingowl.com, we will likely use this so there’s continuity between schools. Mandarin/Fruit Sales: Growers over the pass offer fruit for sale by the pallet. We can pick up, package and sell for fundraising. Celli and Hanna will look into this idea. Next Meeting: December 9th, 2020 at 8:30 am via Zoom. We decided to move meetings to an earlier time to accommodate work and school schedules. Adjourn: 11:15 am. Thanks to everyone for showing up! We look forward to meeting in person one of these days! Minutes
Alder Creek Middle School PTO Meeting Date: September 10th, 2020 via Zoom Welcome: Call to order at 11 am. Attendees: Susie Overall, Hien Larson, Raughley Koehler, Celli Baker, Carrie Haines, Jenny Berger, Kate Byus, Hanna Malm, Nate Melen, Adrienne Portnoy-Durgin, Heather Nielsen Principal’s Update - Hien Larson: ACMS is excited to get kids back on campus. They are adding desk shields and working on balancing classes for cohorts. Students are doing well as far as joining Google Meet and Google Classroom. She encourages parents to look in Aeries for grades and missing work rather than Classroom. They do need some 6th graders in GATE and B Cohort to switch to A Cohort. Out of 600 students, 80 are remaining in distance learning. Cohort C will remain in their existing classes with their same teachers. The new hybrid learning transition start date has been pushed to October 28th, but this isn’t etched in stone. How Can the PTO Support Our Students, Staff and Community Treats for Teachers: Purchase prepackaged treats, whole fruits and supply Keurig coffee and tea pods. Staff Room isn’t really available for distribution, so we could make or order boxes of snacks to put in their boxes and include a gift card for a cup of coffee or tea somewhere. We can contact some local cafes as well as Starbucks. There are 71 staff members. Kate and Jenny B. will take the lead on this. Contact Celli for possible fulfillment through contact with Whole Foods. Back to School Gift Idea for Students: Individual hand sanitizers students can clip on their backpacks with a message from the PTO. Susie will look into pricing. Decorating the School: Depending on when students go back for the hybrid model, we may miss decorating for Halloweeen. (Hanna said she has lots of decorations if we do this!) “Welcome Back to School” banners at the front entrance and the 7th grade modulars. These can be generic enough to be used for the future. Carrie H. will work on creating a design. We can look at pricing from Vistaprint and Donner Lake Gift Shop (Heather uses them). Leadership will be creating posters as well, so we will let Mrs. Blaylock know we’re looking into this. Hopefully we can get them in before school starts. Balloons? If we do this, we’ll need them for two different start days for Cohorts A and B. Screen Protectors and/or Blue Light Glasses: Susie will check with the TTUSD tech department to see if they have contacts for these. We can purchase for students as well as offer them for sale. Spirit Wear: Kate has a company which does custom clothing. Past clients have included schools. Their company will design and source items, and offer them for sale on a website. We will direct people to that site for purchase. We can determine fulfillment - either ship direct or provide a central pickup location. Some ideas include masks, buffs, sweatpants, hoodies, knit caps, leggings and t-shirts. Susie will send Kate our logos, Kate will research possible vintage logos. Carrie and Hanna can help with this. Fundraising Treasurer’s Report: We have $6,151 in the bank. Unsure if this will be needed for field trips this year. Restaurant Fundraisers: Local restaurants where a portion of sales will be given back to the school. We can easily set these up with chains such as Panda Express and Round Table. We hesitate to ask local restaurants given the economic hardships of these times. Tamale Fundraiser: This was a successful raffle in the past. Susie will contact the person who made the tamales last year to see if they’re up for doing this again. Disneyland Tickets: We have these from last year. Jenny B. will contact Disneyland to see if they will reissue tickets with extended expiration date (current expiration is 9/2021). Then use these for a raffle. Online Auction: We typically have a silent auction during Open House in the spring. We can look at doing this online in the spring. It would be great to use the same online auction system as Glenshire Elementary so there’s continuity between schools. They are having an online auction for their Holiday Fundraiser and will let us know how it works. Box Tops: Clipped Box Tops that haven’t expired are still being accepted. Parents can drop them off at school when it opens again. Most Box Tops are now digital, instructions were sent out in the last newsletter. Receipts from online grocery purchases can be emailed to Box Tops. Parents can also drop receipts off at school when it opens and we can scan them in. Event Ideas Virtual Halloween: Costume contest, wear costumes in school and online, pumpkin carving or drawing contest. Virtual Talent Show Parent Parking Lot Tailgate Swap Shop: (Emailed suggestion from Cindy B.) Sell sporting equipment that our kids have outgrown so we can swap, sell or trade. It can be an outside event and socially distanced by stepping aside when people are checking out the goods. We parents can offer 10% back to the PTO of anything we sell. Will check with the school to see if this would be allowed. Next Meeting: November 12th, 2020 at 10 am via Zoom Adjourn: 11:00 am. Thanks to everyone for showing up! PTO Meeting Minutes - Alder Creek Middle School
Date: September 10th, 2020 via Zoom Welcome: Call to order at 11 am. Attendees: Nate Melen, Susie Overall, Hien Larson, Raughley Koehler, Lydia Carillo, Celli Baker, Carrie Haines, Jenny Berger, Kate Byus, Jenny Suh, Kim Ligman, Hanna Malm Principal’s Update - Hien Larson: Welcome to PTO! In middle school, kids want and need our help. We receive many requests to enhance curriculum, fund field trips. The school - parent relationship is valued. A survey was sent out regarding Distance Learning vs. Hybrid Model. Hien asked us for suggestions on Distance Learning. About 99% of kids are showing up every day. There are concerns about interruptions. Some ideas to lessen them include: keep cameras on, no meals during class time, possible distraction of pods (other kids nearby are in different classes), make the teacher's screen big so don’t get as distracted by other kids (unfortunately, there’s no option to only show the teacher and not classmates), wear appropriate clothing. Teachers should be clear about the protocol within the group. Email the teacher if problems with the classroom, email Hien with ideas and feedback on structure. If the hybrid model is deferred, those kids would work with a teacher, maybe not the same one, and class would mirror what is happening in class. Many factors are still being figured out. What does distance learning look like? Will they have access to the teacher? How does the teacher check in with the distance kids? How do we balance learning and support? Feedback from other schools doing the hybrid model is that parents need to be very present on days kids are home. It is unknown if classes will go on field trips this year, all are currently on hold. PTO typically covers much of the cost for these trips. Some other ways for the PTO to financially support distance learning include blue light glasses or Chromebook screen covers if we stay in distance learning. Nate will research the screen covers. Families could opt out if they want to fund their own screen covers, we could offer at a discount. Treasurer’s Report & Budget Review: Raughley Koehler Current balance is $6,196. Last year we raised $2171, mostly from the Tamale fundraiser. We returned a donation from a Summit Swirl fundraiser as an act of support for our community. We received $643 direct support, $44 from Amazon Smile. We are working on a tax issue. In 2017, someone filed payroll taxes using our EIN and we have fallout from that. Thanks to Susie for dealing. We need to add Susie Overall as a cosigner on the PTO US Bank checking account, we will do this next week. Fundraising Ideas: In the past, the Silent Auction and Kermes Dinner held during Open House was our biggest fundraiser bringing in around $6,000. This didn’t take place last spring so we don’t have that income, however we didn’t have the expenses of field trips. Unsure if we can hold this event this year. Carrie Haines and Nate Melen offered to co-chair the Fundraising Committee. They have full support of PTO volunteers. Other fundraising ideas - online silent auction, virtual Zoom live auction, tamale fundraiser. We also have a direct donation link on our website. If we come up with a specific fundraising need, it may be easier to solicit direct donations for those items from parents and the community. It’s hard when we don’t know what we need. On September 28th we’re having a fundraiser at Panda Express. Information is on our Facebook page and in the Cougar News. Grocery Outlet is offering a new program. Before checking out, mention that you support ACMS and they will give the school 5% of the sale. In the past we sold school supplies kits at Cougar Days. This year the PTO purchased Cougar string bags distributed at materials pick up. ACMS funded school supplies. We have 20 Disneyland one-day passes through their donation program. We typically put these in the Silent Auction as we as holding a fundraising raffle. These expire 9/2021. Since Disneyland is closed, we’re assuming that this date will be extended, Susie will research. Spirit Wear: We would like to set this up. Will post to Facebook to see if we can get feedback from parents and students on what they want. Some ideas include buffs, beanies, hoodies, t-shirts. Susie will check with Mrs. Blaylock who heads Associated Student Body (ASB) to ensure we’re not impeding on their spirit wear sales. Nate - has worked with Tahoe Basics while at Donner Trail, will send more information. Kim Ligman - had an online store for Truckee Elementary. Kate Byus has a company called Twin Forks that does spirit wear. We will look at options and pricing, and make some decisions. New Business, Questions, Suggestions, Thank Yous, Board Members: Co-Leaders - Susie and Celli. Treasurer - Raughley. Secretary - Jenny Suh. Digital Manager (Facebook, newsletters, website, etc.) - Susie. Co-Fundraising Chairs - Nate Melen and Carrie Haines. We need chairs to organize things such as Open House, Staff Appreciation, Spirit Wear, etc. Excellence in Education is doing a Register Roundup at Mountain Hardware. Let’s help get the word out! Next Meeting: October 10th, 2020 at 10 am via Zoom Adjourn: 11:15 am. Thanks to everyone for showing up! Welcome / Sign in / Intro: Attendees: Stefanie Deuber, Raughley Koehler, Susie Overall, Yvonne Moore
Treasurer’s Report: We have $7,776 in the bank, leaving things in a good position for the start of the next school year. Budget Items: Budget meeting for next year to be in August when we know the status of school format due to COVID-19 and social distancing. We likely won’t have things such as potluck for Staff Appreciation, Kermes dinner, etc. but we can still fund. Things will need to be prepackaged and not donated. School Supply Kits: We plan to purchase supply kits for the upcoming school year and will store them if they aren’t needed/used for 2020/21. If in-person school starts in the middle of the school year we will open them up for sale. Once we receive approval on the list of supplies from Mrs. Larson and/or 6th grade teachers, we can submit the order to Office Boss. Susie will follow up with Mrs. Larson for the list. Susie to research ACMS string bags - Where did we purchase those in the past? Would this be in conflict with bag sales from life long fitness (P.E.)/ASB? Another idea is to provide masks for all students, but would need guidelines from the school district. Tax Issue, Tax filing for enrichment teacher, PTO annual tax filing: Yvonne filed the Statement of Information form for updating current entity information with the CA Secretary of State office. The form won’t need to be done for another two years. Yvonne brought up the status of the IRS back tax letter. We need to file an amended 2017 tax return stating we didn’t pay anyone, since someone used our tax ID back then. Susie verified that we have never paid anyone on payroll in 2017 with Stephanie Bragg. Stephanie Bragg called the IRS when she received the similar form last year and they had told her the notice was “sent in error”. We need to figure out how to deal with payments made this past school year to the Spanish teacher, she filled out a 1099 form. Susie will talk to Erin White to see how they manage the Glenshire Enrichment Classes. ACMS taxes need to be paid in December. Anything $600 or more needs to be reported. Thank You Notes: Courtney Murrell, Rosa Davis for Honor Roll Breakfast coordination. Adjourn: THANK YOU to Yvonne and Stefanie for all you have done for the ACMS PTO!! You are amazing and we will truly miss you! Welcome: Attendees: Yvonne Moore, Stefanie Deuber, Yvonne Moore, Raughley Koehler, Celli Baker, Hien Larson
Principal’s Update Making plans for virtual promotion for 8th graders. Working with the District to see what is possible. Virtual CTE and STEAM Fair on May 29, noon - 3:00 p.m. No 3rd Trimester Honor Roll due to access and equity. Mrs. Larson and Mrs. Dewald have done 50 home visits where they drop off books, school supplies and offer support, and gift card donations from staff and another donor. Librarian is distributing books. Mental health support is available. Yearbooks are being sold online until May 29th. They won’t be ready until the end of June, will have to determine distribution. President’s Update: We have enlisted the help of an ACMS parent to help with our tax issue. Apparently, someone else used our EIN number in 2017, causing tax liability for our organization. Will update. Treasurer’s Report: Our balance is $8,818. There are many end of year events that were cancelled that we usually pay for. We have received money from Amazon Smile and Box Tops. We returned money received from Summit Swirl for the fundraiser as we want to support the small businesses who support us. Open House Silent Auction: Cancelled, will not affect next year’s budget because grade level field trips were cancelled. Staff Appreciation Week: The PTO offered free Zoom work out classes courtesy of The Bar Effect, gift cards to local businesses and wrote thank you cards. We treated the kitchen staff to lunch. Board Members for Next Year: Susie Overall and Celli Baker will take on co-leadership roles. Raughley Koehler will continue as Treasurer. We will ask others who have expressed interest in being involved about what they’re willing to do next year and open it up to other parents. If we could get commitments for volunteers to chair specific events, such as School Supply Kits, Open House, Tamale Fundraiser, Staff Appreciation, Movie Nights, Open House Silent Auction, etc. it makes it easier for all. School Supply Kits: We will continue with this regardless of uncertainty, we can store for the following year if needed. Stefanie will start us off by emailing Office Boss, and emailing Hien to ask teachers to see what supplies are needed. Susie and Celli will then take over. Raughley suggested we ask Office Boss if they’re willing to offer extra a la carte supplies at cost or a reduced rate to ACMS students. We could offer the kits at cost to students, give the option for donations to help others. Disneyland Tickets: The tickets we currently have expire in October, 2021. They are in the safe at school. Depending on when Disneyland opens, we will need to come up with a fundraiser to determine how to distribute these. THS Boosters antique show: This has been cancelled for summer, 2020. We need to remember this event for summer 2021. Adjourn 11:45 am "If the world is going to get better, it's going to be up to you" Barack Obama to Graduating Seniors |
MeetingsThe next PTO meeting is Tuesday, June 4th, 2024 at 6 pm upstairs at Raley's Market. Archives
April 2024
|