Ruggles Lane School PTO: Meeting Minutes

Current balance:$4,544.72
Approximate balance remaining in Square1 Art account: $3,064. (Money to be deducted from this account: approximately $600 for kindergarten field trip and $225 for fitness fair t-shirts)

Funding Requests

Kindergarten – Davis Farmland (Fri. June 4^th)

Bussing cost: $590.18 (already approved) from Square 1 Art account

Grade 4 – Deerfield in-house field trip (April 19^th) approximately $200
Grade 3 – Sturbridge Village – no request yet, but funding has been approved to pay for buses (up to $500).
Grade 2 – N.E. Aquarium - no request yet, but funding has been approved to pay for buses (up to $500).

Egg Hunt Follow-up

Andrea will write a thank you letter to BBA for funding(c/o Paul Cranston)
Next year – discuss rules in advance so that everyone is doing the same thing. Maybe print the rules on the back of the flier.

Laminator

Can we have a PAVE member(s) trained to use the laminating machine in the teacher’s room?

BoxTops and Campbells Update

New totals as of March 31^st have been posted. Mrs. Ellis’ class has over 1000 BoxTops.
Collection box has been placed at Senior center for BoxTops and Campbells labels.
Anything sent in between now and May is worth double.
Did we decide that the top 3 classes would earn an ice cream party?

Staff Appreciation Luncheon - June 3rd

Set-up at PTO meeting the night before.
Put a sign on the refrigerator warning that it will be cleaned out in June 2^nd.
Amy Reno and Debi Reicker will be here during the day.
Newsletter item asking for parent donations
Barre Gazette item asking for donations from businesses

Book Fair Update

The Book Fair will run from Monday 5/3 to Thursday 5/6 including Thursday evening during the K-3 Art Show.
Volunteers are needed for:

- set-up after school on Friday 4/30

- during school hours Monday-Thursday while the Book Fair is Open

- Set-up in the cafeteria Thursday afternoon.

- Thursday evening during the Art Show

Contact Debbie Ennis to volunteer

Website

$50 to keep domain name (www.rlspto.org) – payment approved

Non-Profit Status

$750 one-time fee (additional fees could bring total up to $1000)
Amy and Cherie will work on it this summer.

Misc.

MCAS Ice Cream Party – Grades 3-6 – Mrs. Hanley will look for a date.
Nature’s Classroom

- cost $300 before fund raising

- Magazine Drive usually brings it down to about $150

- Looking for more parent involvement from 4^th grade families before determining what

they want from us.

Playground

- Overwhelming support for a new playground based on the School Council survey.

- Jeff Reno is looking into grants.

- We should look at Hardwick Elementary School and ask about increase in insurance.

- Current condition of field needs to be discussed.

- Swings are coming down (violation of code).

Next Meeting: Wednesday, May 5^th 2010

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PTO Meeting Minutes 3/3/10

In attendance: Karen Lewis, Erica Skerry, Stacey Skerry, Glenna VanDyke, Debbie Ennis,

Cherie Benoit, Keri Orne, Andrea Leroux, Paul McNiff, Debby Reicker

Treasurer’s Report

Current balance:$5,219.30
Approximate balance remaining in Square1 Art account: $2,274. Money was removed from this account for Avatar art project, buses for kindergarten field trip, and the Fitness Fair
$520 coming in at the end of April from BoxTops for Education

Acton Museum Pass for Woods Memorial Library

cost to PTO $400
Pass can be checked out from the library and allows half-price admission to three people.
We need to publicize this at Ruggles Lane!
PTO members approved funding

BoxTops Rewards Update

Ice cream party for the top class
This incentive may be extended to all classes that reach a certain (to be determined) amount.

Terracycle Update

$149.58 earned
A paper box full of juice pouches is sent out a every two weeks (earning approximately $4 per week)

Campbell’s Labels Update

3550 points in our account
700 points waiting to be sent in
500 bonus points earned each summer
drop-off boxes should be placed at the library and senior center

Book Fair dates reminder

The Book Fair will run from Monday 5/3 to Thursday 5/6 including Thursday evening during the K-3 Art Show.
Volunteers are needed for:

- set-up after school on Friday 4/30

- during school hours Monday-Thursday while the Book Fair is Open

- Thursday evening during the Art Show

Contact Debbie Ennis to volunteer

Egg Hunt Update

It will take place on Saturday, March 27 at 10am (rain or shine).
Keri will stuff the eggs with her Junior Girl Scouts.
The following people have volunteered to hide eggs at 9am:

Keri Orne, Stacey Skerry, Andrea Leroux, Cherie Benoit, Debbie Ennis,

Glenna VanDyke, Erica Skerry.

PAVE Supplies

About 4 people have been volunteering at Pave
The following supplies are needed:

- scissors

- paper cutter

- electric stapler

PTO “Membership” Promotion

Keri looked into the purchase of business card sized magnets printed with a blue and gold bell tower and the school contact information (to give to people who send in their dues).
cost: $261 per 1000 magnets – approved by PTO members

Misc.

Grade 6 Gifts to students – Where are the lanyards that we purchased last year? Cherie will email 6^th grade teachers.
Field Trips – Mr. McNiff will talk to Mrs. Hanley about Field Trips and PTO funding of the buses.

- Are all classes going on a field trip?

- Can we put money aside now for Nature’s Classroom in the fall to go toward buses and

scholarships)? Will they need 1 bus or 2 buses?

I-Spy Bags – Give out the extra I-Spy bags from Santa’s Workshop to kindergarten classes then first grade classes.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, April 7^th 2010

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PTO Meeting Minutes 11/4/09

In attendance: Karen Lewis, Glenna VanDyke, Erica Skerry, Tara Hanley, Lynn Shibley,

Cherie Benoit, Keri Orne, Andrea Leroux, Amy Reno, Paul McNiff, Becky Pellegrino,
Ann Diaz, Debbie Ennis, Stacey Skerry

Election of School Council Members
10 parents expressed interest – 4 sent in ballot requests
All 4 interested parents were appointed to the council (Stacey Skerry, Jeff Reno, Becky Pellegrino, and Scott Ennis). There are currently 3 faculty members on the council (Ann Diaz, Nancy Roy, and Kelly Franklin). Tara will look for a 4th member to balance the council.

Treasurer’s Report
Current balance:$1,744.96
$334 Scholastic Rewards Program – to be spent on full priced Scholastic items.

Ongoing Fund Raising Efforts
BoxTops – Over $900 was raised between the June and October collections.

Campbells Labels
- If we collect 2500 points before the end of December they will match 2500 points.
- We should have enough points to use them by the end of the year.

Teracycle – (5th grade project) 720 pouches $14.40. More pouches have been sent and still need to be credited. -

Mrs. White Request Form
Indoor recess games
This is a wish list type of request. Erica will type a request to go to Mrs. White’s students.

Halloween Family Fun Night
2 rooms worked well
Ann will thank the student council volunteers with a snack in her room.
plenty of spider crafts and Frankenstein masks

Square 1 Art Update – Karen Lewis
Money is due on Friday.
Karen will talk to Mrs. Payne about what she needs the PTO to do.

Santa’s Workshop Update (Dec. 7-10)
Purchased:
- 500 smencils
- ornaments (34 sleighs + )
- dog and cat toys

We currently have:
- 168 cat toys / 195 dog toys
- 500 women’s gifts / 32 men’s gifts
- 243 older boy gifts / 157 younger boy gifts
- 345 older girl gifts / 250 younger girl gifts

Dad’s gift suggestions:
- oven mitt craft
- scarves

Flier for students:
- Bring prewritten gift tags.
- Only buy for immediate family (1 gift per family member).
- Many items cost $1.00 - $2.00, nothing more than $5.00.
- Santa’s Workshop is not intended as a fund raiser for the PTO.
Will Barre Savings Bank donate gift labels?
Can we get 6th grade students to help?
Any remaining purchases should pay no more than $1.00 per item.
Oakham is hiring a company this year. Stacey will talk to them in January.

Misc.
Paul McNiff
- Thank You to PTO for Nature’s Classroom support.
- Math Night (proposed by Andrea Hughes and Beth Olsen)
- December 2nd – open to students in grades 4-6
- Asking PTO for $200 in supplies (for games and packets for parents to take home)
and possibly PTO volunteers to run the games.
- PTO would prefer a date in January. We can not offer funds at this time, all of our
money is tied up in Santa’s Workshop purchases.

Parent Conferences
- Except for Kindergarten, a day for parent conferences is not on the calendar.
- Parents can set up an appointment if needed.

Teachers’ Holiday Wish Lists
- We are not organizing a wish list this year. If teachers have specific requests they can
be posted on the website.

Next Meeting: Jan. 6, 2010 (Instead of a meeting on Dec. 2nd, anyone interested can help us get a head start on Santa’s workshop set-up and wrapping)

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PTO Meeting Minutes 10/7/09

In attendance: Karen Lewis, Glenna VanDyke, Erica Skerry, Tara Hanley, Lynn Shibley,
Cherie Benoit, Keri Orne, Andrea Leroux, Ashley Cranston, Jill Peterson, Amy Reno,
Ann Diaz, Linda Freeman, Mary McCormick

Mary McCormick (school nurse)
The Department of Public Health recommends that all children get the flu shot. H1N1 shot is recommended for anyone ranging in age from birth to 50 years old. As of this meeting, there have been no reported cases of H1N1 in the Quabbin district.

Bubblers in the classrooms have been shut off to help prevent the spread of germs. Children may bring in water bottles.

The nurse’s office is always looking for donations for snacks and clothing.

Treasurer’s Report
Current balance:$1,616.93
PTO members voted to take Book Fair profit in cash ($1213.25) instead of additional products ($2911 worth of Scholastic products).

Halloween Family Fun Night
Friday, Oct. 30th 6:15 line up for the parade
Volunteers are needed for set-up which will take place after school on Friday, Oct. 30th.
Volunteers for the event should plan to arrive at 6:30 (Cherie Benoit, Lynn Shibley, Karen Lewis, Stacey Skerry, Ann Diaz, Debbie Ennis). More volunteers are needed.
Keri Orne – bat rings, fuzzy magnets to color, egg carton spider craft
The cafeteria will be used for crafts (bags, make a sticker monster, spider, word searches and coloring pages), 3-4 candy guessing jars, and guess the weight of the pumpkin.
The gym will be used for the games and dance party.
Ann Diaz – “Pick Pocket”
Lynn Shibley – witch with cauldron and “Cast a Spell” Cauldron for donations.
Mary Ellen and Stephanie from the library will do tattoos.
Will the Barre Business Association give a donation this year?
Cherie will get teen-age volunteers, Ann will recruit 6th grade volunteers.
Should student council help?

Square 1 Art
Squares have been made by the students in art class.
Orders will be in before Christmas.
Mrs. Payne will need help collecting order forms and money and getting the purchases to the classrooms. Karen Lewis offered to help.

Do we want to fund the pass for the Acton museum for the library?
Cost: $600 – Did we match funds with the library last year?
We will revisit this item in January.

Class Field Trip Budget
We do not have enough money in the budget to set an amount per grade at this time.
Kindergarten would like to go to Davis Farmland in the spring ($8 admission).

Nature’s Classroom (Oct. 26-30)

PTO members voted to cover $750 bus funding request.

Meeting Times
Discussion about holding meetings at different times (such as during the day).
Decision not to change meeting at this time, but to invite people to join PAVE if they are not able to attend evening meetings.

Santa’s Workshop (Dec. 7-10)
Item buying notes:

- Lynne will look for ornaments.
- We should not purchase less than 25 of any one item.
- We need items for pets, teenage girls, and men.
- Erica will buy snow globes.
- Rachel can get a discount at Walgreens.
- Call Cherie if you purchase anything.

Set-up and volunteer notes:
- 8 volunteers needed at a time.
- Can we get volunteers through the senior center for wrapping the gifts?
- It might be helpful if students write gift tag stickers in advance.
- 1-2 empty tables.

Website
Ann Diaz has volunteered to help maintain the website!

Misc.
Spirit Day
- As a fund raiser Student Council will pick a date and theme (i.e. “Hat Day”) and
students will give a donation ($0.50) to dress up.

Membership Drive
- Should we have a membership drive to raise money?
- Parents and teachers donate (maybe $20) to “join” the PTO.
- Tara Hanley will provide us with a draft of a letter.

School Council
- The School Council needs to make changes to the School Improvement Plan this year.
- Any one interested should see Tara Hanley. If there are too many people, the PTO will
run an election.

Target Red Card
- Register to track purchases and earn money for the school.

Boxtops for Education
- BoxTops must be sent in by Oct. 31 to get a check in December.

Next Meeting: Nov. 4, 2009

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PTO Meeting Minutes 9/2/09

In attendance: Laurie Daigneault, Karen Lewis, Paul McNiff, Glenna VanDyke, Erica Skerry,

Debbie Miett, Tonya Garofoli, Katie Rowell, Tara Hanley, Jen DiMauro, Lynn Shibley,
Cherie Benoit, Keri Orne, Andrea Leroux, Stephanie Mahan
Welcome and Introduction

It was great to see new faces at the meeting!

Current officers are serving the second year of their 2 year term:
- President: Cherie Benoit
- Vice President: currently vacant (any volunteers?)
- Treasurer: Amy Reno
- Secretary: Andrea Leroux
- Volunteer Coordinator: Debbie Ennis

Minutes Approved from June 3, 2009

Funding Requests

Cherie will email forms to the staff once she gets an updated email list.

Fall Fundraising Ideas
The following ideas were mentioned as possible fundraisers for the upcoming school year. More discussion will follow at the October meeting:

- calendar

- cookbook (this was done in 2004)

- “Art Stamps” Program

- Pie Auction

- Little Ceasar’s Pizza Kits

- “Square 1 Art” (http://www.square1art.com)
Ideas for future projects:

- Ruggles Lane Sign

- Benches/bleachers for the ball field

- SmartBoards and Laptops have been requested by the teachers (8 SmartBoards were
recently ordered by the school)

- playground renovations - Tara Hanley suggests that we look into finding someone to
design a plan for the fields. We should also look into what Hardwick recently did for
their playground.

The school needs to conduct a parental survey and they will include a question about how parents would like to see PTO money used.

Fall Social: Meet the new Principal and Assistant Principal
PTO Members decided not to do a separate event since parents have the opportunity to meet the new administrators at the fall open house on Sept. 24.

Fall scholastic Book Fair:
Set-Up: After school Friday, Sept. 18
Book Fair: Monday, Sept. 21, 8:30 to 2:30

Tuesday, Sept. 22, 8:30 to 2:30

Wednesday, Sept. 23, 8:30 to 2:30

Thursday, Sept. 24, 8:30-12:00
Family Night: Sept. 24, 5:00-8:00 (during Open House for grades 1-6)
Four people are needed at a time. (Erika will be there for the whole day on Mon. and Tues.) Classes will sign-up for ½ hour time slots.
Will the 6th grade students be able to help this year?
Email Cherie Benoit if you are able to volunteer. (cherieb@charter.net )

Halloween Family Fun Night
October 30, Parade at 6:30pm, Crafts and Games 7:00-9:00
Open to grades K-3. Activities include games, crafts and costumes (no candy).
Game and craft ideas are needed!
Budget - about $300

PTO Storage Issues
We can use Ernie Bettez’s former office.

Santa’s Workshop Planning
Volunteers will be needed for the following:

- shopping

- pre-wrapping (We will plan a date for this once most of the shopping is complete.)

- set-up (Usually after school on the Friday before Santa’s Workshop.)

- During the week of Santa’s Workshop volunteers are needed to wrap gifts, use the cash

registers, and help the kids shop.
Does anyone want to co-chair this event? (perhaps Erica and Lynn)
Keri will contact Rachel Teschner about a good time to get all of the stuff left over from last year out of her basement.

PAVE and BoxTops: Erica Skerry
Parents Actively Volunteering for Education – Volunteers help teachers by stapling, cutting, etc.
PAVE meets on Tuesday mornings from 8:10 to approximately 11:00 and will start on Tuesday, Sept. 29.
BoxTops (Each “BoxTop for Education” on participating items earns 10 cents for the school.) – This year’s goal will be raised to 1000 box tops per classroom. We are looking for a different reward this year for the classrooms that reach that goal (instead of a pizza party).

Website/Newsletter
Any information for the newsletter should be sent to Debbie Ennis (featherdog@charter.net ) by the 10th of the month to be in the following newsletter.
Website: www.rlspto.org – We are looking for someone who is interested in maintaining this website. If you are interested contact Debbie Ennis.
Can the Funding Request form be put on the website for teachers to download?

Misc. Issues:
More Rewards Programs

- Campbell Soup labels – (put in the PTO box in the teacher’s room for Lynn Shibley)
These labels collect points that can be used to purchase items from a catalog.
We should come up with a goal from the catalog.

- Tyson Labels (24 cents each) - We can send in 100 at a time.

- Juice pouch recycling (2 cents per pouch) was turned over to the 5th grade so they can
use the money for Nature’s Classroom

- Big Y Express Points – What happened to the points that we have earned so far? Cherie
will look into this. We think the purchase needs to come from the principal.

- Does Target have a program? Debbie Miett will look into this.

The suggestion was made to display the Teachers’ Wish Lists for classroom supplies before Thanksgiving to give people more time to shop.
Enrichment – We would like to move forward with after school enrichment programs. Tara Hanley will look into teacher interest.
Tastefully Quabbin – QUEST is hosting a fundraising event at Eagle Hill School in Hardwick on Sept. 28. For more information see http://www.qrsd.org/news/article/288.

Next Meeting: Oct. 7, 2009