GEPTA Meeting Minutes

GEPTA PTA
Meeting Minutes, November 6, 2007 @ LER

Introductions: Karen and Helen welcomed everyone to the meeting and the PTA. Everyone was asked to share a goal for PTA and one of their own personal goals.

October meeting minutes: motion to approve as posted by Ellen, 2nd by Jen M., approved. Minutes are posted on the MSAD #11 and also in the teacher’s room and we encourage all to check out the updated web site.

Treasurer’s Report: Available balance is $11,747.15. Motion to accept, Jen, 2nd by Paula, passed.

It is anticipated that we will raise about $9000 from the fall catalog fundraiser. Orders are ready to be picked up. They are not permitted to go home on the bus with the students.

Those who wish to be members can do so by paying dues to Tony. Dues are $5.00. Membership cards were handed out to those who have paid.

Funding Motions:

Motion to allocate the funds from the food table proceeds to the 5th grade fundraiser. Though others contributed, it was staffed by 5th grade parents and they worked a great deal on it.

Motion by Tony to move the 5th grade fund that is currently in our a savings account, to the 5th grade fund that is being kept separately at RVCS. 2nd by Ellen, passed.

Motion to move the playground fund, which is currently tracked inside the checking account to the savings account (just vacated by the 5th grade fund movement.) 2nd by Paula, passed.

Motion to allocate 5% of all 2007-2008 fundraisers to the playground fund by Tony, 2nd by Jen, passed.

Motion by Ellen to allocate $50 to each certified teacher in both schools. 2nd by Chris McNickles, passed. This money is traditionally allocated in fall for classroom support and reimbursement fro miscellaneous expenses. It will be discussed again for spring.

David Colby spoke to us about his fundraising efforts. He and his daughter Hillary have been enthusiastically fundraising for the playground effort at RVCS. This will be publicized in the next newsletter.

Principal’s report:

Mrs. Morin shared with us the following information:
? She is discussing with the staff the reading incentive program tomorrow.
? They love the wish tree – and we encouraged all the teachers and staff to utilize it.
? RVCS is collecting food and other items for the soldiers and children in Iraq. Donation of toiletries, holiday garland, DVDs, movies and food items are appreciated and can be left in the box in the lobby by November 15. A connection with a LT. nurse in Iraq has been made, and a flag will be flown in honor of the children at RVCS. Mrs. Morin told us of other wonderful efforts to support the troops going on through the school community.

River View Book Fair – volunteers are still needed to man the book fair which runs the week of conferences. A sign-up sheet was passed around.

LER Book fair - November 15 – December 3. A sign-up sheet was also passed around for this. A good suggestion was made to have a the book fair open at LER on the night we have the family Fun Night, as it will get lots of traffic that way. Discussion was held about how the book fairs work and ways to maximize the impact of these. The more we sell the more books we can get from Scholastic.

Jim Brunett – a sympathy card was passed around to come from GEPTA. Motion to allocate $200 to the scholarship fund in his name in lieu of flowers by Paula, 2nd by Ellen, passed.

MSAD11 web site – Mrs. Moody has done a significant amount of work upgrading the LER web site and adding a nice GEPTA section. Please check it out. Kristy has a password and can still make changes. Please send her any suggestion you have for the PTA section.

Parent/Teacher Conferences – a sign-up for Riverview pot luck and desserts for both schools was passed. (Food will be purchased for LER this time as allocated at Oct. meeting.) Volunteers to man a PTA table were solicited. We decided to collect items for the Iraq support effort and canned food for the local food bank on this night.

Food Nutrition – survey will go to parents about nutrition and variety in the school lunches. Next meeting of the team working on this is November 13 at 9 at the Superintendent’s Office. They will distribute the survey at conferences while the parents are waiting. Students will be surveyed soon too.

CPR training – rep will do this Saturday or Sunday for up to 10 people or (10 couples who would be willing to share a dummy.) Motion by Ellen, 2nd by Veronica to make the fee be $10 a person for certification to help defray costs. We would provide childcare so that parents could learn CPR. The class would be about 2-3 hours. We will also ask for other community volunteers so we can run more classes.

LER Craft Fair – December 1. We could do a raffle at the fair as a fundraiser. Basket raffle was a good fundraiser in the past.

Family Fun Nights – everyone voted on ideas they liked. November 30 was chosen as a date for the first one, which will be a Movie Night. A Craft night is planned for December 14. That will require a lot of volunteers. Other dates include January 25, March 28, April 18, May 30. Book swap will be in February.

Scholarship – Paula moved that we keep the four (4) $300 scholarships in place as in past years. 2nd by Ellen, passed. This information will be shared with GAHS by their 11/8 deadline.

Next GEPTA meeting: Tuesday, December 4 at 6 p.m. at RVCS