Jamestown PTO Meeting Minutes

March 11, 2009 at 3:00pm; Melrose school library

 

In attendance: Lisa Tuttle, Sheryl Atwood, Karen Rafanelli, Suzy Parris, Lizzie Congdon, Robin Tregenza, Sue Fay, Adrienne Downing, Julie Bailey, Bev Rudman, Christine Moffet, Katie DiMieri

 

The minutes from the 2/11/09 meeting were approved.

 

Treasurer’s Report:  Christine Moffet reports $7407.41 in checking and $8338.63 in savings, for a total of $15,745.77.     

 

Teen Center Report: There will be a dance on Friday, March 20th from 7:00-9:30pm at the Teen Center.  Students in grades 6 through 9 are invited to attend.  Cost is $10 or $8 with donation to RI Food Bank.  Chaperones are needed.  Contact Debbie Tungett (423-7261 or jamestownteens@yahoo.com) to volunteer. 

 

Cultural Arts & Enrichment:  Lizzie Congdon reviewed the PTO-sponsored programs for the remainder of the school year:

 

When

Who

Where

What

 

 

 

 

Friday,

March 13

Skip Gorman

Melrose only: K-4

music & stories from the American West

Monday, March 30

Len Cabral

Melrose

African-American storytelling

Friday,

April 3

Keith Munslow

Melrose only: pre-K & K

humorous songs & stories

Friday,

April 24

Len Cabral

Lawn

African-American storytelling

Friday,

May 1

RI Philharmonic

both schools

jazz quintet

Friday, May 8

Everett Dance Theater

both schools

performance about conflict resolution

 

 

Fundraising

 

Golf tournament: After much discussion about the pros and cons of holding this event in June vs September, we decided on September.  The date of the golf tournament will be Saturday, September 26th.  This will require that we start planning this spring and continue through the summer.  We will have a separate golf planning meeting soon. 

 

Calendar fundraiser: Robin Tregenza is still investigating this option as a spring fundraiser.

 

Yankee candle sale: Other schools have had great success with selling Yankee candles before the holidays.  We decided that we would like to do this in the late fall.  This would take the place of the Meadow Farms catalog sale.

 

If we hold the golf tournament in September 2009 and the Yankee Candle fundraiser in the late fall 2009, the PTO should be covered financially for the 2009-2010 school year.

 

 

New Business

 

Pen Pal Program: Julie Bailey reports that she has found 3 volunteers who will run the pen pal program together: Adrienne Downing, Karen Carnevale, and Sue Gaynor.  Karen will be the contact for Melrose pen pals, Sue for Lawn, and Adrienne for the high school.  Julie has updated the pen pal program forms, which are posted on the PTO web site and will also appear in the Warrior.  The annual pen pal ice cream social in August may move to Fort Getty. 

 

 

Scholastic book fairs:  Lisa Tuttle presented the figures from the February book fair.  Total sales were approximately $7500 ($4632.50 at Melrose and $2852.14 at Lawn).  This is about a 50% increase in sales over last year.  From this, we earned a total profit of $1600 cash for the PTO and about $1500 in books for the classrooms and the school libraries.  THANKS again to all of our volunteers!

 

The next book fair will be a Buy One Get One free fair, and will be held at Melrose only, from Monday, May 11th-Wednesday, May 13th. 

 

PTO volunteer fair: Karen Rafanelli is organizing a PTO volunteer fair, tentatively scheduled for Thursday, April 2nd, from 4:00-7:00pm at Melrose.  This will be a forum for the PTO Board to share specific information about our roles and events in the hope of attracting more volunteers and Board members.  Sue Fay volunteered to arrange babysitters for this event.  Pizza and refreshments will be served.

 

Teacher Appreciation Day & luncheon: Teacher appreciation day at Melrose is Tuesday, May 5th.  Room mothers will coordinate the assembly of a bouquet of flowers (one from each student) for each teacher.  Lisa Kerr will contact the Melrose room mothers. 

 

The teacher appreciation luncheon will be held on Friday, May 15th at both schools.  We are not able to order from the same lunch provider as last year.  Last year’s food cost was approximately $400.  This year, we have a quote of $715 from Annmarie Deffley ($6.50 per person X 110 employees) for a sandwiches/salads luncheon.  This expense was approved.  The PTO will provide drinks and will ask volunteers to bake desserts. 

 

Move night:   The next movie night will be a double feature and is scheduled for Friday, March 27th at Melrose at 4:30pm.  The first movie will be “Bolt.”  Robin is seeking permission to show “Twilight” (rated PG-13) as the second movie.  Pizza and refreshments will be sold.

 

Health and wellness activities: The swimming event at URI was cancelled due to lack of interest. A trip to the RI Rock Gym for Lawn students is scheduled for after school on Friday, April 3rd.  The cost is $15 per student.  Volunteers are needed to chaperone this trip. 

 

PTO web site:  Lisa Tuttle has taken over as PTO webmaster and has revamped and updated the web site.  Please check the web site for information about upcoming events, fundraisers, and assemblies.  The site also has past PTO meeting minutes, a room parent list, forms for the pen pal program and funds requests, plus our new PTO logo and much, much more.  You can access it through the schools’ web page or by going to:

http://www.jamestownri.com/school/classes/pto/ptohome.htm 

 

Drug awareness forum: An evening program on drug awareness and prevention is scheduled for Tuesday, April 7th from 6:00-8:00pm at Lawn.  This event is co-sponsored by the Drug Task Force and the PTO.  The program is geared towards both students and parents, with separate discussions and activities for each.  Babysitting will be provided for young children, and dinner will be served.    Volunteers are needed to serve food and to bake desserts for this event.

 

Jamestown Press Kids’ Page ad: The PTO will continue to run an ad on the Kids Page through the end of the year.  Please contact Robin if there is an upcoming event you would like to include in the ad.

 

 

Old Business

 

School directory: The directory is finished and is available for purchase ($3) in the offices of both schools.

 

PTO volunteers: If you are interested in being on the PTO Board or in volunteering for any PTO projects/events, please contact one of the current Board members.  Volunteering does NOT need to be an enormous commitment!  We need your help so that we can continue the programs that benefit our students.

 

 

The next meeting will be on Weds, April 8th at 6:30pm in the library at Lawn.

 

Meeting adjourned at 4:15pm.

 

Lisa Tuttle

PTO Secretary