SPPS Capitol Hill -- Capitol Hill PTO Minutes

Unapproved minutes from the February meeting are available on the Capitol Hill website. Acting Secretary Annie Yetter will have the February and March minutes printed for approval at the April meeting.

Treasurer’s Report: Carolyn Larson reported that the direct drive has brought in $7,680 to date. This is roughly half the expected total. Money will continue to trickle in, but it is unlikely that we will garner the $13,000 we have come to expect from this effort. The impact will hit the PTO budget in 2008/09.

Principal’s Report: Asst. Principal Mary Bridgeman submitted the upcoming newsletter for approval since Maggie O’Reilly was unable to attend the meeting. Guidelines for articles were discussed because a recent item centered on student participation in a non-school related community event. It was decided that activities included ought to be school-sponsored, and should have a contact name/attribution if follow-up is necessary.

Site Council: Ali Turner was unable to attend. No report submitted.

PTO Issues: The need for updated By-Laws was discussed, and it was agreed that a draft will be submitted at the next meeting for discussion, with the changes being approved at the May meeting if possible.

New Business

Performing Arts: Wanda Jenkins submitted a request for approx. $410 to rent seven wireless microphones, a sound board (for the mics) and a spotlight for the 5^th-6^th grade musical. Acoustics in the big gym aren’t good, and the mics would help. Last year Ms. Jenkins used her classroom grant to rent a couple of mics, and the results were positive. The musical involves roughly 40 students and is performed for both students and parents. Ms. Jenkins has a deadline to rent the equipment of 3/28. Discussion centered around whether fewer mics could be rented, thereby lowering the total request.

Old Business

Chess Club: The funding request for monies to support the human chess event and master teacher hours was turned down due to budgetary constraints and the fact that it didn’t pass the proposed PTO funding rubric.

Directories: Ayesha has yet to submit addendum. Still looking for lead volunteer for the coming year.

Fundraising: Maureen Dolan to pursue selling rakes at parent-teacher conferences March 18-20^th, priced at $2-3 each.

Milk lids/ink cartridges/box tops/volunteers: Ed Davis reported that with Louis’ approval CH has an agreement with Cartridge World to recycle and stock ink cartridges. Since that agreement, however, the district has mandated that office
supplies be purchased through Office Depot exclusively. Louis is seeking more information about this because he finds the pricing not favorable compared to other suppliers.

Deb Ahlquist is the contact for the Box Tops program. Darlene will contact her to get written procedure to ensure smooth running of program when she is no longer in charge.

Milk lids were handled by Lisa Heyman, who has passed on the duties to Ed Davis. He will get written procedure to Darlene.

Jan Nixon asked whether a new, more prominent location could be found for these things in order to raise their visibility. Stacking bins were proposed.

Discussion List: Ed Davis has not heard back from his district contact. It was decided that we need to articulate what we anticipate using this listserve for—what types of communication, who polices content, etc. Would emails be reminders of PTO sponsored events/fundraisers, etc? Is there a need for this? Ed mentioned a local group who would host the site for approx. $50/year. This topic requires further refining, discussion.

1-3^rd GradeDance: Ed Davis reported that approx. $633 was spent, and guessed the net would be approx. $350. The event included homemade macaroni and cheese and Rice Krispie bars, and in honor of the event’s theme, Leapin’ Lizards, the kids could have their picture taken alongside an iguana. Mary Bridgeman reported that there was active participation in the dancing and it looked like everyone was having a good time. The admission fee was $4.00 without a food shelf donation, and $2.00 with a donation. This fee included dinner. Ed also arranged a raffle for a couple of birdhouses with webcams. He thinks he sold about 100 tickets at $.50 per. He will submit receipts to Carolyn Larson for payment.

4-6^th Grade Dance: Carolyn Larson reported that arrangements are in order for the March 6^th dance. Andrea Backes has the volunteers she needs and the permits have been submitted.

Carnival: Mary Bridgeman agreed to allow a couple of 6^th graders to read Carnival promotions during morning announcements.

Kristin Cleveland announced that web forms for volunteers and donations are up and active on the website. Darlene will ask Cindy if we may direct donations to her office for storage. Per Jan Nixon, the Rondo complex has a site license for silent auction software which will ease logistics.

Kristin passed out rolls of tickets for tearing in to groups of five. Eighteen rolls are to be torn this way, and the rest will be in groups of four for same-day sales. Ticket pre-sales are to be available at conferences 3/18, 3/20 and 3/25.

Darlene requested that Mary Bridgeman make arrangements to hire two off-duty St. Paul police officers from 5pm-9:00pm the day of the Carnival. Maureen Dolan suggested contacting a 5^th grade parent, Dominic Dzik.

The need for insurance during the Carnival hours was raised and briefly discussed. Jan Nixon shared information about the policy they had for the Playground Gala. Louis confirmed that the school’s policy wouldn’t cover the Carnival.

Meeting adjourned at 8:40 pm. Next meeting Monday, April 7, 2008 from 6:30-8:30 pm, Room 1407.

People attending meeting: Darlene Haecker; Carolyn Larson; Maureen Dolan; Louis Mariucci; Mary Bridgeman; Annie Yetter; Jan Nixon; Ed Davis; Wanda Jenkins; Kristin Cleveland.

Respectfully submitted by Annie Yetter.