MONDAY, MAY 5, 2008, 6:30 PM

Business Meeting

PTO President Darlene Haecker called the meeting to order.

Minutes from the April meeting were approved by unanimous vote.  Acting Secretary Annie Yetter will forward the Minutes to Randi Madisen to post on the web site.

Principal’s Report:  Asst. Principal Mary Bridgeman reported that Principal Mariucci was focused on getting the SCIP ready.  In addition, she passed along his request that PTO consider giving money to defray the nearly $750 he has spent from school funds to cover lunch costs for students who either do not have or do not bring money for lunch.  PTO’s funds are limited, and few details were given about the problem.  After brief discussion, Mary said she would pursue this issue with the district nutrition services person and CH’s social worker in case any of these students are eligible for federal student lunch program monies.  

Site Council:  Ali Turner reported that the SCIP is Site Council’s main effort currently.  Site Council is also working to address the pick up/drop off procedures and is re-writing the letter parents get in the fall about these procedures in the hopes of clarifying the information.  She also mentioned that Site Council is aware of the need to better inform the CH community about the mission of the Site Council, to welcome parents and get them involved.  A suggestion was made that a regular item in the newsletter would be a good way to keep parents updated on agenda, issues, etc.  Ali is to pursue this with Maggie O’Reilly.

Site Council is also working with District security officials about ways to improve CH security.  Because CH is part of a complex it is difficult to control access to the building.  This discussion is on-going.

Treasurer’s Report:  Carolyn Larson reported that the direct drive has brought in $9,000  to date.  This is roughly $4,000 below the expected total.  The impact will hit the PTO budget in 2008/09. 

The Carnival was also below expectations, with net receipts totaling approx. $4,500.  Carolyn is going to double check the numbers.

Carolyn is considering combining the Savings and Checking accounts PTO maintains.  The Savings account generated $3.00 in interest in the last quarter and dates from a time when PTO had more money to manage.  She will confer with past treasurers Julie Taylor and Anne Hartnett.

It was also suggested that grade level dinners and dances ought to have a nominal charge per family to help defray costs of purchasing food and entertainment.  This was not done this year, but has been the policy in the past.

Old Business

Rendezvous:  Ms. Ochi-Watson was at the meeting to convey thanks for the money PTO gave the 4^th grade to partially fund costumes for Rendez-vous, a new curriculum unit.  She brought in examples of the parent-made shirts, and many thank you notes from students.

Taking advantage of having a teacher present, Ochi-Watson was asked for her thoughts on establishing a room representative program to facilitate communication between parents and teachers.  She has been both a parent and teacher at CH, and mentioned that at one time, room reps were paid.  She had no strong feeling about whether teachers should pick their volunteer or whether any parent should be able to volunteer.

Directory:  Maureen Dolan to pursue volunteer to take this on in the coming year.

Fundraising:  Ed Davis was not at meeting and unable to report on progress regarding disposal/recycling of rakes.

Milk lids/ink cartridges/box tops/volunteers: Ed Davis has not yet sent procedures to Darlene.  She will send email reminder.

Carnival:  Carolyn Larson, Carnival Maven was congratulated on a job well done.  Reasons why receipts are down are unknown, but could be related to economic climate, fewer people in attendance.  “Walking Tacos” were popular.  Silent Auction results were up significantly from a year ago.  Issue of people from the neighborhood attending carnival was raised, and problems with verifying who is actually a student, who is a friend of a student, etc. was discussed.  District sent 3 security guards this year, in addition to the 2 off-duty St Paul Police the carnival normally hires.  No specific violent incidents to report, but there were a few people who were difficult in line.

Fundraising:  Maureen Dolan was unable to attend meeting.  Darlene reported that the proposed peach sale will not be possible because the farm in CO has not responded to numerous requests.

CH parent Andrea Wood was at meeting to present a check from Target Corporation in the amount of $2,100 representing money from parents who designated CH as their beneficiary from Target credit card use.  She also let us know about a grant program to fund field trips up to $800.  The application is online. Ms. Ochi-Watson suggested that this should be mentioned to teachers at a staff meeting.

Playground:  Maggie O’Reilly reported that thanks to the Cub Scouts, the playground clean up was a success, and volunteers worked their way all around the complex.

Maggie also reported that a STAR grant will be submitted the first week of June.  The committee will have a 5-minute interview with STAR representatives in which to make their case.  No one school has ever been granted $75,000, in addition to which we are asking for matching funds.  CH to stress the community use aspect of the facility by the entire Rondo complex, ECSE and the neighborhood.  The next meeting of the committee is May 21 at 10:30 am in the Benjamin Mays conference room.

As it currently stands, Phase 2 requires $150,000 broken out as follows:  $45,000 for the upper playground; $55,000 for the fenced in area used by ECSE, 1^st and 2^nd grades; and $50,000 for the NW corner near the drainage area.

By Law Update:  Copies of the proposed bylaw changes incorporating the revisions discussed at the March meeting were passed out.  Annie Yetter encouraged those present to take the by-laws home and mull them over prior to voting at the last meeting in June.

Recruitment:  Darlene has a commitment from Monica Haas to stand as Secretary.  Carolyn Larson will return as Treasurer and Carnival Maven.  Maggie O’Reilly will remain as newsletter editor. Efforts continue to recruit a Chair, Chair-elect and Volunteer Coordinator.   Darlene to send brief article to Maggie O’Reilly for the newsletter about need for candidates, stressing that a background check is required.

Meeting adjourned at 8:40 pm.  Next meeting Monday, June 2, 2008 from 6:30-8:30 pm, Room 1407. 

People attending meeting: Darlene Haecker; Carolyn Larson; Ali Turner; Mary Bridgeman; Annie Yetter; Jan Nixon; Maggie O’Reilly; Annie Yetter

Respectfully submitted by Annie Yetter.