Fireside PTO

Parents and faculty working together to provide a quality scholastic experience for all Fireside Elementary School students!

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September Meeting Minutes

Attendance

Welcome and Introductions

Approval of Budget Meeting Minutes: It was moved and seconded (Floyd/Day) that the minutes from the August 11th Budget Meeting be approved. VOTE: Approved.

Principal’s Remarks – Pat Heinz-Pribyl

1. Pat reviewed the new hires for this year: Kim Contini is the new K-Care teacher; Brian Knott is the new part-time music teacher; Kate Clary is the new part-time PE teacher; Shelby Warsaw is the new ESL teacher; Dani Rutkin is the new full-time psychologist; and Ronda Frary is the new Health Room paraeducator.
2. Parent Information Night is coming up on September 9th. Pat reiterated the policy that people from clubs that are not sponsored by the school cannot hand out materials on this night. It is fine to leave information on a table, but not ok for people to hand out information.
3. We were able to add a fourth round of Kindergarten right before school started. While this required some juggling and shuffling, it is great news to have small class sizes.
4. Early Assessments went very well. The teachers especially enjoy the opportunity to meet one-on-one with the children. This year, the kids worked on a PRIDE project during assessments, which will become visible in the hallways soon.
5. Pat reminded us that this is Fireside’s 20th year, and asked that we think about this as we move forward with our plans for the year - specifically the Fireside Festival.

Co-Chairs Remarks – Margretta Risi & Tam Dalle Molle

1. Thank yous!
2. • School Supplies - Thanks to Ann Riedl for coordinating the pre-packaged School Supplies event. Due to the amount of work it took, and the small number of families who participated, we probably won’t be doing this next year, but we really appreciated all the work Ann put into it last year!
   • Ice Cream Social – Thanks to everyone who volunteered to scoop!
   • Back-to-School Packets – Thanks Heidi day for pulling these together. They look terrific!
   • Parade – It was a record turn-out. Thanks to Kevin Andresen & Doug Haley for doing an incredible job of “marshalling!”
   • Back to School Brunch – the Google Document was completely filled up within 12 hours – so thanks to everyone who contributed!
3. PTO Calendar – an updated calendar of the year’s events was passed around.
4. Open Positions – The following positions were still open at the beginning of the meeting. Thanks to those of you who stepped up to fill some of them.
5. • Marketing & Media Chair: Shelly Koglin
   • T-Shirt Coordinator: STILL OPEN
   • Skate City Coordinator: STILL OPEN
   • Winter Social Chair: Ashley Elder
   • Winter Fundraising Chair: STILL OPEN
   • Turn-off-the-TV Week: Leslie Ewing

Committee Reports

1. Welcome Team – Tam Dalle Molle The Welcome Team held three playdates for incoming Kindergartners and new students this summer They were very well attended, and the feedback was very positive. Upcoming Welcome Coffees will be held September 17th.
2. Volunteer Update – Dustin Sagrillo Lots of people have signed up on the sign-up sheets. Dustin is emailing electronic sign-up sheets to each of the committee chairs, and committee chairs are supposed to send a welcome email to those who have signed up to help. Sign-ups are going a little more slowly for the Winter & Spring events, but he will step up marketing for those later in the year.
3. Payback Coupon Book Update – Shana Sagrillo To date we have sold 98 books (that’s $980 for Fireside.) On Thursday, we will send an email to remind folks that the fundraiser ends on September 14, and that books or payment must be returned. We believe many people are waiting until the deadline to turn them in, especially those who have been selling multiple books.
4. Grants Update – Michele Crawford Last year, we received $16,400 in grant funds from various businesses in Boulder County. A total of ten classroom grants were written and awarded to teachers and staff, affecting nearly every student and classroom at Fireside. So far this year, Fireside has received a $1,000 grant from Target to support an after school reading program. Mrs. Mahoney requested that the PTO supplement this grant with $206 so that the program could be fully funded. It was moved and seconded (D. Sagrillo/A. Meseck) and we voted to approve these funds. Michele wrote another grant proposal (for five teachers) to Wal-Mart for $3,000, and we only received $1,000. Mr. Stankovic has asked that the PTO fund the difference ($660) so that his writing workshop could be funded. Because this request is more than $500, the PTO will vote on this at the October meeting. Several people suggested incorporating some of the supplies needed into next year’s school supply list, or seeing if we could find discounted or donated materials.
5. School Directory Update – Francie Haley This year’s Directory is coming along just fine! It will be 76 pages long, will include lots of useful information for parents, contact information for 267 families and lots of great kids’ artwork! So far, we have sold 225 books, and $200 worth of ads, so it looks like our budget has already been covered. Look for the books to go home in Friday Folders on September 25th.
6. Grill ‘n’ Bid – Andy Meseck, Heidi Day Coming up October 16th from 5:00 - 8:00! This year, there will be a wide variety of food donated by Waterloo, Qdoba, Domino’s Pizza, and Noodles. Doug will spin tunes. Elaine will host field games. Home Depot will be back with their Kids Workshop, and there will be temporary tattoos & hair-coloring. Classes will be assembling baskets, or coming up with projects to auction off. Gigi Christensen will be in charge of the Zero-Waste component this year.
7. Green Team – Julann Andresen The Green Team is a team of parents and staff that are interested in turning Fireside a “deeper shade of green.” The team has not met yet this year, but they are looking at doing something more for Earth Day, increasing Zero Waste events, and continuing to grow the garden. There are currently 7 sections to the garden – one for each grade level. Each class designed and made its own stepping stone for the garden. Students are now harvesting and using food in their classrooms.

Upcoming Events

1. Parent Information Night - September 9. PTO will have a couple of display boards up to highlight fundraisers and “fun” raisers.
2. Kindergarten Parent Coffee Social - Thursday, September 17. We will introduce PTO to incoming Kindergarten parents and answer any questions about the school they may have.
3. Skate City Party - Friday, September 25. Still looking for someone to coordinate this.
4. Fireside Book Fair – October 5-8.
5. Parent Teacher Conferences - October 5, 6, 8. Shana Sagrillo & Lori Haynes-Bright will be coordinating food for teachers.
6. International Walk to School Day - Wednesday, October 7. Shontelle Hegge is coordinating. She still needs a few more parent volunteers to help hand out treats. Michele Crawford, Julann Andresen, Francie Haley, Dustin Sagrillo and Heidi Day all volunteered to help.
7. Gear Swap - November 6 & 7. Briana Greer is coordinating. Families will drop gear off on Friday, November 6. Swap will take place on November 7. 10% of the proceeds will go to PTO.

Treasurer’s Report – Ashley Elder

There has not been a lot of financial activity so far this year. We currently have $6,420 in our checking account and $41,834 in our Money Market account.

District Parent Council Update – Mario Jannatpour

Mario attended the first DPC meeting of the school year on 8/19/09. It was the night before school started, so attendance was low. Chris King sounded optimistic about teacher contract talks. He felt confident they could work things out. Enrollment in BVSD is declining. The district is trying to avoid increasing teacher-student ratios. BVSD will receive $7 million of stimulus money over the next two years. For more information on the DPC, go to: http://districtparentcouncil.weebly

Next PTO Meeting Tuesday, October 13, 6:30 p.m.

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