Present: Debbie Richards, Heather Rousell, Co-Presidents; Kristen Vaccaro, Treasurer; Danielle Edwards, Angel Angleberger, PR/Correspondence; Christina Sleeper, Membership chair; Debbie Knight, Secretary; Guest Speakers: Ron Clark, Lorraine Gowing, Ginger Storey-Welch, Peggy Horton, Randy Phillips, Deb Orland. Members: Lianne Knight, Randy Chamberland, Christina Smith, Donna Gilbert, Lisa Hall, Katie Lashomb, Nancy Francis.
I. Meeting called to order by Heather at 6:32 p.m.
II. Guest Speakers:
a. Ron Clark from ACES, Student Foreign Exchange program. Ron spoke briefly about his experiences with his own foreign exchange students and handed out literature to people interested in hosting. Information will be posted in the News and Notes about how to contact him if you would like to become a host family.
b. Ginger Storey-Welch, Randy Phillips and Deb Orland presented their program that they are creating through the Colton Pierrepont Teachers Association. They are working on getting several grants (Eat Well Play Hard and Solidarity Grant) to create a community garden outside next to the playground. One of their goals is to teach the children how to become self sufficient in regards to producing their own food. They are asking the PTSA to hold the money from one of the grants in our bank account. They also wanted to ask for our help as parents in tending to the garden, especially during the summer months. They are planning on having some of the food used in our own kitchen at school and the remaining amount to be given to the local food pantry.
III. Approval of Minutes.
a. Last months minutes were approved without any changes.
IV. Treasurer’s Report:
a. We currently have $4851.71 in our checking account.
b. We made $503.54 at the Scholastic Book Fair
c. We have money due to Great Northern Printing
d. See enclosed report for more details.
V. New Business:
A. Parent Volunteers
a. Carolyn Gibson is asking for a parent volunteer who can commit to a small period of time on a weekly basis to help with copying and preparing materials for classes. Katie Lashomb offered to contact her and set up a time to do this.
b. Julie Rapczynski also asked if anyone was interested in filling her spot on the Safe School Healthy Student Committee. Gayle Hayes is the chair of this committee. It is usually the last Tuesday of the month and they meet at the end of the school day.
B. Staff Appreciation:
a. October 20th is designated as Muffin Monday. We wanted to “Welcome the staff back and wish them a wonderful year”. Angel A., Kristen V., Heather R., Katie L., Lianne K., Donna G., Randy C. and Lisa H. all volunteered to make 1 doz. Muffins for this event.
C. Guest Speakers:
a. Mr. Bregg will be at the November meeting to make a short presentation. Both Julie Welch and Randy Johnson were also invited to present but did not commit at this time.
b. It was noted by a member of the group that we were given some great PR by Mr. Johnson at a recent talk that he did at SLU to grad students. THANKS MR. JOHNSON!
D. Author Visit:
a. Many teachers were contacted during the book fair to see if they had a preference in whether they wanted to receive free books from the fair or if they would prefer that the PTSA use the funds to bring in an author. All the teachers that responded voted for an author. Debbie K. did some research and contacted many other schools and resources in the area to come up with the name of Laurence Pringle, who is a non-fiction writer of children’s books. He lives in Nyack NY and has won many awards for the books that he has written which include but are not limited to these subjects: pirates, loons, dinosaurs, snakes….etc. After consulting with Melinda Miller-Widrick they thought this author would be appropriate because of the fact that he could cover a wide range of age groups and because CPCS has never had a non-fiction author before and it would allow the science teachers to get involved with the visit.
The PTSA voted in favor of letting Debbie book this author in the estimated amount of $1300.00. After contacting Julie she was told there were no available funds through the school but is still pursuing the BOCES coser to see if that money has already been designated.
E. Holiday Store:
a. Members were encouraged to save their “stuff” for this years’ holiday store. They were asked to donate wrapping paper, tissue paper and or bags. It was a huge success last year with all the money that was made being donated to the neighborhood center.
F. Passports/picture ID’s:
a. A concerned parent was asking about the program that was done a few years back in which someone came to the school and made passports for the community. Christina S. is going to contact Diane Ladison to find out more about this.
G. Immunization Concerns:
a. It was brought to the attention of a parent that there are children in our school district who have not been vaccinated due to their religious beliefs. Heather is going to speak with Sarah Long and see if there is any sort of information that the PTSA can send out to make people in the school district aware of this so that they may take precautions if they have health concerns or are pregnant and exposed to diseases that could potentially harm them.
VI. Old Business
A. Square One: All art work should be turned in to Heather by October 16th. She will send it in to Square one and the magnets should be back by Nov. 3rd. Any orders need to be placed by Nov. 10th which will then allow for the merchandise to be back by December 5th in time for the Holiday Season.
a. There was some question about whether the PTSA would pay for the tiles that people were purchasing for the tile wall. It was decided that last year was a one time “deal” and that any future tiles will have to be bought by the artist.
b. There was a community night on September 24th at the Library. There was not a lot of participation but approximately 10 people came in to make a drawing. Thank you Mr. Hammill and Ray Whalen for coming and offering your support and supplies!
B. 5K Walk/Run for Wellness
a. Sunday Oct. 26th at 1:00 p.m. Debbie K. sent an announcement to the News and Notes, Northern Runner and NCTW. She will also send out an e-mail to PTSA members asking for donations for the raffle. Heather is going to take care of the signs. Lianne K. will contact the gym teachers and coaches and will donate the cups. Christina is going to contact people from the membership list to make baked goods. Debbie R. has contacted the law firm that sponsored our t-shirts last year and they are going to do that again this year and she will design and order those. Bagels and bananas will be bought and several people volunteered to bring 5 gallon water jugs. Several people also volunteered to donate prizes for the raffle.
C. Clothing Sale:
a. As reported by Deb. R. the clothing sale seemed to be very well received. The PTSA will probably profit $.50-$1.00 on each item. They should arrive by Oct. 15th. Randy at Great Northern has no problem if people wanted to bring their clothing items back and he would put names on them for approximately $2-$3.00.
VII. Other:
A. Health and Wellness committee. Lori Parker was contacted about the wellness committee. There has been no response yet.
B. On 10/21/08 at 3:00 p.m. there will be a meeting in regards to Colton Wellness Committee through the St. Lawrence County Health Initiative.
C. Heather told Lori that we would be available to help with the Thanksgiving dinner and penny harvest again this year if needed.
D. The next meeting was set for November 4th at 6:30 in the school library.
VIII. Meeting was adjourned at 8:17 p.m.
