September 9,
2003
The
meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m.
Introduction
and Summary of PTO Plans: Ellen Skoly introduced
herself as the new PTO President. Our
goal is for the teachers/parents to work together to provide the best
educational and learning experiences for the students of LSS. We started off the school year with a
luncheon for the teachers. Many thank
you notes from the teachers are on display on the bulletin board showing their
appreciate for the luncheon. We gave
each teacher $75.00 to spend on items they needed for their students in the
classroom.
Questionnaires
were sent home at the end of last year to get suggestions/remarks regarding the
PTO and its functions. Some of the
changes that have been implemented are the PTO meetings will now be held the
second Tuesday of every month and there will be a 15 minute social gathering
before the meeting and child care is now provided.
Open
House: This will be held on September 18th. At the Open House there will be a committee
fair table to allow people to sign up to help at committee events. There will also be PTO membership slips to
complete if you have not done so, suggestion box, budget vote, the selling of cookbooks
and t-shirts for school spirit (not a fundraiser).
Communication: Paul Rouleau is in the process of developing the website. The Pawprints newsletter is one of the items
to be displayed on the website. Any
other suggestions are welcome.
Fundraisers: We are hoping to reduce the amount of fundraisers that are held
throughout the year. The fundraisers
are held to support the general PTO fund, scholarship fund or the playscape
fund. The first fundraiser kickoff will
be held on Friday, September 12th, at 2:00 p.m. Meadowfarms is hosting the fundraiser and
they will give us 50% of all sales from their main catalog and 40% of all sales
from their candle catalog. The students
have a two-week order time frame and delivery of the items will be on November
3rd. The classroom with the
most participation in the fundraiser will get the large SpongeBob that is
displayed outside the school office.
**If you do not want to participate in the fundraiser, you can give a
donation to the PTO.
Create
A Wish List: We have asked the teachers to create a wish
list for items needed for their classrooms.
We have contacted a vendor -- Colchester S & S Craft -- who sells
supplies in bulk. Once the teacher’s
wish list is complete, there will be a vote to fund the needed school
items. A suggestion was made to have
this wish list placed on the website for future shopping for teachers around
the holidays. Some of the items on the
wish list would be good gift ideas.
*We went around the room and
everyone introduced themselves*
Budget
- Dave Murray: The proposed budget for 2003-2004 and the
expenditures to date were submitted.
The 2003-2004 proposed budget will be voted on at the Open House.
Committees: The Committee distribution list was sent home explaining what
each committee involves and who is chairing and assisting on a particular
committee. If you are interested in
helping in any way on a committee, please contact the chair person. Any questions regarding committees, you can
contact the PTO Board or the chair person.
What
is Pawprints? It is a monthly newsletter that updates each
family on what is happening at LSS and what certain grades are doing. It was suggested that parents should have
more advance notice regarding upcoming events/assemblies.
What
is Fundever? There are certain stores on-line that you
can buy items from and the school gets points for items bought to purchase
equipment and computers for the school.
There will be a fundraiser in October where you can purchase educational
products for your family. Any products
purchased through this fundraiser will be points earned for LSS.
Ron
A Roll - Stacy Selavka: This will be held on
Saturday, September 20th from 4:30 to 6:30. The cost is $5.00 per person (including
skate rental). There will be a
discounted rate for people not skating.
The class with the best turnout will get a prize.
Harvest
Fair - Lori Barselau: This will be held on
Saturday, October 18th. It
is in the beginning stages. If you have
any ideas for the kids activities please contact me. Pam Moody informed us that Bolles Motors will be back for the
“drive for kids”. Bolles will be there
at the fair from 11:00 to 2:00 p.m. For
every person who fills out a questionnaire and tests drive one of the three
vehicles on display, Bolles will donate $5.00 to LSS.
Playscape
- Julie Marcotte: They are applying for grants
to fund the playscape. They are in the
design stages and are hoping by the end of this year to present it to the Board
of Education for approval and hope to start the building of the first phase next
year. One small part of the funding of
the playscape is the Crispy Crème fundraiser.
This fundraiser will take place three times during the course of the
school year -- October 4th, February and
May (dates to be determined).
Education/Assembly
Committee: This committee plans the assemblies and
programs for the schools. They thanked
the two new members. They presented
Terry Tomaszewski and her family with a gift certificate to Mill on the River
for her generosity in hosting the exchange student.
Membership
to PTO: As of today, 87 families and 6 teachers have
joined. A prize will be awarded for the
class that has 100% participation in the membership drive.
Teachers’
Report: Mrs. Merrow thanked everyone for the
wonderful teacher’s luncheon.
Principal’s
Report - Mr. Casavant: The beginning of the school
year went smoothly. LSS enrolled 29 new
students but lost 12 students. To date,
we have collected 8,000 summer reading logs.
CMT testing for grades 3-5 begins September 16 through October 3rd. The elementary report cards have been
revised. The report cards allow for
more detail and we will get a preview at the October PTO meeting. He briefly went over the arrival/dismissal
procedures and flow of traffic before and after school. He wanted to thank everyone for their
cooperation regarding the snack policy.
LSS is looking into opening a snack shop from 8:00 to 8:15 in the
morning for children to purchase fresh fruit, crackers, vegetables (things that
comply with the snack list). The snack
list will be reviewed at the end of the school year. Any suggestions are welcome.
The
meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Submitted
by
Lori
Barselau
PTO
Secretary