The
meeting was called to order at
President’s
Report: Ellen Skoly introduced herself as the PTO
President and welcomed everyone. We went
around the room and everyone introduced themselves. She thanked Kristine Lajeunesse and Barbara
Nadeau of the Hospitality Committee for the wonderful lunch they provided for
the teachers. She informed everyone that
the Hospitality Committee provides the snacks for PTO functions. At the luncheon, the PTO provided the
teachers with a monetary donation of $75.00 to spend on items they may need for
their students in the classroom. Thank
you notes from the teachers showing their appreciation for the luncheon are on
display on the bulletin board.
The PTO packets were sent home to
the LSS students. Ellen informed us that
this was the first year that all the PTO information and forms went home at the
same time and asked for feedback on this process.
Membership: Darlene
Murray informed us that Susan Meier is coordinating the membership forms. To date, the student body participation is
48% and 8 teachers have joined.
Website: Ellen
stated that Paul Rouleau has updated the website. The website is www.lss-pto.com.
Pawprints: Ellen told us that the editor of our
Pawprints newsletter has resigned. Pam
Oliva will be the new editor.
Budget: Dave Murray presented us with the proposed
budget for 2004-2005 and the expenditures to date were submitted. The 2004-2005 proposed budget will be voted
on at the Open House.
Fall
Fundraiser: The fall fundraiser kickoff will be held on
Friday afternoon, September 17th.
Sally Foster is hosting the fundraiser.
A display was set up for us to view at the PTO meeting. The brochure will be sent home with the
students on Friday. The fundraiser will
end October 1st and delivery of the items will be on November 16th.
Education
Committee: Jennifer DiTommaso informed us that they have
a nice variety of programs for the students this school year. She is still getting organized and trying to
coordinate dates for the programs.
Playscape: Julie Marcotte stated that things are moving
along. There are still some details that
need to be worked out. The first installation
is scheduled for early November. She is
working with the landscape architect and equipment manufacturer on ways to
incorporate the hill into the playscape design.
She is also working with the Town regarding handicap accessibility.
One of the playscape fundraisers scheduled this year
is the Outback Steakhouse event which is being held on October 3rd
from
Another fundraiser is embossed brick pavers for the
walkway for the playscape.
Individuals/families/businesses can purchase a brick paver and emboss it
with whatever they wish to put on it.
The playscape committee is looking for someone to coordinate this
fundraiser.
Buckland
Mall/Big Y: The Buckland Mall “cash back for schools”
program is not taking place this year.
We have looked into another program - the Big Y’s Education Express
Program. You can purchase designated
Education Express items with your Express Savings Club card and earn points for
your school. All you have to do is look
for the school bus logo. The points help
the school earn needed equipment and supplies for free. A brochure was recently sent home with the
students. The program begins on
September 29th and for the first week, any purchases will be worth
double the points.
Ellen Skoly informed us that we
recently received a check from Target.
We believe if you use your Target charge card and mention LSS the school
will earn bonus points. Ellen stated
that she will look into this.
Board
of Education: Dean Houle, Board of Education Representative
for
Teacher’s
Report: Mrs. Sinacola thanked the Hospitality
Committee for the luncheon and the PTO for the monetary donation.
Principal’s
Report: Mr. Casavant thanked the kindergarten parents
for attending the first PTO meeting of the school year. He indicated that the first day of school festivities
went well. He stated that the enrollment
is a concern to him. Last year our
student count was 322 and this year it is down to 289. Mr. Casavant indicated that we had a smaller
kindergarten class enrollment, a large 5th grade class that left and
a lot of families moved out of town. Due
to the low enrollment, LSS lost a first grade teacher. He recently received a letter from the
district regarding school CMT testing.
There was a lot of disorganization in the coordination of the school
testing packets but testing is still scheduled to begin this week.
Mr. Casavant also indicated that
Bolles Motors is still interested in doing the “drive for the kids”
program. It was explained to the new
parents that the “drive for the kids” is a way to earn easy money for the
school. Bolles Motors has on display
three cars for anyone who wishes to test drive.
For every person who fills out a questionnaire and tests drives one of
the three vehicles on display (you do not even have to test drive a car, just
fill out the questionnaire), Bolles will donate $5.00 to LSS. They would prefer to do the event in the
Spring, may be at the Kidstown Fair.
This will be looked into further.
New
Business:
Committees: Darlene
Murray went through all the PTO committee volunteer forms. Darlene and Ellen thanked the kindergarten
parents who have shown interest in helping out this school year. Darlene indicated that she will be forwarding
all the volunteer forms to the committee chairperson and the committee chair
will contact the volunteers. She also
stated that the Publicity Committee is still looking for a chairperson. If you are interested, please let her
know. Darlene also wanted to remind
everyone who chairs a committee to remember to keep good notes of things you do
throughout the school year so that you can pass it on to the next chairperson
who takes over the committee.
Meeting
was adjourned at