PTO Meeting Minutes 11/14/14
Call to order at 9:33 am by Kassi Eckert
Pledge of the Allegiance lead by Kassi Eckert
Approval of Meeting Minutes : Approved
GUEST SPEAKER- Mike Miller, Transportation Manager
Transportation Staff: 55 school bus drivers. 11 on Standby, 4 on Call, 3 in Office. Job- to get students to school safely.
Rules on Bus: Same rules apply on bus as in school.
Bus Capacity: Designed to carry 72 passengers. 3 Elementary to a seat.
Bus aides: In OH not mandatory. Only a requirement of a student with an IEP with transportation as a related service and must have aide. 16 bus aides currently.
Routes: Covers 20 small square miles of our very compact, dense district. Problems on Montgomery Rd/ Kenwood Rd/ I-71 are cause of untimely drop-offs. If drop-off will be > 10-15 late then phone calls will go out. *Sycamore is unique because our Special Need students are integrated with regular routes.
Bus Stops: In past not efficient because were making lots of home/ driveway stops. OH law states any student grades K-8 can travel up to ¼ mi for a bus stop. HS can go 3 mi for bus stop. For K students, try to have bus stop so child does not have to cross street.
Ride time: JrHS pulls out at 3:15pm. Ideal to be at Elementary schools at 3:45pm. Time begins when bus leaves the lot. OH law no ideal route time. Sycamore < 45 minutes.
GUEST SPEAKERS- Jean Staubach and Diane Adamec, Sycamore Board of Education members
About Board of Education: Attends a PTO meeting at each school once a year. BOE sets policy for the district, sets the overall direction and hires the Superintendent & Treasurer. BOA meets twice a month.1st Wed at 7:30am at District office and 3rd Wed at 7:00 pm at Greene school.
Finances: Look long term and set budgets. In 2009 converted to a continuing Levy. We are operating on the same Levy the last 10 years but getting close to the end (Levies typically last 2-6 years). Effort to target where we can be smarter to save money. MD was built with Geo-thermal wells. Saves ½ in energy costs!
Legislation: Last 5 years BOE has been developing strong relations with our legislators. Meet annually. BOE continually monitors legislation.
Common Core: Only in Language Arts and Math. Goal is for every state to be more rigorous than it was. www.corestandrds.org Standards for what every student should know. It was developed by the Governor’s Association but teachers were involved. Problems with Common Core is excessive testing.
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL’S REPORT- Shawn Rosekrans
Girls on the Run: After school program for 3rd & 4th grade girls. 12 week curriculum ends in 5K race this Saturday. They collected donations for Operation Shoebox for our troops overseas.
Testing: COGAT helps identify students to qualify for gifted services. Testing for 2nd &4th graders starts week of Dec 8th. Tues, Wed, Thu am
1 book 1 school: PTO purchases 1 book for each family. Runs from Jan to Feb. Celebration at Literacy Night Thu Feb 26th
PRESIDENT’S REPORT- Kassi Eckert
May PTO Meeting Minutes: Approved
Directories: Over 300 were printed and distributed to those that paid their $5 PTO dues. Some still available. Contact Kassi Eckert or Anne Berg
Teacher Lunch Carts: purchased from Sears
I-pads for Special Education Teachers: $3,000 approved. Money will not be taken from Walk-A-Thon earnings.
Winton Woods Sister School: MD donated Halloween candy to their teachers. MD considering recycling our gently used library books to them if interested.
Operation Give Back: MD will collect items for their Holiday Store. Donate your personal care items- deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc
Lunch Bunches: Chance for parents to connect. Contact Kassi Eckert for 1st grade, Pam McCallen for 2nd grade, Diane VanderBrink for 3rd grade. Looking for parent to organize lunch bunch for K and 4th grade parents.
January Speakers: Karen Naber, Director of Academic Affairs
Anne Marie Reinke, Assistant Director of Academic Affairs
FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT PROGRAMS- Kassi Eckert (Pam McCallen absent)
Green Team: 2nd meeting Tues Dec 2nd at 9:20am. Contact Anne Berg to help. Miss Georgia is seeking volunteers to assist with the composting table at lunchtime. We now have commercial composting through Rumpke and can compost meat& dairy. Before we would create 13 bags of trash. Now only 3.2 bags!
COSI: Dec 3rd. Volunteers needed contact Courtney Simon
SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT FUNDRAISING- Jean Phillips
Walk-A-Thon Recap: MD raised $11,200! Approved to give $7,000 to Mrs. Smith immediately to start buying books. In Feb will vote again on additional money needed to be distributed. Transparency of the distribution of future funds will be included in the plan.
GAO Holiday Shopping: Don’t forget to shop online- gift, photos, holiday cards. 30-40% goes back to MD
Target REDcards, Krogercards: Enroll your cards and earn money for our school.
Carnival: 1st meeting in January. Sub-committees established. Still seeking a co-Chair. This year we are hoping to free up parents from volunteering night of carnival by inviting MD grads to run games
TREASURER’S REPORT- Kari Crusius
October Financials: approved
SECRETARY’S REPORT- Diane VanderBrink
Shoe Drive: MD delivered 185 shoes for the Cincinnati Food Bank's Back on Track Program!
Assembly T-shirts: All new students will receive their shirts for their 1st class field trips.
Milers: Great feedback from students and parents. Kids very motivated by charm incentives. Last Fall session day is Nov 19th. Remind your child to keep chain on backpacks over winter. Milers will resume March 18th for another 10 weeks.
Wellness Committee: 1st meeting was held Oct 31st. Brainstormed healthy changes for our school community. Contact Diane VanderBrink to help.
TEACHER REPRESENTATIVE – Mrs. Arnold
Thank you for the lunch carts.
Meeting adjorned at 11:00 am by Kassi Eckert
Minutes submitted by PTO Secretary, Diane VanderBrink on November 17, 2014
Maple Dale Elementary News
