May Whitney PTO

May 3, 2011

Meeting Minutes

The meeting was called to order by Co-President Lauren Amoroso at 7:35pm.

Motion to approve the April 2011 minutes by Michelle Pratt and Carrie Collins  – motion approved.

Lauren Amoroso and Kim Ketcham – Co-President

·         Twenty employees from Starbucks helped with outside maintenance this past weekend – mulching, transplanting flowers, painting, etc. A church group of high school students also helped with mulching. Starbucks will be making a monetary donation to May Whitney for the work they did.

·         May 20^th – Ice Cream Social/Luau. There will be ice cream and a DJ. There is no cost however you do need to RSVP so we have enough for everyone. We are also planning a bounce house if we can get volunteers to help run it. The event is from 6:30 – 8:30pm.

·         The last Day of School is June 8^th.

·          The Big Idea project will be on hold as a result of the board meeting last week. The board approved $500,000 to be spent Technology. In addition, they also approved money ($175,000) for a new playground for May Whitney. The old May Whitney will be torn down pending proposal approval.

Amy Flaherty – Treasurer

·         Updated budgets were passed out. There are some numbers missing – the numbers for book fair are forthcoming as we need to pay Scholastic. Total sales were $10,500.

·         We do have another Spirit Wear deposit coming which we expect to net approximately $150.

·         We still have some activities we have not yet done – end of the year party for example, as such the numbers will change.

·         We still have $1800 in PTO Grants for the year. To date we have only paid $1900 in busing out of the $8200 total dollars granted.    

·         The PTO donated $100 to the Cranes for Japan project – the students were very happy with our contribution.

·         We have a credit in Tools for School because of a credit from Joanie’s Closet.

·         If you look at the bottom line we have $5800 profit – we had budgeted to lose $5200 so we are $10,000 ahead. We still have expenses however it shows a great effort in fundraising and in being good about sticking to budget. One thought is next year we may not need to charge for functions – this is something we are looking into.

Joelle Vollmer - Vice-President

• Grants:
  • #24:  Second Grade field trip to the Spring Valley Nature Center. $511
  • #25:  Mrs. Dohman – privacy shields for the students desks. $83
  • #26:  Mrs. Dohman – reading metals and ribbons. $48
  • #27:  Third Grade Chicago Architectural Tour and Boat trip. $607
  • Grant passed

·         We do have a ton of committee positions open, if you are interested, or know someone who is, please contact Joelle Vollmer. 

·         Thank you to all the outgoing 5^th grade parents – we have small gift for you.

·         We also want to thank Amy for all of her hard work as Treasurer!

Mrs. Lettie Ekovich – Principal

• We have a new staff member – Carrie Collins as a half-time Reading Specialist. We are planning for two Kindergarten teachers unless enrollment numbers require a new teacher to be added.
• Mrs. Hurt will move to 3^rd and Mrs. Hanley will move to 1^st. These are the only staffing changes.
• Betty Carrubba received a distinguished teacher award from the district.
• The white portion of the gym walls will be painted this summer. There is a possibility we may get some work done on the gym floor. We are in the process of getting a quote to have it painted with May Whitney colors.
• Eventually all student bathrooms will be painted – the next stop is the Kindergarten bathrooms. The district is doing work on the Early Childhood wing – lowering sinks and fixtures, etc.
• The parking lot off of Church that is gravel and the sidewalks will be replaced this summer.
• The district will support matching websites across the schools next year.
• We are moving away from Character Counts as a district – we will align to our mission next year.
• Camp Read A Lot – we may need to review our plans with the construction planned.  

Carrie Collins and Sally Kutsor made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:14p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Ann Marie McConnell

Secretary