Pot Spring Elementary School

Minutes from Pot Spring Elementary School PTA General Meeting

Date: November 7, 2008
Time: 9:30 am
Place: Pot Spring Elementary Cafeteria

Attendees
Board Members Present:
Carol Jones, President (ctjablto1@aol.com)
Carol Norton, 1st Vice President (bcrmnorton@yahoo.com)
March Klein, Vice President, Volunteers (marchklein@juno.com)
Melissa Whatley, Corresponding Secretary (mbwhatley@comcast.net)

Others Present:
Melissa Bush Benford (mbushbenford@bcps.org); Tina Will (jwill409@aol.com); Diane Leizear (dleizear@yahoo.com); Carrie Beckey (beckey@comcast.net); Linnea Elder (linneaandjames@comcast.net)

Items Discussed:
Carol Jones, President, called the meeting to order at 9:30am. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

The budget was distributed. Carol Jones welcomed everyone and each attendee introduced themselves.

The minutes from the General Meeting on October 14, 2008 were reviewed and approved.

Treasurer’s Report – Carol Purvis, Treasurer:
Carol Jones outlined this month’s budget report highlighting the revenues and expenditures that have been updated in the past month. More particular information was given during the committee reports on each topic.

Committee Reports:

Innisbrook/Paper Sales – Chair: Kim Bevard: We have surpassed our budgeted target of $4,000. However, please remember that online orders can be placed at any time using our school ID# 103895. Our PTA receives 50% profit for all sales. Discussed: Many, many thanks to Kim Brevard for organizing the Innisbrook fundraiser once again this year. We are still in search of a new Chairperson if we are to continue offering the Innisbrook products as a fundraiser. The amount raised by this fundraiser is a large part of our budget.

Membership -- Chair: Diane Leizear: Membership Drive in progress, ending in November 2007; however, new memberships and donations will be accepted anytime. Discussed: As of the meeting, we’ve received dues of $1,351 and donations of $1,642 helping us to just about reach our total budgeted amount of $3,000. Thank you to the commitment shown by our parents, teachers and staff. Your continued support allows us to fulfill our goals and enhance the educational experience for all of our students. A tear-off response sheet will be included in an upcoming PTA Corner in the school newsletter to encourage anyone who has yet to join the PTA to do so. This will also be a great introduction to the PTA for any families that have joined Pot Spring after the initial information was sent out.

Family Dinner Night – Chair: Tina Will: Since Outback Steakhouse no longer donates meals to schools, Tina has been researching other options that we could use to continue having a Family Dinner Night. Some suggestions have been Carrabba’s, Andy Nelson’s, or having a catered spaghetti dinner. For each of these options, we’d have to purchase the food so we won’t make very much in terms of fundraising but the sense of community at last year’s event shows that it would be an excellent ‘friendraiser.’ It was decided that we would like to have the event but no specific decision was made as to the type of food to be offered. Tina will gather specific recommendations and will contact local businesses asking for donations.

Joe Corbi’s Fundraiser – Chair: Barb Duvall: It’s time to stock up on pizza kits and cookie dough. All orders must be placed by December 1st and pick-up will be on Thursday, December 4th. Our targeted goal is $1,700.

American Education Week – Chair: March Klein: American Education Week will be held from November 17th – 21st Discussed: The PTA will provide hospitality in the lobby each morning. Mrs. Bush Benford reported that the Volunteer Training will be held each morning during American Education Week for anyone who has not yet completed the paperwork and training. The visitation schedule was outlined in the newsletter. Melissa Whatley mentioned a suggestion from a parent to announce the visitation schedule a bit earlier in the future to help working parents make arrangements to visit.

Bylaws Review – Chair: March Klein: Our new Bylaws were reviewed by the Baltimore County PTA and they suggested the following changes be made:
- Change our election of officers from August to May so that the incoming officers are not deciding on budget issues prior to be elected. We will look into holding the General Election during one of our May events such as the Volunteer Tea, Year-End Awards Assembly or via email or by proxy. We will explore the options and make a decision prior to the formation of the nominating committee in March.
- We need to establish the order of our vice-presidents. It was decided that to list them as: 1st VP – Communications, 2nd VP – Events, and 3rd VP – Volunteers.
- We also decided to have the President, 1st VP, 3rd VP and Treasurer elected during odd years and the 2nd VP and Secretary elected during even years.

President’s Report – Carol Jones, President:

Scholastic Book Fair: Monica Rafferty reported that we have received $260 in book vouchers. These will be used to purchase books to give to incoming kindergarteners during registration.
Picture Parent: Carol Jones explained the Picture Parent Program which is a PTA initiated project that introduces four artists to the students each year. Monica Rafferty heads up this wonderful project (we are looking for a shadow chair) that begins in February. Parents present the artwork to the class and instruct them in a project about it. All the materials are purchased by the PTA and training is provided as well. We hope to have several parents per class involved in Picture Parent but as that is not always feasible, we’d like parents to consider presenting to additional classes as well. So please consider becoming involved as the children really enjoy learning about art in this hands-on manner.

Assistant Principal’s Report – Melissa Bush Benford, Assistant Principal:

Green Team Parents Meeting: The meeting was well attended and the parental involvement will open new avenues to many new projects and learning experiences. Plans were made to implement grade-level projects at the recent staff development meetings and the special area teachers will be introducing these exciting projects in January. We will also be kicking off our single-stream recycling program shortly beginning with an assembly by the Baltimore County Waste Management department. We are also looking into purchasing some new, uniform bins to be used for collection of items for our recycling projects to make the lobby look neater and more organized.
Action Teams: Plans have been made for parents to join each of the School Action Teams. We are looking forward to increased communication and finding new ways to support our teachers and school.

Other Business:

Wish Lists: As many of us learned at the Green Team Parents’ Meeting, from time to time there are special needs and materials that are needed. Carol Norton asked that the PTA receive ‘wish lists’ from the various Action Teams, teachers and staff to see what we might be able to address.
School Store: The idea of a school store has discussed for some time now and we propose having a test-run for a day or a week in January. We’d like to coordinate with the administration to implement this pilot program to both gauge the level of interest in a school store as well as to generate funds to support a specific project or cause. We are willing and able but would like some guidance as to how to proceed.
Lobby Furniture: In our budget, we have allocated money to replace the cushions on the lobby furniture and to update the furniture a bit. As we have hit our targeted goals on our Innisbrook fundraiser and PTA membership, we feel comfortable proceeding with this project.
Volunteer Commitments: We want to thank everyone who volunteers on behalf of the PTA – with your support we achieve great things. As a reminder, if you signed on to help with an event or program, but cannot attend at your scheduled time, please be sure to try to find a substitute and notify your chairperson. If you cannot find a substitute, your chairperson can make arrangements to help keep the event running smoothly.

Carol Jones adjourned the meeting at 10:30am.

The next PTA meeting will be held on Friday, January 9th at 9:30 am in the Pot Spring Cafeteria. All are encouraged to attend.

Minutes prepared by Melissa Whatley, Corresponding Secretary
Submitted: November 26, 2008