PTFO Minutes for Monday, February 11, 2008

7:00 – 8:00 pm Room 108

Members Attending: Lisa Brown & Kim Crabill (co-presidents), Drinda Carmichael Gray (Secretary), Mr. Steve Nolan (Assistant Principal), Rita Siavelis, Barbara Publicover, Phyllis Hey, Deb Barlock, Lori Porter

Welcome! All were welcomed by Co-presidents Lisa and Kim and an Agenda for the evening was distributed to all in attendance.

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Bake Sale: Deb Barlock, Chair reported that the January bake sale brought in $96.00.

Box Tops for Education: The PTFO had decided in a previous meeting that a promotional campaign to bring in Box Tops would encourage students to participate in this fundraiser. Each student will receive a raffle ticket for every 5 Box Tops they bring to the dance on February 29. The prize will be an LMS sweatshirt.

Dance Committee: Rita Siavelis, Chair said that the LMS dance is scheduled for Friday, February 29. Lisa ordered and received the glow necklaces for students to purchase. A price of $2.00 was offered in order to cover the cost of purchase and shipping. In a follow-up note, Principal Rossi thought that $2.00 was too much and suggested we charge $1.00 per necklace to cover costs & chaperones’ necklaces this time. Posters will be displayed with Box Tops and necklace promotions. Rita will e-mail for volunteers for decorating & setup, chaperones, coolers etc. She will also check in with persons who have offered to help with drinks & snacks. There will be no charge for lemonade this time.

Calendar: Lori Porter, Chair was reported that the calendars have brought in $645.00 to date minus $200.00 for prizes & $25 Friday draws. She will arrange to get (3) $15 gift cards for contest winners. Kim will send out “Thank You” letters to donating vendors.

Treasurer Report: Treasurer, Mary Ellen Randall was unable to attend to give her report.

Teachers’ Appreciation Month: A luncheon will be served at 11:00 on May 1 for this event. The PTFO will discuss the possibility of offering a luncheon every tri-mester around conference times beginning the 2008-2009 school year. Deb Barlock offered to head up and organize this year’s luncheon.

Mini-Grant Request Form: Kim drafted a Mini-Grant Request Form proposal to be reviewed and critiqued by attendees, which was completed. It was agreed that offering a standardized format would be beneficial to all involved in both submission requests and the decision-making process. The PTFO will look at Mini-grant requests after the dance.

Fundraising: Kim reported on the meeting with Drinda, Mary Ellen and herself regarding future fundraising. We had entertained the following ideas: (1) an O’Naturals week of dining with 10% of proceeds donated to the school; and, (2) Purchasing Seadogs tickets at $4/per person – a minimum of 100 would be required with resale of $7/per person. Both ideas were rejected as it was agreed that too much organization and manpower would be required.

The PTFO discussed the value of students’ participation as much as possible in fundraising efforts. To this end, we discussed some ideas that would meet this goal:

(1) A bottle drive was revisited as well as the “Clink” program that will be available at the Hannaford on Forest Avenue on March 20. Kim has signed up LMS and brought in a sample green bag with bar code, which will cost 10 cents each. It was agreed that we would roll out the “Clink” fundraiser with a flyer at the upcoming rescheduled parent/teacher conferences in March. The school would send home to each household a bag with bar code to be filled with bottles and then delivered to Hannaford for school credit. Drinda agreed to make a promotional/introduction flyer for parents at the conferences.

(2) Lori offered to check more into the “Echo phone” recycling program. Mr. Nolan stated that a recycle fundraiser would be ideal for promoting student “green” awareness throughout the school. Staging highly visible recycle centers would benefit the entire school.

Kim wrote and submitted a mini-grant to Lowe’s. She stated it would be extremely helpful to have someone skilled in writing these mini-grants. There are educational classes that teach these skills for a cost. Lori Porter offered to look into the Verizon not for profit organization grants.

Mr. Nolan brought in supply catalogues with cafeteria table designs for review. It is estimated that 20 tables would be needed at a cost of $10,000 - $15,000. The painting in the cafeteria will be sometime in March. Volunteers may be needed. Phyllis Hey will let us know. The students are raising money for a jukebox. Kim offered that perhaps Skillful Vending may have a refurbished one for much less than what a new one would cost. Other discussions led to a possible microwave (under supervision) and also “helping” students with suggestions and ideas for the cafeteria space.

Meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Next Meeting to be held on Tuesday, March 11 at 7:00pm -- Room 108