PIE
June 4, 2012
In attendance: Jen Prue, Joyce Wright, Alyssa Lasher, Jim
Goldsmith, Kate Dodge, Ali Douglas, Bob Goudreau, Lisa Falcone, Patti Drew,
Renee Durochia, Alesia Depot, Kim Gordon, Frank Twarog.
1. Golf
Tournament:
- 28 golfers (down from last year), but raised more money than last year.
- Sunday May 19th, 2013 has been slated for next year’s tournament.
- $3,455 was raised from this event!
- Fund Raising committee has
been sorting and mailing in box tops.
- Last batch turned
in…raising $1,258 for PIE for this school year.
- Talking about ways of
changing incentives for next year.
- “What the heck, write a
check” campaign. Kate will draft and get out to PiE and Bob for feedback.
Referencing Williston, Shelburne, and Richmond’s.
- Letter would go in the
start of the year packet that is sent home before school starts in the
fall.
- Fund Raising committee met
and chose a pathway for how funds can be distributed (microscopes for Paul
Lasher, etc.)
- First effort of grant
awards went well, and the financial transactions went smoothly.
- Fund Raising Committee met to talk about how much to disperse and when. A draft of the distribution schedule suggested October 15th and January 15th.
- Draft flow chart was shared with the group.
- Money available is a culmination of this year’s efforts as well as the money left by the previous PTO. Therefore, this year will seem a windfall to those receiving money, and will probably not be as generous in subsequent years.
- PiE distributed money that is not spent does not get “frozen” by HCS, as with current school budget amounts per teacher/class.
- Bob suggested that the group might want to keep a larger cushion to plan out for subsequent years and to help keep expectations from staff consistent.
- After Meadow Farms is done, the FR Committee will make disbursements and communicate out about amounts.
- Kate will get contact info from Bob so that she can start organizing/planning for this sales-based fundraiser.
- Many parents will be needed to make this event a success (managing the orders, sorting merchandise, etc).
- Talked about whether or not the initial “pep rally” by Meadow Farms is necessary in its entirety. Parents don’t like this hard-sales method.
- Participants shared frustration with the limited amount of staff participation and the consistent (but small) number of parents who are involved with PiE.
- Reviewed the idea of having a rotating staff sign up for one month per school year to represent their grade level (or be a general staff representative).
- Talked about the PIE process at Williston. They do theirs during the day, rotating parent attendance and allowing teachers to be released from their classroom duties.
- Talk about potential of alternating work and speakers or having separate working meetings to get decisions and keep projects moving.
- Joyce kindly reminded the group that this group is relatively young and that many folks will want to participate now that there are “systems” in place.
- PR needs to be utilized for sharing in the Viking (bi-weekly)…especially within the PIE group.
- More awareness should be made (and sharing/bragging) about what has been done to benefit students and educators.
- More help is needed for the Staff Appreciation Committee to share the effort, cost, and energy.
- Generating an agenda that draws in more teachers and conversation that rises to the Board level will be integral in helping to change the culture and to draw in more interest/participation.
- Make a calendar and schedule topics…make specific invitations to facilitate specific conversations at a PIE meeting.
- Topics to discuss include: Unified Arts, Common Core curriculum, Kindergarten 101 (in September), adolescence, annual budget, NECAPs, placement process.
- “Variety show”. Kate has talked with Jenny C about gathering parents. They are trying to do this for this coming fall.
- Parents that expressed interest in the beginning of this year are still interested in doing so.
- Ribbon Cutting ceremony is this Monday (June 11, 2012) at 1 pm.
- Kate has invited all the donors. Bob will speak and collaborate with Kate on key speaking points.
- New playground sign is done and will be installed this week.
- Donor sign for ceremony was requested by Bob. Kate to take care of this.
- Working on getting press coverage (Free Press, The Record, and The Citizen) and a press release will go out.
- Asked for help in identifying people who helped with this project 5 years ago.
- Evening times seem to work best with those currently on the committee.
- Discussion about whether we ought to split the meeting into two separate days/times or keep it on one night and have two parts to the agenda, the first would be "topic-driven" and the second would be "work session/updates from committees." The Topic part would be 40 mins. of presentation and 20 mins. of discussion.
- Subcommittees might need to meet additionally to get work done and a posted agenda on the wall might help keep these meetings at two hours.
- Agreed to keep PIE meetings on the first Monday of the month at 6 pm.
- This day/time will be reviewed at the informal August PIE meeting to ensure agreement and availability.
- Agreed that in order to be organized and ready for a new school year, current PIE members will meet in August. Below are listed agenda items/topics that require further discussion:
- Revisiting the proposed day/time and format for PIE meetings in the ’12-’13 school year.
- Establish calendar (as best as can be anticipated) with fund raising events, school events that need extra help in organizing/completing, PIE discussion topics
- Establishing format and nominees for election of organizational and subcommittee chairs, secretary, time keeper (?), facilitator,
- Tentatively, the meeting date suggested is AUGUST 20th (Monday) at 6 pm.
