Members Present: Father Paul, Olivia Carrillo, Diana Girskis, Joe Chavez, Alex Perez, Tom Olona, Maribeth Spensiero, Jimmy Mueckay, Phil Le Franc, Robert Mahan and Ann Marie Smith. Absent: Doug Bennett and Madeleine Viole. The meeting began at 6:30 p.m. and adjourned at 7:50p.m.
Opening/Closing: Father Paul opened and closed the meeting with a prayer. The minutes from the June meeting were reviewed and approved.
Note: These minutes are not finalized and are subject to change after review by the PTO Board at the upcoming board meeting.
I. Father Paul:
a) World Youth Day: Father Paul attended World Youth Day in Australia. Approximately 225,000 youth’s from around the world attend World Youth Day. It was a wonderful experience for our youth. Please be sure to check the website to see beautiful pictures!
b) New Property/Pre-School Update: Getting the new property updated and ready for the Pre-School to open has been slower than anticipated due to the recent move by the Archdiocese and requests from the City of Glendale. Licensing paperwork was received back and is being reviewed. The major work ahead is to update the kitchen and bathroom. The church will be rented out to Church of the Nations as the Korean church left a few months ago.
c) New School Year: Father Paul is looking forward to a great school year. Welcomed back Olivia and Diana and thanked them for their efforts.
II. Principal-Olivia Carrillo:
a) Staff Update: All the teacher positions have been filled including a Science position for all grades. There are two vacant positions for Teacher’s Aid, but offers have been made and hopefully the positions will be filled shortly.
b) Handbook: The handbook is under review and will be updated to include language required by the Archdiocese.
c) Calendar Update: The academic decathlon will take place on March 14th. Spaghetti Dinner is planned for March 7th. Dates were switched due to a date change for the decathlon.
d) Kinder Picnic: The kinder picnic is scheduled for August 24th at Nibley Park. Ann Marie is going to contact the kinder teacher and parents for help in arranging the picnic.
e) Parent Seminar: Olivia brought up the idea of offering a parenting seminar. Tom volunteered to teach the seminar as he is very familiar with the course and topic. A specific date will be determined by Tom and Olivia.
III. President-Joe Chavez:
a) Meeting Minutes: Our goal will be to have timely information posted on the website, therefore, the meeting minutes will be posted a few days after the PTO meeting. However, the minutes are subject to change and are pending finalization after review and approval by the PTO Board Members at the next PTO Board meeting.
b) Parent Involvement: Joe asked that all PTO Members reach out to the parents so everyone becomes involved. The hope is to get everyone to work together and build a sense of community. We can get more accomplished if we reach out to all parents and each family. Father Paul also mentioned that with everyone’s participation we can build a strong sense of community within the school.
c) Committee Positions/Responsibilities: Reviewed the assigned positions and responsibilities for the upcoming year. Diana asked for clarification of rolls and responsibilities specifically for the Home Room Parents and Yard Duty. At the last General PTO meeting, sign up sheets were available. Ann Marie is going to contact Angie for copies. Once we have the sheets all Board Members will be given their assigned sheets so they are able to contact those that signed up. The master list for yard duty volunteers will be given to Tom so he is able to find a lead parent to fill the yard duty needs.
d) Directory Update: Olivia indicated that the Leon family usually updates the school directory. Joe will contact them to see if they will be updating the directory this year as well.
e) New Parent Social/Orientation: The new parent social and orientation is scheduled for August 18th at 6pm. Joe asked that PTO members attend and welcome the new school families. Mandy will help coordinate the event.
f) Back to School Event: The Back to School Hop is scheduled for September 27th. The book fair will also begin that week. Maribeth will check with Mrs. Alonso to see if help is needed.
VI. Athletics: Jimmy Mueckay:
a) Swim Team: Practice for the swim team has been set up at Chevy Chase for the months of August and September. A few questions have come up: 1) is a checking account an option for expense purposes? Father Paul indicated that the Archdiocese does not allow checking accounts to be set up. 2) canopies will be needed for the swim meets. Phil will check with Nestle to see if they will be able to assist in getting the canopies and report back to Jimmy. 3) is it possible to waive the fee for the swim team? Jimmy will confirm how many swimmers are participating and to confirm the cost and report back for further review. Maybe a fundraiser would be an option, i.e. car wash. The goal is to be consistent across all sports, currently all sports teams have a fee associated when participating.
g) Sports Banquet: Jimmy confirmed the dates for the fall (December 10th) and spring (May 6th) Sports Banquets.
VII. Maintenance: Phil Le Franc
a. Nestle: Phil mentioned that working with Nestle last year took a lot of time, but a great relationship has been established. Phil will continue to work with Nestle this year.
b. Carpool: Doug will head the carpool this year with Phil assisting. They will need five volunteers. Joe mentioned that the number one priority for the carpool needs to be safety. It is absolutely essential that parents do not park their car and walk the children across the carpool lanes. Parents need to drop the children off first and then if they have business at the school they can park and walk across themselves. Children should not be walking in the lanes of traffic. Thought also given to “lining” the carpool lane so that there would only be one lane and there would be no way to get around the “lining”. Phil will look into ideas.
c. Earthquake Preparedness: In light of the recent earthquake Phil would like to ensure that the school is safe and updated. Phil noticed that some of the classrooms have items on top of the closets that could fall or tall book shelves, etc. Father Paul confirmed that the buildings were built after 1933 so they do not need to be retrofitted; all earthquake standards have already been met. Discussion around not being able to contact family via cell phone in the event of an emergency. Phil mentioned that a better solution is to text versus trying to use a cell phone. Thought given to preparing a mass email list or to having the school phone system automatically call parents with information in the event of an emergency. The email or phone message could be sent out to parents giving instructions or information regarding the emergency; easing fear and concern. Further thought and research will be given to this topic.
d. Condition of School: The school looks great. One of the large planters needs to have the bricks replaced.
VII. Fundraising:-Robert Mahan:
a) Auction Event: Joe confirmed that the auction will be held April 25, 2009 at the Castaways in Burbank. The event will be a mid-day affair.
b) Jog-A-Thon: The Jog-A-Thon will be held on November 21st. Bob would like to get a list indicating the number of students in each class so he can start to get pricing from printers. Father Paul asked that Coastal Printworks be contacted regarding pricing for the t-shirts.
VIII. Open Discussion
a) Fundraising: Tom mentioned a possible fundraising idea; selling note cards with the children’s art work on the front. Note cards and even Christmas cards could be an option. Joe mentioned all fundraising ideas should be presented to Bob for review. Joe also mentioned that the church and school has a fundraising coordinator who will be assisting in fundraising events. The goal will be for the school and church to work together and coordinate the fundraising efforts. Father Paul asked that the church be notified of fundraising events so that events are not occurring at the same time.
Important Upcoming Events
August 18: New Parent Social-Orientation Meeting
August 24: Kinder Picnic at Nibley Park
September 2: First Day of School
September 16: General PTO Meeting
September 18: Back to School Night-Kinder-5th
September 25: Back to School Night-6, 7 & 8
September 27: Back to School Hop and Book Fair Opens
Note: These minutes are not finalized and are subject to change after review by the PTO Board at the upcoming board meeting.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
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