PTO Board Meeting Minutes, November 4, 2008

Members Present: Father Paul, Olivia Carrillo, Diana Girskis, Joe Chavez, Tom Olona, Maribeth Spensiero, Jimmy Mueckay, Phil Le Franc, Robert Mahan, Ann Marie Smith, Doug Bennett and Jim Theiring. Absent: Mandy Viole. The meeting began at 6:30 p.m. and adjourned at 8:30p.m.

Opening/Closing: Father Paul opened the meeting with a prayer. The minutes from the October 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. Pastor-Father Paul:
a) School: The school is off to a great start. The students and staff have a great spirit this year.
b) New Property: The pre-school is ready to open pending approval by the State. Many families have expressed interest in joining the new pre-school. The hope is to be able to open the school by the first of the year.
c) Weekly Prayer Service: The weekly prayer service with Father Tim has been going very well. Father Tim and Raphael have been spending time with the children in the classrooms.

II. Principal-Olivia Carrillo:
a) Sound System: A new sound system has been installed in the auditorium. The new system projects clearly into the yard area and does not have any feedback. Ms. Carrillo would like to have the microphones engraved. Jimmy will check into the engraving.
b) Jog-A-Thon: Confirmed the start time of the Jog-A-Thon.
c) Nestle Container Design: Reviewed the designs created by Ann Marie. Phil will confirm with Nestle if a city permit is required to add the art work to the container. Request made by Phil to include colors (white) that will stand out on the container so the container will be visible in the parking lot.

III. President-Joe Chavez: Review of Priorities:
a) Creating Healthier Food Choices: Holly Riley presented options for creating healthier food choices for the children. Options include limiting birthday celebrations to once a month and eliminating bake sales. Holly will work with Ann Marie, Mandy and the room parents to develop a survey for feedback. Diana mentioned that first grade has already started to eliminate sugary treats for birthday parties. Research needs to be done to determine at what grade the birthday parties stop so we are not adding monthly parties to classrooms that are not celebrating anyway. Another option is to look into “giving” instead of receiving. Example, collecting books for our sister school. Holly will get feedback and make a presentation at the January PTO meeting.
b) Virtus Training Update: 75 people attended the Virtus training session on October 25th. The next session is on November 16th from 12-3pm at the new property. A total of 120 parents have completed the training so far. Reviewed guidelines for fingerprinting again. Fingerprinting is required for those parents working in small group settings, field trips etc. We are still looking for leaders to conduct the training sessions. We need to continue to encourage parents to attend the training and may need room parents to assist in contacting those parents who have not attended the training yet. The school reach phone system could also be used to send out reminders about the upcoming sessions.
c) See’s Candy: This optional fundraiser is taking place now. Confirmed that the funds raised will go toward the sports programs.
d) Jog-A-Thon: Bob confirmed that Ann-Marie Guinane is confirming that all volunteers have completed the Virtus training. As of November 1st we have $4500 confirmed in business sponsors. The bids have gone out to two vendors for the t-shirts. One additional bid will be sent out this week. Bob confirmed that he will need 385 t-shirts and he is not planning on ordering any extra as they do not usually sell. Bob asked if an MC is needed. Plan is to have Bob open the event and then the DJ can continue with any announcements.
e) Auction Event: Joe confirmed that although Toyota sales are down, they will still be willing to donate a car for the raffle. Joe suggested that cash options also be added as 2nd and 3rd place prizes. Confirmed that the price of the tickets will be the same as last year. Goal will be to get each school family to sell at least $300.00 in tickets even thought minimum required $100. Jim asked if other big items could be raffled off, i.e. trip to Hawaii. This maybe something to look into for next year.
f) Parking: Parking for the Halloween Parade was much better this year as the gate was open and Joe was able to direct parents into the large parking lot. Very few people parked in the fire lanes or in the handicap spaces. Joe suggested that for special events (Halloween parade, Christmas program, Jog-A-Thon, etc.) additional handicap parking spaces should be made available. Handicap signs can be purchased at Smart and Final and can be used as temporary handicap spaces. Joe also suggested that Phil and Doug work with the carpool volunteers so a volunteer is available to cars during special events. This should eliminate illegal parking in fire lanes and handicap spaces.
g) Santa Pictures: Tom will check with Angie Gonzales to confirm the process for the pictures with Santa. Jim confirmed he will be available to be Santa.
h) Christmas Program: Ann Marie will work with the music teacher regarding the program.
i) Participation Hours: Reviewed the participation hour requirements and discussed that the purpose of the sign up sheets is confirmation that participation will be provided for the event selected. Many times parents sign up for a committee and then do not fulfill their commitment to that committee. Next year, review should be done to determine what is reasonable for failure to show up to your assigned event. Should there be a fee associated with failure to show up? Would this cause additional accounting for the office? Any change would need to be added to the handbook.
j) Picture Day: Doug confirmed that picture day went very well.

IV. Athletics: Jimmy Mueckay:
k) Coaches: Several coaches are needed for both the A and B sports teams. Jimmy is working on getting parents to coach. Coaches need to be CYO certified, fingerprinted and Virtus trained.
l) Sports Banquet: Jimmy is working on the Fall Sports Banquet which is scheduled for December 10th.
m) 3 on 3 Men’s League: The gym will be available in January if there is interest in a 3 on 3 league.

V. Maintenance: Phil Le Franc
a) Shake Out Drill: One floor from Nestle will be participating in the earthquake drill. Nestle will coordinate most of the set up to eliminate missed class time for the children.
b) Carpool: Doug and Phil are striving to encourage parents to pay attention in the morning and afternoon carpool, especially in light of the tragic event that took place at Toll Middle School. Volunteers are still needed for the morning carpool. Tom mentioned that in the morning cars are trying to pass on the right hand side (passenger side) of stopped cars. This is very dangerous as some children exit the car on the right hand side. Suggestion made to add additional cones so that cars are not able to pull out and pass on the right hand side.
c) Condition of Campus: The condition of the campus is good. The cleaning company was contacted regarding the condition of the restrooms. Guidelines were given regarding the expectations regarding overall cleaning of the restrooms. Some of the drinking fountains have low water pressure. A plummer will be installing a filter which should increase the water pressure.
d) Development Workshop “Best First Steps”: Phil attended a workshop regarding how to develop the school and parish relationship. Ms. Carrillo confirmed that the new consultative board will help to get the relationship started and that this plan would be best handled by the Development Coordinator and the consultative board.

VI. Treasurer-Jim Theiring:
a) Fundraising: Reviewed fundraising results from previous years. Expenses have increased on the last couple of fundraising events (Jog-a- Thon and Auction Dinner Dance). Goal is to watch expenses so the overall profit will increase
b) Scrip: Scrip sales increased in October. The month of October showed a great increase in profit over all sales from last year. Thank you to Jennifer Bunt for her efforts.

VII. Parent Involvement: Ann Marie Smith
a) Box Tops: Ann Marie confirmed that she is getting assistance counting the Box Tops from one of the room parents.
b) 8th Grade Parent Meeting: The 8th grade parents will be having a meeting to finalize the menu.


Next meeting December 2, 2008 at 6:30pm
Note: These minutes are not finalized and are subject to change after review by the PTO Board at the upcoming board meeting.