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MEPTO Minutes February 17, 2016
Posted February 29, 2016
Janine Cutcher called meeting to order at 2:15 PM. 22 in attendance.

President, Janine Cutcher:

1) Motion to approve meeting minutes from January. Jill Welch seconded. Motion approved.

2) Noted efforts to increase transparency. Quarterly expenditures communicated in Wednesday email, Facebook and Website.

3) Laura Organisciak will be following up with chairs to confirm continued participation.

4) Chair for DI is still unfilled. If your kids participate in DI and you haven’t participated in a chair or lead capacity please consider volunteering.

5) PTO closed the funding gap for 4th to 6th grade pottery wheel.

Treasurer Report, Shawn Tully (email update)

So far this school year PTO made over $20,000 at walkathon and over $1200 in PTO membership dues. Our next major fundraiser will be carnival on 2/27.

PTO is proud so say we have funded several activities for students and staff. Just to name a few, The students all received an author visit from Angela Johnson ($2500). We helped finish out the funding for the new sound system in the mariemont elementary auditorium that began last year($1220). PTO funded cosi for the entire student body ($900). We helped fund Destination Imagination packets for those students involved ($720). We framed student artwork that can be seen hanging in the elementary hallways ($350). We are also provided dollars to assist in Karen Hallers creation of a math resource library for teachers.

We have also put our dollars to good use by spending dream fund dollars on the following field trips:

Kindergarten- school house symphony and new cassette players

2nd grade- childrens theatre

5th grade- author visit from Shelley pearsall and a trip to Cincinnati museum center

Also PTO gives a gift of $100 to each teacher/staff member to put towards their classroom. So far this school year we have spent $1800 that has gone to great use.

College & Career Planning Center (CCPC) Update, Amanda Leszczuk

Amanda was in attendance and handed out info on Travel opportunities. She gave an overview of how the trips worked, including noting student safety. The dedicated space at the highschool shows the strong commitment of the school district to CCPC.

The Naviance portal is a good college search tool for students. Amanda has gone to various classrooms from 5th through 12th grades to talk about getting into college: MHS has a great track record, SAT/ACT exams, Life & Leadership series. There are additional college application workshops available to help students with their applications. Paola Biro commented that her 5th grader came home excited to talk about this great experience: picking 3 colleges, possible majors, college costs, etc.

Principal Report, Ericka Simmons

Thank you for all your transparency and communication, PTO!

Thank you for the meals. These have come in handy after breaks, snow days, etc.

Will be looking for more parent input in February & March – form will go out first week in March.

Kindergarten registration is coming on March 17th.

Superintendent Report, Steve Estepp

= Welcomed 2 new members in January.

= State of Schools Address was given 2 weeks ago. A video is available on the website.

= Please take advantage of CCPC. It’s a true advantage of our district!

= Student Mental Health – There are new therapists at ME and TPE and 2 were already in place at Middle and High School. The therapists are there for the kids and more can be added if there is a need.

= Warrior Coalition – Surviving the Teens: March 2nd, 7pm

= Digital Report Cards – Starting in 3rd Quarter all report cards will be digital and available on the Dashboard. A print function will be available if a hard copy is needed.

Caring and Sharing, Priscilla Hernandes and Shelly Holt (via email)

Gave assistance to 19 families in the Mariemont School District-included all 3 schools.

: 20 adults, 52 children, 3 babies

: Raised $1985.00 total

: Provided 178 gifts/committee provided 68 of these.

: Gift cards donated to MES staff:$250 ish-several cards did not have specified amount.

: Able to provide amazing Santa Claus experience for the holiday assembly.

: Fulfilled special teacher requests.

: MES spirit wear donation-26 items

: Physical labor in exchange for MHS spirit wear to match older sibs with younger ones -26 items

Lastly, all "identified" families wanting to participate were accepted-even those requesting assistance 5 days before delivery date!

*Thank you so very much for your generous teacher donation for this great cause!!!

Carnival, Jill Welch

= February 27th, 2016… Crunch time!!!

= Poster Contest: 4th to 6th Graders, ends this Friday. Winning student(s) get free wrist bands.

= Spirit Day – Wednesday 2/24

= Thursday 2/25 is final day for ticket orders – can be dropped off in school lobby.

= K – 3rd Ticket Box Designs due by Friday 2/26.

= Raffle winners announced on Friday 2/26:

o 10 Tickets – entry in iPad Air raffle

o Top Seller – iPad Mini

o 2nd Seller – iPod Touch

= Setup on Friday Night / Saturday Morning

= Sponsorship Update: $2200 raised this year (up from $1500 last year)

= Volunteer sign-in in band room (Amy Blessing managing).

= Solid on volunteers – all spots filled. Special thanks to MCC, Champions and High School volunteers

= Games in good shape

= Inflatables: 5 total, 4 from last year + Plinko

= Photo Booth

= Adding Desks by each attraction so volunteers can collect tickets

= Raffle

o Just under 500 so far, goal of 2000

o Lunch w/ Mr. T: Top seller in each room gets lunch with Mr. T

o Top Class gets Pizza Party (LaRosa’s)

o Top Grade gets donut party

o Wristbands for food

o KONA Ice – 25% of proceeds goes to PTO

o Lance is the grill master

Talent Show, Chandra Buswell (via email)

= Forms are in. We have 27 K-3rd grade acts and 25 4th-6th grade acts.

= School will have a teacher review all songs and scripts for content and will make calls regarding appropriateness.

= Girl Scouts will again be involved with flowers, meals and babysitting.

= Order forms for tickets sales and the flowers, meals and babysitting will go out soon.

= Dry Run is set for March 5th. Dress Rehearsals will be the 7th and 8th and performances will be on the 10th & 11th.

Warriors Beyond, Tricia Buchert

Destination 2026: Travel opportunities for students. Tricia handed out a list of travel opportunities. We haven’t travelled since 2003. Nicaragua in 2016, Equador in 2017, and trips to Spain, Italy and China in the future. This is a partnership with EF Tours. If you sign up early you get the best pricing and can pay in installments. Band, Chorus and Strings do domestic trips but these are opportunities for international travel. 2 financial need scholarships are available.

Meeting ended 3:15pm