Wanaque School

PTA Meeting

March 5, 2012

 

Meeting called to order at 7:11pm.

MAM: Welcome and thank you for coming tonight,

 

I would like to take a moment to review and approve last month’s minutes with the correction on the last page, the date for this meeting was incorrectly noted as February 6, 2012 and it is actually today, March 5^, 2012;

 

 

We would now like to hear from some of our guests, first Ms. Morales.

 

Ms. Morales: Thank you to all for Dr. Seuss day. It was a great day and everyone had a terrific time. Please note the calendar change for Monday the 12^th. This was originally slated as a ½ day however we have made a change and it is a full day, June 4^th will be the half day. We are having the annual square dance on the 8^th and jump rope for heart on the 13^th.

Rob Adams: Good to see everyone tonight. A reminder that March 27^th will be our budget hearing. This is with our general BOE meeting and will give us the opportunity to hear your comments on the budget. The Community Outreach meeting will be mid-March. We do not have a date yet so watch the website for that. We continue the superintendent search. Tonight at 6pm was the deadline for resume submission. The interviews will happen once we have vetted through all the submissions and by the end of April we hope to have a decision. Everything is going well there, and I too wanted to say I love Dr. Seuss day!

 

Q: We did not have any snow days – are we going to get those days back?

A: More than likely we will cut the end of the year back but we have not decided that for sure yet.

 

Q: How many resumes did we receive?

A: Last count was about 20; we will filter through and interview about 6 candidates.

 

Q: How will shortening the year impact 8^th grade activities?

A: That is one of the considerations we have to keep in mind when we make those plans.

 

Dan Sinclair: Education Foundation is growing and we want to keep it growing. We would like to be able to supply more computers and laptops to the schools. We will be hosting a Karaoke night at Prime 15 on the 29^th. 10% of all receipts go to the foundation. You don’t have to perform; you can come and cheer them on! Tickets are $10. Rumor has it Rob will sing Lady Gaga in costume. We will also be conducting some strong membership driving activities in the spring; we need a lot more members!

 

C: The corresponding secretary would be happy to distribute materials and information through the PTA mailing list, please provide the information and we will disseminate.

 

Teachers: Nothing to report

 

 

 

President - MaryAnn: Mrs. Spirko asked me to relay that 230 people have signed up for the square dance so if you want to come, please get your money in right away. $10 per family. Karen B. has advised that she is going to be stepping down from chairing the school dances. If someone would like to take this on, it is only a few times a year and requires very little, coordinating chaperones, security and flyers and that is about it. Please let me or another board member know if you are interested.              

1^st VP - Chris: Stop and Shop A+ rewards has brought us over $2000 to date, remember this requires nothing but signing up your card with the store and choosing our school, you can choose 2 schools on your form so you don’t have to pick a favorite! We have a Pizza One date coming up in April, look for that information in backpacks, email and on the website. If you have any ideas for new fundraisers let us know. Also, Target has a similar program for school rewards. If you do not have one you can apply for a Target card and identify Wanaque School as your preferred school and we will receive 1% of all your purchases. We will send a flyer around for that too.

 

2^nd VP - Jason: Comic Book Club is also coming. It will be Fridays from 3:30-4:45. Remember this is a clever way to disguise NJASK learning in a fun activity. This is for grades 5-8^th.

Treasurer - Wendy: Nothing to report. 

 

Corresponding Secretary - Karen: We received a Thank You card from the following:

Mrs. Spirko for the luncheon we hosted for the West Point group

Mrs. Jurgenson for the Giving Tree donations

Mrs. Grattagliano for Giving Tree donations

 

When you receive an email from the PTA it is coming through me. If you respond to something in the email, be sure you are responding to the person who originated the information, that may or may not be me and if not, I cannot answer your questions. I will re-direct but it will take longer than if you just email the individual from the start.

 

Recording Secretary - Yvette:  Nothing to report.

 

Drama - 2^nd - 4^th  Lisa S.:  Everything is progressing nicely. Nothing much new to report. 2 papers went home; one for the cover contest so that kids not involved directly with the performance have a chance to be a part of it and one for the contest to name the theater in the production. We have not come up with a name for where the play takes place and we want some ideas!

 

Drama 5^th - 8^th – Sue H.:  Heading into 3 day per week rehearsals starting next week. Set construction is underway. We will be posting a prop list on the website so that if anyone has any of the items on the list, we can borrow them and return them when we are done.

 

Cultural Arts – Chris S.: We have 3 assemblies coming up this month:  “Little Dragons” on 3/21 for the 1^st and 2^nd grades. “Balls and Track” for the 3^rd grade on 3/27 and also a Lenape Indian presentation for the 4^th grade on 3/23. We need ideas for the upper grades so we can address them as well.

 

Box Tops for Education - Wendy: Our last submission went in March 1; we are projecting about $475. Please be sure the teacher’s name is on the bag. The student’s name does not help me as I don’t know all the kids by name. If you put the name of the teacher and the grade level on the bag it will be surely credited to the right place. 

 

Bingo - Anne P: We have two more dates to book, will keep you posted.

 

Tricky Tray: Lizz B: We are progressing well. We have some really nice prizes. We would like to request the $1000 increase in budget to purchase an additional grand prize come out of the Welcome Back activity:

 

Motion to approve:    Lizz B.

 

We are not going to send 50/50 tickets home. Many are never returned and there is a large cost involved with printing them and shipping them. You will be able to buy them at the tricky tray and through email. Once we have a license number we will be sending them out. Once we have a license number we will be sending them out.

 

Reading Program – Kathy D.:  April 13 will be science night for grades 3 and 4 first then later in the evening, for grades 5 and 6.

April 27^th will be a Disney costume reading party for 1^st and 2^nd grades

May 18 will be a kindergarten party that will have a wedding letter theme.

 

Field Day – Tracy G.: Everyone is very excited. Pomptonian is locked in and they have a nice menu for us for the day. There will be water, ice cream and music all day as well as Herr’s potato chip has given us a huge break on chips for the day. We are going to do the wrist band giveaway that will also separate the black and gold teams. We are looking into purchasing a banner and there will be t-shirts for sale as well after the Tricky Tray.

 

School Apparel – Sue B: The order form is on the website.

 

Market Day – Jen S.: Coming up on our next sale. The second round did not do as well as the first, we want to keep it right around 23-25 orders. That should not be too hard – if you liked your food, tell your friends. There is a pie here to sample tonight as we are doing a sale within the sale on pies this month. There are 10 different pies all together and the only difference is that the money has to be paid at the time of the order rather than at pick up.

 

February we received $119, let’s shoot for $150 for March. Everyone should set up and online account whether you use it or not as when you do decide to, you get terrific coupons that are online exclusives. I have the dates for 2012-2013 and will coordinate with the school calendar and then publish.

 

Q: How do we compare in sales to Haskell?

A: Right now we are neck in neck, if we get sales to the 23-25 mark we will be ahead of them.

 

Our next pick up is March 20 from 6:45 – 7:30pm in the gym.

 

Fundraising – Trish A.: Gertrude Hawke sale is over; we are projecting a return of about $1000. Wendy’s night is March 27^th from 4-8pm and they will donate 15% of all receipts.

 

Egg Hunt – Tina J.: The Spring Egg Hunt will be March 31 at Back Beach. We need volunteers so we can have lots of activities and keep the kids interested. It is for grades k-4 only. The kids in grades 3 and 4 will have a little more of a challenge, there will be math problems to solve. This is a great opportunity for the older grades or high schoolers to earn community service hours. Eggs will be filled with candies and there will be larger prizes for the golden eggs as well.

 

 

Nominating Committee – Lisa S.: There needs to be an odd number of members on the committee according to the by-laws so we need one more member to balance us out. Is anyone interested in volunteering? Jen S. raises hand – thank you, please see me after the meeting to get your info.

 

3 open slots:

2^nd VP – Jason V. would like to enter his name for re-election

Recording Secretary – Yvette S. is willing to take the position for the next term

Treasurer – we need someone to be nominated or volunteer to run.

 

Committee members are:

Lisa S.

Linda M.

Jen R.

Jen S.

Sue M.

 

 

We were given information on the Brain Challenge game as a family night activity or assembly. We need someone to step up to run it as we cannot ask the same people to continue to chair all the events. It can be tailored however you want it to be. Lisa S. raises hand. More information to come.

 

MAM: If there is no other business, our next meeting will be April 16, 2012 at 7pm right here in the library.

 

Motion to adjourn until April 16, 2012

 

 

With no opposition, the PTA has approved this meeting adjourn until April 16, 2012

 

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Respectfully submitted March 13, 2012