PTA News

Newell PTA Meeting
October 13, 2008

The Newell PTA met with the following members present:  Sara Wilson, Sebrina Bergmeier, Angie Ziller, Amy Czaplewski, Staci Aguilar, Shana Miller, Jodi Nissen, Lisa Buescher, Deb Buescher, Phil Eggerling, Bill Chadek and Brad Wolfe.

President Sara Wilson called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.

The minutes of the September 8th meeting were read and a motion to approve the minutes was made by B. Chadek.  S. Bergmeier 2nd the motion.

Treasurer’s Report:  Jayson was not here.

Mr. Wolfe’s Report:  

* Firemen are coming on Oct. 14th.  They are bringing the smokehouse.
* Picture retakes are on Oct. 21st starting at 8:30 am.
* Report cards go home on Oct. 23rd.
* Oct. 24th kindergarten is off to the Scarecrow Patch.  Candy/Pickle sales that day after school.
* Oct. 16th Student Council book sale--25 cents per book.
* Oct. 27th is the 4th/5th grade Jumprope at GISH from 6:30-8:30 pm.
* Oct. 31st is the next Reading Celebration from 2:00 pm - 3:05 pm.  Students can dress up as characters from a book.  Teachers will have supplies for students to use to make costumes if they do not have an opportunity to do this at home.
* Nov. 6/7 No School.  Professional Development Day for staff.
* Nov. 4th--voting for election from 7:00 am - 8:00 pm.
* Nov. 3rd Money Machine will be here at 9:00 am.
* Nov. 11th  Young National Reading Day
* Nov. 13th ELA Literacy Night
* Nov. 14th Original Works orders will be in.

Communications:  PTA received a thank you card from Skate Island.

Book Fair:   This was the biggest Book Fair ever at $3242.40 in sales.  The teachers received gift certificates this year and could do their own shopping.  Five teachers who were new received $40.00 and the rest of the teachers received $25.00.  The money bought 87 titles for the library at $784.72.  Teachers received $696.08.  $43.93 went to volunteers.  The profit for this year was $360.65.  Deb left this money in the fund so if there is a warehouse sale we can do that.  Balance due on the invoice $2383.72.  B. Chadek motioned to approve to pay that.  A. Czaplewski 2nd the motion.

Bulletin Board:  Lisa changed the bulletin board to fall.

General Mills:  These are in the teacher’s lounge.  There are 6 buckets full.  Lisa will pick these up.  Families were asked to put boxtops on sheets and this seems to be motivating people to turn in more of these.

Hospitality:  We need popsicles for the next reading celebration.  There are 410 kids.  Amy is going to check to see how many we have left.  Parents did a good job of bringing food for staff for parent/teacher conferences.

Membership:  This seems to be going well.  For any businesses that pay for a membership, they will receive free advertising in the directory.

Yearbook:  Angie isn’t here tonight.  Sara reported that last year we printed 200.  We need to decide if we want to order 250 this year because we have to go up by 50 piece increments.  We need to encourage parents to take pictures for this so that these are available.  Angie needs to keep the files on the computer downloaded so that they don’t take up too much space on the server.

Room Parents:  We are missing room parents for Ms. Hansen and Mrs. Runcie’s classrooms.  After we find out who these parents are, the directories will be printed.

Fundraiser:  Fundraiser items came in for pick-up on Thursday, October 9th.  The profit is a little over $14,000.  At the end of this week the form will need to be sent in for people who had problems with their orders.  Four people did not come and pick up their items.  A note will go home to parents of the students who are able to go into the money machine so they are aware of the date and time.  It helped collecting when orders were taken rather than when they were delivered.  The 5th graders did a great job unloading and helping organize the items.

Teacher Report:  Thank you very much for the food for parent/teacher conferences.  It was very much appreciated.  This gives teaches a chance to eat and relax for a few minutes before conferences start.

Unfinished Business:  

* The parents who helped did a great job.  The profit for the night was $145.60.  Skate Island said we had 100 students so that we could make more profit.  They are anxious for the students to come back for skating.
* The turnout for Runza was great.  There were a lot of people all night.  Thank you to those parents who helped.
* The original order for Original Works went in on Oct. 10th.  The late orders will go in later this week.  There is no guarantee for the late orders to be back by Christmas.  The original orders should come in on Nov. 14th.
* Mike Mennard was here on Saturday, Oct. 11th for parents and students.  He was also here on Friday, Oct. 10th in the classrooms. Sara observed him in a classroom and said it was great.  The cost was $700 for Friday for him to do the classroom presentations and for gas back and forth. D. Buscher motioned. to pay the $700 for Mike Mennard, and B. Chadek 2nd the motion.

New Business:  

* Lisa has prices on apparel.  The quotes are from T-Shirt Engineers.  PTA members are to mark which design they like the best.  They are all appropriate for the dress code.  The idea for this it to encourage people to wear them rather to make a large profit.  Lisa is going to ask about different types of t-shirts with black/gold print.

* Red ribbon week is coming up.  The counselors will be doing activities for this.

Next meeting is Monday, November 10, 2008.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:40 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,
Angie Ziller, Secretary



PTA donated 90 new books to the Media Center from the October Book Fair totaling $784.72.

Students working with Author Mike Menard Friday and Saturday.