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1-10-23 PES PTA Meeting Minutes.pdf

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PTA Meeting Minutes
1/10/23
Present: Miranda Berry, Staci-Lee Tyler, Audra Bucklin, Shannon Decker, Ella Martin,
Melinda Russo, Nikki Turner, Candace Lord
Welcome/Cards to share with the group
Everyone introduced themselves. Nikki shared thank you cards from teachers and
administration for the PTA’s help with Stone Soup, yoga mats, and Parent Teacher
Conference snacks.
Upcoming Events/Activities
➔Winter Carnival - February 5th
◆Nikki shared updates and information about this upcoming event.
◆The planning committee has been reaching out to local area businesses
for sponsorship.
◆Miranda will be planning some events outdoors on the field for the event.
The group discussed ideas that have been done before and brainstormed
new activities that might work well such as: Snowball toss, Sled races,
Relay race, Snow painting, Hot chocolate, Snow flag football
◆The group discussed set-up: Tables by the shed for access to power
outlets for crock pots, etc. Games out on the field.
◆Sign ups for event (volunteer roles & bake sale type items) will go out
soon. PTA members can sign up to bring home-made or store bought
items. The bake sale idea came about to make sure there is a variety of
food. There are some packaged snacks left over from the October Trunk
or Treat that can be used. Snacks and baked goods will be for sale since
the event is a fundraiser.
◆This is the link to signup for the chili cookoff. Local businesses or
individuals can submit chili entries. People will  be able to vote for
favorites at the event.
◆Unfortunately, student-designed tshirts will not work out logistically, but we
can still use student designs for flyers. Students got information and
worked on designs in school. The winning design will be chosen on
Monday.
➔Next PTA Parent Forum - February 7th (rescheduled from original date of 2/14)
◆6:00-7:00pm
◆Babysitting will be provided by 7th graders
◆The topic will be Cybersecurity
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◆Audra shared information about the panel she is assembling to speak at
the event including: Plainfield Police Dep’t (Chief Swett), Felecia Foley,
SRO in Claremont, and Lisa Gradijan
◆Audra would also like to include a rep from a cell phone company to talk
about the technology settings that parents are able to use to protect their
kids. Staci is going to reach out to a contact she has to see if they are
available to be on the panel.
◆There will also be a time for parents attending to share ideas and
strategies that they use with their children. Shannon suggested that it’s
helpful to have some parents of older kids to come to share strategies
they currently use. Ella mentioned that social media is a big element of
cybersecurity that parents will likely want to discuss. The group discussed
presentations and films they have found helpful.
◆Nikki asked Audra what would be helpful from the PTA in terms of
advertising. Nikki suggested creating an eye-catching graphic. Audra can
work with Felecia Foley to use CANVA to come up with a graphic/flyer for
the PTA to share.
➔Youth Beatz Residency - February 13th-17th
◆This residency has been rescheduled from the beginning of the school
year
➔Possible PTA potluck - TBD
◆The group discussed having a PTA potluck on the Youth Beatz evening
performance date. When the Youth Beatz performance was originally
scheduled for the fall, this potluck would have been a PTA “Welcome
Back” event. Friday, 2/17, is the last FAST day and the last Friday before
Feb vacation, so not an ideal night for a potluck. Audra will check in with
the artist to see if a Thursday night (2/16) performance might be possible.
We discussed perhaps having snacks before the concert instead of doing
a potluck after the concert. (See notes under Book Fair below for more
discussion of the potluck.)
➔Scholastic Book Fair - March 21st-23rd
◆Shannon shared information about this event. The PTA gets 25% of the
total sales to use for school and teacher needs.
◆Shannon will start sending out more details and a call for volunteers in
February. The PTA will send out info to families about how to create
wishlists and purchase books on the website.
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◆Coin drive - Each class gets a jar, kids bring in coins for the jar in their
classroom all week.The winning class gets a voucher to buy books from
the book fair for their classroom library. These funds go towards ensuring
that each child in the school is able to buy a book from the fair. Any
leftover funds go to the school library to purchase books. Shannon needs
help with this! It is a big process to count and roll coins for each class.
People suggested bringing the coins to a bank to count/roll for free.
Miranda has also offered to help.
◆We discussed having an evening where parents and community members
can come to purchase books - we didn’t do this last year and it did not
negatively impact sales - wondering if we would get volunteers for these
additional hours.
◆We also discussed the option of pushing the PTA potluck from February
during the Youth Beatz residency to March since the Winter Carnival is
already happening in February. We wondered if the potluck could possibly
be in conjunction with an evening Book Fair event. Audra mentioned that
the UA team would like to do a student showcase where work from UA
portfolios can be shared. Audra will check with Vicki Bridge to see what
the dates are for the student showcase. Could this event be combined
with an evening book fair night and also include the potluck?
➔Parent Teacher Conferences 3/30 & 3/31
◆Look out for signups for snacks. Audra shared that teachers loved the
snack and drink selection from the fall conferences!
➔Spring Family Movie Night - April 21st, 6pm
◆Ella has volunteered to coordinate this event and needs a co-chair.
Miranda volunteered to help.
◆Miranda has helped coordinate this event in the past and shared
information that worked well before.
◆Miranda said they paid for the rights to show movies to a big group. Nikki
shared that rights are based on # of people attending. K-5 students would
be invited to attend. Audra said this is about 135 students.
◆Planning to have popcorn, water, and other snacks.
◆Help with gym clean-up after the movie will be needed.
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Drama Club Sets/Space
Audra reported that there are a couple of venue options for the Drama Club
performance of “Newsies.” Audra has reached out to KUA to see if their performance
space could be used, but has not gotten confirmation at this point. Melinda said she
knows a PES parent who is a faculty member in the KUA arts department and can
reach out to them to follow up. If using KUA’s space is not possible, the performance
could be at PES. If this is the case, the Drama Club would need parent volunteers to
help with creating the set. The PTA can reach out to Samantha
(dramaclubadvisor@plainfieldschool.org) for more details and then put out a call for
parent volunteers for this set design/build work.
Other Topics/School Feedback
◆Miranda suggested a family game night for next school year.
◆Audra shared that Abby Harrington is hoping to have a family math game
night. The PTA can help get the word out when more details are available
from Abby. Parents shared that these games are a hit at recess! Other
recent recess options to give more variety for upper grades have included
open gym, book discussions in library, and music sectionals to get more
instrument practice.
◆Ella said that 7th grade has a committee that is working on planning a
silent auction to raise funds for the class trip. The committee will be
reaching out to the school community to donate items. The silent auction
will be on Sunday, March 19th, from 5:00-7:00pm
Our next PTA meeting will be on March 14, 2023.
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