DCES PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES 1/9/2023

1/17/2023 1:36 pm

 DCES PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES JAN 9th, 2023

 

Present:

Katie Makelele, Co President

Tara McConnell, Co President 

Kelley Karvandi, Secretary

Lisa Lee, Treasurer

Alicia Haygood, VP of Fundraising

Casey Magargle, VP of Hospitality

Mrs. Caramucci, Teacher Representatives

Mary Olley, VP of Technology

Colleen Love, Vice Principal

 

Not Present:

Ellen Snyder, VP Communications

Paige Miller-Blum, VP Special Projects/ Campus Improvements

Emily Chin, VP of Events

Melanie Frisone, VP of Hospitality

Kimberly Mills, Principal

Beth Beyer Williams, VP Communications

Nicky Doss, VP of Special Projects and Campus Improvements

Alexis Wolf, VP of Events

Maria Bispen, VP of Events

Alice Hsieh, Mandarin Rep

Mrs. Deacon, Teacher Representatives



Principal Update 

Mrs. Mills & Mrs. Love

  •         Charros Teacher of the Year WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN FEBRUARY
  •         Athletes in Training

MRS. LOVE DISCUSSED THE NEED FOR EXTRA HELP AT RECESS WITH STRUCTURED SPORTS. THEY WILL GET A QUOTE AND IF VOTED ON, PTO WILL GIFT THE COST OF ATHLETES IN TRAINING. $25/HR PER COACH. APPROX $8,000 FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR. EVERYDAY EXCEPT TUESDAY BECAUSE OF GARDEN CLUB. AIT WILL CHANGE UP THE SPORTS AND ACTIVITIES OFFERED EVERYDAY. KIDS CAN PARTICIPATE IF THEY WANT. AIT WOULD TAKE A PORTION OF THE FIELD AND BASKETBALL COURT TO RUN THE ACTIVITIES. THIS IS A GOOD WAY TO MAKE NEW STUDENTS FEEL WELCOME SO THEY DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT NOT HAVING OTHERS TO PLAY WITH AT RECESS.

LITTLE KIDS ARE IN NEED OF SAND TOYS AND CHALK

  •         Chinese New Year Celebration – DCES & DCMS cafeteria

PERFORMANCES WILL BE HOSTED IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL PIT. ACTIVITIES WILL BE IN THE CAFETERIA. WE WANT TO BE ABLE TO HOUSE EVERYONE INSIDE.

  •         Parade Del Sol Saturday, February 4th

WILL BE DISPLAYING EVERYTHING DCES HAS TO OFFER FROM MANDARIN TO GARDEN CLUB, ETC. WE NEED A TRUCK WITH A TRAILER HITCH. MRS. LOVE WILL GET TIME AND DETAILS SO WE CAN POST THE NEED ON FACEBOOK. NEED WEIGHT OF TRAILER AND START TIME.

ICE MACHINE VENDOR: SHARON IS REACHING OUT FOR A QUOTE, ONCE WE KNOW THE AMOUNT, PTO WILL GIFT THE DOLLAR AMOUNT

MRS. MILLS EMAILED SHARON A QUOTE FOR GIFTING THE COLOR PRINTER AND SHARON WOULD GET THE GIFTING PROCESS STARTED

IN THE PROCESS OF INTERVIEWING A 4TH NOON AID



President Update

Katie Makelele

Tara McConnell

 

Kinder Round up swag bags?

WE DO FOR NEW FAMILIES BUT NOT ROUND UP. WE SHOULD DO THEM (OTHER SCHOOLS DO THEM) ASK LAURA IS SHE CAN PUT TOGETHER. TARA WILL LOOK FOR AN OLD BROCHURE TO GIVE US AN IDEA OF WHAT TO INCLUDE.

 

CNY Update

LISA IS GETTING THE ORANGES AND MEETING WTH MRS. CHEN TO DISCUSS DECORATIONS FOR AUDITORIUM. LISA WILL EMAIL ALICE, MRS. SPARKS AND CHEN AND LOOP EVERYONE IN. CANDACE IS GOING TO ORGANIZE BREAKFAST FOR CNY.

 

Run Club

GIRLS ON THE RUN IS EXPENSIVE. MRS. LOVE WILL SEE HOW MANY PEOPLE SIGNED UP. CONSIDER REINSTATING THE RUN CLUB AND PAY TEACHERS AFTER SCHOOL TO RUN IT?

 

Signs for visors have been ordered. Does anybody want to help hand them out at pick up and drop off?

MRS. CARAMUCCI VOLUNTEERED TO WALK ALONG PICKUP LINE AND HAND THEM OUT. NEXT YEAR WE SHOULD HAVE A BUNCH PRINTED AND AVAILABLE AT MEET THE TEACHER NIGHT

 

Trash cans will arrive in 4-6 weeks

2 AT N. GATE, 1 AT S. GATE, 2 AT THE FIELD. TARA WILL FORWARD THE EMAIL TO MRS. LOVE AND MRS. MILLS

 

Do we want a balloon arch at the next roar assembly? Emily N has offered to make one

YES WE DO WANT ONE. TARA WILL PUT EMILY IN TOUCH W/ MRS. LOVE. JAN 25TH MRS. LOVE ORDERED MORE MEDALS FOR RAWR AWARDS

 

Will the art showcase coincide with the bookfair this year?

MRS. LOVE WILL CHECK WITH MRS. SPARKS IF SHE WANTS TO DO ART WALK ON THE LAST FRIDAY OF BOOKFAIR. 

 

Does PTO want to help with celebrating teachers for A rating?

THEY HAVE BEEN CELEBRATING DURING STAFF MEETINGS. MRS. LOVE WILL CHECK WITH MRS. MILLS TO SEE IF THEY WANT TO DO ANYTHING MORE.

 

Anything for this month that needs to be in the pto newsletter?

CHILI COOKOFF SPONSORED POST FOR HUNTINGTON LEARNING CENTER. ELLEN TO MAKE SURE FACULTY IS INCLUDED WHEN EMAIL IS SENT

 

Doing Chinese New Year on chalkboards - anything else for Jan?

TARA WILL DO ON WEDNESDAY

 

Treasurer

Lisa Lee

 

Can room parents help with spending teacher allocations when teacher asks parents for things, but consistently doesn’t spend allocation? Teacher has a wish list out but none of parents have purchased anything.

SOME TEACHERS ARE ASKING FOR ITEMS ON AMAZON WISHLISTS BUT NOT USING PTO BUDGETS THEY ARE ASSIGNED. SOME TEACHERS MAY NOT BE USING BECAUSE IT TAKES 5 DAYS TO BE REIMBURSED. SOCIAL WORKER AND READING SPECIALIST ALSO HAVE BUDGETS THEY CAN USE. TARA WILL SEND MRS. CARAMUCCI AND MRS. LOVE AN EMAIL WITH A LIST OF TEACHERS WHO HAVEN’T USED THEIR $400 BUDGET AND THEY WILL DISCUSS THE PROCESS WITH THEM.

 

Vote Needed: Pre K and 3’s teachers are getting $200 from PTO for their classroom. In the past district has given them funds to use but it has stopped. Can we vote to increase their funds from us from $200 to $400 for each teacher.

VOTE WILL BE EMAILED OUT, WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH PEOPLE FOR A VOTE

 

Paypal Balance: $0 WE ARE CLOSING THE PAYPAL ACCOUNT

 

Chase Checking account balance: $93,586.56

 

We recently changed to a new payment system. It is called Lumapay. We disabled Paypal over the weekend.

 

AMAZING RACE PHOTOBOOTH BACKDROP - KATIE IS EMAILING EMILY ABOUT A BACKDROP



Teachers

Mrs. Deacon

Mrs. Caramucci

TARA WILL LOOK INTO THE AIR FILTERS.

FOR FLEXIBLE SEATING ISSUE WE WANT THE 17” CHAIRS

ANY TIME MEALS ARE PROVIDED TO TEACHERS, MRS. CARAMUCCI WILL SEND OUT REMINDER EMAILS

 


VP of Events

Alexis Wolf, Maria Bispen, Emily Chin

 

Golf update?

WE ARE MOVING TO GAINEY RANCH COUNTRY CLUB. IT WILL BE A SHOTGUN START 9 HOLE. FIRST TUESDAY OF MAY IN THE AFTERNOON. MALDANOS WILL BE GIFTING LUNCH. BRINGS PRICE DOWN TO $100/PLAYER. THIS WILL NOT INCLUDE DRINK TICKETS. MAYBE DO THE AUCTION AFTER.

 

Carnival update?

CARNIVAL WILL BE MARCH 3RD. KIKI AND DINA ARE ORGANIZING. WE WILL BE ASKING TEACHERS TO VOLUNTEER FOR CASH REGISTER. MRS. CARAMUCCI WILL SEND AN EMAIL OUT TO TEACHERS WITH W/ THE DATE. WE WILL HAVE MORE INFO AFTER THE CARNIVAL INFO MEETING ON THURSDAY. NOTE: WE NEED LIGHTS IN THE BATHROOMS - ASK DINA TO MAKE SURE IT IS PART OF THE CONTRACT THAT THE LIGHTS WILL BE ON.



VP of Special Projects/ Campus Improvements

Nicole Doss & Paige Miller-Blum



Site Council Update

Paige Miller-Blum

BOOK VENDING IS APPROVED, FINALIZING LOCATION. NEED TO DECIDE WHERE IT IS PLACED. EITHER WHEN WALKING BY SOUTH GATE/CAFETERIA THERE IS A SMALL ROOM WITH GLASS DOOR OR RIGHT OUTSIDE OFFICE DOOR AND WOULD NEED OUTLET. BOOKS OPTIONS WILL BE PRIMARY, MANDARIN, AND UPPER LEVEL.

 


VP of Hospitality

Melanie Frisone & Casey Magargle

-Dietary Restrictions Update



VP of Communications

Beth Beyer Williams & Ellen Snyder

 

 

VP of Fundraising

Alicia Haygood

 

VP of Technology

Mary Olley

MEETING WITH CRAIG AND DAVE ABOUT GMAIL TRANSITION

WORKING ON AMAZING RACE PLAYFORM

 

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DCES PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES 12/12/2022

1/17/2023 1:34 pm

 DCES PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES DEC 12th, 2022

 

Present:

Katie Makelele, Co President

Tara McConnell, Co President 

Kelley Karvandi, Secretary

Lisa Lee, Treasurer

Alicia Haygood, VP of Fundraising

Ellen Snyder, VP Communications

Paige Miller-Blum, VP Special Projects/ Campus Improvements

Emily Chin, VP of Events

Melanie Frisone, VP of Hospitality

Casey Magargle, VP of Hospitality

Kimberly Mills, Principal

Mrs. Caramucci, Teacher Representatives

 

Absent:

Mary Olley, VP of Technology

Beth Beyer Williams, VP Communications

Nicky Doss, VP of Special Projects and Campus Improvements

Alexis Wolf, VP of Events

Maria Bispen, VP of Events

Alice Hsieh, Mandarin Rep

Colleen Love, Vice Principal

Mrs. Deacon, Teacher Representatives




Principal Update 

Mrs. Mills & Mrs. Love

 

We got new signage for the office - our mission, ROAR in Mandarin, and the mascot

For ROAR we will take photos with the new signage & change it out

Officer Para asked PTO to pay for tourniquets - he went to a training called “stop the bleed”

Mrs. Mills & Mrs. Love are teaching BeeKind in classrooms if requested by teachers

This month in “bee supportive” they will learn a new dance

5th grade bricks are still on the list of things to do, PTO would need to maintain them moving forward. Nicky and Paige can connect with Mrs. Mills to do that.

Mrs. Love met with Alex from SPD and she got back to us with pricing for helping hosting activities during recess. 1coach- $33/hr, 2 coaches- $25/hr, 3 coaches- $23/hr. Mrs. Love will look at the options when she gets the full quote and all package details.

Mrs. Mills is still working on the ballcourt. She is waiting to get a meeting with the director. We are looking at summertime for the enclosed court to be completed. The courts will be temporarily be closed on Thursday so they can paint lines on the court.

Site Council approved the book vending machine - will continue to look at what works best and where it will go so that the custom wrap will be visible. 

Ice vending machine- Maintenance came out and we can’t put it in the teacher workroom but there is a place in the cafeteria if that works for the teachers. We are waiting to hear back from maintenance if it is cheaper to order it through them or have the PTO gift it. We won’t need to pay pay for an electrician or plumber if it is placed in the kitchen.

Teacher Lounge: talks about taking out the PE storage & putting a teacher lounge in there.



The district is looking into the possibility of supporting Mandarin teachers who may need help with immigration status

 

President Update

Katie Makelele

Tara McConnell

 

Celebrations: 

Mastic Tree is up!

Holiday Shop was a success! We had a sales total of $9,063. We will keep $1812.60, which is 20% of the total sales.

 

Chinese New Year

From Alice Hsieh (she sent an email w/ cost of envelopes, oranges, coins. Mandarin Rep: Mrs. Chen needs 600 oranges on Wednesday 1/18. I was able to get a quote from one of the orange farms in Mesa, but I personally will not be able to pick up the oranges and drop them off on 1/18. To ensure the freshness of the oranges, the farm does not recommend picking them up on the weekend prior. There will be about 6 boxes of oranges so a SUV should work.Lisa said she can pick them up, Tara will be her backup.

 

Can someone take ownership of getting sashes for the 5th graders? 

See how it goes without the dragon. Mrs. Chen said we need a quality dragon w/o wires on the inside. Paige will ask DC ranch where they got their grinch costume, maybe the same company could supply a new mascot.

 

Flexible seating 

Orders complete/ delivered for McCrensky, Tipton, Deacon, Bauer, Slon, Recciutio
Orders placed/ delivery scheduled for this week for Manecke, Goetz

 

2 of the items Huang asked for had long shipping windows that extended into break so I will place those orders during break so they arrive in January

 

Both Huang and Kohli asked for chairs that are $95 each (between the two of them they’d like 9) but the shipping is $553 plus a cost for a liftgate so the delivery is brought to ground level. Otherwise we need to remove it from the back of a semi (how it is typically shipped, per the website). Kohli was not able to locate an alternate items so would like to return the wobble stools she ordered so she can put that money towards shipping costs ($372). We wanted to discuss this at the board meeting.

Orders are complete for 6 teachers and 2 complete this week.

Tell Ms. Kohli to keep the stools. We will wait and see if Alicia can get stools at a similar price, otherwise we will approve the shipping.

Next Year we will state that the stools stay at the school.

 

Alicia has contacted a company that can purchase the rocking chairs and will follow up with a quote

 

Scholastic dollars

Vote on Scholastic dollars for library and per teacher

Vote: $1,000 to library and $150/teacher  - voted YES

We currently have 7300 - we gave the library 1000 last year and offered each teacher 150

We would like to save some to stock the book vending machine 

Ask about cost of scholastic shipping




Amazing Race kicks off 2/3/23 - Race days 2/23 (K-2) and 2/24 (3-5)

They will go to cafeteria and get kids amped. Theme is Race to Space and each race is planet themed.

 

Upcoming: 

Teacher basket raffle

Chili cook off

Chinese New Year



Treasurer

Lisa Lee

 

VOTE: Expansion of budget for garbage cans (garbage can quote for 5 is $2100

 

Unanimous vote YES for addition of $2100 to line item: campus improvements to buy garbage cans

 

VOTE: addition of bucket for $200 for blank hang tags for car pickup line - so that we can get these on an ongoing basis (verify what we need: hang tags vs card stock for visors and how many) - next year we will order them over the summer

 

Unanimous vote YES for addition of new ongoing line item - parent category: student/family line item: car line signs amount $200

 

VOTE: increase budget of holiday fund from $2000 to $7800 to balance the portion we owe back to the company for sales.

 

Unanimous vote YES for budget expansion for holiday shop changing from $2000 to $7800

 

Unanimous vote YES for gifting workroom printer budget of $2750 (for printer and 2 quarters - 1 per quarter - print cartridges) and vote YES for ongoing budget of $3000 per year to cover 1 of each print cartridge per quarter

Lisa will set up gifting the amounts with Mrs Mills

 

Chase account balance: $103,996.00

 

Paypal balance: $3,637.74



Teachers

Mrs. Deacon

Mrs. Caramucci

 

Q: can we encourage teachers and staff to sign up for our newsletter this year? Ellen does a great job of keeping it concise and teachers are the T in PTO. It’s an important connection. 

 

Mrs Caramucci will communicate this to staff and Mrs Mills will support it in her staff newsletter as well

 

  • Ice machine
  • Color printer 

Color printers are no longer supported by district and the one in the workroom is not in good shape. Can PTO buy 1 new printer for the workroom for $944.06 and print cartridges on an ongoing basis? Costs are as follows:

Printer: $944.06

Black print cartridge: $140

Magenta print cartridge: $198

Cyan print cartridge: $198

Yellow print cartridge: $198

 

  • Wednesday - snack thank yous

Casey and Melanie will make sure it’s ok to share email addresses with Mrs Caramucci to share with teachers from the sign-up genius and Casey will reach out to Mary to change wording or have families who donate to teacher treats opt-in to sharing their email address with teachers

  • Allergy info - 2 gluten free, 4 vegetarian, 1 vegan 

Not sure we got staff too - changed to 5 vegetarian - will be labeled by name rather than option

 

  • Holiday shop feedback

Positive feedback:

 

  • The tie in with math and budgeting
  • Parent volunteers
  • Preschool and kinder had 1:1 volunteer ratios - going forward this was good!

 

Improvement feedback:

 

  • Can we have a price sheet for planning budgets?
  • Can the store be set up by recipient?
  • Can we use recess time instead of instruction time?
  • Time needed to shop is 1 hour even with looking ahead of time

 

 

    • Amazing Race 

 

  • Can teachers have one location to collect prizes instead of having them delivered to the classroom at the end?
  • Almost all teachers said yes to lunch with a student being a prize
  • Can Barnes & Noble gift cards be a prize?
  • Other ideas for prizes: music at lunch, additional recess
  • Classes need 60 minutes to complete their amazing race on race day not 45

 

  • Air purifier update from PTO - 3 teachers are interested 

Tara will reach out to the parent who made the suggestion to let them know



VP of Events

Alexis Wolf, Maria Bispen, Emily Chin

 

Golf tournament update

Emily and her golf team are meeting with Gainey Ranch on Friday to see if they are a workable option in rescheduling the golf tournament. MMR has been agreed upon as no longer a viable option after they canceled the tournament on short notice.

About half of the purchases have asked for refunds and the other half are awaiting the reschedule date



VP of Special Projects/ Campus Improvements

Nicole Doss & Paige Miller-Blum

 

5th grade bricks will need a budget increase this year to pay for someone to install them as the district will no longer do this for us

 

Campus Improvements will connect with Mrs Mills regarding vendors to get a quote for the cost to add this to the 5th grade brick budget this year and on an ongoing basis

 

Stop the bleed: we need a quote from officer Pera, but he has requested tourniquet kits for each classroom

 

Officer Pera has a quote of $22 per classroom but we are waiting for additional information from Mrs Mills

 

Ice maker stand alone has a location now in the cafeteria

 

We can either gift the ice machine or gift the amount to the school for the ice machine based on a quote that Mrs Mills will give to us

 

 

Site Council Update

Paige Miller-Blum



VP of Hospitality

Collected 65 Thanksgiving Pies for Teachers & Staff

19 Baskets for Holiday Raffle 

Jersey Mike Lunch for Teachers & Staff on 12/14 from the Hotchkiss Family

Bag of Cookies Donated by the Malchow Family for every teacher & staff

Chili Cook Off on January 6th (last time was in 2019)

Morning Treat for the Teachers on January 3rd

 

Also, Maldonado family is buying lunch for elementary AND middle school staff on this Friday

 

Melanie Frisone & Casey Magargle



VP of Communications

Beth Beyer Williams & Ellen Snyder

 

 

VP of Fundraising

Alicia Haygood
   

Alicia has begun Facebook posts for sponsors. Presidents will ask Beth to copy wording and graphic to Insta and Ellen will include in newsletter as well
    

 

VP of Technology

Mary Olley

 

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DCES PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES 11/14/2022

1/17/2023 1:31 pm

 DCES PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES NOV 14th, 2022

 

Present:

Katie Makelele, Co President

Tara McConnell, Co President 

Kelley Karvandi, Secretary

Lisa Lee, Treasurer

Alicia Haygood, VP of Fundraising

Mary Olley, VP of Technology

Beth Beyer Williams, VP Communications

Ellen Snyder, VP Communications

Nicky Doss, VP of Special Projects and Campus Improvements

Paige Miller-Blum, VP Special Projects/ Campus Improvements

Alexis Wolf, VP of Events

Maria Bispen, VP of Events

Emily Chin, VP of Events

Melanie Frisone, VP of Hospitality

Casey Magargle, VP of Hospitality

Alice Hsieh, Mandarin Rep

Kimberly Mills, Principal

Colleen Love, Vice Principal

Mrs. Deacon, Teacher Representatives

Mrs. Caramucci, Teacher Representatives

 

Principal Update 

Mrs. Mills & Mrs. Love

  • Shout out to Mrs. Suderman, Mrs. Honeycutt, Julie Sparks, DCES Teachers/Students, Pedro/Charles and PTO Hospitality for Veterans Day Celebration THIS WENT GREAT. EVERYONE LOVED THE PERFORMANCE.
  • DCES A label, Top 3 SUSD Elementary schools, US News Ranking. A LOT OF SCHOOLS FELL BACK IN THEIR RANKING, WE WERE ONE OF THE FEW TO RAISE OUR RATING.
  • Benches update-Greg Skelton will give us a timeline soon. THE BENCHES WERE SHIPPED BUT COULDN’T BE INSTALLED BECAUSE OF THE LEGS. NEW ONES WERE SENT AND DIDN’T HAVE THE DCES LOGO. WE WILL INSTALL THE BENCHES AND ADD THE LOGO AFTER.
  • 5th Grade Mastic tree Dec. 2nd scheduled for install 
  • TBD Ball Court Project Meeting week of November 28th PTO availability ? GREG IS LOOKING AT PTO AVAILABILITY TO DISCUSS TIMELINE AND DETAILS.

 

President Update

Katie Makelele

Tara McConnell

 

Golf tournament chair update - replacement found (EMILY)

 

Request from Mrs Chen for sashes for CNY event instead of dragon costume. MRS. LOVE TALKED TO MRS. CHEN TO DETERMINE THAT THE PRIORITY IS RED ENVELOPES, CHOCOLATE COINS, ORANGES. THEY ARE WORKING ON FINDING A LION HEAD, THE NEXT PRIORITY IS THE SASHES. WE NEED TO KNOW HOW MUCH THE SASHES COST AND HOW MANY ARE NEEDED. WE LIKE THE IDEA OF THE KIDS MAKING THEIR OWN LION MASKS AND WEARING THAT WITH A SASH. WOULD IT BE ALL 5TH GRADERS OR JUST MANDARIN 5TH GRADERS?

 

Bookfair raised $7345 in scholastic dollars! VERY SUCCESSFUL

 

Need updates on the following TARA AND KATIE WILL DISCUSS WITH THE PRINCIPALS ON MONDAY.

  • Flexible seating  
  • Teacher requests for volunteers on campus
  • Blinds
  • Cubbies that Care - how do we turn this into a school club?
  • Book vending machine - has this gone to Site Council yet?
  • Ice machine measurements/ hook ups WORK ORDER HAS BEEN PUT IN WITH MAINTENANCE.

 

Recess equipment PARENTS SAID NOT ENOUGH BALL AND BALLS ARE FLAT AT RECESS. KATIE REACHED OUT TO COACH R ABOUT IDENTIFYING ROAR BEHAVIOR FOR STUDENTS TO HELP TAKE CARE OF EQUIPMENT. MRS. LOVE IS HANDLING WITH COACH R  - BALLS WILL BE LEFT OUTSIDE COACH R’S ROOM, SHE WILL INFLATE AND RETURN THE BALLS OR HAVE A STUDENT RETURN THE BALLS.

 

WE ARE GOING TO DO THE AMAZING RACE IN THE SPRING & READATHON IN THE FALL. THE LIBRARIAN SAID SHE WILL PLAN AND HELP WITH EVERYTHING. MAYBE USE THE READATHON MONEY TO IMPROVE OUR LIBRARY.

IDEA: TAKE DOWN CEILING PANELS & FUNDRAISE TO HAVE KIDS DECORATE AND THEN PUT THEM BACK UP.

WE WANT INPUT FROM CHEROKEE ON THEIR READATHON BUT HAVING A HARD TIME GETTING IN CONTACT WITH THEIR PTO. WOULD MAYBE HAVE BETTER LUCK HAVING A PRINICPAL CONTACT THE CHEROKEE PRINCIPAL.

 

Treasurer

Lisa Lee

 

  • Paypal Balance: $3771.00
  • Chase Balance: $103,771.49
  • Scholastic Book Fair brought in $13,052.67 in sales IN ONE WEEK! Thank you to Emily Niesz
  • Our taxes are done and submitted to IRS CPA WANTS US TO DOCUMENT RECEIPTS FOR DONATIONS. MARY CAN HAVE IT GENERATED WHEN THEY PAY ONLINE AND HAVE A COPY OF THE RECEIPT SENT TO LISA. CPA WANTS TO SEE THE DOLLAR AMOUNT. LISA WILL ASK ABOUT ITEMS WE ARE NOT ACCEPTING CASH FOR. FOR EXAMPLE, DOES EACH BASKET ITEM NEEDS TO BE ITEMIZED?
  • Vote needed: Increase $1500 spirit wear budget to cover winter spirit wear costs. 
  • We are currently in the green of $2400 income for spirit wear with still inventory to sell.

 

 

Teachers

Mrs. Deacon

Mrs. Caramucci

  • Julie Sparks art reimbursement TAKEN CARE OF
  • Flexible seating teacher requests MRS. DEACON WILL SEND SPREADSHEET TO KATIE/TARA. WOULD PROBABLY GO UNDER CAMPUS IMPROVEMENTS.
  • Parent pick up signs TEACHERS ARE HAVING A HARD TIME WALKING UP TO THE CAR, GETTING STUDENTS NAME, FINDING STUDENT, ETC. PTO TO HAND OUT CARD STOCK TO PARENTS IN THE PICKUP LINE TO FILL OUT AND PUT IN THE DASH. PTO/PARENT VOLUNTEERS TO HAND OUT CARD STOCK WITH PENS OR USE CARVISORSIGNS.COM
  • Food options for teachers with allergies USUALLY THEY DO VEGETARIAN. GLUTEN FREE & VEGAN ARE BEING REQUESTED. IT DEPENDS ON THE RESTAURANT. MRS. DEACON WILL PUT OUT A SURVEY TO TEACHERS FOR NEED.
  • Air purifier - received 3 teacher requests TARA WILL LET PARENT KNOW WHO REACHED OUT SO THEY CAN GET INVOLVED.
  • Organized sports at recess THE WAY THE GARDEN IS RUN IS GREAT. THE PRINCIPALS ARE OPEN TO HAVING 1 CONTACT PERSON/PARENT TO ORGANIZE 1 DAY/WEEK ACTIVITY LIKE A RUN OR ORGANIZED SPORT. THAT PARENT WILL NEED TO MAKE A PLAN. ALICIA CAN PUT MRS. LOVE IN CONTACT W/ SCOTTSDALE POLICE AND BOYS & GIRLS CLUB FOR THEIR VOLUNTEER HELP.
  • Copy cat volunteers - utilizing aides TEACHERS CAN SEND OUT A REQUEST TO PARENTS FOR WHAT THEY WANT HELP WITH IN THE CLASSROOM.

 

VOTE 11/14/22 FOR PTO TO FUND $5.500 FOR FLEXIBLE SEATING OUT OF CAMPUS IMPROVEMENTS. YES.

VOTE 11/14/22 Vote needed: Increase $1500 spirit wear budget to cover winter spirit wear costs. YES

 

VP of Events

Alexis Wolf, Maria Bispen, Emily Chin




VP of Special Projects/ Campus Improvements

Nicole Doss & Paige Miller-Blum

 

VOTE 1 Approved 11/1/22: Do you approve spending $275 for the supplies Mrs. Sparks will need for the rock garden/wooden crates in the coves. Has Mrs. Sparks been notified? YES

 

VOTE 2 Approved 11/1/22: Do you approve spending $240 for a Life Vac anti-choking device to be kept on campus. Has this been ordered? TARA WILL ORDER AND GIVE TO THE SCHOOL NURSE.



Site Council Update

Paige Miller-Blum

 

VP of Hospitality

Melanie Frisone & Casey Magargle

Thanksgiving Pies for Teachers & Staff -Nov 22nd

Holiday Basket Raffle for Teachers & Staff - Due by Dec 7th

 

VP of Communications

Beth Beyer Williams & Ellen Snyder

WE NEED TO OVER COMMUNICATE WITH EMAILS FOR FUNDRAISING.

SEND AN EMAIL SAYING TO BRING BASKETS THE WEEK OF DEC 5TH.

HOLIDAY GIFT SHOP - SEND AN EMAIL FOR PARENTS TO LOOK FOR THE ENVELOPES COMING HOME.

 

VP of Fundraising

Alicia Haygood
    Golf Tourney Sponsor updates
    

 

VP of Technology

Mary Olley

Sponsors updated on pto website. Still need Logo for: McDowell Mountain Music Lessons, Happy Time Gifters on Esty, North Scottsdale FitBody Boot Camp, and Weeshoff Wellness Center

NONE OF THESE COMPANIES ARE SPONSORS ANYMORE, ALICIA IS SHARING UPDATED FOLDER WITH MARY.

WE WILL ADVERTISE FOR MORE TECHNOLOGY HELPERS THAT COULD START AT BEGINNING OF NEXT YEAR.

 

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DCES PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES 10/17/22

11/9/2022 2:31 am

DCES PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES OCT 2022

 

Present:

Katie Makelele, Co President

Tara McConnell, Co President 

Kelley Karvandi, Secretary

Lisa Lee, Treasurer

Alicia Haygood, VP of Fundraising

Mary Olley, VP of Technology

Beth Beyer Williams, VP Communications

Ellen Snyder, VP Communications

Nicky Doss, VP of Special Projects and Campus Improvements

Paige Miller-Blum, VP Special Projects/ Campus Improvements

Alexis Wolf, VP of Events

Maria Bispen, VP of Events

Emily Chin, VP of Events

Melanie Frisone, VP of Hospitality

Casey Magargle, VP of Hospitality

Alice Hsieh, Mandarin Rep

Kimberly Mills, Principal

Colleen Love, Vice Principal

Mrs. Deacon, Teacher Representatives

Mrs. Caramucci, Teacher Representatives

 

Principal Update 

Mrs. Mills & Mrs. Love

 

Turkey Trot  will be Monday, Nov 21st

 

President Update

Katie Makelele

Tara McConnell

 

Celebrations

  • Work has begun on the north gate improvements!

 

Playground ideas

  • Idea from a mom for organized sports during kids recess time. PTO pays for it at Redfield. It’s approximately $30,000 a year.

https://www.athletesintraining.com/about-us/

https://www.athletesintraining.com/images/uploads/AIT_Impact_Recess.pdf

Bring this to the next site council meeting to see if they would want to split it. It would be a good idea to have a volunteer first to gauge students interest before we spend the 30k/year.

 

    • -Are we able to have parent volunteers on the playground to help organize games, extra supervision? If not, do we know if that is a possibility? And also what kind of background check will they need?

 

  • We need to find out the need for this from the teachers. Volunteers would need to go through training and be available consistently. 

 

Read-a-thon

Librarian Katherine Merrit brought up a fundraiser called Read-a-thon. She is meeting with them for more details. If interested, should we aim for this Spring or next Fall?

https://www.read-a-thon.com

We all like the idea. Will this be in place or in addition to amazing race? We will discuss when the librarian gets us more info.

Mrs. Mills is asking site council about book vending machine, 5-6k for vending machine. PTO can donate coins and books.

 

Teacher requests

 

    • Electric 3 hole punch and 8 power strips given to teacher reps
    • Discuss options for ice machine this would fall under campus improvements. Need to know the dimensions, if water line is needed or can it be hooked up to the sink? Send both options and we will vote.
    • Discuss options for flexible seating
      • Has everyone reviewed? Any questions/ thoughts from the Board?
      • The principals will be discussing this request during next week’s teacher liaison committee meeting and will provide an update following that discussion
    • Discuss options for chalkboards

 

  • Nicky will reach out to vendors.

 

    • Teachers requests for volunteers
      • The principals will be discussing this request during next week’s teacher liaison committee meeting and will provide an update following that discussion

 

  • Mrs. Mills will discuss at next teacher meeting so they have consistent volunteers.

 

 

Food Handlers Card required for anyone serving popcorn at Movie Night

https://www.azfoodhandlers.com/Arizona-Food-Handlers-Card

$7.99/ person, 30 minute class/test

 

Updated info regarding food on campus: If your event serves food and is between the hours of 12am to 3:45pm, the food must meet the guidelines found here: Approved Wellness Guidelines

It is important that we follow the guidelines since school funding can be withdrawn if we don’t follow them.

One way to make this easy is to order food from our cafeteria. To do so, you should contact Tina Sears who is in charge of the DCES nutrition services at tsears@susd.org If needed, Patty Bilbrey is our district contact: pbilbrey@susd.org

Tell room moms that individual classes can do whatever they wants for snacks and treats but grade level celebrations need to meet the requirements.



Next PTO board meeting will have a general meeting afterward

  • Gene from Be Kind will be there to talk about the 3 assemblies we are having on campus
  • Will be held in the library at 5? Following a brief board meeting that can start at 4:30?

 

Treasurer

Lisa Lee

 

9/25/22 Board voted to donate $500 to fund to support DAA override

 

9/25/22 Board approved adding $1,400 to the PBIS budget

 

9/25/22 Board approved adding $50 to the book fair budget for decorations

 

10/7/22 Board approved adding $200 to the technology bucket to purchase power strips for the teachers that requested them

 

Explanation: Movie night vote: Each movie night, we pay a rental company about $900 for the equipment we use. Dave McCuistion has kindly put together what we would need to purchase to have our own equipment. We would need up to an additional $1000. And then we can get rid of the rental fee when we have future movie nights, saving us $ in the long run. 

Vote: Yes or No to adding $1000 to the movie night budget to cover equipment costs (details below)

Majority yes below:

 

Katie Makelele

katie.makelele@gmail.com

YES

1

Tara McConnell

tara.m.mcconnell@gmail.com

YES

1

Kelley Karvandi

kelleykarvandi@gmail.com

Yes

1

Lisa Lee

mslisalee30@gmail.com

YES

1

Alicia Haygood

ambowles79@gmail.com

YES

1

Mary Olley

thebluefit@gmail.com

   

Beth Williams

bethbeyer1@aol.com

YES

1

Ellen Snyder

elssnyder@gmail.com

YES

1

Nicole Doss

nickydossrn@gmail.com

Yes

1

Paige Miller-Blum

paigemillerblum1001@gmail.com

YES

1

Alexis Wolf 

alexislwolf@gmail.com

YES

1

Emily Chin

emilychin723@gmail.com

YES

1

Maria Bispen

mariabispen@gmail.com

   

Melanie Frisone

melaniefrisone@yahoo.com

Yes

1

Casey Magargle

McDowellmtnvet@gmail.com

YES

1

Lindsay Deacon

ldeacon@susd.org

   

Melissa Caramucci

mcaramucci@susd.org

   

Alice Hsieh

Ahsieh83@gmail.com

   



Need to board to vote on: We found a CPA to file our taxes. The cost is $800. Our current budget is $300. I would like to increase our budget by $700, so that will change our budget to $1000 for tax prep. $1000 will give us a little room if the CPA needs more time to complete the taxes or any fees we might incur during the process. Voted yes on 10/17. Lisa will see if we need to increase spiritwear budget.

 

Chase Balance: $81,741.33

 

Paypal Balance: 14,076.60

 

Teachers

Mrs. Deacon

Mrs. Caramucci

 

We never heard back from Mr. Rhodes on need for StuGo volunteer. Does he still need?

 

 

    • Julie Sparks (Art Teacher): I was wondering if PTO would pay for paint to revive the Only One Rock Garden and the wooden flowers that I removed from the coves. They are currently in a cart in front of the art room. I think we can save them and get them back out around campus. Since both of these would be schoolwide projects, and I've way over spent my class budget, I would be happy to purchase the paints and supplies and submit the receipts

 

  • Mrs. Sparks needs to submit an amount and we will vote on it. Will go under campus improvements.

 




VP of Events

Alexis Wolf, Maria Bispen, Emily Chin

Movie Night update

We voted yes to purchase projector and screen. They will also need cones/rugs to cover wires - maintenance is taking care of this.

 

VP of Special Projects/ Campus Improvements

Nicole Doss & Paige Miller-Blum

 

Site Council Update

Paige Miller-Blum

 

VP of Hospitality

Melanie Frisone & Casey Magargle

10/27 Dinner for Teacher Conference at 3:45pm

5th Grade Bricks Installation from last year

 

VP of Communications

Beth Beyer Williams & Ellen Snyder

 

VP of Fundraising

Alicia Haygood

  • Working on getting sponsor banners printed. 
  • Mary, do you have everything that you need to put logos on toolkit? 
  • Once Amanda designs the banner, we can add to email and FB
  • I think we should do Facebook and IG posts for them even though packages say just FB
  • Started communicating golf tournament stuff with team so I can reach out to Sponsors ASAP
  • Bluebird wants to feed the faculty/staff so they’re working with hospitality for first week of Nov
  • Setting up events for next year. Helps sponsors plan earlier is the feedback I’m getting

Sponsors want dates for events at the beginning of the year - they are downgrading their packages because dates aren’t clear.

 

VP of Technology

Mary Olley

 

Read More

DCES PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES 9/12/22

11/9/2022 2:30 am

DCES PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES 9/12/22

 

Present:

Katie Makelele, Co President

Tara McConnell, Co President 

Kelley Karvandi, Secretary

Lisa Lee, Treasurer

Alicia Haygood, VP of Fundraising

Mary Olley, VP of Technology

Beth Beyer Williams, VP Communications

Ellen Snyder, VP Communications

Nicky Doss, VP of Special Projects and Campus Improvements

Paige Miller-Blum, VP Special Projects/ Campus Improvements

Alexis Wolf, VP of Events

Maria Bispen, VP of Events

Emily Chin, VP of Events

Melanie Frisone, VP of Hospitality

Casey Magargle, VP of Hospitality

Alice Hsieh, Mandarin Rep

Kimberly Mills, Principal

Colleen Love, Vice Principal

Mrs. Deacon, Teacher Representatives

Mrs. Caramucci, Teacher Representatives



*Dennis Roehler, the Director of Facilities, coming to speak at the beginning of the meeting.

 

  • Dennis wants to see how the metal shade structure with perforated holes works/looks at Tevan before it gets installed at DCES. In the meantime, over xmas break they will get designers out to start planning. Shade structure will be in lieu of a gym building.
  • In late October Dennis will ask Mrs. Mills to put together a committee for the shade structure
  • In the future when requesting updates to the facilities, the best process is to submit a Gift & Donation form, this helps the process, it would need to be submitted 2-3 weeks before the next board meeting so it can be included in the agenda

 

 

Shade structure over basketball courts - could it be affected if the override doesn’t pass?

 

  • No, it has been part of 2016 bond and will not be affected

 



Principal Update 

Mrs. Mills & Mrs. Love




President Update

Katie Makelele

Tara McConnell

 

DAA Override 

    • Town Hall Meeting at Desert Mountain High School on 9/15 at 6pm
    • Quick rundown: Funds generated would be used to provide: Curriculum materials and school technology, School furniture, fixtures and equipment, Fine Arts, Athletics and Library equipment & materials, Playground equipment and facilities. If approved, the proposed Override would continue the 2016 voter-approved override for seven years and increase what it brings in annually from $8.5 million to $14.5 million per year. The estimated tax rate for the renewed Override is $0.23 per $100 of
    • This measure is supported by our district. Vote to support the override as a PTO so we can communicate about this measure with our parents in an informative way

 

  • PTO vote to support DAA override - VOTED YES ON 9/12/22
  • PTO vote to donate (amount?) - vote via email after checking w/ Treasurer on budget/extra funds surplus & Tara possibly looking at how much was donated 7 years ago.

 

 

Site Council Update 

  • Going forward we’d like to have an update on the following
    • Current Site Council budget and funds still available
    • Projects approved by Site Council with timeline, if possible
    • Projects rejected by Site Council so we can discuss handling under the PTO budget

 

Zoom purchased for PTO use for 1 year

VPs are able to set up meetings for the committees that fall under their position as needed. 

 

PTO mailbox is now on the door to the PTO closet

 

DCES Facebook page

  • Who is responsible for adding content to the school page?
  • Other elementary schools in the district update a lot more than DCES.
    Thoughts on pulling some of their great ideas to our page? Teacher Tuesday, for example

 

Treasurer

 

Due to updated numbers from staffing changes we need to vote on the following:

  1. Increase the teacher reimbursement budget from $9060 to $10,000 - VOTED YES ON 9/12/22
  2. Increase our specials reimbursement budget from $4825 to $5400 - VOTED YES ON 9/12/22
  3. Does anyone know of a CPA? PTO needs their taxes done
  4. Chase account balance $86,944.25
  5. Paypal Balance: $7,637.42
  6. Vote to increase emergency fund for classroom snacks from $50-$100 - VOTED YES ON 9/12/22

 

  •  

 

 

Teachers

Mrs. Deacon

Mrs. Caramucci

 

    • Can we replace blinds in classrooms? Requested by Ms Rita

 

  • Mrs. Mills is going to look into it. It is most likely part of the school budget.

 

    • Request for Campus-wide projects- Chalkboards for the walls facing the lower elementary playground for students to draw on
    • Ice machine for work room

 

  • We are connecting w/ Cherokee PTO to see which Ice Machine they have

 

    • Can PTO change the Kiosk by the parent drop off?
    • Has there been any talk or discussion about a parent volunteer to assist with StuGo? -Blake Rhodes

 

  • Request that Mr. Rhodes to send a description of what he needs & time commitment

 

    • Would PTO be willing to purchase an electric hole punch in the teacher workroom?
    • Can you clarify about the reimbursement PTO is willing to offer for flexible seating? Spoke about it last year as a board but nothing was clarified.

 

  • Need clarification on type and quantity requesting

 

    • Would PTO be willing to purchase power strips with multiple plugs for teachers who need it? Could survey to get teacher need

 

  • Survey teachers who needs it and then we can vote on it.

 

 

VP of Events

Alexis Wolf, Maria Bispen, Emily Chin

 

We are voting for Maria Bispen and Emily Chin to join Alexis Wolf (already in place) as co-VP Events. VOTED YES ON 08/21/22

 

Fall Festival update

 

 

  • Oct 21st movie night at ampitheater
  • Budget approval for $625 for kona ice truck + $150 for popcorn supplies
  • Screen being donated by family
  • May need to purchase projector - will send out email vote

 




VP of Special Projects/ Campus Improvements

Nicole Doss & Paige Miller-Blum

 

Update on signs for South gate

 

  • All will be up next week

 

Site Council Update (Paige) 



Treasurer

 

Due to updated numbers from staffing changes we need to vote on the following:

  1. Increase the teacher reimbursement budget from $9060 to $10,000 - VOTED YES ON 9/12/22
  2. Increase our specials reimbursement budget from $4825 to $5400 - VOTED YES ON 9/12/22
  3. Does anyone know of a CPA? PTO needs their taxes done
  4. Chase account balance $86,944.25
  5. Paypal Balance: $7,637.42
  6. Vote to increase emergency fund for classroom snacks from $50-$100 - VOTED YES ON 9/12/22

 

 

VP of Hospitality

Melanie Frisone & Casey Magargle

 

We are voting to add $50 to the hospitality budget for snacks for volunteers during the health screening this week as requested by the nurse. VOTED YES ON 09/7/22



VP of Communications

Beth Beyer Williams & Ellen Snyder

 

 

 

VP of Fundraising

Alicia Haygood

Sponsors asking for more details on upcoming Events and which ones they can attend.

Siena Arte Portrait wants to do a auction session and asking for details. 

 

  • Sponsors want to know what events they can come to

 




VP of Technology

Mary Olley

 

Read More

DCES PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES 8/8/22

8/10/2022 12:48 pm

DCES PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES 8/8/22

 

Present:

Katie Makelele, Co President

Tara McConnell, Co President 

Kelley Karvandi, Secretary

Lisa Lee, Treasurer

Alicia Haygood, VP of Fundraising

Mary Olley, VP of Technology

Beth Beyer Williams, VP Communications

Ellen Snyder, VP Communications

Nicky Doss, VP of Special Projects and Campus Improvements

Paige Miller-Blum, VP Special Projects/ Campus Improvements

Alexis Wolf, VP of Events

Melissa Guy, Events

Melanie Frisone, VP of Hospitality

Casey Magargle, VP of Hospitality

Alice Hsieh, Mandarin Rep

Kimberly Mills, Principal

Colleen Love, Vice Principal

Mrs. Deacon, Teacher Representatives

Mrs. Caramucci, Teacher Representatives

 

Principal Update 

Mrs. Mills & Mrs. Love

 

 

  • Mrs. Mills will send out more emails to communicate about parking at north gate and not parking in fire lanes
  • Have officers give tickets

 



President Update

Katie Makelele

Tara McConnell

 

Meet the Teacher

    • Feedback from parents?
    • Ideas for next year?

 

  • Need some signage/poster boards saying where classrooms are and signage directing people to the cafeteria. Consider getting permanent signage to re-use. Yard signs, A-frame signs, or use the back of DCES yard signs and hold in place with zip ties.

 




Should we get a PTO zoom account? $150/year 

 

  • Voted YES 8/8/22

 

 

Curriculum Night August 9 

  • PTO info session 5-5:30pm
  • PTO Presidents will be answering questions from parents in between sessions if anybody wants to join us

 

Would one of us like to take the “parent at large” position on site council so that we can connect communication between site council and PTO?



New families 

  • Play date Saturday August 27 830-10 at the 105th park
  • Mrs. Mills will follow up after day10 for complete list of new families

 

Teachers have been asked for input regarding Artist in Residency and Art Masterpiece. Mrs. Mills will let us know if teachers would like to participate in these programs. We already have a volunteer to assist if the programs are approved.

 

 

  • 3-5 Grade Teachers said no to Art Masterpiece
  • K-1 Grade Teachers said yes to Art Masterpiece

 

 

Feedback for PTO fundraising ideas

  • Book vending machine for library
  • New mascot costume - need a referral
  • Dragon costume
  • Parent pickup shade structure - need quote
  • Speakers/ lighting for amphitheater - need quote

Other ideas from the Board? Please share any ideas you hear from parents/ staff throughout the year

 

  • Trash can outside of North Gate/office (with lid)
  • Anti-choking device (Mrs. Mills/Mrs. Love checking with nurse)
  • Speakers for pick up line - Mrs. Love is ordering 2 new megaphones
  • Do teachers need alternative seating?

 

 

  • *Need to clean out PTO closet

 



Teachers

Mrs. Deacon

Mrs. Caramucci



VP of Events

Alexis Wolf & Melissa Guy

 

Fall Bash

 

  • Amy Hardy is co-chairing Fall Bash, maybe she could do it w/ Dave and combine movie night?

 



VP of Special Projects/ Campus Improvements

Nicole Doss & Paige Miller-Blum

 

Mrs. Mills checking with maintenance for pole for snakes sign in wash and to have SLOW sign placed at entrance to North gate parking lot - she has been advised where signs should be placed

 

More signs to order for car and bus lane

 

  • Maybe make them yellow? Attach to existing poles

 

 

More signs for platinum add in parking spaces (2 so far)

 

Update on north gate project

 

  • Land is City of Scottsdale - waiting to receive approved permit

 

 

Note for future events: We have a parent that can do balloons

 

  • Do for ROAR assemblies? 4x/year

 




Treasurer

Lisa Lee

 

  1. Adding $100 to Kinder Buddy Day budget for coffee and donuts at the event - APPROVED BY EMAIL VOTE 5/11/22
  2. Adding $200 to technology bucket for color ink cartridge for teacher workroom printer - APPROVED BY EMAIL VOTE 5/11/22
  1. Vote on 22-23 spending Budget for Staff t-shirts of $1150 (so that these can be ready before school starts) - APPROVED BY EMAIL VOTE 6/22/22
  2. Last year, we spent $8332 on spiritwear and made $17,932, raising $9600 for the PTO. Vote for the 22-23 spending Budget for the year for spiritwear of $10,000 (so that we can get the ball rolling on our orders)- APPROVED BY EMAIL VOTE 6/22/22
  3. Vote on 22-23 PTO Budget - APPROVED BY EMAIL VOTE 7/28/22
  4. Chase checking account balance: $87,487.24
  5. Paypal Balance: $2,257.71
  6. Spiritwear Sales from Meet the Teacher Night: $5291.00

 

 

 

VP of Hospitality

Melanie Frisone & Casey Magargle

 

  • Include in email that teacher treats can be sponsored if people don’t want to buy the treats

 

 

 

VP of Communications

Beth Beyer Williams & Ellen Snyder

 

  • 1) At the end of the school year, we were looking for a co-VP communications and Ellen Snyder volunteered to help Beth. So a vote to officially have Ellen be co-VP communications. APPROVED BY EMAIL VOTE 6/22/22



 

VP of Fundraising

Alicia Haygood

  • Lou Malnati’s reached out for Family Nights Events
    Cafe Au Plait wants to do a Coffee event i.e. Coffee with the Principal or something
    Communications needs to know which sponsors get FB/Email posts and how many

 



VP of Technology

Mary Olley

 

  1. Submit the ticket to have the contacts uploaded. Duplicates are skipped and any new student is uploaded as outdated initially with permission to publish in the directory set to NO.
  2. Store is online. Any shirts (except the crop) sold out of existing inventory will be converted to backorder. End day for backorder is set to Aug 14, please let me know if there needs to be an extension to this date.
  3. Mary and Criag will be working together to keep the website/app updated. We welcome any suggestions to make the site/app more useful for parents. We have a question as to what we can post with regard to after school programs from outside vendors and sports teams. We are concerned that it might conflict with the sponsorship program.
  4. Dave is working on the google office space migration to handle the PTO email and create official drive space to store PTO files for easy transition in the future. He is waiting for an OK from the board to start the process in case there are temporary glitches in email due to unforeseen technical difficulties.

 

 

  • New Families Guide on website needs to be updated and sent to Mrs. Mills for review before being updated

 

 

Read More

PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES - April 4, 2022

4/10/2022 12:45 pm

DCES PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES 4/4/22

 

Present:

Katie Makelele, Co President Outgoing

Tara McConnell, Co President Incoming 

Laura Weeshoff, Outgoing President

Marissa Anderson, Outgoing Secretary

Kelley karvandi, Incoming Secretary

Lisa Lee, Incoming Treasurer

Alicia Haygood, VP of Fundraising

Dave McCuistion, Outgoing VP of Technology

Craig Doss, Incoming VP of Technology

Krista Kotsovos, Outgoing VP of Special Projects and Campus Improvements

Nicole Doss, Incoming VP of Special Projects and Campus Improvements

Dina Engler, Outgoing VP of Events

Renee Johnson, Incoming VP of Events

Melanie Frisone, VP of Hospitality

Holly Hooley, Teacher Representative

Jamie McCrensky, Teacher Representative 

Kimberly Mills, Principal



Celebrations

 

THANK YOU to the 2021 - 2022 PTO Executive Board and 

WELCOME to the 2022 - 2023 PTO Executive Board!

 

Co-President (outgoing)

Katie Makelele

Co-President (incoming)

Tara McConnell

Secretary

Kelley Karvandi

VP Treasurer/ Finance

Lisa Lee

VP Fundraising

Alicia Haygood

VP Technology

Mary Olley

VP Technology

Craig Doss

VP Communications

Beth Beyer Williams

VP Special Projects/ Campus Improvements

Nicole Doss

VP Special Projects/ Campus Improvements

Paige Miller-Blum

VP Events

Renee Johnson

VP Events

Alexis Wolf

VP Hospitality

Melanie Frisone

VP Hospitality

Casey Magargle



Principal Update 

Mrs. Mills & Mrs. Love

  • Shade structure at north gate is with the City of Scottsdale permitting
  • Enrollment is at 528 and Kindergarten is filling up
  •  State testing is going on this week and next week.  

 

President Update

Outgoing Laura Weeshoff

Remaining Katie Makelele

Incoming Tara McConnell

 

  • Board vote - additional funds for Art Room/ Mrs. Sparks $160.  All present vote, “yes.”
  • Chair appointments will go out following this meeting, please give non board members a chance to sign up
  • Reach out to Beth about Amazon Smile and Box Tops.  Tutorial on how to use Amazon Smile would be helpful to parents.

 

Events

  • Fiesta Update.  Lots of donations coming in.  Donations accepted for teacher and staff tickets.  Teacher and staff price is $25.  
  • Discuss moving movie night on campus to April 29 to coincide with the last day of the Spring Book Fair
  • Discuss moving movie night to Fall next year (earlier sunset)
  • Would dance move to Spring if movie night moved to Fall?
  • Combine golf and auction next year as we have in the past?
  • Thoughts on a casino night?
  • Do we keep Carnival in January?


Teachers

  • Thank you to PTO for dinner on conference night
  • Chargers are paid for by PTO and we are waiting on them to arrive
  • Teachers would like a new color printer if possible in next year’s PTO budget.  Need to goth through IT for quote
  • Tree in 5th grade cove approved and complete on PTO end.



VP of Special Projects/ Campus Improvements

Outgoing Krista Kotsovos & Brena Courtad

Incoming Nicole Doss & Paige Miller-Blum

 

Shade/sidewalk expansion for entrance

Here are the latest City of Scottsdale civil engineer plans for the entrance:

 

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=784ec42319&attid=0.2&permmsgid=msg-f:1728578576972999165&th=17fd250eaed369fd&view=att&disp=inline

 

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=784ec42319&attid=0.3&permmsgid=msg-f:1728578576972999165&th=17fd250eaed369fd&view=att&disp=inline

 

Here is a quote for shade on the playground should we choose to purchase artificial turf for that area: bottom line the estimate is $65k for shade on the primary playground -that would be in addition to artificial turf costs

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=784ec42319&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1728578576972999165&th=17fd250eaed369fd&view=att&disp=safe

 

Other legacy spending area ideas: 

  • Lighting for amphitheater-need to get contacts for district approved lighting to get  quotes
  • Entrance signage once entrance project is complete
  • Create pony walls to enclose upper class playground and provide seating for south gate/bus students
  • Create a pony wall along the outer edge of the sidewalk along the basketball court to promote improved water runoff and to block balls from falling into the wash area there
  • Foam wrapping around poles on grades 2-5 playground.  Get quote when vendor is out for repairs on poles in K-1 playground.  Email to Shannong and cc Mrs. Mills about getting estimate at this time.



Possible District funded items

  • Shade over basketball court
  • Suggestion: is it possible for the district to plant the dichondra repens for the area that faces the amphitheater? The cost is low to try this first - would fund it but then PTO would be responsible for maintaining - I would suggest the district pay for the planting of this and we see how it works out - if not we can go with the pricier option of artificial turf but we would likely also need to provide a shade structure over - we could likely do the pavers look we initially thought of with the dichondra if it takes off

 

Treasurer

Outgoing Tara McConnell

Incoming Lisa Lee

 

​​Current Bank balance: $93,073.96

Current PayPal balance: $1000

 

Recent Budget Items:

 

Bucket

Income Budget

Income Actual

Expense Budget

Expense Actual

Actual Net

Remaining Budget

Amazing Race

$30,000

$40,730.25

$5000

$4,620.67 (11%)

$36,109.58

 

Brick Club

$1300

$1100

$700

$418

$682

 

Box Tops

$150

$66.70

$0

$0

$66.70

 

Family Fun Nights

$1000

$2645.42

$0

$0

$2645.42

 

Hospitality (General)

$0

$0

$4500

$2136.06

 

$2363.94

Hospitality (teacher treats)

$0

$875

$825

$425.15

 

$399.85

Aides

$0

$0

$13,463

$4224

 

$9239

Paypal Fees

$0

$0

$2500

$2639.56

 

($139.56)



-ACTIONABLE ITEM: $100 was approved via email for the Fun Run. I pulled a $100 cash bank which will go back to the fun run fund and Marissa thinks she spent more than $100. We made $56 dollars on donuts, water, and gatorade. Vote to make the fun run income goal $150 (to cover cash bank redeposit and funds raised) and $250 ($150 increase) spending budget to include cash bank and anything Marissa bought. APPROVED by all present.

-ACTIONABLE ITEM: The total for the mastic tree was $1068. This is more than the campus improvements bucket of $1000. This is more of a legacy spending item. Vote to add $1100 to the legacy spending budget instead of expanding the campus improvements bucket to cover this cost. APPROVED by all present.

-ACTIONABLE ITEM: Paypal fees went over budget (due to Amazing Race doing so well). Vote to add $300 to change PayPal fee bucket from $2500 to $2800 APPROVED by all present.

-ACTIONABLE ITEM: $160 to art fund teacher reimbursements APPROVED by all present.

-ACTIONABLE ITEM: $1100 from $0 to 5th grade celebration and going forward so that all students benefit eventually from this budget.  Approved by all present.  

 

Note: We approved $3000 to be added to the technology bucket to cover chargers back in January via email. I couldn’t find this in meeting minutes so noting approval here. Also, we don’t have updated meeting minutes on our website since August



VP of Hospitality

Remaining Melanie Frisone & Caroline Margargle

 

April 27 Admin Day Lunch 

May 2-6 Teacher Appreciation Week, Theme: Willy Wonka - The Golden Ticket to School

May 6 Nurses Day Lunch

May 26 Teacher Breakfast

 

5th Grade Bricks:

22 Ordered- (earned $1100, cost $418 = $682)

Shipping date May 4th 

 

5th Grade Celebration:

Theme: Camp Cubby

DJ: $300

Photo Booth: $435 (photos given as souvenirs)

Cupcakes $45

Pizza $160

Drinks $24

Decorations $40

Games $25

Total:  $1029 

(Parents paid for 5th grade t-shirts earlier in year) 

We will raffle off the scholastic books during the celebration 

Graduation information will go out after testing is complete.  

 

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PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES - March 7, 2022

3/12/2022 12:45 pm

DCES PTO BOARD MEETING 3/7/22

 

Present:

Katie Makelele: Incoming President

Laura Wheeshoff: Outgoing President

Tara  McConnel: Treasurer
Marissa Anderson: Secretary 

Kimberly Mills: Principal

Colleen Love: Assistant Principal

Krista Kotsovos: VP Campus Improvements 

Alicia Haygood: VP Communications 

Holly Hooley: Faculty

Jamie McCrensky: Faculty

Melanie Frisone: VP Hospitality

Caroline Margargle: VP Hospitality

Renee Johnson: Adults’ night out

Mary Olley: VP of Technology 

 

Celebrations

Amazing Race - raised $40k again!!  

 

Principal Update

  • Shade structure, waiting on civil engineer plans, then will submit to city, then city will get permits approved.  
  • Mr. Robinson Charros Teacher of the year!
  • In person kinder round up this week.

 

President Update

Mrs. Mills will ask teachers again this week whether they are comfortable with indoor volunteers. Decision will be made by grade level

 

Kinder Buddy Day may be in person - Mrs. Mills will be discussing with Kinder teachers

 

Community Service Project - picking up trash.  

 

Campus Improvements

Shade/ benches/ sidewalk at North Gate - being reviewed by a civil engineer/ contractor, plans then need to be approved by the city. We will share the drawing with parents and teachers once the engineer finishes it. We are hoping to have this project completed before the next school year begins.

 

Shade structure over basketball courts still pending - someone from the district came out to assess

 

District is not looking at updating the playgrounds

 

Area between Music and Nurses Rooms could use an update. Artificial turf is typically under warranty; any landscaping or gardening PTO plants or pays for will be maintained by PTO



Garden Club - could increase to 2 volunteers if Tina wants/ needs them.  Possibly divide 3 hour slot into 2 x 1.5 hour slots.

 

Send out survey to parents, and teacher reps will as well, to get feedback on the years events. Going forward we can consider sending surveys after each event for immediate feedback.

 

Tentative new board

Will send out link to vote this week

 

 

We do still need volunteers for vp of technology - we could leave those blank to remind people they are still needed

 

Teachers - Mrs. Hooley

 

VP events:

  • Fun run update:  Facilities request submitted, we  will be running a mile on campus.  8:30 start.  Selling Krispy Kreme donuts.   Mrs. Leopold  put a google form together for people to sign up.   
  • Adults’ Night Out  We have secured the wandering donkey and it is $20 for a meal and one drink. All drinks after that are cash bar. Tickets $45-$50. We are also underway with gathering donation items for the auction. We still have a lot of work to do but so far we have some nice big ticket items and several smaller items. 

*** If anybody is able to donate a service or has any friends or contacts with local places that would donate a service or product, please let either Renee or Dina know. Will also auction off school experiences like the marquee or morning announcements.  They  

would love to get help with securing auction items from anybody who is able. 

  • Movie night 

 

VP of special projects/campus improvements:

 

  • Next year initial focus should be on maintenance - repainting mural, re doing or repainting wooden flowers in coves
  • Makerspace day plan (permission slips, reserve library, probably on early release day)
  • Amazing celebrations for classrooms approval 



Treasurer

 

Amazing Race raised $40,317.75!!!

Great job, Krista!!!

For perspective, this is about twice what we were raising before Krista started doing Amazing Race. We usually spend about 15% of what we make on the race. I don't have all the numbers spent on this year's race yet. We may have gone over budget at least in part because we made more than our $30,000 goal. I will email for a vote to expand the budget if that's the case.

Year

Raised

21-22

$40,317.75

20-21

$43,988.05

19-20

$23,232.90

18-19

$18,824.00

17-18

$22,034.61

16-17

$19,221.11

15-16

$23,418.98



Vote for shelving units in the PTO room.  $1000 approved by everyone present.

 

VP of Hospitality

5th grade bricks deadline March 15.



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PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES - February 7, 2022

2/12/2022 12:45 pm

PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES 2/7/2022



Parents’ Night Out :  April 22 

At wandering donkey $50 a ticket , $45 ahead of time, 

 

Successes:

Carnival: $6,647 

Chinese New Year 

Next year: We will offer Chinese new year t-shirt to all teachers.

Sell t-shirts at the event, consider ordering 10% extra with all spiritwear. 

Also have hospitality provide New Years lunch and make sure PTO Presidents are 

aware of hospitality meals/lunches planned

 

Principal Updates:

PTO Calendar 

 

Charros is same day as parent night out

 

3 volunteers per class during field day March 4.   PTO responsible for securing volunteers.  Parents need to reach out to Sharon and cc Mrs. Mils if they have submitted volunteer packet but not heard back.

 

Trimming sidewalks

 

Working on schedule for shade structure and concrete.  Greg is working with the city.  We do not have a time for completion yet.

 

PTO calendar for admin by June/July with events, including family nights.



President Updates:

 

-Beth is helping in the front office including with social media!

-District offered to pay for basketball shade structure

 

1) sustainability - we will be having a grad student from ASU speak at our march general meeting on sustainability

- they have given us oodles of goodies as well - to do sustainability projects at school, which are essentially STEM projects, 

- were wondering a good time for this - potentially May when testing is done? 

- Mrs. Mills is working with ASU to find a time for them to come out and do the Mobile Stem Lab at school this year or next year.  This is Dr. Menzel’s project.   PTO will speak with our contact at ASU to determine if these are the same projects.

2) Playground helpers are not needed this year.  

 

3) vote in March re: board - one per family- we can put name and email on the form; April is transition/training, May is new board; We will send out chair positions once board is finalized; **needs to be filled

 

**President (Incoming; 2 year term)

**Secretary

VP of Communications 

VP of Events 

**VP of Finance / Treasurer

**VP of Fundraising

VP of Hospitality 

**VP of Special Projects (and Campus Improvements)

VP of Technology (App and Website) 

 

4) Birthday Book Club / Book Fair - consider having books donated to library next year; 

look at new vendor for book fair; we have added $175 for the librarian for anything from scholastic and this may be adjusted.  

We may consider a different book supplier for higher quality library books.

Possibly giving books to outgoing 5th graders and incoming Kinder

 

5) AEL  - Aggregate Expenditure Limit, state legislature must act by 3-1 or SUSD will be unable to spend 27 million dollars of its budget

 

Link to chaparral pto site for example of how to contact legislature for funding deadline.  We can also post the district fact page.

https://chapts.membershiptoolkit.com/ael?fbclid=IwAR0Qs3cinTKspW223iUdJu7ajDHKtBxR28HFOqjGpaWq09TsHRPiCd_OmQs




6) Lisa Burke and Alison Stein are our community outreach - they work with Luz. 

Luz is organizing specific items for our Refugees so keep an eye out for their posts/emails

And of course she has an office here for anyone in need in the community

 

VP Events:

 

1) Fun run suggested by our running club teachers. Tentatively: April 3 at 9am.  Marissa will chair and work with Mrs. Leopold and Miss Tipton.

 

2) Amazing Race update

 

Treasurer 

Vote for $150 to technology budget for black print cartridge for work room.  Approved by everyone present.  

 

Chase balance: $64,484.44

PayPal balance: $1,283.53

 

Carnival numbers:

 

spent:$7,842.17

            Income: $14,489.56

     NET: $6,647.39

 

Vote to give preschool/prek shared $100 grade level funds this year.  Approved.

Slon will continue to get $500 per year.

 

Hospitality:

February 14th - special teacher treat morning

 

5th Grade Committee:

T-shirts will be in within the next couple of weeks

5th grade bricks deadline is March 15th

 

Teachers:
Chargers: Fund approved but determining if we can order them from cheaper supplier. SUSD IT wants them from a specific supplier. $2914 for 80 chargers.  

 

Campus Improvements:





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PTO BOARD MEETING MINUTES - January 10, 2022

1/12/2022 12:45 pm

DCES PTO BOARD MEETING 1/10/2022



Present:

Laura Weeshoff - Outgoing President

Katie Makelele - Incoming President

Kim Mills - Principal

Colleen Costello - Vice Principal

Tara McConnell - Treasurer

Marissa Anderson - Secretary

Holly Hooley - VP of Faculty

Jamie McCrensky - VP of Faculty

Krista Kotsovos - VP of Special Projects / Campus Improvements 

Mary Olley - VP of Technology

Beth Williams - VP of Communications 

Alicia Haygood - VP of Communications

Melanie Frisone - VP of Hospitality

Brenda Courtad - VP of Special Projects / Campus Improvements

Rene Johnson

Caroline Magargle

 

Principal Updates

 

Two teachers: Mr. Robinson and Mrs. Sparks re-certified for NBC!!!

North Gate Canopy is up

Fifth grade and Mrs. Sparks have drinking fountains up/functioning

January 25th meeting of SUSD board - for approval of shade/sidewalk

 

Are on campus tours occurring right now for prospective families - Wednesdays outside of school hours;  Tina can tend to the garden; Tara can do chalkboard

 

 

President

PTO General Meeting to follow this meeting

 

 

Carnival 1/21/22

Confirmed pre planned events are ok as long as mitigation strategies are promoted (hand sanitizers at each station, encourage distance while in line, encourage masks, limit number allowed in bounce houses) 

 

Birthday Book Club

Lisa will coordinate with the library to allow students to pick out their own books. Other items delivered to students in classroom

 

Chinese New Year classroom parties

No visitors or volunteers allowed at this time

 

Chinese New Year Celebration 2/4/22

Pre-planned and outside so ok at this time

We have a food truck and dragon ready for 5pm - so advertise start time as 4:45pm

 

Election: Our Community Engagement committee will create a google form for those interested in positions for next year, including: Name, grades of children, position they are interested in for next year and why, backup position they are interested in.  If Election is March I think we need to get going on getting our nominations and interested parents. 

 

Book Fair - gifted funds - $175 to teachers, 11 have finalized their orders / spent almost $1900 and Emily is following up with the others. 




VP Special Projects

 

Teachers prioritized outdoor shade and additional funding for a part time aide for oversized classrooms.  All teachers who responded wanted more shade, half of teachers who responded wanted part time aide.

 

Krista and Brenda met this morning to discuss shade and playground options

 

Tree for 5th grade - Brenda will get quote and turn it into Sharon

 

Permanent signs for bus lane, pick up/ drop off lane etc. before August; district may place them

 

 

VP Treasurer

 

  • Raised $65k year to date
  • Banking balances
    • Chase $50,827.93
    • PayPal $2,542.52
  • PTO Votes from email: YES to Slon room parent funds +$180
  • History of spending for aides

    21/22 ($13,463)

    Computer lab

    $7541

     

    21/22 ($13,463)

    Playground

    $5922

     

    20/21 ($27,625)

    Playground

    $3710

     

    20/21 ($27,625)

    Reading intervention

    $10,343

    Now paid from results based funding

    20/21 ($27,625)

    Front desk

    $13,571

    Now paid by school

    19/20 ($21,532)

    Computer lab

    $5860

     

    19/20 ($21,532)

    2nd computer lab

    $2980

     

    19/20 ($21,532)

    Reading intervention

    $9324

    Now paid by school

    19/20 ($21,532)

    Playground

    $3369

     

 

VP Events

  • Carnival: 1/22
    • ​​On track with vendors & food
    • —Organized the booth props last week and found the leftover prizes in the PTO closet so we’re in good shape
    • —We have 2 sponsors so far for our sponsor booths (Mattisinko & Firemark)
    • —No raffle
    • —Volunteers- sent out sign ups this week - need to advertise this big time
    • —Need to send lots of reminders to pre purchase wristbands/tickets - buy early to avoid the lines!
    • —Need overall help promoting carnival - social media, emails, texts.  We can hang flyers on campus and will send another flyer
  • Family Fun Night: Papa Johns 1/29
  • Gala: Need to pinpoint a day for the gala/auction since the original discussed date of 4/15 doesn’t work.  Committee to be organized to help with event.  New date 4/22
  • Amazing Race:  Krista would like a committee to help. Kick off/soft launch at Chinese New Year

 

VP Technology

  • Update date of Chinese New Year on website with info; Update new chair of Gala  - Renee Johnson
  • Update parent listings

 

VP Communications

  • Krista needs a committee for Amazing Race - please advertise
  • Also Gala committee 

  

VP Teachers

  • 3s and 4s again next year
  • Thanks from teachers for shade structures, donuts, and Mrs. Sparks Water Bottle fillers.  
  • Is it possible to replace Keurig and have additional creamers
  • Clarification needed on chargers.  Once we get a number, we will vote on it.  District is not paying for extra chargers, so PTO will need to.
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