Marlow PTA
John D. Perkins, Sr. Elementary School
919 NH Rt. 10
Marlow, NH 03456

PTA Meeting Minutes - September 11, 2006

The meeting was called to order at 3:15 pm with 10 members and 4 staff present.

Introductions

The meeting opened with introductions and a welcome to the new parents and staff. This was the largest group in attendance in a very long time!

Treasurer’s Report

The treasurer’s report was read and accepted as presented. As of August 23, 2006 the balance in the account was $552.91.

Election of Officers

New officers for the 2006/2007 school year were elected. The officers are listed below:

• President: Nancy Tomasko
• Vice President: Sarah Henderson
• Secretary: Stephanie Tickner
• Treasurer: Beth LaFreniere

Fall Fundraiser

This year the fundraiser will again be done through Genevieve Company. Packets will go home with students on Friday, September 15. It will run from September 15 to October 2. This is the only fundraiser the PTA does. The PTA gets 50% of all sale profits. Last year’s net was $2100.

Playground

New Equipment - Nancy mentioned that the tires were taken off the playground at the end of the summer. The PTA playground fund currently has $854.89, and she suggested that the PTA look into purchasing a new piece of equipment for the playground, such as monkey bars. Discussion followed around playground safety requirements, the high cost of playground equipment, student interests and insurance issues. Nancy will begin researching through catalogs for more information on equipment and bring this information to the next PTA meeting.

Maintenance - Marcia asked if there is money in the regular school budget to maintain the existing playground equipment. She would like to see the nets replaced on the basketball hoops. Stephanie will ask this question at the school board meeting on Wednesday, September 13.

Fence - Mrs. Peterson mentioned that she would like have fence installed around the playground, especially where the playground connects with the staff parking area and on the side facing Route 10. She feels this is an important safety concern, and wondered where the money would come from. Several parents agreed that this is very important. Mrs. Peterson will bring this question to the school board meeting.

Loam - Marcia mentioned that loam was donated and delivered by Dudak’s over the summer. She will send them a thank you note for the donation. Unfortunately the grass that was planted did not come in very well. Discussion followed on the best time to plant grass seed. New members were also updated on the reason for the loam delivery. This was done to level out the field, cover some of the rocks, make it look nicer and make it easier to mow.

Health Initiative

Shelli mentioned that the SAU is focusing on health and fitness this year, and she would like the PTA to sponsor monthly challenge hikes to help kids get more active. Her idea is to have themed hikes of at least a mile long, with a letterbox feature explaining interesting details about the area of the hikes. A title for the hikes could be “Passport to Marlow”, and students could hike out, find the letterboxes, learn area information, and stamp their “passports”. She and her husband have already been designing a history hike in the village and a beaver habitat hike on the trail behind the Odd Fellows. It would be great to connect with families, teachers and other town groups such as the Conservation Commission and the Historical Society for more ideas and to create more hikes. Ideally she would like to have enough hikes to do one a month. This would be a dual focus of fitness and information on Marlow.

Hikes could either be with families or group hikes to involve more students. Discussion followed on an appropriate reward for participating, such as t-shirts, hiking shoe pins, or maybe even pedometers. Marcia mentioned that Lois London might be a good resource for coming up with grant money for pedometers. Another idea would be to compile a book of all the hikes and then sell them at the Marlow Harvest Fest and Christmas on the Pond. Proceeds could then go to a local organization such as the Historical Society or the Conservation Commission.

Scheduling - We need a total of 9 hikes to do one a month. Shelli and Dan have almost finished their two hikes. The town walk can be done in September. We need to find more volunteers to design hikes.

Other Ideas - Other fitness activities could be the Walk Across New Hampshire event that Marlow joined late last year (Beth will look into this), a skating party and snowshoeing.

Supermarket Fundraisers

Marcia and Nancy reminded everyone to look into the supermarket (and store) fundraisers in Keene. Price Chopper, Hannaford’s and Target all have fundraisers where you can earn money for the school based on what you spend. Marcia said she will hang posters in the post office and mention it in the church bulletin. Nancy suggested sending information home with students as well.

Enrichment

Marcia informed the new staff about how fundraising money has been broken down in the past with 50% for enrichment, 10% for field trips, 20% for capital reserve and 10% for the general operations fund. She asked Mrs. Peterson to ask staff at the next staff meeting if they are still interested in the enrichment money, adding that the funds are for enrichment activities or items not covered by the regular budget, excluding field trips. We will know how much enrichment money there will be in early October.

Fall Activities

Thanksgiving Dinner - Marcia asked if we would still like to do this. After explaining the history of this event, everyone agreed that we should hold the dinner. It is an important community event. It will be held Monday, November 13. Marcia will chair this, with help from Shelli and Tom. Shelli will look for her list of past food use. Nancy will do forms to ask for small food donations. The PTA will donate the turkeys and ask for pie donations. Sarah, Tom, Lynn and Beth will cook turkeys. In the past, grades 5 and 6 peeled and mashed potatoes, grades 3 and 4 made decorations, grades 1 and 2 made pumpkin bread and kindergarten made cranberry sauce.

Christmas Craft Workshop - This event was not hosted by the PTA last year due to small numbers of volunteers, but teachers were able to host it. Discussion followed on quantity vs. quality of the crafts and having students rushing around trying to do all the crafts. It was agreed that this is a good event for the kids and that volunteers will come up with one craft each, rather than having a small team do everything. Lynn, Sarah, Tracy and Beth volunteered to come up with crafts. The date will be determined at a later meeting.

Other

Fundraiser Money for Field Trips - Shelli mentioned for new staff that 10% of the money from the fundraiser goes towards field trips. This money is divided on a per pupil basis. Historically it has been about $2.50-$3.00 per student.

School Spirit - Sarah mentioned that she would like to have a school spirit week at some point. This used to be done in the past, and it would be nice to get it going again.

Newsletter - Tracy suggested that it might be a good idea to have a PTA newsletter. The PTA had done a newsletter in the past. Mrs. Peterson mentioned that she has been talking to the staff about a school newsletter. She thought it might be a good idea to include a PTA portion in the school newsletter. It was agreed that this would be a good idea. Frequency of a newsletter will be decided later.

Cheshire Smiles - Marcia asked if the PTA would like to sponsor the Cheshire Smiles fluoride rinse program again this year. Last year the cost was $85, and it is anticipated that the cost will be about $90 this year. It was agreed that the PTA should support this program.

Next Meeting

Monday, October 9, 2006, 3:00 pm

Meeting was adjourned at 4:20 pm.