Lincoln School PTO Meeting Minutes
September 8, 2015
Meeting called to order by Tammy Travis at 8:46 am. The May 4, 2015 minutes were approved.
Superintendent’s Report Ed Condon
-Welcomed Casey again to the district
-Addressed goals for the year which are: instruction, communication and
safety
-Talked about how we’re still working on the details of Strategic Plan
-Gave a big ‘thank you’ to the PTO for all the enrichment and activities
they provide that help to make school fun and memorable
Principal Report Casey Godfrey
-Thanked everyone for the warm welcome he received to District 90
-Touched on the new family welcome events: yard signs, park date and
family picnic—all of which were a big success
-Reminded everyone to sign up for PTO newsletter and emphasized how
communication is very important to him and helps school community
-MAP testing taking place in grades 2-4 this week and next week in both
Reading and Math (very useful in guiding instruction since it’s done twice
a year)
-Announced that Melinda Cribaro is resigning and staying until the end of
September to help transition Maribeth Kopriva who starts Sept. 23
-The first principal birthday lunch will be held for Aug/Sept birthdays
(kids go to library from 11:15-12:25 to have lunch, take a picture and ask
Casey ANY question they want) *It was mentioned to remind everyone
that this is a NUT FREE lunch*
Teacher Liaison Report Lissa Kiep
-Thanked everyone for the ice during the hot weather
-The BLT (Building Leadership Team) is working with Heartworks to
organize certain students to be “Eagle Eyes” and help supervise kids
after school to keep everyone safe
-Maureen Spielman asked if the staff was still interested in having the
Tennis club implemented at Lincoln and to let Annie Dwyer know
President’s Report Tammy Travis/Amy Dwyer
-Brought back the ‘Post Event Recap Form’ to help track events, stay
organized and transition from year to year
-Consider downloading information to Google Doc to have in one place
-Boomwriter Club-replaced by Coding Club (which is already full)
-Chess Club-changing from meeting every-other month to 6 consecutive
weeks in a row on Wednesdays
-Girls on the Run-first group at Lincoln will begin in February for spring
season. Have to still figure out interest and how to fairly do the sign up
with limited space. Also need to check on gym availability for winter.
Treasurer’s Report Nancy Snyder/Nikki Elza
-Budget presentation will be in red folder in the office for anyone to see
-Procedures for expense reimbursement: blue check request form in
folder and pick up checks will be in front of red folder (unless a large
dollar amount)
-There are also 4 square devices to attach to phones for credit cards to
use at events if needed
-Please give Nancy at least 2 days advance notice to put something up on
the Web Store
-If anyone is interested in taking over the Web Store for Nancy, please let
her or Tammy know
Communications Ann Mills
-Goal is to try and streamline communication this year
-PTO news is now Lincoln Log which is sent out on Sunday evenings
-Deadline for submission is Thursday
-Suggested to give a job description of each PTO position on the website
so people have a better idea of commitment and expectations
Fundraising
-School supplies (Ann Mills)
-some confusion in that many families thought district fees
covered school supplies (discussed how to prevent this)
-Fun Lunch (Amy Hansmann)
-smooth start thus far, using a sticker system for first few weeks
-60% ordered for full year and 40% ordered for half year
-Movie Night (Amy Dwyer for Missy D’Alise/Krista Lambe)
-will take place on Sept 18 at 6:30 with a rain date on Sept. 25
-having a ‘zero waste event’, so bring own water bottles, bowls for
popcorn, etc (cookies will be for sale)
-Spiritwear (Jackie Holland)
-getting started with some online orders
-placed a big order for Pancake breakfast
-remains of adult sizes were placed in teacher lounge for 50% off
-idea to have a Spiritwear contest every Friday between grade
levels with small prizes awarded
-online orders are already labeled and packaged for easy
distribution
Instruction and Extra Curricular
-FLIP (Vickie Freund)
-registration closes on Sept 11 and classes begin Sept 14
-125 students are registered
-have hired a new Spanish teacher-Ana Sanchez
-Coding Club (Tammy Travis for Annmarie Clasky)
-seems to be very popular and was emphasized that this was not
a ‘making video game’ coding club, but more of a design code
-Art Appreciation (Tammy Travis for Jean Beacom/Cristin Duffy)
-they will be holding a meeting soon
-Theater Club (Kristin Collins)
-deadline to register is Sept 25
-Authors/Assemblies (Tammy Travis for Lisa Shorney/Lori Suzuki)
-Imagination Theater is coming on Sept 18 with a “Show Some
Respect” presentation and will also incorporate the Buddy Bench
In a skit
-Kindergarten-2nd is at 12:45 and 3rd and 4th is at 1:45
-Halloween storyteller will be the same as last year
Social, Community and Hospitality
-Lincoln Links (Tammy Travis for Peter Chien/Stephanie Rath)
-Welcome signs for new families was a big hit as were all of the
new family activities
-Teacher Back to School gifts for classrooms (Karen Goldberg)
-teachers received cash last year to help off set the out of pocket
expenses they have, so that will be the same as last year ($100)
-First day of school coffee was a great turnout
-Room Parents (Tammy Travis for Suzanne D’Agostino)
-Suzanne is the coordinator and will be having a training meeting
for them soon
-Lunchtime Leaders (Tammy Travis for Dee Dee Carr/Annie Dwyer)
-Starts next week and the schedule is still being tweaked, but lots
of interest
-Hearworks (Tammy Travis for Christine Khaledan/Katie Avalos)
-putting together a schedule to meet after school this year
C4K Maureen Spielman
-Buddy Bench will finally be getting installed
-a brief summary of the committee and its purpose was shared for all
of the new faces in the room (main emphasis on promoting SEL)
-only 20-30 people have been attending the guest speakers, so trying to
shift the focus and using the speakers to teach the teachers during
an inservice day
-the next C4K meeting is at Marueen’s house on Sept 25 in the morning
Green4Good Laura Maychruk
-Laura gave a brief summary of club for new people in the room
-currently doing an inventory so she just has to make one big order
-remind room parents that there are supplies to be used for parties
-her committee will meet either this week or next
-there is a possibility of a Halloween Costume swap
-Waste Free Wednesdays-no start date yet
-Native Garden proposal by Mrs. Burns was discussed. Estimated
start-up costs to be about $2500 which the PTO approved to fund.
Board Liason Report Nikki Elza
-Summarized points from Board of Education meeting
New Business
-Maureen Spielman asked about results of PARCC tests, which Ed
Condon addressed saying they were still completing their data
Analysis.
-Casey mentioned there would only be one spring assessment in
March and it would also be a shorter test than last year
-Nikki Elza announced the meeting to discuss the Lake/Park
development will take place on Sept 21 at 7pm
Next Meeting Date
-October 5 at 7pm in Lincoln Conference room
-Casey mentioned having it in the new addition to try and entice anyone
to come and get as good of a turnout as the first meeting!
Meeting adjourned at 10:14 am.
Minutes complied by: Kristin Bailitz