Attendees:
Jacki Geoghegan
Angel Rafter
Paul Pirozzi
Mitch Sylves-Berry
Amada Reimundez
Dancy Balestrieri
Andrea Gottschall
Christina Grillo
Juliana Aloia
Thomas Lipping
Jen Povman
Fiona Galloway
Katie Scully
Nitasha Kumar
Sheila Emery Murphy
Karen Kuhn
Lauren McBride
Kelley Anniccherico
Samantha Ford
Pam Louis
Tara Schatzel
-Welcome:
Our meeting was called to order at 8:39 A.M. by Jacki.
-Budget:
Angel and Kelley distributed copies of a more comprehensive budget. We are waiting to hear from NY State PTA and or the IRS for the OK to roll the middle school budget into our overall budget. Kelley requested that checks be submitted for deposit within a week of your event (or receiving the checks) to avoid any bank fees for returned checks to our account. The board discussed and agreed that box top campaigns should continue to be administrated by each school, and not centralized to the PTA.
-PTA Planning:
Jacki asked the board to consider who will return. We need a new President, Treasurer, and Secretary. All volunteers please email Jacki/Angel. Dancy suggested adding a book fair chair position to the board.
-TASH Springtime Presence
Christina Grillo spoke with TASH (farmers market at Patriot Park). They are OK if Horsemen PTA sets up a table at their Saturday event in the spring and fall. Christina suggested a table with crafts, face painting and other games from the hours of 8:30-2PM. Please consider volunteering some time for this event. June 10th is the first date on the TASH calendar. High School students can receive community service credit for their volunteer efforts. Please email cdgrillo@gmail.com to volunteer.
-Fundraising
Donna has been researching a bulb/flower sale fundraiser. Samples from different vendors were passed around and Donna is working on deadline dates, minimum order requirements and other variables. “Flower-Power” vendor ships direct to customers, have a 10 day turnaround, and charges $6 for shipping and handling per order. Tara agreed to research other wrapping paper vendors since Innisbrook no longer provides this service. The board asked if there is an itemization of past wrapping paper results from Charleston Wrap to determine how much was raised from wrapping paper, and how much came from other merchandise. Donna agreed to request this information from our vendor. Donna was able to get this information from the vendor and it appears to be almost 50/50.
The board agreed to a wrapping paper campaign in the fall instead of Yankee Candle. The board agreed that a school supply fundraiser would be difficult to coordinate with the school supply needs/list and the profit margin wouldn’t be worthwhile. Amada suggested a mother/son dance event. Most board members agreed that a mother/son dinner might be better attended. Applebee’s and other restaurants are usually very helpful sponsoring these type events. Amada will look into this.
-Mini Grant
Thank you to Mitch for hosting our mini grant meeting. Approximately $4,500 was meted out in grants. We are waiting to hear from the district’s buildings and Grounds Dept. regarding outdoor play equipment on the East side of the JP building. Four grants were fully funded and four grants were partially funded this year, while managing to stay within our budget.
-School Updates
-MS
Andrea suggested that the middle school was considering creating separate school dances next year for the 6th graders vs. 7th and 8th graders. Spirit Wear is marketing new school specific t-shirts for the middle school, flyers will be distributed soon. If these items sell, Spirit Wear will probably expand the merchandise to include the other schools. The middle school received a new clothing (rolling) rack for the steaming of 8th grade graduation gowns.
-WI
The meeting for WI was postponed until next month due to snow days.
-Morse
Over $1,200 was raised by the Box tops challenge at Morse. An anonymous group donated funds to cover the unpaid school lunch balances at Morse. Thursday March 16th was Math Night, and the event was well attended and went well. Kindness month (March) is currently being emphasized by the staff at Morse. Trip around the community is coming up soon for Morse students.
-JP
The book fair finished up at JP and was very successful. Sales revenue exceeded $8,200 this year, creating a profit margin of more than $2,000. The PJ party was a success with arts and craft events, and volunteer readings. Thanks to Andrea for organizing the many student volunteers. And a huge thanks to Mrs. Barnett and the staff at JP for their support and help with the PJ party and book fair through out the week. The meeting for JP was postponed until next month due to snow days.
-Relay for Life
Jacki advised that this fundraising event is sponsored by the American Cancer Society and will be held June 3rd and 4th. It is an overnight event for the entire community. There are many volunteer opportunities, you can start a team, join a team, or support a team. People can attend the event without camping out if they prefer.
Our meeting adjourned at 10:21 AM, our next meeting is scheduled for Friday April 21st at 8:30 AM.
Horsemen PTA 