Archie T. Morrison PTO

November PTO Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes 11/12/03

Minutes of PTO Meeting
Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Introductions
Lisa Heger introduced herself, Mary Russo and Marie-Anne Baker as co-presidents. She also thanked everyone for coming and the meeting got underway.

Fall Fundraiser Update
The Fall Fundraiser was very successful. The PTO made $1,700.00 over the projected profit for this year. 2,173 items were sold. Kindergarten and second grade sold the most. 53% of the student body participated (which is about average for a fundraiser of this sort). Gross sales per student averaged $94.00. The delivery date for the items is next Thursday, November 20, 2003. Lisa informed the PTO that she would need help unpacking and sorting the items. She asked that people be available around noontime if they were interested in helping. Small orders will be sent home with students on the bus, but big orders will need to be picked up at the school on Thursday evening. The school will be open from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM. If you would like to help please call Lisa at (781) 356-4349.

Halloween Ball Update
Lisa thanked everyone for attending the ball. It was a huge success. She also thanked everyone who donated raffle items. The “in kind” donations from families totaled $865.00 and businesses totaled $135.00. The PTO made $1,048.00 from selling raffle tickets at the ball. Many people helped with set-up, clean up, organization of raffle items, etc. This made things run smoothly. Lisa informed the PTO that many parents stated that they were happy with the split by grade level. The parents of K-2 liked that the older kids were separate. A proposal for next year was quickly discussed: no split at Braintree High School vs. a repeat of this year. A decision was not made at this time. The PTO will have to decide whether they want to have all the students together or split them like this year by the spring. Everyone was in agreement that the Halloween Ball was a good time!

PACE Update
The PACE contract has been executed and a deposit has been given to the company. Mr. Wyatt sent out a message on November 12, 2003 with updates and reminders. By a show of hands, everyone in attendance acknowledged that they received the message.

There were still people against the purchasing of PACE. Concerns were made about the way the PACE system was voted in. Concerns were made that PACE was an administrative cost and that the PTO should not be paying for administrative costs. People stated that it was for the benefit of the children.

Someone suggested that we amend the current By-Laws to require that a ballot go out to everyone so a vote can be conducted. This amendment would be necessary only for a large expenditure. Lisa is going to look into amending the by-laws. Complaints were made that the purchase of this system was not publicized. It was stated by many that it was well publicized in newsletters, the October PTO meeting agenda and the website! It was suggested that the meeting move on. The PACE system has been purchased for this year, and the PTO will have to look at how they approach this issue next year.

It was mentioned that East Middle School could obtain the PACE system for $2.00 per student for a limited number of messages. People at Morrison were concerned that we didn’t have that option and that we had to pay $7.95 per student for unlimited messages. Mr. Wyatt explained that in the beginning the cost would have been $10.00 per student, but after a discussion with PACE we got the rate of $7.95 per student. Lisa Heger contacted PACE to clarify this issue. She was told that East could only get this offer if every school in town was going to try PACE. Currently 4 elementary schools have the system (Morrison, Highlands, Hollis, and Ross).

A parent asked if you could be on the list for PACE for emergencies only. It was stated that you could be on the system for any reason (numerous lists can be created for numerous categories i.e., emergencies, just 5th grade parents, updates, reminders, etc.) A survey will be going out shortly.

Classroom Communication Network Update
Marie-Anne Baker gave an update on the Classroom Communication Network. She stated that there was positive feedback from the teachers. She also stated that she had at least one coordinator for each classroom. She will be getting back to everyone in about a week and half.

Holiday Fair Update
Mary Russo gave any update on the Holiday Fair. People have volunteered to be table captains, and obtaining items for the fair is underway. She said that we were in good shape. She stressed that if you want to get involved with the Holiday Fair to please contact her at (781) 356-8359. Set up for the fair will be on Thursday, December 4, 2003 right after school and the fair will be held on Friday, December 5, 2003. Rich Bielicki stated that he would make sure that there was no basketball practice on Thursday evening.

5th Grade Week Update
The meeting for 5th Grade Week will be held on Tuesday, November 18, 2003 at 7:30 p.m. Lauri Bourikas is coordinating this effort. She can be reached at (781) 849-0428. Lauri stressed parent involvement and welcomed everyone to come to the meeting.

PTO Events Update
The first social event will be on November 21, 2003 for K and 1st grade. It will be an ice cream party. An event for 2nd and 3rd grades will be held in January or February, and an event for 4th and 5th graders will be sometime in March.

Treasurer’s Report
Carol Mahoney gave an update on monthly expenses. She reiterated Lisa’s comment that we did well on the Fall Fundraiser.

Cultural Arts Report
Heidi Coughlin gave a report on the cultural arts programs that have recently come to the school. Laura Ingalls Wilder was presented to 3rd grade on 11/12 and Bubblemania was presented to all grades on 11/6. Both were a huge success. Lisa Heger stated that the PTO received thank you notes from the kids. The notes were available to anyone who wanted to read them on the PTO bulletin board.
A discussion ensued about whether cultural arts program were open to the parents. Someone asked if pictures could be taken at these events. It was discussed that because of privacy issues we needed to be careful what pictures got published in the Forum. The PTO will coordinate with Mr. Wyatt whenever pictures are taken for the paper. He stated that a couple parents taking pictures was okay, but he could not open the programs up to parents because: (1) that is not what the programs are intended for; and (2) there would not be enough room.

School Advisory Report
Debbie Fay explained that the School Advisory meets once a month. She also explained that this is a town wide meeting and that issues that are brought up at that meeting are “common to all schools”. She told the PTO that these meetings are not a place for just Morrison School issues. She stressed that if you have concerns or questions that you want her to bring up at a School Advisory meeting you should contact her at (781) 848-5656 or write her a note.
At the last meeting they discussed: (1) Accreditation of High School; (2) Cable Company spoke; (3) Rotary Club talked about Memory Tree and how it works (last year Morrison School got the most donations – Rotary Club gives the schools 50% of money collected for each school); (4) Thanksgiving Road Race (Debbie has forms); (5) Revamping 4th and 5th grade report cards; (5) Tony King – High School Guidance Counselor spoke about upcoming seminar “College Planning for 4th and 5th Grade Parents” – which will take place sometime in March; (6) Breakdown of where 2003 graduates from Braintree High School went to college; (7) PTO’s from different schools compared notes; and (8) Julie McKinney spoke about PIP.

PIP Update
Julie McKinney spoke to the PTO about a program she runs called PIP (Parent Involvement Program). This is a program that brings students and parents together in math, science and technology. Julie is currently working with a Boston law firm (Holland and Knight) to make PIP a non-profit organization. This program stresses parent involvement. Currently she is working on raising funds for MCAS tutoring for grades 4 and 5. She is also working with MIT to try and get a person to volunteer from MIT to train people for a Robotics Program. This program introduced engineering to young children – as early as 4th grade.

DARE Program Update
Debbie Fay is currently working with the town to try and get some type of DARE program reinstated in the schools. Currently it looks like there will be an 8 week program starting in March. There will be a cost for this program of at least $1,200.00 per school. The PTO hopes to help in funding this program. Debbie is gathering all the information and sharing it with other schools. They may or may not choose to be a part of this program. Debbie is concentrating on getting DARE up and running for Morrison specifically. Her intention is to create a program that will continue for future 5th grade classes as well.
She also informed the PTO that the American Lung Association gives free seminars to children. Mr. Wyatt stated that we currently have scheduled Lungs 101 (through the American Lung Association) for Grade 5 on December 10th.

Box Tops Update
Matthew Callahan from Mr. McCarthy’s class won the basket for October 27th. He passed in 271 Box Tops. Debbie McLaughlin passed in 150 Box Tops and won for staff members. Nikki Shaban has collected 4,975 ($497.50) box tops in total so far this year. The next deadline is Friday, March 26th. Every family that passes in 100 Box Tops from October 28th - March 26th will have their children invited to an ice cream sundae party. Nikki will also award two baskets to the winners (one student; one staff member).

Teacher Comments
The teacher representatives, Mrs. Zopatti and Ms. Lauria, thanked the PTO for the Laura Ingalls Wilder presentation. They said it was great. They also said that Bubblemania was wonderful too. They are still waiting for the “secret formula”! The PTO presidents have been acknowledging the children’s thank you notes. Mrs. Zopatti told the PTO that the children love getting the notes back. The kind acknowledgements encourage the children to write more. The PTO will try and save the thank you notes and give them to their parents.

Winter Bus Issue
There were rumors that we would not be having a winter bus this year. Mr. Wyatt told the PTO that we are the only school to have a winter bus. He stated that this bus is voted on every year. He has concerns that one more bus will not fit. Parents were concerned for safety. Mr. Wyatt stressed that concerned parents should get in touch with Dr. Kurzberg. He stated that alternate bus routes would be going home on November 13, 2003 and that we will know within a week whether there will be a winter bus or not.

Principal Comments
Mr. Wyatt thanked the PTO for the cultural arts programs. They are very appropriate for the curriculum.

He commended the website and how well organized and up-to-date it was. He indicated that it was very informative. Someone asked for the website address: www.neighborhoodlink/org/morrisonpto.

Mr. Wyatt asked the PTO if they would be willing to sell spoons for Project Bread at the Holiday Fair. These spoons would be made by Mrs. Galvin’s 2nd grade classroom. It was recommended that all 2nd grade class rooms be invited to participate. The PTO thought it was a great idea.

Mr. Wyatt asked that parents go through the lost and found (it is overflowing).

He also stressed that children were eating ice cream and not their lunch. He proposed that we sell ice cream at Morrison only once a week. He said that it would be on a trial basis to see how it went. Parents were amenable to the idea. Concerns were made about birthday parties – Mr. Wyatt stated that would be status quo.

People voiced their concerns about lunchroom behavior and behavior in the bathrooms and at recess. More specifically, 5th grade parents expressed concern that children were being punished unfairly and that they did not have open seating at lunch time. Mr. Wyatt explained that lunch time was not a time for socialization – it was a time to eat. He stressed that children were not being punished, but that they needed to follow rules. He also stated that “open seating” doesn’t occur until the half-way point in the school year and that this is something a child earns – it is not a privilege. The 5th graders get 20-25 minutes of recess time – this is the time the children should be socializing.

Someone asked why Student Council was taken away. Mr. Wyatt stated that he wanted to try something new this year. He decided to create a Community Service Core. He stated that in the past the students with the flashy posters and outgoing personalities were the ones to be elected into office. Children were chosen to be a part of this group by writing a paragraph expressing their desire to participate. They also had to be a Homework Hero at least one of the two months this school year. Two people read the paragraphs and 3 students from each 4th and 5th grade classroom were chosen.

Mr. Wyatt announced that the School Council would host a clean-up day. This is tentatively set for Saturday, May 1, 2004. Mr. Wyatt would like to get the Girl Scouts involved again.

PTO Wrap-up
Marie-Anne Baker thanked everyone for coming. She said that a guest speaker from South Shore Mental Health would be coming in soon to talk about “Building Self Esteem in Children”. A tentative date of Wed. Dec. 3rd was discussed.

Door Prize
Alex Heger won the door prize. Alex will be sharing his goodies with Ms. Lauria and his classmates in Room 107.

PTO Banner
Mrs. Guilfoyle’s classroom will have the honor of hanging the PTO banner in their classroom for another month.