Dec 9 Meeting Notes

PiE December Meeting

Attendees:  K. Lake, J. O’Hara, J. Goldsmith, A. Miller, A. Frost, C. Wuthrich, A. Broussard, T. Jones

12.9.15

PiE approved the funding to purchase healthy snacks for 30 families over the school break.

●      Aimee to secure items from Lantmans and deliver to HCS on 12/14

●      Lantmans will invoice PiE

Donations of wrapping supplies have been requested to accompany wish list gifts for 30 HCS families

●      Donations are due Monday, 12/14 and should be dropped off at the Main Office.

Family Dance - 4/1/16

●      Tanya Jones has begun planning for the Family Dance

●      Date has been confirmed and booked

●      DJ has been booked

●      Tanya is investigating cost to rent a photo booth and will be soliciting sponsors to cover cost

●      Aimee and Tanya to meet over winter break and/or early January to map out planning

●      PiE is looking for a planning committee for Decorations, Food and Promotion

●      Notice to be included in January Viking

Student Directory plans are under way.  Thank you Kate Dodge!

●      Providing your student/information is optional

●      All families will receive a directory

The PiE bulletin will be changed out over the winter break and will stay up through February

●      The group discussed dividing the bulletin board area to include permanent displays on:

○      (1) How fundraising dollars are invested (could be repurposed for principal report, viking and other communications)

■      Finance Committee to discuss how this could be visually represented

○      (2) Events

Bulletin Board Schedule

Jan/Feb	Theme:  Winter	Update over Winter Break
March	Theme:  Family Dance	Update over Feb break
April/May	Theme:  TBD	Update after Family Dance
June	Theme:  Thanks	Update end of May

           

The group discussed continuing to support the HCS Angel/Star Fund

●      Star fund provides last minute, supplies to students and families

●      PiE will level fund in 15/16;  contributed $500 last year (J. Goldsmith to confirm)

PiE is considering an Dessert with the Principals evening event in February

●      Format could be similar to September PiE meeting with Q&A

○      Allegra and Jeff to discuss content and format

●      Act 46 could also be a topic

○      A panel discussion, offering different viewpoints (principal, teacher, parent, etc.)  was suggested

●      A discussion around academics was also suggested

Upcoming Dates:

●       Monday, 1/4: HCS Board Budget Mtg - Spanish/French Room 5:30 - 7:30 PM

●       Thursday, 1/21/16: PiE All Partner Meeting- Flex Space 6:30-7:30

○      Focus planning for 2nd half of school year

PiE All Partner Meeting Nov. 19

 PiE November Meeting

Attendees:  K. Lake, K. Dodge, B. Spaulding, P. Rocheleau, J. O’Hara, A. Douglas, J. Goldsmith, S. Riley, A. Miller, K. Miskavage, A. Frost

11.19.15

Fall Grants

For the 2015/2016 Fall Grant period there is $3,300 to give away towards grants

5 individuals or groups of HCS staff requested grants

Finance committee reviewed applications prior to this evening’s meeting

●      Appreciate tiered grant requests which allows flexibility in making decisions

At the meeting, the group present approved grant requests totaling $ 3,300 - as detailed below in GREEN for 'go!'

1. 5th grade - Paul Rocheleau: Visiting artist / Crankie project $800 requested

●      Presented in-person by Paul Rocheleau to the group

●      APPROVED "up to $800"

Requested funds will go towards:

●      Hiring artist with local roots to be a music and visual art resource to make a cranky, subject American Revolution

●      Art supplies/materials;l need more materials this year vs. past years

●      Popular project that students look forward to participating in

●      Entire school will get experience music

2. K-8 - Corinna Stanley: MakerSpace expansion $600

●      Presented by Kristin Miskavage and Jeff O’Hara on behalf of applicant

●      APPROVED w/majority funding from Imagine AfterSchool Program (per J. O’Hara's email to Corinna: Imagine is funding $550 leaving PiE needing to fund "up to $75" - all expenses to be submitted via J. O’Hara.)

●      Would be in the library (not signed out)

●      Kids could use it during library time, after school, or maybe during classroom time

●      Teachers are excited about this opportunity

●      Materials will be available to all kids, not limited to Imagine students after school

3. K-2+ - Ali Karmosky, Kate Myhre, Miranda Johnson: Seating Options/Attention & Mindfulness training $650

●      Presented in-person by Ali Douglas

●      APPROVED "up to $650"

●      Additional seating options for students giving them movement options

●      Stadium cushions, disco seat/ sit cushion, stepping stools, yoga ball or peanut ball

●      Group will train students and teachers on how to use items

●      Discussed adding bar codes (from library) to track items as they move throughout the school

4. K-8 - Danielle Sertz, Niel Maurer: Amplifier and cords  $500

●      Presented by Kristin Miskavage on behalf of applicants

●      APPROVED "up to $500"

●      Would use during classroom time, graduation, and performances

5. 7-8 - Tom Darling, Barb Spaulding: Sewing machines $400*/T-shirt Project up to $400 / Skating & UVM visit $500 (sub-total: $400-1,300. *may be awarded via NEA grant submitted or private donation.)

●      Presented in-person by Barb Spaulding

●      APPROVED "up to $400" each for sewing machines and  T-shirt project.  $500 for skating/UVM visit

●      Re-established humanity team is teaching life skills

●      7th-8th grade represents 20% of school population

●      During last year’s UVM trip, several students will exposed to a college environment for the first time

Grants Requested & Approved	Amount	Comments
Cranky	$800
Maker Space	$600
Amplifier & cords	$500
Seating Options	$650
Sewing Machines	$400	have a NEA grant request; if approved, PiE will not fund this request
Tshirt project	$400
UVM Trip	$500
Subtotal	$3,850
Donation from Imagine towards Maker Space	-$550	approved by Jeff O’Hara
GRAND TOTAL	$3,300

Motion to approve grants raised by Stacy Riley

Motion was seconded by Kate Doge

Motion approved by group

Grant recipients were notified in person by K. Miskavage and A. Frost on 11/20/15

Grant recipients should work through Finance Committee and Jeff/Allegra to receive approved funding

All grant funds must be applied before the end of the 2015/2016 school year (or the end of the Spring semester)

Holiday Giving Program- Support Needed

Amy Anderson, HCS social worker, has asked for PiE support for HCS families in need during the holiday season.

1.     Request is for gift wrapping supplies: wrapping paper, holiday bags, tags, ribbon, tissue paper, decorative boxes, etc.

2.     Healthy snacks for students over the school break

Aimee Frost to put out collection boxes for requested items and to distribute information to parents via classroom e-newsletters/communication and via social media

PiE All Partner Meeting Oct. 15

Attendees:  K. Lake, K. Gordon, T. Jones, J. Goldsmith, C. Wuthrich, J. O’Hara, K. Dodge, A.Frost

Reflection on Past Months

Building appreciation and showing thanks is a focus for this year.

●      Carla created a google sheet to remember individuals or groups that should be thanked and if and when they have been thanked.

o      Document has been shared with PiE ambassadors via Google Share.  This group can and should add to the list. 

o      Carla has been adding names to the list; piloting the role of “Class Partner”, you can identify people or groups who made a contribution to the school by reading class blogs or letters.

●      Aimee shared that it would be great to have PiE postcards that could easily be sent as a thank you.

o      She shared a postcard designed by Tomlynn Biondi (thanks Tomlynn!)

o      Jeff suggested using student artwork or photos

Jeff reviewed the Principal Notes that were shared at the 10/13/15 school board meeting

K-2 Open House and Spaghetti Dinner

●      Tickets worked well; supported effort to maintain anonymity of families who received tickets ahead of time

●      Did not track ticket sales so don’t have a good sense of how many people attended

o      For future dinners/events, suggest tracking ticket sales to assist future planning

o      A plan is in place to track ticket sales for the UA Harvest Dinner

▪       Creating a structured tally sheet for Harvest Dinner attendance and arrival time

Hinesburgh Public House Community Supper

●      Raised $810

●      Add Public House to thanks list -done

●      Suggest changing timing to November or later in the year when there are fewer school activities

o      This year (2015) only October was available

Plans & Support – Oct/Nov

UA Night/ Harvest Dinner – Thursday, 10/29

●      Would like to have greeters at Harvest Dinner to welcome visitors and to help direct traffic, explain dinner vs. open house

●      Doug to send principals sign up genius to send school wide

●      Doug will send Jeff list of activities for middle school students

●      Entertainers for dinner

Plans & Support – 2016

HCS Directory

●      Kate to connect with Maureen Blanck to see if she is willing to create the directory again this year

●      Kate is looking for someone to train for future directories (beyond 2015/2016); if you are interested, contact Kate.

●      In the past, parents entered directory info into Google Forms.  

o      Jeff suggested asking for parent permission at Fall parent/teacher conference to include their info from school records

●      Finance group suggested that the directory could be a revenue opportunity if they sold ads.

o      For 2015/2016, will not solicit advertisers because are seeking advertisers for school play program

T-shirt/ Spirit Wear

●      Tanya working on plans for student t-shirt design contest/ fundraiser

o      Will benefit PiE and will outfit the school in spirit wear

●      Preliminary plans are:

o      Design contest open to all 5-8 middle school students; designs would be due beginning of January

o      T-shirts will be pre-ordered so no cost output

o      How do we decide who wins?

o      Does the winner get a prize?  Ideas included a gift card or gift certificate, maybe to art shop

Committee Updates

Family Dance

●      Date is set for Saturday, 4/1/16;  this was a very popular community event last year, enjoyed by students and parents!

●      Looking for 3-5 people to plan the dance portion of the event

o      Planning to start in January

o      Basket fundraiser is covered, so planning committee can focus on the dance

o      Tanya has materials from last year and will share with new committee members

●      If you are interested, contact Aimee, Carla or Tanya

Finance Committee

●      Jim shared that the Finance committee has discussed whether PiE should change how funding is distributed

o      Currently, majority goes to teacher accounts; two payments twice a year

o      This model was implemented a few years ago

●      Jim to prepare overview of current distribution model and present at school budget forum meeting where PiE can solicit feedback and recommendations

Health/Wellness/Nutrition/Garden planning committee is looking for new members to help plan activities

●      If you are interested, contact Aimee, Carla , Heidi Simkins (simkins@mindspring.com) or Susan Lepple (leppsystem@gmail.com)

Staff Appreciation

●      Ali Douglas, Kerry Lake, Nancy Wood and Marsi Foster will lead the Staff Appreciation planning committee.  Thank you!

Communication Committee?

●      There was discussion around whether PiE should create a communication committee

●      Alternative would be to document communication processes and best practices

o      Some documentation exists

o      Carla has focal points from last year, this could be a starting point

	2015-16		2014-2015
	Kate Dodge	Website	Kate Dodge
	Carla Wuthrich (or Kate Dodge)	Facebook	Carla Wuthrich/AliDouglas
	Jeff OHara, Kate/Kim Gordon for Finance/Fundraising	Viking	Jeff O'hara
	_________ __________	HRecord FrontPorchForum
	_________ -	Bulletin Board	Tanya Jones

School Requests

●      Cafeteria is collecting Shaw’s stickers for new silverware

o      If you have any, consider donating them to the cafeteria

●      School is also looking for stadium cushions (camping chairs) and exercise/yoga balls

o       If you have any you would like to donate, contact Ali Douglas (littletreetherapy@gmail.com)