Vinal School PTO Meeting Minutes

September 4th, 2024

  • Welcome from Susan Davis (President) 

  • Introductions

  • Motion to vote in Katie Kenney as VP of Communications - Approved

  • Community Events:

    • Slushy Social was a success: Went through over 240 plushies! Lots of younger families. 

    • During Kindergarten Orientation we provided popsicles and t-shirts for the K class. 

    • UPCOMING - Save the Date: Oct 2 - Stay n’ Play

    • UPCOMING Trunk of Treat to replace the Spooky Walk. Information coming soon!

  • Communications:

    • PTO sends email communications - list comes from front office if you have approved the PTO to receive contact information in Aspen. 

    • Vinal Voice: Mr T’s weekly correspondence - we have a PTO corner in this correspondence. 

    • Join the Vinal PTO Facebook group!

    • Many of the individual graduating classes have FB groups - search for your child's class. 

    • The PTO website is amazing an up to date with calendar of events and volunteer opportunities 

    • Welcome board in School Lobby: Volunteer Opportunity!If folks want to come and help with this - it’s an option! Needs to be refreshed regularly.

    • Sandwich board at pick up / drop off. Volunteer Opportunity!This is another role for folks to keep updated - just for when there are upcoming events.

    • Vinal School Directory: this is done annually. Information on teachers / classes/ contacts to families. We sell ad space to keep this free for families - please share this with local businesses to help support keeping this resource free. Information is on the website to make it really easy. We will have an online version that’s an app on your phone as well - this will be a fun enhancement to the directory.

    • We will be sending a small packet home to all families that have a school calendar magnet. We can sell this to non-Vinal families to recoup costs

    • Student dismissal pads - these can be sent in a child back pack. These will be given out  free to families at events.

  • In School Enrichment:

    • Teacher first day lunch was greatly appreciated: Temperance Pizza food truck

    • Coordinating the mini grants for teachers: $300 for each teacher to enrich learning in the classroom.

    • Stock the teachers room: Volunteer Opportunity! This is a great option for someone with a smaller amount of time that helps immensely. Monthly restock for the room. This cost is covered by the PTO.

    • PTO helps to coordinate field trips and grade level enrichment. PTO helps cover for the in school assemblies as well.

    • If you know a topic, local authors, etc - shoot over an email as we begin to plan the events. Word of mouth finds great options!

    • Celebration Book: Helps to give back to the library, while celebrating the kids with their name and photo in the book - more information on the website. 

    • Picture Day - Sept 20th! We will use a new vendor - and some of the proceeds come back to the PTO - usually a couple of thousand dollars! Volunteer Opportunity! Looking for a lead on picture day to help coordinate with the teachers - logistics day of.

  • Treasurer

    • Fiscal year ended Aug 31. Working on filing taxes. 

    • This is the PTO community money - Danielle will share a full report at each event so folks are aware where the funds are being used. 

    • Volunteer Opportunity! If you are a finance person and want to help / advise - all help is appreciated. 

  • Fundraising

    • Annual Dues: What the heck, write the check is going away. We will move to a dues process instead. This is something that our friends at Cole have done. Annual dues cover bus fees, and at least 1 field trip entry fee per student. This will cost ~$30k to cover these fees. PTO hopes  to cover more per student, we will know total coverage once the fundraising is done. Suggested fee is $80 per student.  This can be done on the site, check or Venmo.

    • Dues, while highly encouraged and appreciated, are not required. There are families that may not be comfortable with this cost and that is more than okay. We will fundraise to cover the cost of families that are not able to contribute.

    • From Mr. T: If your family is experiencing hardship or in need of financial support, please reach out to Mr. T. There are programs available to support the community. 

    • Monthly Restaurant Night: Panera fundraiser on Sept 19. Will do this once a month.

    • Moms Kick Ball: Sept 29th

    • Book Fair: We are moving away from Scholastic and onto Buttonwood Books to provide a higher quality literature. Teachers will select the books and we’re supporting a local business. Volunteer Opportunity! This requires families to help set up and do checkout. 

    • Teachers will continue to do monthly Scholastic to support their classrooms.

    • Fun Run: Nov 7th. Mr Leonard helps lead this. This Is one of our largest fundraisers - over $20k that really helps with the teacher grants. The prizes go to the classroom, not to the student: Pajama days, reading with Mrs T, extra recess time, etc.

    • Band Night at Tinker’s Son on Nov 14th - Road Soda - a band that is made up of Cole and Vinal Dads - will headline again. 

Other:

    • Curriculum Night Sept 19th: same night as Panera! We will have a PTO table to answer questions and promote events

    • PTO covers beautification. We had mulch and clean up donated by a local landscaper.

    • Square 1 Art will be back this year.

    • Grant Writing: Thank you to our new volunteer Sheerin who will be helping to lead this year! 

  • Open Volunteer Opportunities:

    • Volunteer Opportunity! Room Parents Coordinator : Teachers coordinate. We’d love to have a coordinator to bridge the PTO to room parents.

    • Volunteer Opportunity!  Teacher Appreciation Week Lead

    • Volunteer Opportunity!  Staff Lounge restock lead

    • Volunteer Opportunity!  Picture Day Liaison

Mr. T’s Update:

  • Thank you to the PTO for decorating the outside, and painting the hop scotch, etc.

  • We are lucky to have such a great relationship with PTO

  • Check to ensure your CORI is up to date and on file. It’s good for 3 years. This is good for classroom support.

  • For field trips you need to be fingerprinted - this is good for life.

  • We got new bleachers in the gym on the way - hopefully will be installed over December break.

  • New cafeteria tables are coming. Tables will fit 12 kids instead of 10

  • Mr T and Mrs. Egan did home visits for new families and entering K kids. 50ish families at homes, plus 16 on the playground! 

  • The current Strategic Plan was through 2025 and is coming to the end of life. A new  Strategic initiative is underway. We’ve had Administrative, Teacher, Family and Student focus groups. Mr. Keegan will send an email for a parent focus group to be held soon. The purpose of the Strategic Plan is to guide the next 5 - 10 years of Norwell Schools.

  • Part of the strategy will likely include that the district is looking at a new high school - if we partner with the state they cover ~50% of cost. This updated Strategic Plan  is likely to impact this - so please participate.

  • Curriculum Night: This is meant as a time to meet the teachers - Vinal follows more of an open house model. We give you the curriculum and it’s all on the website. Come meet your child's teacher, see the classroom. See what their day looks like. The school will be divided and time slots will be split by alphabet for parking reasons.