Panther Pride

PTG Notes

Meeting:  September 20, 2006

 

 Those Present:

Vice Principal Jody Coughlin

PTG Board Members: President Marie Ricard, Vice President Lisa Miller, Secretary Cheryl Wood, Treasurer Laura Benevides, BoxTops/ Fund Raiser Coordinator Stephanie Berard, Donations Coordinator Melinda Asprey and Past President and Sub-Committee Coordinator Christine Sullivan.

Teachers: Mary Barry (K), Kelly Jobel (4th gr), Kerrie Moynihan (5th gr), Kelly Fleming (5th gr), Heidi Rivard (Title One), and Betsy Gay (Paraprofessional).

Parents: Christina Borges, Emily Tendler, Tracey Chapdelaine, Michael Chapadelaine, Sherylin St.Onge, Amy Sanborn, Jen Valente, Karen Munt and Stacey Lunderville.

 

Introductions and Welcoming of New Board Members and Attendees: 

New PTG board members include Laura Benevides (Treasurer), Jill Aangnos (Volunteer Coordinator) and Melinda Asprey (Donations Coordinator).  New Teachers include Ms. Forseze (K), Jennifer Hogan (4th) and Gail Wheeler (Specialist).

 

SecretaryÕs Report:

            Minutes for May 10th meeting were available, reviewed and accepted.

 

Treasurers Report and Allotment information:

Financial report was available, reviewed and accepted.  Note to Teachers; annual $150 allotment is available and does not carry over.  Please submit slips for non-consumables to get money.

 

Fundraiser Update:

Kickoff is Sept. 26th 10am in the gym.  The packets due back to school Oct. 9th.   Purchased items to be back to school week of Nov. 13th - 17th.

 

Boxtops for Education:

Looking for large containers (ice cream buckets, large plastic folder, etc) to save individual classroom items in.  Suggestions and or donations would be useful.  Each boxtop or label must contain childÕs mane and teachers name in order for credit to be given.  Contest right now is for a classroom Halloween Party.

 

Need new ideas for incentives: Looking for input and ideas to change things up.  Pizza parties and ice cream parties are stagnant.  Want to get kids excited about contests.  Parent ideas are needed.  Contact Stephanie at the PTG website; (Parker_Varney_PTG@yahoo.com) with ideas and or questions.

 

Funding Factory: 

Ink cartridges, laser printer cartridges, old cell phones are items that can be donated to generate money for PV.  Money earned through this is generally used to purchase technology for the school.  Items can be dropped off at PV or at Kings Lanes in Pinardville.  Questions contact Kelly Jobel.

 

Open House Sept. 28th 6:30pm - 8pm: Parents and children invited to attend.  Grades

K-2 will have presentations in their respective classrooms from 6:30 to 7:00.  Principal Callanan will hold a meeting in the gym for all parents from 7:00 to 7:30.  Grades 3-5 will have presentations in their respective classrooms from 7:30 to 8:00.  Parents, please remember this is an open house, for the students and teachers to talk about what they are doing.  This is not an individual parent/teacher conference for parents to discuss their children. 

 

Bake sale: Grades 4 and 5 will be having a bake sale during the event.  Items on the table regarding this include: each class keeping money earned by that class for themselves, pooling money from all bake sales to be split equally among all classes at the end of the year, or donating all money generated from event for a ÒFix-The-PlaygroundÓ fund.  Parents and Teachers are encouraged to voice their opinions.  Also addressed was the issue of providing healthy alternatives to the normal baked items.  PV wants to be proactive in addressing health concerns in regards to sweets.

 

New Parker-Varney T-Shirts and Hats to be sold: All sizes available.  Cost will be youth tees $8, adult tees $10 and all hats are $8.  These will be sold at the open house or contact the PTG web address (Parker_Varney_PTG@yahoo.com) to purchase.

 

Volunteers are needed and are being called by Jill Anagnos.  If you would like to volunteer contact Jill at the PTG web address, or make sure and fill out a volunteer form so she can contact you.

 

Parker Varney Website: Parker Varney website is www.mansd.org/parkervarney/index.htm.

Kelly Jobel is working on updating this site.  Interesting items for website can be sent to Kelly to be added.  PTG information will also be located on this site.

 

Parker - Varney Stage area: Last yearÕs Talent Show earned $1600 that is available in the

Repair the Stage fund.  Looking for people who can donate their equipment and time. If you have the skills or know someone who may, please contact the PTG.

 

Popcorn to start October 4th: As of now still using oil.  Popcorn is still $0.25/bag.  May go to

air popping in the future. Looking for volunteers for Wednesday mornings to make popcorn.  Hours are approximately 7:15 to 10 am, need at least three volunteers/Wednesday.  Ideal would be four groups of three individuals to cover one Wednesday/month.  Addressed issue of delivering popcorn.  Concluded that individual classes will have milk cartons w/purchased popcorn placed on stage for teacher pick-up.  Eliminates excess children being in area of kitchen.  Suggestions welcome to improve this method.

 

Title I: Heidi Rivard. The mission of Title I is to raise academic achievement of all students. 

We focus on early intervention in reading/writing, and math.  Students involved in the program get extra help in 30-minute blocks/day.  The needs of students are addressed on an individual basis and reviewed each semester. Our Annual Meeting is during Open House.  We welcome parent questions and parent input.

 

Sub-Committee Chairperson / past PTG President- Christine Sullivan:  At the

beginning of the meeting current PTG  President and Vice President presented Christine w/ a thank-you basket for the job well done as last yearÕs PTG President.  Great job Christine! 

á       Reiterated comments concerning Stage project.  Also stated that future Talent Shows will benefit large projects for PV, such as the playground. 

á       This past yearsÕ Talent Show DVD is available for sale ($10).

The goal of the sub-committee is to focus and fill the gap between the PTG and Title One.  A newsletter will be printed every other month to highlight important goings on at PV.  The newsletter will focus on writing and will highlight a staff member and student for extra hard work.  The newsletter will also have ideas, facts, pointers and helpful hints important to the school and our children.  Anyone interested in submitting ideas related kids and education contact Christine at the PTG web address (Parker_Varney_PTG@yahoo.com), for more information.

 

Jody Coughlin: congratulated Christine on a job well-done last year.  Relayed the information

            concerning the open house to the board and parents present.  Commented on the walls    

and the fact that the noise level has drastically decreased in the classrooms creating a better learning environment for the children. Open House on September 19th for City Officials was a success.  New Parent Center is up and running, parents are encouraged to visit.  Parents can also enjoy lunch with their child in the parent center.  Call Maureen Stone to arrange.  Coffee with the Principal was a hit last year, Mr. Callanan is looking forward to hosting again this year.  Any alternatives to the dropping off and picking up children are welcome and should be discussed with Mr. Callanan.  Parking, as always is an issue.

 

Open Forum:

v    Melinda Asprey: Suggestion of a yard sale in the spring to create 100% profit for the PTG and PV.  Would need to set guidelines on what is allowed to be sold.  Excess items could be donated to Families in Transition.

v     Kerrie Moynihan brought up the subject of the playground and suggested the proceeds from bake sales go into a general fund to fix up the playground.  Stressed that Teachers may want to help fix it up but will need money for equipment.  Parent suggestion to set up a fund for donations to this project.  Can it be done and if so, how?  Over all discussion between parents and staff was the playground needs repairs. 

v     Another parent suggestion was having cookie sales during Friday lunchtime with money going to the PTG for funding projects. 

v     Parent suggestion of a flower sale within the school.  A local florist can donate flowers, in which the parents or other students can buy and send to a child or faculty member.  Way of raising money for the PTG.  Idea needs to further discussed.

v     Another suggestion was the creation of a healthy recipe / idea book for the children, faculty and parents to get involved with.  Tried to do a few years ago, may be more interest now.

v     American Lung Family Fun pass was another suggestion that the PTG may look into.

v     Looking to replace the elected Volunteer Coordinator.  Ballots will be going out soon.  Parents are encouraged to nominate and vote.

v     The Manchester School of Technology has worked out an agreement with the PTG; we are going to try and have a student from the Early Childhood and Development class come and do activities with the kids that need to come with the parents. This way it will allow the Parents to attend and to give the students credits for community services.

 

**Special Thanks to Marie Ricard and Lisa for the snacks during the meeting** Also special thanks to the parents and faculty members who attended the meeting.

 

 

Next meeting October 18th 2006