March 2023 Meeting Minutes

Robeson Elementary Center PTO

 PTO Meeting

March 14, 2023

Board Members In Attendance:

Jenna Kemp- President

Whitney Kemp- Vice President 

Heidi Beitler- Treasurer

Danielle Klishevich- Corresponding Secretary

Amanda Ford- Recording Secretary

Attendees: 

In Person: Sarah McCahon, Jessica Kabbeko, Jenifer Burns, Val Smith, Valerie Miller, Renee Hiltebeitel, Laura Mohn, Carrie Mountz, Caity Stenman, Amanda Symborski-Pratt, Kelly Keiser, Dena Stefenack, Karly & Aaron Schlosser.

Via Zoom: Alysha Barber, Ashley Schnoke, Cortney Eshelman, Jenny Poe, Jessica Fronina and Karen Keenan

Minutes:

              Start: 7:05

             End: 8:57

Reports:

• Treasury Report:

-Budget Form has been changed with Quicken reports. Mini Grant : Ms. Koch wants a standing desk and stools for her classroom. Kelly Keiser and Valarie Miller.

-Updates: These will also be in the newsletter. Celtic assembly will be 3/1, this is parent volunteers. Have been a few problems with Kindergarten registration. Grandparents Day will be 5/26 so it will be a modified day. The kids will be putting together an assembly. HVAC is changing everyday. The Sound System is going in this Summer. The staff want to do something with the kids without parent involvement. 

• Agenda Items:

• March Madness: Reading brackets being done in the library. We purchased reading lights to give to the kids at the end of March Madness. 

• Fun Fest: We are needing more volunteers. We are really hoping for this to be a big turn out and a lot of fun for the whole community. 

• Spring Pie Sales: Weavers or Sweet Ride. Sweet Ride is fully electronic now. 

• Field Day Chair: We are looking for someone to help us run this event with Mrs. Kling. No one volunteered at the meeting.

• Staff Appreciation: We will be having lunch for the staff in the LGI and more will be talked about at the next meeting. This will be May 9th. 

Open Discussion:

•  Guest Speakers:

-Dr. Winters came and gave a background about how he came to be at Twin Valley. He stated that the staff should be kept whole going into next year. Class sizes: trying to keep classes at a certain target. Talked about how they make adjustments dealing with a bubble of students.Class size is important at the elementary level. Curriculum updates: pilots will be coming to an end after this year. Core resources should be determined for next year. ELA will be determined at the end of the year. Everyday Math is staying for math. Survey information will be coming in  late spring and this is very important. Moving into next year they are going to be looking into science more. Also going to be looking into intervention time moving into next year. Will be looking into Math and ELA. Student Service: Behavior is always something that parents have concerns. Stability has been added to the support team. The Emotional Support program is going to be expanded. ES will remain at TVEC going into next year.  Child Guidance and SAP have been expanded through a state grant. The position is for a Social Worker to Support K-12. Funding and Budget is the topic right now. Current budget is a 1% increase. Trying to keep it as close to 0%. Budget will be formally presented in May. Facilities: HVAC is starting to be done. 100% will be complete by the end of Summer. This will better control the building and regulate the temp. New Sign coming to Robeson Next Year. Will be a digital sign. Honey Brook will also be getting one. Using Capital Gains funds. Spring sports started with practices last week. Community presentation 4/4 7:30am TVEC

4/27 at district office 12-1   May 9th HS Library 7pm. Will need to register ahead of time. Info about this is in the district newsletter. He is happy to do lots of things and events to help with the kids. He is more than happy to come to any other meetings.

 Questions with Dr. Winters: 

1: Are we financially beneficial for going over 180 days? There is some minor financial benefit but he is unsure. The end of the year is being looked at. 

2. Are the students getting more time to get outside and get breaks. They got breaks during covid with Mask breaks.  There is definitely a positive for the kids. Elementary is being looked at every year. Willing to take a look at a district level. Kelly Kieser talked about all of the research out there about how positive this could be. 

3. Guidance Lessons are part of the curriculum. Can this be added into cycle days? Social Emotional learning has been woven into some schools. Conversations can be held with the elementary counselor  and  see what they can do. The need is there. Ms. Stennman said they are having discussions with how they can increase. K is 12 lessons and 1-4 are getting 6-8 lessons. Kelly talked about how overworked the social worker will be for k-12 and that it is a lot for 1 guidance teacher to do everything. How we can help the teachers with their mental health is going to be huge. What can we do as a whole district to help people within the district, this needs to be a focus. 

-Ms. Stennman: Update on Kindness week. The kids had daily challenges and classroom discussions. Each student got links in a chain that they were able to give their peers. The chain in the cafeteria is full of their kindness. The ned show assembly came in. The kids really liked it. This was done on zoom but they met in a separate room to make it feel like a real assembly. The topic was on resilience. Food was taken to the food bank. 

UPCOMING DATE REMINDERS:

• Upcoming Pop-ups: Vincenzo’s 4/4  and Moe’s 5/31

• Spring Break: No School 4/6-4/10

• NEXT MEETING: 4/11 @ 7pm