October 2022 Meeting Minutes
Robeson Elementary Center PTO
PTO Meeting
October 11, 2022
Board Members In Attendance:
Jenna Kemp- President
Whitney Kemp- Vice President
Heidi Beitler- Treasurer
Danielle Klishevich- Corresponding Secretary
Amanda Ford- Recording Secretary
Attendees: Lindsay Herbein,Nicole Care, Karly Schlosser, Danielle Lomnychuk, Andrew Conrad, Megan Coryell, Angela Carvell, Ashley Schnoke, Meredith Kaszmetskie, Kelly Keiser, Amanda Symboski-Pratt, Kevin McCarthey, Laura Mohn, Andrea Kelley, Renee Hiltibeitel, Julie Alessandrini, Valerie Miller, Karen Keenan, Katie Price, Tiffany, Katie Weidner, Alysha Barber, Jess Reardon
Minutes:
Start: 7:11
End: 8:20
Reports:
Treasury Report:
We have a few changes with Race for Ed for a total of $9,800 roughly. We need more students to fill out their platform to make sure we hit out numbers. We have nothing for a fun fest yet in terms of expenses or income.Fund coming in from annual fundraisers are as follows: Boyers=$62 Amazon smile $62. Yearbook income $24. Spirit Wear Made $690 at back to school events. We had administrative costs of $516.05. We will have changes in the next month because field trips have started and we will have more information from Race for Ed.
Budget Approval: Angela Carvell and Meredith Kaszemtskie
Principal’s Report:
Our child care was late and Mrs. Van B & Mrs. Smith helped get the childcare taken care of. The current library aid found a full time job so we are losing her. We will be looking for part time afternoon library aid. It won’t be posted until November. There has been a change in the Life Skills classroom. Mrs. Glass moved over to life skills. A new Behavioral Support teacher has moved down from the middle school.Mrs. Whitely has moved over to the high school The November newsletter will have all of these updates. The Halloween parade will be out in the front of the building like last year . We do 2 loops around the front. This is always an event we look forward to. The Homeroom parents are working with teachers and other parents for the parties. Veteran’s day 11/11 and this will be a positive event for the school and all the veterans involved.
Agenda Items:
Mini Grant request/Review
-There was no mini grants to review
Website:
-Over 3000 page views, thank you so much for the website usage.
Race For Education Update
-We need signs to be made to cheer on the students.The signs need to be put in yards at 9am. We have received donations from Weavers, Unique and Eshelmans, which we greatly appreciate. . We do need to get more snacks, so we added Utz chips on sign up. We really need to try and reach out to as many people to try and hit our goal of $15,000. Jenna showed the different prizes that the students can work towards. We have jibbett bracelets, jibbets, glow tubes and squishmellows.We have started to put out prizes for those students who have hit the predetermined dollar amounts to receive a prize.Squishmellows will be out by Thursday. Explanation of the plan for race day, the students will exit lower doors and walk Whispering pines. Robeson Township police will be here to help with traffic. The 3rd and 4th graders will do the mile run in the back of the school.. Kids will get stickers once they finish the walk and then they will head to get their snack. You can walk with your child with clearances but don’t need them to just watch. All of the students will get race t-shirts for free from the PTO.
Spirit Wear Update
-The spirit wear was delivered to school today.
Staff Dinners
-11/21: We are hoping to get Texas Roadhouse rolls and pasta from Mama’s. We will be sending out a sign up for desserts and drinks.
Holiday Shop
-Jenna has reworked the program and refocused on local items and other items that we think the kids and families will be interested in. We have a lot of great items this year, including lots of pet items. Holiday Shop will run from 12/5-12/9. Sign up will go out for volunteers. We need a lot of helpers for this to run smoothly. The more help we have the faster we can help the students shop and package up their items. This is a good fundraiser for the PT), we make a good amount of money from this. The price range for the items is $1-$8. We really want to make sure every child can purchase something.
Candy Canes with Santa
-Candy canes with Santa will take place on 12/9 from 6-8pm and will be an outside event. We are hoping to have crafts and coloring pages again, as well as have Holiday Shop set up. We would like to make this very festive by adding blow up decorations. If you would like or be willing to let us use your blow up decorations that would be great! We want to have a lot of lights also, in terms of lights for decorations and to help see better for crafts and the other activities. We will have more information coming in November.
Veteran’s Day program
-The Veteran’s Day program is on 11/11/22 and Mrs. D will send out an email. We will be getting donations for food. We will need help with setting out the decorations and with serving the guests that come and clean up. The kids will put on a presentation. We will need lots of help for this event and greatly appreciate all the volunteers we can get.
Book Fair
-A sign up will come out to have help in the classrooms soon. The kids go to the book fair during library. The book fair will also be set up during conferences. Book Fair runs from 11/14-11/21.
Robeson Rockstars Cart update
-Mrs. Stenman asked the PTO to help with getting prizes organized for this program. We were able to use prizes we had in the shed from past Fun Fest and other events. We also repainted the prize cart from the shed and added some decorations to help get the kids excited.
Upcoming Fundraisers:
November Pie Sales
-Weaver’s and Sweet Ride will be picked up 11/21 here at the school instead of at the businesses. The Pie Sale forms will be due 11/4. Whitney will link it in the portal also.
Do it Local
-We will be doing Tacos on 11/21 to be picked up between 5:30-6pm. This will be done at the same time as the pie pick up. We will send out emails about ordering dinners.
Amazon Smile
-We need to make sure to send out email blast reminder about this with the holidays coming up.
Public Comments
-Heidi Beitler has some parent concerns that she would like to address. Violent disruptions have been occuring in the second grade classes. Her daughter is telling her about what is going on, on a regular basis. There have been a few instances where the outbursts in the classrooms have led to the classrooms needing to be evacuated. This is a topic that needs to be kept on the radar. This is a national problem not just a Robeson/TV problem. Parents are looking for some more transparency on how this is being handled. Removing all of the kids from the classroom is not the best plan of action in Heidi’s view. We need to try and find a way to balance this.
Mrs. Van B talked about how she has to balance the students rights of privacy in talking about this. She acknowledged that everyone feels the frustration. There are district and state protocols that have to be followed in handling these situations.. There are a lot of legal steps that need to be taken, She said that they are being as transparent as possible. They have a room set up for an evacuation for other kids. These rooms are set up to mimic a fully functional classroom so that instruction can continue. Evacuations are a last resort and are carried out calmly before a situation has occurred ideally.
Additional Questions and Concerns on this topic during an open discussion.
We asked if parents can be notified when an evacuation happens? It is not currently in district policy. Mrs. Van B can bring this up to see what the district thinks about it.
The question is whether there is a need for more aids in the district/ building. The answer is yes we could always use more staff, the school systems are like everything right now looking for more help.
Guidance is in the class regularly and is meeting with students regularly. The counselor is part of the de-escalation team.
Laura Mohn said it would be nice to be notified about the evacuations. So that she is able to talk with her child about what happened.
Through guidance and other support they are working with the social emotional needs for the students. Mrs. Van B said the school is trying to do as much as they can.
We are looking for a better understanding of Lunch bunch and Robeson Rocks. The difference is Lunch bunch is run by Mrs. Stenman. She has different topics covered with different groups. Robeson Rocks is a way to acknowledge positive behaviors. Bus Drivers are also picking 2 kids every week.
Mrs. Van B is also looking into more assemblies for helping the kids. She is also researching and looking into more breaks for kids and the impacts of different schedules for their day can help with behaviors and overall learning .
