PTO MINUTES
James Russell Lowell School
PTO
Meeting Minutes
January 12, 2010
2:45pm and 7:00pm
Meeting
started at 2:45pm with 9 people; 7:05pm with 16 people
1.
Wayside
Youth Services- Stephanie Sutherland
a.
Watertown
Youth Coalition- been in existence 10 years; have about 25 peer leaders; 30
active members. Will leave marketing information for parents to review. They
are in the middle and high school for short term counseling when appropriate.
Mainly deal with substance abuse prevention. Gather data on what middle and high school students are
doing and analyze data and decide on what needs to be done in the community. The
group does Parent and Youth education. They will look to add helpful hints to
our Lowell Lowdown. February 2nd
parent education seminar at Middle School- more info to come.
b.
Looking
at the Social Host Law and possibly an ordinance for Watertown to deal with
underage drinking in the home.
2.
Budget
Update
a.
Dues/Donations-
$2375 to date the annual goal is $3000. Envelopes are at the front office if would
like to send in dues.
b.
Book
Fair- Thanks to Mrs. Phipps for allowing the book fair to be held in the
library for the week. The PTO made $300 in profit; $2394 in total sales.
Book Ends were easy to deal with and the quality and selection were excellent.
Looking for suggestions for the spring book fair. It was helpful to have the
book fair the same day as Winter Wonderland. 14 teachers submitted wish lists.
c.
Winter
Wonderland- huge success; new group of volunteers put it together; decorations,
DJ were good and the children had a great time- spent $233
d.
Middle
School Shoppers Night- $105 Profit
e.
Len
Cabral- Assembly 9:00 and 9:45 3rd
year at the Lowell
f.
Assembly
Budget- scheduled to be $102 over budget
3.
Site
Council Meeting- will review student achievement data , 1/26 7pm in the library
4. Kindergarten
Info Night- January 28th
5.
Committee
Updates- volunteers still needed!
a.
Communications
(Linda Tracy)
i. Newsletter-Anne Korte/Laura
Stokes
ii. Website -Lisa Cavarretta
iii. Entrance Area- Nancy
Iannetta
b.
Social
Events (Jen Shea)
i. Spirit Days- Nancy Iannetta
– February Heart Day-Tentative 2/12; donation to be made to the American Heart
Association and will be in conjunction with Jump-a-Thon. March will be a
reading theme Spirit Day.
ii. Family Events-Jen Shea
1.
Family
Bingo Night- Tentatively Feb 26th , looking for volunteers to assist
with the event.
2.
Winter
Wonderland great success
iii. Parent Events-Deanna Dement
Myers
1.
More
info to follow on upcoming events
c.
Fundraiser
(Kara Flynn)
i. Boxtops-Laura Stokes/Nancy
Iannetta- Contest will be held January 20th-February 12th. There
will be boxes in each classroom. Winning class will have their picture taken
and posted on the bulletin board.
ii. St. Patrick’s Day
Fundraiser-Linda Tracy March 12th at Donohue’s - Meeting every Friday morning to
discuss details. Looking for
volunteers as well as raffle and auction items.
iii. Providence Bruins –January
24th
iv. Coffee Cakes- End of March;
more info to follow
v. Pizzeria Uno Fundraiser-February
1st more info to follow
d.
Fifth
Grade Update-Robin McMahon/Andrea Ricci - two meeting have been held- committees have been set up. It
is helpful to have a point teacher on each committee to help with logistics
especially for events happening during the day. A meeting will be held at the
end of February.
e.
Grade
Level Specific Update
i. 4th- Studying Northeast
Region, fast math, Mr. Gould has a blog for his class also studying Perimeter
and Area
ii. 3rd- Science-
water cycle, rules patterns and fractions. Using the computers more.
iii. 2nd – Field Trip
coming up; Family breakfast on Febuary 10th
iv. 1st- Working on
fluency; math- larger numbers, remember boots to go outside.
v. K- Number lines- practice
games at home. Counting to 100 days.
6.
Principal’s
Update – Budget process underway- budget meetings are posted on the
website. Average 60 children late
everyday-January 12th only 20 were tardy. Tuesday the 19th is Professional development day. In
process of organizing after school support for homework and MCAS assistance.
Working on a no cost program.
Adjourned
at 3:00pm and 8:05pm
James Russell Lowell School PTO
Meeting Agenda
November 10, 2009
7:00pm
Call To Order by Jen Shea at 7:05pm
17 attendees
2. Wayside Youth Services- Stephanie Sutherland- Cancelled due to illness
Budget Update
Dues/Donations- have received about $2250 from 92 families
Genevieve low participation- 55 orders ; please deal directly with company with any questions on orders; please forward any feedback to PTO email mailbox watertownlowellpto@gmail.com
Election Day Bakesale - we made $374
Committee Updates- volunteers still needed!
Communications (Linda Tracy)
Newsletter-Anne Korte/Laura Stokes- will be published 3rd Thursday of each month; beginning in November it will be online- a notice will be sent out letting families know when it is available
Website Demo-Lisa Cavarretta- website is up and running – it will be updated weekly. Parents looking for a “parent link” for information of interest that isn’t part of the school? We will look into seeing if this is feasible.
Entrance Area- Nancy Iannetta- The bulletin board is updated weekly. Will be setting up a winter theme. Send any updates to Nancy or put in PTO mailbox or send to PTO email box.
Social Events (Jen Shea)
Spirit Days- Nancy Iannetta; First Spirit Day was a success. $157.25 was sent to Heavenly Hats which purchases hats for cancer patients.
Family Events-Jen Shea
Winter Wonderland Family Event is set up December 18th at 6:30. Pizza and Water will be sold and there will be a DJ.
Parent Events-Deanna Dement Myers- Deanna has spoken to several potential speakers on such topics as financial planning, healthy eating, education etc. If you have ideas for parent events please let Deanna know or send them to the PTO email box.
Fundraiser (Kara Flynn)
Boxtops-Laura Stokes/Nancy Iannetta-Log onto Boxtops and sign up for the Lowell School and the school will receive 5 bonus box tops.
Adult Night Out-Linda Tracy March 12th at Donohue’s. Meetings will start in December to gather raffle prizes and decide on the format of the event.
Book Fair-Angela Horrigan Dec 15th-22nd Flyers will be going out; it will be held in the library. Volunteers needed for set up, breakdown and working the event. Watch the website for additional details.
Idea for New Fundraiser- Square 1 Art Myrto Flessas- Myrto and Deanna Dement Myers will research and work with Dari and teachers.
Middle School Shoppers Night-5:30-8:30 December 2nd PTO will have a table.
Providence Bruins- We will have tickets available for $18 (less than face value!) for January 24th. Each child attending the game will receive a providence Bruins hat. Watch the website and bulletin board for information on purchasing the tickets. Thanks to Lars Fossel for organizing this event!
Fifth Grade Update-Robin McMahon/Andrea Ricci First meeting will be Monday Nov. 16th 7pm –will be looking at plan for the year.
Grade Level Specific Updates
5th grade- entire 5th grade is learning about the ancient civilizations of the Maya, Inca, and Aztec. Each teacher is covering one civilization with all 3 classes. This will be followed by a study of Explorers.
4TH grade- Working with Ms. Sudbay to look at using a tablet in class.
3rd grade- There will be a play the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Fast Math is starting this week. Learning about Colonial Times this month.
2nd grade- Having a monthly family breakfast to get to know everyone. First one is this Friday and the 11th of December. Looking to do a PotLuck Dinner on November 18th. Field Trip in February to Berkeley Performance Center. Mrs. Buonomo’s Class creating a Pilgrim’s Village. Leadership Program being piloted in 2nd grade- might be something to look at for Parent Events.
1st grade- No update available.
K update- No update available
Principal’s Update- conferences are underway. Letter went out regarding change in reading levels, it will also be put out on the website. Looking at MCAS assessments.
Traffic on Orchard Street still a problem. Children still crossing street between cars.
Lunchroom- new lunch aide- kids are not cleaning up after themselves- 3rd-5th making a mess and leaving it. When it is deliberate the child will need to clean it up.
Meeting adjourned at 8:30pm
Next Meeting January 12th at 2:45 and 7pm