Melrose PTO, Inc

Meeting Link: https://meet.google.com/umc-nymx-fho

Board Members:

President: Katherine Kulig (ptoatlincolnmelrose@gmail.com)

Vice President: Chrissy Horan 

Treasurers: Chris Jones (treasureratlincolnpto@gmail.com)

Secretary: Rachel Cass

DEI Rep: Meghan Rosenberg

Communications: Cassie Paolillo

City-wide Rep: TBD

7:00pm: Welcome & Introductions (5-10 mins)

Name, grade of student(s), PTO interest/activity

Welcome from Ms. Patti

• Ms. Patti not able to attend, but teachers shared an update
• Year’s off to a great start, appreciative of PTO’s work
• Excited for the Gaga Ball Pit
• Will send around recess 3Rs

• Review of Mission & Core Values
  • Community building 
  • Equity and Access – lower barriers for participation. More things so everyone can join at least something
  • Support staff with fun experiences and lots of food. Happy staff, happy kids!
  • Our role is to create positive and fun experiences for our kids in school
  • Prioritize ourselves and our community
• Recap of latest PTO activity
  • Kindergarten welcome,
    • Rainy, but was nice to greet people
    • Gave out a lot of lions!
  • Caregiver Coffee Break
    • Lisa Lewis from the Bridge, got lots of CORIs done
      • People love the status update emails
• Upcoming PTO Activities
• Update on Gaga Ball Pit
  • Met with Parks Dept, DPW, etc over summer – picked a spot
  • DPW volunteering time to dig pit and put in rocks & stone dust- September
    • Were busy over summer with override projects and Eds summer programming was at Lincoln so they had limited time
  • Need parent volunteers to help assemble 
  • Finalizing dimensions w/ Ms Haffey & Ms Patti
  • Aim to have assembled in early October
• PTO Volunteers
  • Currently seeking:
    • Enrichment Coordinator
      • Coordinate programming in school
      • Lot of email and phone, doesn’t need to be in person as much
      • Meghan will be able to help since she’s done it many years
    • City-wide PTO Rep
      • One meeting per month, Tuesdays at 8:45
    • Co-chairs for PTO-sponsored events
      • Sign Up Sheet
• Budget
  • Enrichment and field trips are focus of the majority of funding
    • Goal to cover all field trip admission costs for all students
  • Fun activities to bring kids and community together
  • Staff support and appreciation
    • Goal to increase reimbursements for teachers
  • Budget Vote – Approved
  • Haven’t linked on website in a few years but can go back to that
• Fundraising Ideas
  • Fundraising – trying to have events that don’t constantly pull from our Lincoln community but reach outside (office mates, businesses, etc)
  • Fun Run is our largest Fundraiser
    • Corporate sponsorships were a challenge last year, hoping to ask earlier this year
      • Have a letter we can share to give to businesses with the ask
  • Fall Mini-Photo shoots – Saturday, 10/10
  • Monthly Dine-Outs
    • First two scheduled: September 29 (Liberty Bell); October 28 (Big Fine Poke)
  • Home Grown for the Holidays
    • Fundraiser mostly for the 5th grade
    • Would love to have more vendors for the craft fair; looking for someone to help organize that early
    • Local craft fair signups on Facebook groups
    • Rilda organized last year
    • Need to start working on this now
    • Look into farmer’s market vendors
  • Passive Fundraisers such as Spiritwear and Minted (10% of sales to PTO)
    • Look at adding Melrose items to the Spiritwear shop
    • Minted: tie in with mini photo shoots
  • Bay State Textile bins removed, was about $2000 a year
    • People were dumping and it was becoming a major problem (a washer & dryer last year!)
    • Couldn’t find another space on the campus to put it
    • Now only elementary school that doesn’t have one
  • Ice cream social?
  • Bingo for Books?
    • Paired with Scholastic book fair
    • Kelly Shields should have more info
  • Haven’t done an annual appeal in a while, considering a read-a-thon in the spring
    • High school PTO does an annual appeal at the beginning of the year
    • People may feel bad if they can’t contribute – highlight as one of many options: Donate, volunteer, Amazon wish list
      • Reinforce what we did the previous year
  • Read-a-thon
    • Relatively low lift
    • Tracking sheet for kids to track their reading
    • Work with vendor (Kennedys?) for a prize
  • Matching gifts from companies
    • Include in communications, explain process
    • Especially at end of year
• Enrichment
  • Feedback from previous years/New ideas
    • First grade loved Joy for Yoga
    • Curious Creatures in K last year
    • Survey for teachers with feedback and requests
    • Disability enrichment
    • Drama/acting
• 5^th Grade Committee
  • Look ahead/plans
    • Should start planning Homegrown for the Holidays ASAP
    • Katherine can share spreadsheet with expenses, fundraising, etc. (Nikki made)
    • Worked with 5th grade teachers on 5th grade trip and planned budget from there
• Lincoln Community Activities
  • Bike Bus
    • Q&A on Thursday, Sept 17 at 8:15am at Caffe Nero
    • Girls on the Run
      • Girls Grades 3-5
      • Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:30-4:00 starting 9/21

Open Conversation (Remaining Time)