PTA Meeting Notes for February meeting
Appleton Elementary PTA
February 16, 2023
Members Present: 15
Introductions
Principal’s Update (Corey)
School of Choice, enrollment, school closures, boundaries and the implications for Appleton.
School of Choice – Accepted zero “new to Appleton” students this year.
Corey explained how this process works.
If you aren’t accepted through School of Choice, you can apply for a Transfer later in the school year.
Projection for next year = About where we are this year (410(ish) students)
Appleton is one of two Elementary Schools that is projected to “grow” over the next few years in District 51.
School Board Meeting next week – A good place to see what is happening in our district
Help needed to transport donated cakes from Appleton to convention center for the Lions Club Carnival on Friday, February 17th at 2:00 PM
Crickets Chirping!!!! Can someone help with this??
Brooke & Krissy – Volunteered to help
We are donating 25-30 cakes
We need some Appleton students to ride in Corey’s truck for the parade – 2:00 on Saturday. Western Theme.
Financial Report (Brooke)
Finally getting the audit done next Wednesday.
We have about $58,000 in the bank!
Committee Updates
Krissy – Hillbilly Grill (In Mesa Mall) Friday, February 24th (11:00 – 7:00)
March 8th – Red Robin
New Agenda Items
Art Night Update (Joy/Kelli) - We need someone to take over the Auction
Amanda Builtman will shadow Sheila for this year
Kelli Lange – Jason (artist) will be in the South gym for the art classes.
Two sessions – Younger kids first, older kids second
We may need volunteers to help sell Jason’s products that night
If classroom teachers need help with a class project, reach out to Kelli
Art Contest – Entries due by tomorrow
Next Friday at 9:00 – Judging for the Art Contest
Food Truck – One is set for Art Night
No Pizza this year!!
Dance Party, four art rooms, Hall Art, Silent Auction, Face Painting – All coming along
FMHS Students & RMS Students – Volunteering for this night
Corey – “This is a great Family Night! “
PA System Update (Jared)
After running a concert or two, there are two additional items that we need.
A box to plug in things near the stage -- $459.00
I-Pad (to replace Jill’s I-pod from the 80’s HAHAHA!) -- $329.00
Sheila – Motion to purchase those two items (plus the chord)
Brooke B – Second
All Approved! Zero Apposed! 😊
Volunteer Page (Jared)
Built a “Get Involved” Page on the PTA website
Please direct anyone interested to this place!
Let Jared know if he needs to add anything to this “form”
Summer Learning Program Prizes (Jared)
We need to change-up the BIG prize for the school – The one the Corey & Todd do for the students
Idea: Get a pro athlete or someone like that to do a live-chat with the school
Kelli – Talk to some lady from FCI and she can help do that
Some kids might like that, but lots of kids may not like a “sporty” person
**Sarah – Pizza with Corey -->Too many kids participate in this program (It’s the whole school!)
We need something that will “pump-up” the whole student body!
Brooke – Brother-in-law has a snow-cone truck
Sarah – Rowdy the CMU Bull could come for a visit
This suggestion seemed to get a lot of approval!
Sarah will talk to the Rowdy Wranglers to see if it is possible
Open Items:
Further discussion or follow-up on golf tournament fundraiser brought up last meeting.
Anybody want to lead this???? Nope!
Roxy Fanning was looking into this
Updates on potential cost of purchasing decodable books and the cost of seven more Aquos boards. Corey was going to research this.
Decodable Books – There is a person in the district looking into what we will get with the new curriculum. We don’t want to buy books that we will be getting with the new program.
Aquos Boards – Price is the same as before – 5 or 6 will be attached to walls and 1-2 will be on mobile carts. Sped Room, CLD, Math Intervention, etc.
$2,770 each **Price without installation!
$3,070 mobile carts
Approx. $20,000 to get seven more boards in our building
Discussion?? All 70” boards
Brooke – We have the money in the account for it!
April – We were talking about how to spend our funds, so this makes sense!
Corey – It’s fun to see how teachers have gotten used to using them!
April – I feel like we should move forward!
April – Motion to move forward
Jared – Second
Seven Aquos Boards – All Approved; Zero Opposed!
Passed! 😊
Updating playground equipment
April – NO new update
Jared – Better to look at two phases – Primary Playground $30,000 minimum; The real trick is to get someone to apply for grants!! There are things out there for playground building. Krissy looked into this a bit, but nothing fit Appleton!
Sheila – Loma just put in a bunch of new equipment. We should talk to them about how they did it. Corey will reach out to Loma principal.
Corey – Good idea to set a goal and start working toward it. Great if we could get a grant.
Jared – Make this our “GOAL” for 23-24 school year. People like to donate when they know the end goal.
Amanda B. – Take the $30,000 and realize that its $75 per student to raise this amount. If we asked families to donate money for each kiddo that Appleton has influenced, we could get there pretty quickly.
Anybody know a Grant Writer that would help us??
Addressing future volunteer needs Board in discussions on this.
Business sponsorships committee This committee will be meeting this month and will provide updates at a future meeting.
Other Ideas or Thoughts
Jared – Instead of parents going out to get school supplies, have pre-packaged supplies for parents to order and have ready at the beginning of the school year.
Would require LOTS of volunteers
How much mark-up could we have? Could it be a fundraiser?
Would it just be a “convenience” for parents?
There are companies out there that do this type of thing!
Jared will look more into this.
Upcoming Dates to Remember
Thursday, February 23rd: Going to the Zoo – 1st Grade Music Program
Friday, February 24th 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM: Hillbilly Grill Restaurant Night Fundraiser
Friday, March 3rd 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM: Appleton Annual Family Art Night
Wednesday, March 8th 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM: Red Robin Restaurant Night Fundraiser
Thursday, March 16th – Friday, March 24th: NO SCHOOL
Thursday, March 30th: Next PTA Meeting
Appleton PTA Budget 2022 – 2023
