PTA Meeting Notes for August 2023 Meeting
Members Present: 58
Introductions:
Principal Update: Corey Hafey
New Board Members – Joe Kuta (VP)
Great start with assembly and Rowdy
Aidan Lynch – Guest at our beginning of year assembly who had a great message for our students & staff – Work Hard & Never Give Up!
Rowdy – CMU mascot
Appleton has a lot of Socio-economic diversity, but always high growth
Lots of diversity at Appleton and we grow our kids!
“We Belong” was a great focus last year
We will continue with this message again this year
New Theme: Are You Ready? LET’S GO!
A focus on student & family engagement
Appleton is a great place to be!!
Summer Reading Program – 83,002 minutes of reading by Appleton students!
Krisi Gustad – Coordinator
A BIG Thank you to all of the families that participated in this program and to all of the volunteers that helped out
CMAS – Colorado Measure of Academic Success --> Appleton Students
English Language Arts (ELA)
3rd Grade: +4.4% higher than D51; 1.9% higher than the state
4th Grade: +5.6% higher than D51; 1.4% higher than the state
5th Grade: +24.5% higher than D51; 23.4% higher than the state
Math
3rd Grade: +22.5% higher that D51; +20.4 higher than the state
4th Grade: 6.3% higher that D51; +2% higher than the state
5th Grade: +19.8 higher that D51; +19.7% higher than the state
Who Belongs??? Sense of Belongingness – Appleton is in the 99th Percentile Nationally of students feeling a sense of belonging at their school!
** 17% higher than D51
Financial Report: Brooke Bray
Financial Report attached to today’s agenda
We spent a lot of money last year & we earned a lot of money
Spell-A-Thon & Carnival are our big fundraisers
$9,000 from Community Partnerships
City Market & American Furniture Warehouse – Easy way to contribute to Appleton, so make sure you connect your City Market card to Appleton!
What did we do with all of that money?
$52,000 went to Smart-Boards
Instructional Aids – Big ticket item that goes directly into the students and their learning
$3,400 Grant from Walmart – Just got this last week
Carnival Update: Jared Johnson
Date: Friday, September 8th; 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Lots of games, lots of prizes, over 1,000 people
Tons of volunteers are needed. Help teachers run their booth, bake/buy cakes for the Cake Walk,
Next week – Order forms going home to order tickets and meal tickets
Hillbilly Grill – Menu will be sent home next week also
** To volunteer for the Carnival: AppletonPTA.com/carnivalvolunteer (Go to the Events tab on the PTA website)
*We need 18 people to sign up to help serve food – 6 people for one-hour time slots
Silent Auction – A huge part of the carnival is the Silent Auction
➢Please donate to the Silent Auction
➢Email Jared Johnson to donate or help out
Ornament Night: April Fogerty
December 5th 5-7pm
Cost $8 per ornament – We can charge whatever we want and keep the extra for PTA
Joe – What did Ornament Night make last year? Could Ornament Night be sponsored by someone, so any family that wants to participate can?
Matt R – Could we charge $10 and then use the extra $2 to help buy ornaments for families in need?
** Needs volunteers
**Is two hours long enough? Earlier start time?
This item was tabled for now. Discussion will take place and we will bring it back up at the next meeting.
New Business Sponsorship Roll-out: Joe
We decided this year to take it up a notch! We get so much support from these Business Sponsorships, we wanted to raise all of the tiers up.
Gold ($250) – Platinum ($500) – Diamond ($750) Membership
Adding in: Business Ads on the in-school TVs, Social Media Push (Instagram, Facebook, etc.)
Putting businesses on the back of the Appleton Tee Shirts
Sign up for the Diamond Level by Oct. 2nd, and the business names go on the shirts
Pushing the new on-line payment options
Video Email to past donators – hoping to get them back in as donors
Brooke – We already have some “Diamond Partners!”
AppletonPTA.com --> To get more information about Business Sponsorships
Other Volunteers Needed: Jared
Jared - “Our PTA is bar non the best PTA in town! Thank you for coming and please find ways to partner with your kid’s teacher. It can make a big difference!”
Social Media – We just started an Instagram account and we have Facebook
We need a point person for this
Website Upkeep – Keeping it up to date and adding new things
Art Heritage – Brooke Bray will be the new coordinator
Artist in Residence – This position is now available. We need a person for this paid position ($2,500 - $3,000). You go into the classrooms once per month and teach an art lesson.
Art Night – We need someone to run the Art Night. This is a Spring Event. It doesn’t take a ton of effort, but we need a new coordinator.
Restaurant Nights – Krisi & April will continue with this
Pick up/Drop Off Parking Lot Helper (?)
** If you are interested in any of the above positions, go to the “Get Involved” tab on the website OR contact an Appleton Staff Member and they will point you in the right direction.
Other Thought or Ideas:
Lots of good ideas are tossed out at this time.
Community Garden ??
Corey – It will take a Champion and a big part of that is – It's a summer job! This makes it hard to keep it going
Next Meeting: Thursday, September 21 at 4:10 p.m.
