PTA Meeting Notes for OCTOBER 2023 meeting
Appleton PTA News
October 26, 2023
Members Present: 24
Introductions:
Principal Update: Corey Hafey
Award – Appleton is a Performance School in the state of Colorado! YAY!!
This is a big honor for the Appleton Community!
Fire Inspection of Appleton was done today. And then – we had a shed fire next door! The fire department & law enforcement responded quickly. Corey & Todd got to help put out the fire. All was safe at Appleton!
New Sound System in the South Gym - We got to use it for the first time for the 2nd Grade music program. It was great!
Ornament Night: Jared J.
December 5th – 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
$10 per ornament
For the most-part it will be like last year
C. Crone – Can we play Christmas music on the new sound system?
GREAT IDEA!!
Restaurant Night Update: Krisi G.
We have made some good money at the last two
Talking to Culvers
They need 4 volunteers to help on that night! 5-8 p.m.
They do a good job promoting it, so we would need to help support that
Corey – Maybe we could do a Sign-Up Genius to get families to volunteer
C. Crone – Do a “money war” that night – Have jars for each grade level to collect money donations
Looking at a date in February
Flyers for Restaurant Nights – Will go into the PTA website under the “Restaurant Night” tab
Joe K – Will work on a Taco Bell Night
Spell-A-Thon: Corey & Hilary
Dates to Remember:
Tests given in class: November 6-10
Graded tests go home: November 14th
Deadline for Donations: November 29th
**Teachers – The biggest BANG for the BUCK comes from us!! Build it up with the kids!
C. Crone – It's easy to build it up and they get really excited!
New Playground: Todd W.
Appleton Leadership Team – We have come into $37,000, and Todd was tasked with looking into playground equipment
This will be a very expensive expenditure!!
35% of the cost added for installation!!
Shared lots of different playground options - $70,000 - $120,000 ++
We have to consider Preschool regulations as well!
Todd – What I need next --
How much do we want to spend?
How many different options do we want to look at?
When do we bring the kids in to help?
Installation Cost – 35% of list cost
Lifespan – 15 – 20 years
Jared – Looking at --> $67, 274 – Smurf Structure
A smaller structure for the little playground would be great
$125,000 Goal could give us a nice new playground + a new shade structure
Shade Structures --
Approx. $17, 000 for a shade that would fit about three picnic tables
Todd – What I’m Hearing – Look at some of the smaller structures and delve deeper into the actual space we have and what we could do.
Check to see if the district has money to fund any type of playground equipment
Look into Preschool rules & regulations AND to see if pre-k has any funding for new equipment
Jared – We should get a rendering of a playset at Appleton so that we could see it in “real life”
This would be a great way to get our community excited about it!
Corey – This is more of a legacy project for our 2nd – 5th Grade kids.
We don’t have the socio-economic markers to get the government to pay for something like this. We don’t qualify for money that way.
Lots of grants target low-income schools to support
Lots of conversation took place:
Corey – any thoughts for the good of the group on this project??
Joe – For me, I would rather see the money in the account first before we make big decisions!
Lisa – Yes – I agree! Do the research now and look at what we could get.
Jared – Do we change our fundraising this year to not target a new playground?
Corey – We have to say “This is a long-term goal!”
Crone – When we built the computer labs, we were so excited and everyone got onboard! We can accomplish things when we get excited about it.
Joe – We need to make a decision - how far away this is?
Jared – 100% on board to say, within the next 10 years, the PTA would like to buy a new playground. I would like it to not be that long, but this is a big expense.
Jared – From a PTA perspective – I would like a mission on the PTA, to raise up the standards of things around Appleton to the way we want them to be.
______ – Kinder Mom – Maybe share with the parents this goal. I had no idea it was this expensive. Get information out to parents about what we are talking about.
Corey – 10 years ago we were making $6,000 per year. Now we are talking about making some big changes at Appleton.
Jared – a few years ago we were worrying about spending $50,000 on Aquas Boards. “How can we spend that much? And still recover?” We did it and now that’s how I feel about this!
There is more research to be done! This is still a goal for us and we can promote it.
Financial Report: Brooke Bray
$47,000 in the bank!
Carnival did really well
Spell-A-Thon money is starting to come in already!
Corey -- We have a line in the budget called “Appleton Leadership” and it is so nice to have that available to buy things that we need. It allows for flexibility and for taking care of things that need to be done.
Other Thoughts, Ideas, Suggestions:
Next PTA Meeting: November 16th
