PTA Meeting Notes for November 2023
PTA News
November 17, 2023
Members Present: 19
Principal’s Report: Corey Hafey
“I'm just thankful to be here!!”
“I’m thankful that we have a great PTA”
Treasurer’s Report: Brooke Bray
There was a report last time that had some stuff from last year. She apologized and it is now all fixed!
Spell-A-Thon money is coming in!
Tee-Shirt order money is now in
Joe – Were any extra t-shirts ordered? Nobody knows!
There will be some counting of money for Spell-A-Thon that needs to be done.
Hilary – We have a few people who have already volunteered
Liz G – Is going to reach out to Kindergarten parents specifically to help with this job! It’s a one-day job and it would be great to get some kindergarten parents involved.
Ornament Night:
December 5th
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
$10 per ornament – We make about $2 per ornament
How can we get the word out with no school next week?
Raise money for grocery cards for families that need it???
C. Hafey – We typically have many families/businesses the contribute grocery gift cards. We have been very lucky that way.
We have lots of families in need at Appleton. These gift cards really help support our Appleton families.
Joe – Could we do hot chocolate at Ornament Night? Charge $$ or not?
Jared – Have a collection for gift cards that night too?
Hilary – If kids can’t afford an ornament, PTA will buy one for them!
Teachers – If you have kids that can’t afford to come, communicate with parents that we will buy one!
Crone – Motion that all proceeds from this night goes to gift cards and to ornaments for needy families
J. Johnson – Second It
All in favor! No opposed! Motion Passed!
C. Crone – Could we have a parent walk around and “advertise” this night to the kids?
J. Johnson will ask April about this idea
Krisi – we need some volunteers for this night. We had a list, but we don’t have it now.
Corey Hafey – Could we do a Sign-Up Genius?
Hilary – We just need 2-3 volunteers. PTA should be able to cover this!
Restaurant Nights: Krisi
$85 from Famous Dave’s
Mod Pizza – Has done some amazing fundraising. We might want to reach out to them. Krisi will contact them
Culvers – Krisi submitted an application for the date in February – February 5th
Spell-A-Thon Update: Hilary & Corey
All 100% Spellers have been turned in to Hilary
There were fewer this year than in previous years.
Hilary – Concerned that fewer 100% spellers will lead to less money collected.
Jared – Could we do an email to still promote this fundraiser? Include the QR Code all over the place – Appleton Website, Facebook, etc.!!
Wendy M – Scenic Elementary gives tee-shirts to kids for their Spell-A-Thon
Tee-Shirt idea – 100% Spellers get a special tee-shirt – Maybe start next year!
Ideas: $20/kid OR numerous sponsors – Ways to get a tee-shirt
Maybe tee-shirts for kids who raise a certain amount of money? It’s hard when we have lots of kids who only miss one word – not right that they wouldn’t get a shirt
Have a corporate sponsor for the tee-shirts, so PTA doesn’t pay for them!
Hilary – we need to talk about this ahead of time! Plan ahead because Spell-A-Thon comes up quick in the school year.
Kids can still ask for donations over Thanksgiving Break
Idea: A new award for the hardest worker/most effort given kiddo
Find the student that got the most sponsors – Put in the effort!
Work Hard – Play Hard!! Give them a fun gift – Banana's Gift Card
Corey, Todd, & Jared will get this figured out!
New Playground: Todd Witzel
Todd shared playground measurements
Farm - $111,000
Installation: $39,028
New base material – Todd shared numerous options
Removal of pea gravel
Total: $178,046 *
Other Options:
Slim-Shady -- $126,488*
Drum Set Land - $128, 199*
Clover Leaf - $107,692 * -- For 2-5-year olds
Tower of Entanglement - $160,000*
Papa Smurf’s Sanctuary - $ 120,370*
Little Red Hood - $130,000*
The Labyrinth - $152,000*
Chug-A-Chug-A-Choo - $173,000
Groundies Spectacular - $126,000
Twin Drums - $130,000*
Climber’s Paradise - $110,000
The Anteater - $112,000
Prices Includes equipment, installation, and new surface material.
*** There was lots of discussion about new playground equipment again today!
Question: Do we need to look into ADA requirements?
Jared – When we look at doing the bigger playground, it would be great to look at ADA
Idea: Use PTA funds to hire a Grant Writer to apply for grants
Todd: Have a Line Item for replacement of playground equipment. Then we don’t have to do this again!
Old Equipment: Will just have to be trashed. You can’t resell it or reuse it.
Recycle the parts that we can.
Jared – How do we take all of this and start gearing the next few years to head in this direction? We have a target, now we need to aim for it!
Kinder Mom - Definitely a long-term goal. We need to get the price out to the Appleton community. Nobody know how expensive this equipment is!
Krisi – How much would a grant writer cost? -- We don’t know that yet!
Wendy – Does D51 have a grant writer? -- Nobody knows!
Sheila – The kids who are doing the work now (Spell-A-Thon, etc.) won’t see the benefit
Wendy – The kids like to play 4-square, jump rope, etc. We need to have more of these things available for the kids
Corey – Let's look into getting a grant writer and see if that is a viable option
Todd – Will look into this
Jared – Todd will look into grants
How do we package this to start raising funds?
Corey – The school has $30,000, the Spell-A-Thon raises good money, but this is a lot of money to spend!!
Question: Have we ever had a family make a big donation?
The biggest donation we’ve gotten was about $5,000 for the computer labs
Families have no idea what a new playground costs. We need to market this to our community.
Other thought or ideas or questions:
Joe – We don’t have an Appleton store, do we?
We could sell hats, pencils, pillows, etc. Just a thought!
C. Crone – Feel Good Story
She shared a great story about a student in her class that wasn’t at all excited about the Spell-A-Thon when it started. Christina sponsored him and an anonymous grandma offered to sponsor him also. He got so excited and worked really hard. He scored 100% on the test and was “dancing around & over the moon!” That’s what this is all about!
