PTA News

Canajoharie PTA Minutes—September 12, 2006

1. Greetings
   1. Co-President, Melissa Balk, called the meeting to order at 7 pm with seventeen members in attendance. Brief introductions by members were given and the pledge was recited.
2. Secretary’s Report
   1. The Secretary’s report was read and accepted.
3. Treasurer’s Report
   1. The Treasurer’s report was reviewed with updates and accepted.
4. Old Business
   1. “Summer Experience” Report: Bronwyn McCaffrey had attended the regional PTA meeting over the summer and reviewed points of interest and concern to the group.
      1. The first concern was the balance of the PTA funds. Due to the amount of money in the fund there needs to be clarification on what the funds should be intended for.
      2. There needs to be a link on the school website to the New York State PTA website. Melissa will contact Kyle to have him put the link on the website.
      3. The PTA membership day is September 30, 2006. This day is to help recruit businesses and individuals outside of the school system to become members.
      4. Bronwyn requested $20 to purchase PTA uv stickers for windows as thank you gifts and prizes to give away.
      5. A reminder of the Campbell Soup incentive points program was discussed. Melissa will contact Debbie Eckler at the High School to see if she is still collecting the labels. The program changed slightly in that instead of using the outside label the UPC label is needed.
      6. Upcoming training sessions are the Regional PTA conference at the Canajoharie High School on September 26th, a cyber conference on October 4th, a PARP conference on October 11th and a PTA convention in Rochester on November 11th & 12th.
   2. Picture Committee: Tia Eckler is the chairperson of the picture committee. Tia needed a volunteer to assist on the picture days. Ellen volunteered to help on those days. Tia will make sure the school picture information gets to the teacher’s mailboxes. Melissa will contact Cuyle to have him put a link to Lifetouch on the website.
   3. C&R Fundraiser: The PTA fundraiser will begin on September 13th and run through September 27th. Each teacher will collect the packets from the students with the orders and money and give them to Melissa. Ellen, Melissa and Tracy will coordinate times to count and check orders at the end of the fundraiser. The orders will be delivered in late October. The NJHS and SADD members have volunteered to help with the distribution of the orders when they arrive.
   4. Open House: The Middle School open house is scheduled for September 27th and Kathy Dopp volunteered to be there to represent the PTA. The Elementary open house is scheduled for October 5th and Pat Beyer volunteered to be there to represent the PTA. Mrs. Nyahay will contact the cafeteria for cookies and punch on those nights.
   5. Membership: The PTA membership cards have not been received yet. The PTA membership form can be printed from the school website. Bronwyn put the PTA packets together for new families attending the school. They are located in the Elementary office. Melissa and Tara will work on the school database in October.
   6. Scholastic Book Fair: The Scholastic book fair is scheduled to run from October 2nd thru October 5th. The book fair set up is scheduled for Sunday, October 1st at 10:00 am in the Great Room. Tracy is coordinating the volunteer schedule for during the school day and open house night. Bronwyn suggested putting the PTA bookmarks in the books purchased at the book fair. At the conclusion of the book fair some of the profits will be earmarked to purchase books for the PARP program scheduled to run in March.
   7. Enrichment Committee: The enrichment committee reviews requests from teacher’s for funding to enrich the lives of their students and enhance their curriculum. The committee usually consists of a parent and a teacher from each level of school (elementary, middle school and high school). The first meeting is scheduled for October 10th at 6:15 in the East Hill Library. The other scheduled meeting dates are November 14th, February 13th, and March 13th. The chairperson for this committee is Jan Andrews. The other members of the committee are Mary Monk and Ellen Welch (elementary), Melissa Balk and Tara Mason (middle school) and Tina and Chris Hopler for the high school. A teacher from the high school is still needed for this committee.
   8. Movie Nights: Jackie will be the chairperson for the movie nights again this year. The first movie night is scheduled for Friday, October 20th at 7 p.m. The movie to be shown will be decided on by the next PTA meeting. Melissa has the popcorn for the movie nights.
5. New Business
   1. Financial Requests: Principal Bowden had a request from a High School student for funding to attend NYSMA, a state music competition. This is a four-day event in Rochester and the request was for $440. A motion to approve the funding was made by Mary Monk with Bronwyn McCaffrey seconding the motion. All were in favor. Treasurer, Ellen Welch, will get a check to Principal Bowden. Another request was from Mrs. Buteau, the school counselor for an 8th grade student who moved to Canajoharie from Albania. The request was for $450 for a hand held translator for her to use to assist in learning English. Mary Monk made a motion to discuss the request further with Tracy Mead seconding the motion. After some discussion it was decided to take a vote to decide whether or not to approve the funding. The request was approved. The funding will be taken out of the special projects account.
   2. Boxtops: Mary Monk is continuing to collect box tops for the school. The school has earned approximately $3,800 to date from collecting the box tops. Melissa will contact Cuyle to put a reminder on the school website about collecting the box tops. Mary will be sending the first installment of box tops in at the end of September. Kathy Dopp is also collecting the tabs from soda cans for the school. Melissa will contact Cuyle to have him put this information on the website and also information regarding the Tools for Schools Program through Price Chopper.
   3. Other Items:
      1. Mary Monk suggested a donation be made to ALS in memory of Bill Wheeler who recently passed away from the disease. His sister, Chris Wheeler, is a former PTA President and Bill was a Canajoharie graduate and well-known member of the community. A motion was made by Melissa Balk to donate $25 with Mary Monk seconding the motion. All were in favor.
      2. Mary Monk had a request for funding for a child in her class who is in need of a new pair of glasses. Mary Monk made a motion to approve the request and all were in favor.
      3. Mrs. Nyahay had a request for funding for a 4th grade student who also needed a pair of glasses. Paula Hayes, the elementary nurse, suggested using vouchers she has available through Vision USA, that assist in paying for eye exams and glasses. Mrs. Nyahay will first try to use this program before requesting funds from the PTA.
      4. Tina Hopler had a request for the middle school and high school principals to let students know about a Science Bowl being held through GE. It is scheduled for March 3rd. Mr. Bowden and Mr. Sincavage both agreed this would be an educational event for students and will get the information regarding the Science Bowl circulated.
6. The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 pm. The next meeting is scheduled for October 10th at 7 pm.