PTA News

Canajoharie PTA Minutes—September 11, 2007

1. Greetings
   1. President, Mary Monk, called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm with twelve members in attendance. The pledge was recited and member gave brief introductions.
2. Secretary’s Report
   1. Secretary, Tracy Mead, read the secretary’s report from the last meeting. Ellen Welch made a motion to accept the minutes with Tia Eckler seconding the motion. All were in favor.
3. Treasurer’s Report
   1. Treasurer, Ellen Welch, reviewed the treasurer’s report with updates. Mary Monk explained that due to the amount of time it took to audit the treasury books at the last audit the audits would be done every other month by the volunteers from First Niagara Bank. Mary also reported on a bill received from the IRS for approximately $11,000 that seems to have been sent in error. Mary gave Mr. Rose the information and sent a letter to the IRS explaining the PTA is a not-for-profit organization and will report back on any correspondence received.
4. Correspondence
5. Old Business
   1. Summer Experience/Reflections: Bronwyn attended the Summer Experience in July and attended several classes. The membership slogan for this year is “Strive for Five”. Bronwyn reported that the Reflections Program would be offered at the High School. Dr. Bowden spoke with the High School teacher’s regarding this program and Bronwyn put up posters at the High School to promote the program. Bronwyn purchased thank you pins for the five judges that will volunteer. The artwork will be displayed at the Arkell Museum in December and the judging will take place there. Each student who participates will receive a certificate of participation. After some discussion Bronwyn made a motion to purchase gift cards for the top three entrants in each category for no more than $10 each with Jessica McCaffrey seconding the motion. After a vote the motion was accepted with 1 opposed and 11 in favor.
   2. Membership: Bronwyn will get copies of memberships forms to Mr. Sincavage and Mrs. Nyahay to send home to families.
   3. Picture Committee: Tia Eckler, committee chairperson, needs volunteers for the picture days with Lifetouch. The picture days are scheduled for Elementary on September 27th, High School on October 1st and Middle School on October 2nd. Lifetouch would like to give a presentation to the PTA on the Spring 2008 picture program. Tia will contact Lifetouch to set up the time for the presentation.
   4. Open House: The elementary open house is scheduled for October 4th from 5:30-7:00. Bronwyn will have a table for membership. After some discussion it was decided to have a membership table at the Middle School open house. Mary Monk volunteered to be available and will let Jill in the cafeteria know to have refreshments for that night.
   5. Book Fair: The Scholastic Book Fair is scheduled to run from October 1st thru October 4th. Tracy Mead will contact volunteers that are needed to work the book fair during that week.
   6. PARP: Tara Mason is the chairperson for PARP and the theme for this year is “Rainbows”. Tara will have an update on this program at the next meeting.
6. New Business:
   1. Enrichment Committee: Jan Andrews, committee chairperson, reported that parents and teacher’s are needed to volunteer for this committee. Kathy Dopp and Tia Eckler volunteered to be on the committee. Dr. Bowden and Mr. Sincavage will try to find volunteers from the High School and Middle School. Mary reported there was an outstanding bill that was received for a Dapper Dan that was purchased in March 2005. After some discussion Kathy Dopp made a motion to pay the bill with Chris Hopler seconding the motion. All were in favor.
   2. Boxtops: Mary reported there was $201.60 in boxtops submitted over the Summer. Boxtops will continue to be collected throughout the school year.
   3. Movie Nights: A chairperson is needed for this committee. As new memberships are received they will be contacted to ask if they are interested in volunteering for this committee.
   4. Convention: Mary has information for anyone interested in attending the Annual PTA convention scheduled for November 16th thru 18th in Albany. Early registration is October 5th and all registrations need to be received by November 5th.
   5. Other Items:
      1. Mary reported there is a Cyber Security Awareness Conference in Albany on October 17th. She has information for anyone interested in attended.
      2. Mary reported she would not have the information for the bi-laws until later in September so the discussion regarding a committee for this topic will be tabled until the October meeting.
      3. Jan Andrews inquired about the current budget for the enrichment committee. After some discussion Jan made a motion to increase the budget for 2007-2008 to $4,000 ($1,000 for each meeting) with Bronwyn seconding the motion. All were in favor. The current amount in enrichment is $3,031.11 and the additional funds will come from the school pictures and the Scholastic Book Fair.
7. The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 pm. The next meeting is scheduled for October 9th at 7 pm and the Enrichment committee meeting at 6:30pm.