PTO Minutes
May 2008

Present: Terri Dushion, Julie Reekie, Dennis Pratt, Darlene Rollins, Beth Richardson, Jodi Lloyd, Kelly Wichland, Sue and Mandi Oerman, Monya Mooney

Finances: The PTO currently has approximately $13,000 between the two accounts. Julie transferred $1,000 from the savings account into the checking account. We have a bill for $300 to the illustrator who visited the school, $500 owed to First Student for a bus to Boston ($48 of that is still outstanding) and no other bills at this time. We received 1 bad check from the book fair and are seeking reimbursement.

Teacher Requests: Mrs. Arguin and Mrs. O’Leary have requested a bus to the Montshire Museum of Science for May 30. We will pay up to $500. Mrs. Bell has requested a bus to the Montshire Museum of Science on June 2nd and has submitted a bill for $376. Kindergarten is going to East Hill Farm on June 6th. The cost of the bus plus admission equals $244 and the PTO will pay the entire amount.

School Board Update: Sue gave us an update on the last few School Board meetings. The move for Swanzey to withdraw from the SAU didn’t pass, petitions are being passed around. Surry will be out of the district officially on July 1st, and is looking at withdrawing from the SAU as well. The special meeting to revote on the teacher contracts was approved by the school board and now just needs to be voted on by a judge.

New Treasurer: Julie is leaving the PTO and we need a new treasurer. After some discussion, Jodi offered to take over the job, we had a vote and effective July 2008 Jodi will take over. Julie will pass on the information and share with Jodi what she needs to know. Thank you Julie for your hard work and dedication to the PTO and students at Troy School.

Year Book: The year book made it to the printers, everything looks great and they will be distributed to the students at the end of the year.

6th Grade Graduation: Graduation will be held on Tuesday June 10th at 1:30pm. We will purchase a ½ sheet cake for the ceremony and a smaller cake for the class with their photo on it, supplies for punch, a Box of Joe from Dunkin Donuts and some sugar/splenda. We also need white streamers.

Carnival Day: Carnival Day will be Thursday June 19th after lunch. We will order a bouncer from Hamshaw Lumber and Jodi will make arrangements with Dave to pick it up.

Fall Fundraiser: Genevieve will be the official fundraising company for the fall fundraiser. We discussed specific things we would like to fundraise for next year. It was mentioned that perhaps each class room would like to ask for something that wouldn’t be available in the budget (for example Kelly might like cubbies for her hall instead of hooks on the wall), perhaps new risers for the stage etc. Some other ideas were cabinets for the chairs in the gym, new basketball hoops that go up and down going the short way of the gym etc. The Fundraiser for next year will be 3 weeks and run from September 4th to September 25th. Delivery of the items will occur on October 23th, the night of Pumpkin Carving. Terri will ask if cold items come packed in dry ice or not before we rule out doing any kind of food items. We need to confirm by June 15th, but have committed to Flower bulbs, calendars, Crab Tree and Evelyn, and the main catalogue.

Welcome Packet: there was discussion surrounding the welcome packet the PTO did for the new kindergarten families this year. Kelly thought it was well received. We wondered if we should offer it for all new families, and put in a gift certificate to the book store instead. Kelly recommended that maybe we could do it during open house.

New England Heritage Tour: Sonya put together a proposal that the criteria be: a recommendation from the teacher, a parent signature, and an essay about why the student wants to go on the tour OR an essay about one of the places they would go visit while on the tour. We discussed funding $100 per student who earns the scholarship. We also discussed what we would do for the kids HERE at Troy School equal to the money spent on the MRHS kids going on the tour. It is open for more discussion and we will talk about it at the next meeting. Sue proposed that we sponsor an activity at Camp Takodah instead of the NHHT.

The playground equipment is on its way.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday June 11th at 6:00pm.