Weibel Elementary PTO Meeting - Minutes

Weibel Elementary Multi-Use Room

September 13 2016

Attendees

Jonathan Mulcock Susie Mulcock Gita Vellanki
Catherine Strommen Gail Rahman Minanshu Jha
Chetan Jhaveri Yogesh Agrawal Alan Kirshner
Prashant Jain Wendy McCormack-Sison Kwee Kuntjara
Sudhakar Ravuri Lavanya Narne Christina Lee
Padmini Misra Fahria Khan Nadia Khan

Minutes

  1. 7:00pm meeting called to order
  2. Motion to approve minutes from May 2016 meeting approved.
  3. Announcements
    • First year of online Maze went very smoothly. Maze Team put in a lot of work to make this happen.
    • Pancake Breakfast is on September 24th. Volunteer sign-up is posted on facebook page.
    • Wildcat Run is on October 7th.
    • Wildcat Movie Night- volunteers are needed
  4. New Business
    • Rob looking for someone to take over the Tech Chair position. Rob can help the new person get up to speed. Tech chair responsibilities include:
      -Putting together class email lists, sending PTO weekly newsflash, tech purchases
    • PTO also needs a new webmaster to help update our website: www.weibelpto.org. Currently using PHP. Weekly duty of adding the Newsflash to website (no writing, just formatting this content for the site) and minimal updates to other pages. Time commitment is about 2 hours/ week. Contact president@weibelpto.org if you can help out.
    • PTO conducted a survey among parents last year of the top after-school activities:
      -Yoga and spanish were the highest interest activities
      -PTO is requesting MUR use for 1hr per activity, preferably right after school. Mrs.Strommen to coordinate with custodial staff, and other after-school activities.
    • Request for additional Laptop Carts for student use. Currently there are 4 carts (each cart has 32 laptops) available for the grades. A 5th cart is reserved for EL. Mrs.Strommen would like to have more than 5 carts at the school, but current goal is to get 1 more cart, so that each grade has one. Ideally, more carts would mean less shuttling the carts between classrooms. Prashant: suggestion to acquire chrome books. Need budget for cost of chrome books. Fahria added that at Horner the cost of a chrome laptop cart was about $13K. Rob needs volunteers to work on this project.
    • Streamlining the reimbursement process. Yogesh suggestion to scan previous reimbursement files, and save electronically, rather than boxes of files. Also have reimbursement requests forms sent via email, and get 2 signatures electronically. Figure out with BofA to get electronic signs on checks for reimbursement. Fahria- for non-profit, like PTO, need to have 2 signers on checks for reimbursements for check and balance.
    • Prashant: PTO state taxes are filed for 2015. Waiting for confirmation then will file federal taxes. PTO is looking for an accountant (with experience for filing for non-profit) for this year’s taxes. If anyone can refer an accountant contact president@weibelpto.org
  5. Committee Reports
    • Padmini- Pancake Breakfast is on September 24th. Tickets can be bought from PTO webstore, and info flyer was sent in Wildcat folders. Volunteers are needed for prior to and day of the event. Volunteer sign up doc is posted on facebook. Great way for families to meet and get to know each other. Kids must be accompanied by at least 1 adult to attend the event. Padmini needs the tickets purchased info from online Maze forms.
    • Gita- Wildcat run is on October 7th. Volunteers needed, sign up doc posted on facebook. Last year scanners were used for the run. Changing it for this year to bibs (like in marathons) or another manual solution. Budget requested for Wildcat run (t-shirts, bibs etc) $6000. Motion to approve $6000 for Wildcat run was approved.
  6. Budget Proposal for September
    To be proposed at next meeting. Awaiting for info from online Maze forms: waiver, volunteer forms
  7. Prinicipal’s announcements
    • Aaron Lin, a Boy Scouts Eagle and former Weibel student is asking for PTO support for his project “Buddy Bench”. He described the project : Rain causes erosion at a dirt slope (behind playground) at Weibel and clogs up one of the drains. Project involves planting easy-to-maintain, drought-resistant plants/bushes at the slope to hold the soil and installing a drain blocker to reduce debris that clogs the drain. In addition two benches will be installed to encourage interaction between students. Project cost is $690. Fahria- budget is set aside for the benches, he may be able to get plants donated from Home Depot or Lowes.
    • Projector installation project ongoing for many years. Bid from last year was $50 -60K. PTO suggesting to get more bids to compare prices to get best value. If anyone knows of a reputable electrician, please refer them to Mrs.Strommen. She will also check with district if there’s a list of approved contractors that district uses.
    • Survey was done with parents for education topics, to be presented on education nights. Top four topics were:
      ● Next Generation Science Standards
      ● How to help children resolve conflicts
      ● Healthy use of digital devices
      ● Intro to helping children with common core math
    • Monthly coffee with Principal will start in October. First topic of discussion will be Safety at School.
    • Morning drop-off has been going smoothly with the 3 different drop-off times.
  8. Parents’ Comments
    • A parent requested if there can be one more crossing guard at Paseo Padre and Grimmer. Mrs.Strommen said we are fortunate to have 2 crossing guards already, will be difficult to get one more.
    • Gita- previously has requested cops to be around at morning drop-offs due to people speeding.
    • Padmini -parents can be made aware that kids can be dropped at Gregory court, instead of stopping directly in front of the gate on Paseo Padre.
    • Discussion on after-school use of MUR for yoga and spanish classes. Currently MUR use includes chess, until 4:30 pm on tuesday and until 5:30 pm on friday. Wednesday and Thursday is band. Mrs. Strommen to inquire with custodial staff, and other after-school activities. Prashant- need the MUR for 1 hr for yoga and 1 hr for spanish. Preferable time is right after school, or whatever is available.
  9. Adjournment- Next Meeting will be Tuesday, October 11th