Keller Elementary School

PCC Meeting Minutes – October 10th, 2011

 

 

Board Members Present: Linda Lucier, Pam Vigil, Carie Scagliarini, Connie Tomaino, and Lisa Costa

Staff Present: Ms. Julie Vincentsen, Principal

 

There were approximately 15 parents present. The meeting began at 7:19 p.m. with Linda Lucier calling the meeting to order.

 

Welcome – Linda Lucier thanked everyone for coming and informed parents about the Franklin Educational Foundation Casino Night. Julie Vincentsen confirmed that Keller did receive a grant from this foundation for one of our teacher’s submissions. A raffle will be held at the end of the meeting for 2 free tickets to Casino Night.

 

Vote –

• Tobey Dillon was voted in as Co-President by a majority vote.

 

Thank you –

• Linda Lucier thanked Katie Taddeo and Michelle Cieszkowski for organizing and setting up the hospitality for the meeting.

 

Treasurer’s Report – Pam Vigil reported. She and Connie Tomaino provided a more simplified version of the budget for parents to review. The new format was met with a positive response from meeting attendees.

• Deposit and Expense Sheet attached

 

Committee Chair Updates

• Fall Fundraiser – Linda Lucier reminded parents that orders are due Friday, October 14^th. Allison White mentioned that that there should be incentives for collecting direct donations as well as for selling. Carie Scagliarini feels strongly that rewarding direct donations favors the families that have the money to give. Katie Taddeo asked for a better explanation of the money booth. Linda Lucier explained that kids must sell at least one item to participate in the booth in the classroom that sold the most. Michelle Mcgonagle added that Sullivan is getting rid of the selling all together and is continually sending home reminders to send in your direct donation. Mark Spanek wanted to continue having both fundraisers and direct donations to motivate those children that enjoy selling. Allison White offered the suggestion that we should get rid of all the incentives and the fundraising company should pay a bonus directly to the Keller PCC if we meet a specific selling goal. Parents liked that suggestion and Linda Lucier suggested that parents come to the meeting in April when fundraising for next year is being decided.
• Community Service – Allison White Reported. The Cradles to Crayons drive will run in the fall. Allison explained that the company is based in Massachusetts with a warehouse in Brighton. The coat and clothing drive will be held Oct. 17^th – Oct. 21^st. A flier will be going home and a collection box will be in the lobby. Allison weeds through all the new and used clothes and determines what can be donated. Clothing for adults is sent to Big Brother Big Sister. She takes 30-40 bags out to Cradles to Crayons. We will also be doing a Halloween Candy donation to the Wrentham Development Center. Lorraine Schratz did come to the Community Service committee and ask for this program to start again. The plan is for the candy to be collected the week after Halloween, hopefully at Book Bingo Night. Kids will color bags to put the candy in. Also, the month of December is historically Keller’s Food Drive for the Food Pantry. This is most likely the case this year too. Ms. V offered to have her office set up to receive cans to do a “Can the Principal” drive so the kids can fill her office. Ms. V will also find out when Student Council gets going for the year so they can get involved in the drive. Allison asked Linda Lucier for the PCC copy code so that she can distribute memos for the upcoming programs. Linda mentioned that the code has been changed and being kept to select users because last year over 33,000 copies was made. She will supply Allison the code as needed.
• Keller Website – Mary Agar asked parents to take advantage of the Keller Website. She will gladly add pages and links to upcoming events as requested.
• Keller Family Drive Up Theater – Linda Lucier reminded parents that drive-up theater night is this Sunday. We will be selling the old Keller Wear at cheap prices.
• Keller Spirit Wear – Linda Lucier reported for Amy Donovan that we are still in search of a new vendor. Chrissy Sanfason gave Linda Lucier a submission from Hanes that she received as part of the Box Tops program. Julie Vincentsen has contact information to provide to the Spirit Wear Committee.
• F.A.C.E – Lois Eppihimer submitted that all field trips and class visits were planned. Linda Lucier reported on her behalf.
• Bottle and Can Drive – Linda Lucier reported for Lynn Waples that the Bottle and Can Drive is being held on October 22^nd. She reviewed the neighborhood pickups that are already covered by Keller parents and asked parents to think of any additional neighborhoods that needed pickup. Linda offered to cover Bent St. Winterberry Farms, Dover Circle, and Franklin Woods are still not covered. Linda also mentioned that Lynn was looking for help from 1-2 that day and Tobey Dillon offered to help.
• Beautification – Carie Scagliarini reported. Fall Cleanup is on Friday October, 21^st. Ellen Borgeson has offered to do mums at the street sign and in the potted plants. We are one school with Sullivan and Carie wanted to know if they typically donate funds. Ms. V said she would look into it for her. Carie is looking for help from people that are crafty to do the baskets in front of the school before it freezes out. She asked Ms. V if the town pays for and drops off the mulch why there isn’t staff that spreads it. Julie Vincentsen mentioned that the kindergarten railings were painted. The Tropical Storm Irene delay gave the janitors extra time to do some of the projects on the bottom of their list while waiting for the first day of school to start. Carie said beautification day will start around 9:15. There is a lot of raking to do in the 9/11 garden and a lot of cutting to be done. Kindergarten recess is from 10:10 – 10:50 so we can work before or after that time.
• Keller Street Sign – Carie Scagliarini reported that we still need some coverage for the sign. Allison White offered to do February.
• Box Tops – Chrissy Sanfason reported. The first big box tops drive must be postmarked by November 1^st. A school can only get paid 2 times per year. Chrissy is running everything similar to how Jen Chace did it before and having the first submission go in on October 21^st. The winning class in each grade gets a 45 minute recess. The class that collects the most will also win a $50 gift certificate for their teachers to spend on supplies for their classroom. Linda Lucier asked where the gift certificate was coming from and Julie Vincentsen asked the PCC to cover it or it will come out of the student activities fund. Chrissy continued that there is a lot more money being left on the table from Box Tops. The more you use their website, the more ways there are to make money. The manila envelope of box tops left in the school office over the summer had about $50 of tops in it that were unfortunately, expired. Neighboring towns are bringing in much more than Keller, at least twice as much. Lincoln, RI raised approximately 8,000. Chrissy has set up a Keller Box Tops Facebook page for parents to “like” and learn about additional ways to electronically collect tops. She wants to make sure all the privacy is secure before announcing it to the school.
• Dining Out for Keller – Linda Lucier reminded parents about the current program through Chili’s in Bellingham and that we can go there Monday and Wednesday through October to earn benefits. Mark Spanek reported that he is trying to get new restaurants for Keller and have an offering for every night of the week. He is talking to Franklin Grill, Bertucci’s in Holliston and more. He wants there to be a selection.
• Science Night – Linda Lucier reported for Lois Eppihimer that meetings will be starting next week for this spring event.
• Student Directory – Linda Lucier mentioned that forms went home this week.

 

Upcoming and Ongoing Events

• Recess Equipment – Linda Lucier reported that the PCC has worked with Coach to purchase new equipment. After much research, a metal box was found on the upper softball field. Kathy Carucci did find a key in the office for it and equipment was in there. It is a maroon bin next to the yellow town bin. Connie Tomaino will keep us entered in a contest through Lowe’s to get another locked bin for the back playground.

New Business –

• Supplies for upcoming events – Connie Tomaino mentioned that in the last year she has established relationships with many local companies willing to make donations to Keller. She asked that committee chairs plan ahead when they need supplies so that she can reach out to these vendors in plenty of time for events. She needs 30-45 days notice and can get water, chips and more. We can save PCC funds and go through Stop & Shop, Shaw’s, and others.

Principal’s Report – Ms. V reported.

·         Walk to School Day – This event was an amazing success. There was one flier and the Monday Messenger. 222 people (40 of those were parents) walked to school. Teachers reported that those kids that walked had a different outlook in the morning. The 1^st Wednesday of November will also be a walk to school day. Carie Scagliarini offered that maybe we could reward kids with pedometers for walking. Allison White mentioned that many health plans give them out and that we should look into the Health Plan for the teachers to see if they would. Ms. V said the families left Dacey Field at 7:55 and arrived at school at 8:14. We may consider sponsoring a Polar Bear Walk in the middle of winter.

·         Recess Equipment – Thank you to the PCC for the donation of the new equipment

·         Principal Entry Plan – It is available on the website. It is a plan on how to get to know the community. Ms. V is beginning by meeting individually with every staff member at Keller and asking them 4 questions:

o    What are the strengths of Keller?

o    What should never change?

o    How we could grow?

o    What do you need from me?

Ms. V is also meeting with the kids and asking them the strengths of Keller. They are doing special 45 minute lessons with the Principal and she is getting interesting answers from the kids. The plan will then move to families. She is still deciding how best to do this. Some ideas are 4 coffees a month and neighborhood events to gather parent input. Once she has gathered all her responses she will begin planning our future course.

·         4^th and 5^th Grade Chorus – This is a district wide change to have a block for chorus once a week. They are trying to increase the Fine Arts Opportunities for kids.

·         Lunch – Lisa Costa inquired if there are issues with 4^th Grade lunch. Her son has been complaining on a daily basis that lunch is too short once food is bought and that the cafeteria is running out of the food before everyone has had a chance to get theirs. Ms. V did agree there have been problems but that she is not hearing from parents, only students. They are aware and are working on it.

 

Linda Lucier drew names for the FEF raffle. Allison White won the tickers and Linda adjourned the meeting at 8:41 p.m.