East Middle School

PTO Meeting Minutes - 1/6/04

PTO Meeting Minutes

PTO Co-President Val Devlin led the meeting. Val proposed that future PTO meeting should begin at 7:00pm rather than 7:30pm. There were no objections. The change will be noted in the newsletter as well as on the website.
PTO Co-President Denise Spaulding’s e-mail address has been added to the website under “Contact Us”. If you have a PTO related question please contact Denise via e-mail.

The Community Service Committee may be looking for golf enthusiasts for a golf tournament. More information will be posted in the newsletter and on the website when it becomes available.

Sue O’Brien presented the PTO Treasurer’s report.

PTO Funding - It was suggested that the PTO fund additional cultural arts programs for each grade.

A guest speaker for the February PTO Meeting is being planned. A topic on adolescence will be featured.
The PTO Co-Presidents will address finding a speaker. They were looking for suggestions and ideas from the attendees.

Lisa Heger gave a quick demo to a number of parents who had not seen the new East website. New ideas and features are needed. Mr. Connelly has been provided notes that are posted to the homepage weekly. It was suggested that homework assignments, links to other websites and team news be added as features to the website. The website is a work in progress and will be evolving over the next few weeks.

Budget Issues – Mr. Connelly spoke about the pending budget concerns facing the 2004 – 2005 school year. A 0% increase in the budget is expected even though expenses will undoubtedly increase. Mr. Connelly will post budget updates on the website as they become available.

College Bowl IX – Team slots remain open. The PTO will coordinate refreshments following the competition. Hospitality volunteers are needed. Please contact Denise if you are able to help. Spectators are welcome to attend!

School Advisory – Bill Dalton gave an update.
1. BCAM is looking for volunteers to film community functions and activities. Training is available. If you’re interested please visit www.bcam.tv for more information.
2. PIP (Parent Involvement Program) – Julie McKinney spoke at the School Advisory Committee meeting. Julie is in the process of making PIP a non-profit organization. Volunteers are needed. For more information please visit www.neighborhoodlink.com/org/pip
3. A BHS Class of 2003 statistics report was available to review. For example 89.1% of the 2003 graduates of BHS planned to attend either a 2 or 4-year college.
4. Plans are in the works to offer a college-planning seminar for parents in March.
5. Bill asked if there were any issues or concerns that parents had that he could bring back to the School Advisory Council. Suggestions need to be general in nature. They must have a wide effect on the school system.
Example - Creating a math lab for all grades to replace existing studies was suggested. Mr. Connelly mentioned staffing issues. Bill Dalton will bring this suggestion back to the Advisory Committee for consideration.

Teacher Representative – Mr. Glover answered questions regarding the team structure, after school clubs, cultural arts programs, possible website features, detention etc.
Mr. Glover will provide a schedule for the next session of after school activities. This schedule will be posted to the website as soon as it is finalized.

Wheel-a-bration – Mr. Connelly passed out a breakdown of the Wheel-a-bration funds. The details have been added under “Our Pages” as “Wheel-a-bration XI - Money Distribution”.

Val closed the meeting by thanking everyone for attending and participating in the meeting. There were 18 people in attendance!