October 4, 2013 minutes

Charles E Teach Booster Board meeting

October 4, 2013

Charles E Teach Elementary School – Room 27

 Board Members

Randi Barros –Co- Vice President
Dan Block – Principal/Teach School Rep - absent
Mignon Jones – Treasurer
Vanessa Rizzo – Board member at large/4^th Grade rep
Morgan Robertson – Board member at large/6^th Grade rep - absent
Lori Shields – Secretary
Helen Sipsas – President
Kimberly Wormley – Co-Vice President

 Other Guests In Attendance

Taffy Gonzalez

Doris Kim

Kurt Rightmeyer

Altee Vigil

        I.            Call to Order - 8:35 am

     II.            Welcome & Introductions

    III.            Finance Update - Helen thanked Mignon for all of her work over the last few months with everything she has done to get the finances in order.  Helen discussed collections of pledges this year, and informed the group that much effort was put into getting 6th grade pledges collected before the trip to Catalina.  Efforts were rewarded with 90% of 6th grade families having given some kind of payment, many in full, for their pledges. In truth, total expenses for the year generally exceed the amount that we ask for in pledges from the families.  There are hidden costs that are easily forgotten, including substitute teachers for combo classes, AR testing, etc.

It is very important to get a handle on the total costs, so we know how much we need to raise every year.  Helen and Mignon presented a proposed budget for this FY, which had been generated toward the end of the last school year.  There have already been some "pickups" due to a closer look at the budget figures, but Helen believes the budget can be refined more.  Helen asked if people could get together to review the proposed budget and work out any questionable numbers, and come up with a solid budget to propose for the current year.  A date of Wednesday, Oct 9th, 6 pm, was agreed to.

In light of the effort expended thus far, Helen proposed to expand the current bookkeeping services.  She highlighted the effort that goes into maintaining the accounts, tracking payments, and generating financial statements.  The proposal is to pay an additional $50/mo for Kristin Paladin, our current bookkeeper, to take on all of the data entry for the record keeping within Quickbooks.  It was recommended that we should confirm how long of a commitment Kristin expects if we enlist her additional services.

Doris K recommended that the Chair persons of individual events bring complete, organized, tallied, packages of monies after the event to be presented to the Treasurer in order to make things easier on the Treasurer.  A motion was made to approve the expansion of the bookkeepers duties, at the additional expense per month.  MSC.  One opposed.

Scrip - Lori asked everyone to consider participating in Scrip, to increase donations to the Boosters.  She also discussed the possibility of tying more of the Scrip earnings to individual family pledges. Helen is against the idea because she feels the need is for more families to be participating in this as a straight donation, and she is concerned about adding any more record keeping to the already overloaded duties of the treasurer and bookkeeper.

    IV.            Principal's Report - There was no report due to the unavailability of the Principal.

      V.            Grade Rep Updates - 4th grade - Vanessa reported that there is a Cuesta park gathering for 4th grade families to meet and get to know each other on Sunday from 1- 2 pm.  Vanessa will promote the Boosters for parents to try to get them involved in events and activities.

5th grade - Kurt R had no report.

6th Grade - Vanessa reported for Morgan R – From the teachers - The sixth grade went on their study trip to Catalina Island Marine Institute this month. The kids had a fantastic time learning about marine ecology while snorkeling, kayaking, hiking, and studying in marine laboratories.

6^th Grade Rep activities this month –

a.    Wrote a letter to the sixth grade parents introducing myself as grade rep and inviting them to participate at upcoming Booster events & meetings. Also attached a copy of the Booster 2013/14 calendar of events, so parents had a reference for all key dates this year. The sixth grade teachers distributed it as a take-home handout. Morgan would be happy to share with other grade reps.

b.    Learned about Target Field Trip grants which can provide up to $700 for class field trips. So I contacted the teachers and offered to help them apply, since a grant would offset the cost of field trips. Applications were due October 1.  Mr. Crabb requested the application information so he could apply.  Mr. Crabb got a Target grant in 2011, but it was not on this radar this year.  Let's wish him luck!

    VI.          Genevieve/Mrs Fields - Helen reported that we had sales totaling $13,365.  This is $2k more over last year with 20% fewer students. The Rizzo family generously donated the 1st place prize of lunch at Cafe Roma with the Principal for the top winners from each grade.  Helen asked if the Rizzo's would be willing to add one more student to the lunch, as there was a very close tie for 3rd place.  1st place goes to Hannah Naccasha, 2nd place to Grace Nickerson and 3^rd place to Nina Rightmeyer and Mackenzie Fry.

  VII.          Pancake Breakfast – No update given due to time constraints.

VIII.          Chili Cook-off – Lori asked for help with set-up and clean-up, and asked everyone to attend.  Flyers will be given to teachers after the Booster meeting to be handed out to the kids before the weekend.

    IX.         Dinner Auction Committee - Taffy announced that she is very close to confirming a date for the auction; May 10^th is the tentative date.  It will be at Cafe Roma, and the Rizzo's agreed to stay with same budget costs from the event 2 years ago. Taffy intends to post a Google doc showing past donations for people to see in the hopes that others will find and seek out donations to help with the event.

      X.         Task Force Update – Helen informed the group that the Task Force has concluded their meetings. The group came up with recommendations that will now go to Dr. Prater. The recommendation is to support Teach now and into the future, and move it permanently, with the top recommendation being to move it to the Old Pacheco site on Grand Avenue. This is the favored location because of its proximity, and connections, to Cal Poly. Unfortunately, in early Spring, the District signed a 5 yr lease with the SLO Classical Academy for a large part of the space on this campus, so it would be an expensive option to buy out the lease.  It is possible that in the interim, the space could be shared with SLOCA, if the other tenants can be moved out. Recently an article in the Tribune reported that there were talks of selling the property to Cal Poly so that it could be converted to student housing.  The Lizzie campus is the second choice for Teach to move to, due to the facilities available on site.  Further recommendations of where the district offices could move to were made, and other choices for a Teach campus include Sunnyside, Morro Elementary, and the Pacific Beach Continuation school site.

    XI.          Open Forum – Discussion was held regarding how we can get more people to attend the Booster meetings.  Suggestions include “Robo calls” from school through School Messenger program, have signs posted at the school, send out reminders through eBlasts.

Discussion was held regarding making sure that the Boosters work hard to get Chairs of events to post their “best practice” notes and comments after events.  This helps incoming parents in future years once former parents move on out of Teach.  There used to be a binder that would get passed from Chairs/Board members to future Chairs/members, but the binders seem to have lost effectiveness.

Discussion was held on whether or not it would help to promote events as fundraiser for "xyz" activity, instead of just saying that our events are fundraisers to help pay for all enrichment activities.

  XII.            Adjournment – 10:00am