The Cookie Saga Continues

Delivery to the school is now expected between 10 and 11 am tomorrow, December 15. Volunteers are needed to help sort the boxes when the delivery arrives. Volunteers are also needed to assist with the after school pick up of 5:30 to 7 pm.

Please note that the morning pick up for parents has been canceled. Pick up of cookie orders for children with more than 5 orders will be tomorrow from 5:30 to 7 pm on Wednesday, December 15.

Any questions or if you would like to help, please contact Shannon Girard. Her contact information is on this page.

Cookies and Snow

Although it's not supposed to blizzard here in Winthrop, the snowy conditions in the rest of the country have delayed our cookie delivery. Stay tuned to the blog for delivery and pick up time updates.

The Cookies Are NOT Here!

Just wanted to inform you that due to inclement weather the cookie shipment has been delayed.  There is no need for anyone that had planned on helping with the breakdown and distribution of the cookie dough to come to the school today, December 14, 2010 for that reason.  We are expecting that the shipment will be arriving on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 but would like to confirm with the shipping company before scheduling any volunteers. 

The cookies have arrived. PTO volunteers will be organizing the orders today for pick up tomorrow. Orders of 5 or less tubs of dough will be sent home through your child. All other orders should be picked up from the Multi-purpose Room on Wednesday, December 15th. There are two pick up times available: 10-11:30a or 5:30-7p.

Guidelines for Giving to Teachers

December 1, 2010

To:       Room Parents

From: Cummings and Fort Banks

Re:      Teacher Gifts

With the holidays upon us, many Room Parents have expressed interested in coordinating group gifts for their respective teachers, however there is concern about the gift policy for public employees established by the state Ethics Commission.

In an effort to be consistent and ensure that no one is inadvertently put in an uncomfortable situation, we wanted to provide you with some information that you can use should you wish to solicit donations toward a group gift.

Effective December 2010, teachers have been granted an exception to the annual $50 gift maximum imposed on public employees. Below is an excerpt from the regulation which grants this exception:

A public school department employee is not prohibited from accepting a gift, or several gifts during the school year, from public school students and/or their parents and guardians, with an aggregated value of up to $150, if any such gift is identified only as being from the class, and the identity of givers and amounts given are not identified to the recipient.  Parents may also give gifts to the classroom or the school in accordance with the rules of the school district.  Gifts received pursuant to this exemption are not required to be disclosed because the givers are not identified to the teacher.  Public school department employees must disclose gifts received from individual students, parents, and guardians that are not class gifts as explained in 930 CMR 5.07.

Some teachers have expressed concerns about accepting any gifts, however the policy is very clear that there is no impropriety so long as group gifts that directly benefit the teacher remain below $150 for the year or group gifts are made with the intention that the teacher would use it toward the purchase of item(s) for the classroom (which then become property of the school) or the school. Ultimately, though, the decision to accept gifts is theirs.

This means you:

• Can request donations for group gifts, however any gift that directly benefits the teacher (i.e. isn’t intended to be used towards classroom supplies) must not exceed $150. You should consider any plans you may have for end of the year gifts, if any, as you plan your holiday gift.
• Should identify personal gifts as being from the class, and don’t individually identify donors by name.
• Can give gifts “to the classroom” in any amount, but you must make this clear to the teacher so that they can follow proper protocol for documenting the purchases associated with these gifts.
• Can give a combination of personal and classroom gifts, so long as they are identified appropriately. For example, if you receive $160 in donations, you could opt to give $100 as a personal gift and $60 as a classroom gift. This will leave $50 available for the class to give at the end of the school year, if they wish.

If you have any questions, please contact Cindy Silva at csilva8462[insert @ sign here]gmail.com.

Click here for State Ethics Commission statement.

Now that's a lot of dough!

Our cookie dough fundraiser was an enormous success! We sold well over 2000 tubs of cookie dough!!! We are expecting delivery the week of December 13th. We intend to have a morning pick up time and a late day pick up time for families to pick up their tubs. Stay tuned to our blog and your child's back pack mail regarding pick up times once we have a solid delivery date from the supplier. Congratulations and thanks go out to all the children, their families and the community at large who made this event an enormous success.