GFB PTO Meeting Minutes

February 11, 2015

• Principal’s Report (Mrs. Grimes)

 New MCAS/ELA date are 3/31 and 4/1. Parent MCAS info night to be held on

3/19 from 6:30-7:30 in the multipurpose room. Pre-K screenings are scheduled

for 3/30, 3/31 and 4/1. Kindergarten registration will be 4/7, 4/8, 4/9. Judy will

have packets on 3/9. There will be an unannounced lockdown drill coming up.

The scholastic book fair will be taking place at the same time as MWRA. Mrs.

Pearson and staff thank the PTO for the enrichment programs. There is another

one in March. One parent inquired about the 3rd

Plantation/Pioneer Village. Mrs. Grimes has not heard anything but will ask Mrs.

Pearson.

• Treasurer’s Report (Gillian Teixeira)

We started January off with $12,823. We had $652 in expenses, $688 in deposits

and ended up with $12,859. Our largest expenses were the donation to the

Mariana Fabiano park fundraiser and the calendar raffle printing costs. Our largest

deposit was $688.70 from the fall box tops. We are still waiting for Twist &

Shake invoice. As of 2/11 we had $1632 in expenses and no deposits. Our largest

expense was for math enrichment ($1625).

Jen Gorman – Applications for grants were submitted to the Winthrop Cultural

Council for enrichment support. We were awarded approximately $1600 in grants

relating to our enrichment programs for the 2014-2015 school year.

• Volunteer Update

Loop (Sarah Pettee): We need volunteers on Mondays & Wednesdays. The

coffee hour didn’t go very well – not many people showed up.

• Fundraiser Ideas (Christa Shea)

The calendar raffles went out. It cost $260 for 8000 tickets including stapling.

Maybe over vacation we can ask local businesses for a table for sales. Total cost

was about $2500 for printing and tablet. Post on Facebook to promote sales. People

don’t need to live around here to buy them – checks are mailed.

• Upcoming Events

Math Night (Kristen Buonopane) – Rescheduled to 3/26 due to weather.

Scholastic Book Fair (Kristen Buonopane) – Dawn Hurley wants to look into

extending scholastic dollars to all staff. We have approximately $7100 in

scholastic dollars and will make more at the book fair.

Community Reader Day (Mariana Babine) – Thursday, March 5

Literacy Night (Christa Shea) – Literacy night with Jan Brett is Friday, March

6. It will be set up differently this year. Pre-K, K and 1st

cafeteria and grades 2 and 3 will be in the gym. The room is capped instead of by

grade. We will have 2 different colors based on the room. Centers will be geared

 grade field trip to Plymouth

 grade will be in the

towards grade. We will need volunteers.

Family Skate (Christa Shea) – Scheduled for 3/8 from 1-3. Kids need their own

skates and helmet. $3 per skater. Sandra keeps track of the concession sales and

we get a percentage. Scooters will be available. No hockey equipment allowed.

A few raffles will be held.

Someone Special Dance (Lauren Capasso) – No updates from Doreen in

regards to the dance. Dj is the only thing that has been secured.

MCAS Breakfast (Kristen Buonopane) – PTO will have a breakfast for third

grades the morning of 3/31 and 4/1 dates. Planning is in progress.

• Affiliate Programs (Christa Shea)

Keep clipping box tops. Register your target card. Once registered, you don’t

have to do it annually.

Schoola – you can request a bag for your gently used clothes and we get a

percentage.

• Open Forum 

Sarah Pettee asked Mrs. Grimes about how teachers are describing the lockdown

drills to students without just saying it’s “bad weather” related. Mrs. Grimes

explained that the original discussion was that explaining what the lockdown’s

real meaning is could be too graphic for the younger grades.

Jim Fabiano – Thank you to PTO for donation. The town approved soft surface

for Kindergarten playground. Still waiting on a few other things. Parks

committee is doing a spring fundraiser and is donating profits to the playground.

No updates on the fence. The last meeting was canceled.

Gillian Texeira spoke with someone on the school committee and she is listening

to parents’ concerns about the snow and bus stops. She will address these items at

the meeting tonight. We need to start sending letters/emails to the town to make

them aware of these concerns. Be sure to cc P. Gill and J. McKenna.