Gorman Fort Banks School's annual Open House will take place on Thursday, May 28th, from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Come and visit your child's classrooms and see all of the wonderful work on display! The students and teachers have been working hard to prepare for this event...you won't want to miss this fun night!

Teacher Appreciation Week begins Monday - May 4th to May 8th.  We are inviting all PTO Members and their children to show our teachers some love by decorating the front walkway of the school with chalk drawings/messages for the teachers to arrive to on Monday morning.  If you have some free time on Sunday, May 3rd, we will be leaving a bucket of colored chalk at the front door for you and/or your child to write a short message.  We will be capping of the week by hosting a Teacher/Staff Appreciation Luncheon on Friday, if anyone would like to donate a dessert, please let us know.

Our regular monthly PTO meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 13th at 6:30 pm in the cafeteria.  We hope to see you there!

GFB PTO Meeting Minutes

April 8, 2015 

• Principal’s Report (Mrs. Pearson) 

Thank you from staff and students for the enrichment programs.  Some programs

were better suited than others.  We are almost completely done with MCAS and

will be calling FedEx tomorrow.  Thank you for the breakfast - the students

enjoyed it!  Mrs. Pearson met with Christa and Kristen about summer reading.

The 2015/2016 school calendar has been finalized.  Staff will return on 9/1.  The

Kindergarten social is tentatively set for 8/16 from 2-4.  We will confirm in a

week.  Kindergarten parent night is June 4 and the tour is Friday, June 12.  Camp

Fort will be open to K, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade students with a 4-station rotation.

Space will be limited and it will run T/W/TH from 8:30-12:30 ($350 per student,

no sibling discounts available).  It will most likely begin on 7/7.  In past years,

PTO funded a scholarship for a summer program, but this was never used.

Kristen and Mrs. Pearson have already discussed math MCAS – creative ideas

welcome.

• Treasurer’s Report (Gillian Teixeira) 

The March calendar raffle brought in $11,610.  We started off with $11,226.76

and made $20,770.53 in deposits and wrote $10,845.70 in checks.  $7,000 was for

the book fair and we also deposited $7,000 for the book fair.  Some checks were

returned to be categorized as donations. The skate party deposited $357 and we

paid $170 for the ice rental.  We budgeted $500 for Math Night and spent

approximately $350.  It was a great night!  We had a $21,101.59 balance at the

end of March.  We made $1,354 in payments so far.  We have $19,755 as of now

(INCLUDES NEXT YEAR’s GRANT FUND).

• Volunteer Update 

Loop (Reena Cash): The loop is going fine. We will be losing about 5 helpers

next year.

• Recent Events (Kristen Buonopane)

Math Night – 140 registered students, 115 checked in. We got a lot of positive

feedback on the night.

Spring Dance – This is our next event.  We got an overwhelming response and

have over 200 students registered.  Doreen got Nick’s to donate 4 trays of pizza to

be ready at 5pm (32 slices in each pizza).  We may change this to 24 since they

are $1 per slice. Items at Costco will be purchased on Friday morning.  The glow

sticks are in and we have 19 volunteers so far.  Spread the word for more!

Family Movie Night – June was too close to the ice cream social.  We moved it

to Friday, May 1 and will show Big Hero 6.  The license has been purchased and

we are using the same company. We need to work on popcorn.  Doors will open

at 6pm and the movie starts at 6:30.  We will rope off the movie screen and create

an aisle.

• Upcoming Events

Teacher Appreciation (week of 5/4-5/8) – Luncheon to be held on 5/8.  Staff

members like Letteries.

Ice Cream Social  – To be held on 6/12.  Kristen reached out to Twist & Shake

but we can scoop ourselves again if needed.

Third Grade Field Day – We will provide slush and possibly water bottles (we

will get enough for Pre-K through 3rd).  What about future years? $500 for slush

budget was approved. $1000 for water bottles was approved.  As it stands so far,

all grades will receive one since it is a transition year.  We will possibly attach a

thank you to highlight the idea of a transition gift.  The room parents will assign

class colors and coordinate.  Should we earmark $2000 for T-shirts next year and

$500 for slush for 2016 field day?  Approved.

• Additional End of Year Expenses (Kristen Buonopane) 

Pre-K/K butterflies:  Ms. Murphy will let us know what is needed.  She requested

that they come after April vacation.

First grade tadpoles: awaiting email from Mrs. O'Leary

High school scholarship donation : (2) $200 scholarships.  Mrs. Pearson asked

about a Sabrina Feudo scholarship – maybe the Cummings and the Fort Banks

PTO can come together and work on this?

• Open Board Positions (Kristen Buonopane) 

If you’re interested in running, email us before the May meeting!

Co-President 2015-2017

Co-Treasurer 2015-2017

Vote in June!

• Affiliate Programs (Kristen Buonopane) 

We submitted $460.70 in box tops.  There will be another submission in October

but we can send them in sooner.  We will send a notice toward the end of the year

for more submissions.

Gorman Fort Banks PTO

Meeting Agenda for April 8th, 2015

• Welcome
• Introduction of Board
• Co Presidents: Kristen Buonopane and Christa Shea
• Co Vice Presidents: Mariana Babine and Jennifer Gorman
• Co Secretaries: Lauren Capasso and Crystal DeMayo
• Co Treasurers: Reena Cash and Gillian Teixeira
• According to our PTO Handbook: If any member of the PTO would like to have an item added to the agenda, they can submit a written request to the secretary at least seven (7) days before a meeting.
• Principal’s Report (Mrs. Pearson/Mrs. Grimes)
• Treasurer’s Report (Gillian Teixeira/Reena Cash)
• Summary Report of Disbursements and Balance
• Scholastic Book Fair deposit
• Volunteer Update (Mariana Babine)
• Loop (Sarah Pettee/Reena Cash)
• School Volunteers: please contact Mariana at: mbabine@winthrop.k12.ma.us
• Review of Recent Events (Kristen Buonopane)
• Math Game Night
• Upcoming Events (Lauren Capasso/Doreen Araujo/Kristen Buonopane)
• Spring Dance (4/10/15)
• Family Movie Night: Big Hero 6 (5/1/15)
• Teacher Appreciation Week (5/4-5/8/15); Luncheon (5/8/15)
• Ice Cream Social (6/12/15)
• Third Grade Field Day (Kristen Buonopane)
• Slush:  VOTE budget
• Gorman Fort Banks water bottles:  VOTE budget
• Class color assignment and coordination by Room Parents
• Allocate funds for t-shirts and slush for 2016 Field Days
• Additional End of Year Expenses
• K/pre-K butterflies
• First grade tadpoles
• High school scholarship donation
• Open Board Positions
• (1) Co-President position, two-year term, 2015-17
• (1) Co-Treasurer position, two-year term, 2015-17
• Vote will take place at June meeting
• Affiliate Programs (Doreen Araujo)
• Box Tops
• Labels for Education/Target/Stop & Shop A+ Rewards
• Open Forum

Gorman Fort Banks PTO 

Meeting Minutes for March 11, 2015

Principal's report (Mrs. Pearson)

 Thanked the PTO for money from Target check of $565.11

 Poster maker is very well received 

 Community Readers was a success, but challenging to get people in here that 

are meaningful to the students. Spoke with Mrs. Babine about what we can 

 Thanking PTO for the willingness for breakfast. 

 Breakfast information will be given at MCAS info night, and it has been talked 

about with the 3rd grade teachers/students. 

 Parent night is March 19th 6:30-7:30 for MCAS information. 

 Students entering tardy will not be able to go to their class. 

 Student surprise scheduled for 3rd grade students only 

 No volunteers for 3rd grade day of MCAS. 

 No volunteers in the 3rd grade hallways during MCAS 

 There will be hallway/bathroom monitors

Field day-Where “game day” for 1st grade is earlier this year, 1st grade will have game 

day, 2nd grade will have tournament day, and 3rd grade will have actual field day. 

Asking PTO to have some sort gift (t-shirt, hat, bag) to 3rd grade. Parents attending 

3rd grade only because they will be exiting the school. 

(concerns about another field day for 3rd grade. Issue being that next year there will 

be two grades moving on. Do we have two field days?) Mrs. Pearson is leaving it up 

to the PTO and parents. She is happy to let the PTO come up with an alternative. The 

things that are the most exciting to students are those to do with food, or something 

Proposed 2015-2016 calendar has not been given to administration yet, so no date 

for Kindergarten social can be planned yet. 

Treasurer Report (Gillian Teixeira) 

 Paid out the February Enrichment “Mad About Math” 

 Made a large deposit for the calendar raffle, but still need to pay the last 

enrichment and the calendar raffle winner payments. 

 Classroom grant fund- only 3 teachers approached the PTO, but a reminder 

was sent out, and the date was extended to April 15th.

Volunteer Update (Reena Cash) 

Still need loop volunteers for Mondays and Wednesdays 

Fundraiser (Kristen Buonopane) 

Calendar Raffle update-Very successful, looking at little over $9000 after everything 

is paid out. Tablet winner was pulled and delivered to the winner. Sending 10 

calendars home per student made things better. 

Review of Recent Events (Kristen Buonopane/Christa Shea) 

 Scholastic Book Fair: no official breakdown, but we sold around $10,000. We 

get 60% of sales in scholastic dollars. 

 Literacy night-6th year doing literacy night. About 103 students 

 Issues were that the café was a little more congested than the gym, mainly 

because the younger students were in the café, and needed more help. 

 Next year we need to work on stressing that they need to wait to switch 

 Family Skate Party-great turn out, 75-90 people. We had a few raffles. 

Upcoming Events (Kristen Buonopane/Doreen Araujo)

 Math Night- March 26th, flyers went home today. You do need to re-register 

for the new date.  Need volunteers. 

 MCAS Breakfast (03/31 & 04/01)-This will be served separate from the 

traditional breakfast.  Bagels, muffins, fruit and milk will be served for free 

for all 3rd graders from 7:30-8:00. Will need a few volunteers for the 

breakfast, as well as a few extra volunteers for the loop those days. 

 Proposed budget of $400 for the breakfast to cover both days was voted on 

 6pm-7:30pm. Flyer will go out next week. 

 DJ is booked and will have a few games to run with the 

students. 

 Nick’s Place is donating 3 trays of pizza. 

 $5 for admission per child, which will include a drink and glow 

 Pizza will be sold by the slice

 Need to order glow sticks

 Need to work on organizing an activity, waiting on Winthrop 

School of Performing Arts to maybe donate the time of an 

instructor to run activities.

 Open to families, and the dance will be causal dress. 

 Teacher Appreciation Luncheon: Looking at Friday May 8th, proposed budget 

of $750 was voted on and approved. 

 Ice Cream Social- discussed potential date of June 12th, 6pm-8pm. 

 Another movie night was discussed. Possible date of June 5th depending on 

movie company. Would play Big Hero 6. 

Affiliate programs (Doreen Araujo)

 Boxtops submitted 03/14/15 for around $450