Mike Riley (Principal): Opened with a Prayer. Catholic Schools Week Just Ended and Everyone

PTO Minutes, February 9, 2016

Mike Riley (Principal): Opened with a prayer. Catholic Schools Week just ended and everyone has been very supportive. Lots of energy goes into Catholic Schools Week. The energy was great all week. The testing cycle is coming up. Also, conferences are coming up. Communication is going out about that. Lent starts tomorrow and Stations of the Cross is on Friday the 19th. Times for this will rotate because of the different schedules of teachers. There will be good activities during Lent with Faith Families. This is a data collection year for the strategic plan. Kathy O’Hara, Superintendent, came to a special session of the school council to give guidance for the process. Mike has been doing an informal “climate check” to assess feelings with teachers and students. There has been good feedback, including good feedback from students. That data is useful. It is an exciting process and there will be meetings this spring with a lot of work to come.

Casey and Carrie McLiney (President Elect): Working a lot on Trivia Night. They are trying to get the word out. Mike will do a “school messenger” call on Thursday. The deadline for table sponsorships is this Friday. It has been in the Friday newsletter and they will continue to promote. People tend to sign up at the last minute. There was a discussion of how to encourage people to sponsor a table. Men’s Club did an email to their group which can be sent out to the school. Next step for the McLineys will be putting the board together for next year.

Decorating Update: The closet east of the stage in the gym had a lot of PTO decorating items. Meg Winne and Stacy Phelan pulled everything out and got it all organized.

Staff Activities Update: Nurses day, secretaries’ day, teacher appreciation, and the teacher luncheon coming up.

Student Enrichment Update: The current team does not have a shadow, but they will stay involved for next year to give guidance. Considering what the focus will be for next year.

Monthly Fundraising Update: They will be collecting box tops and need to see a push. It was noted that everyone did $2, that would be $1,000.

Student Volunteers Update: Student volunteers helped at dodgeball, bingo night, and have been busy. There has been lots of opportunity to get service hours.

Kathy Schirger (AoK): They have finished work for Lazarus House/survive the winter kits. There is an art activity with Resurrection School coming up. Coming up is a project with Jen Greenstreet’s Just Like You films. They are showing a film to 5-8 grades on autism in March between spring break and Easter break. They are testing it to see if the focus is right. Spirit Wear Update: Trying to do one more order before Tiger Trot. Working to possibly put ordering online. Having items that can be worn to school has increased orders. Spirit Wear is not for profit.

Bingo Night Update: $1000 profit.

Angela Evangelidis (New Parents): Their work begins again with kindergarten registration for 2016-17. They have been using excess St. Ann items as a welcome gift. Need to decide what we want to invest for next year in purchasing t-shirts, St. Ann car stickers etc. Special t-shirts for kindergarteners are very well liked.

It was discussed that Kelly Samuelson is very helpful with web pages etc. Bridget Ismert noted that she is a good resource.

Bridget Ismert (Major Fundraising): There was a meeting that day to kick off Tiger Trot. Committees are formed. The goal is $40,000 to raise money for round tables in the cafeteria. This year, there is the option to buy raffle tickets online. Grand prize is $2,500. $250 and $1000 prizes. Kids get a prize each week for selling tickets. Asking to see four tickets per kid sold. The kickoff pep rally is April 1. April 29 is Tiget Trot. Underwriting campaign starts in early March. Planning for bands for either the pep rally or Tiger Trot. Looking into the Marching Cobras. Also looking to get a DJ like last year. Looking for a local celebrity to pull the winning ticket if anyone has any connections. KC Royals and Sporting are busy with games. There was a discussion about using inflatables at Tiger Trot and making it one that all ages can use. There was a discussion of starting Tiger Trot earlier, perhaps dedicating the afternoon to it.

Melissa Coultis (Staff Representative): Catholic Schools Week was great. Everyone had fun with the dance for the talent show.

Volunteers Update: Considering moving signups online to Sign Up Genius.

Kim Warner (President): In early March Kim will be putting something in the Friday notes about openings for the new board. Kim has the description of the positions.

Mike Riley closed with a prayer.