BROWN SCHOOL PTO

Marblehead Elementary School

October PTO Meeting Minutes 2022

Tuesday, October 18, 2022
7:00 PM
ZOOM – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89659022366?pwd=NWw3OXllbVZ2NlU1eTlGOU5tc3FZZz09

WELCOME & INTRODUCTIONS                                                             
Abby Lewis, Co-President

  • 7:04pm thank you all for coming 
  • Doing half meetings on Zoom (more accessible for working parents and teachers to join) and the other half at Brown during the school day.
  • Introduced members of the Board 

BROWN SCHOOL UPDATE                                                                          
Principal Mary Maxfield

  • Things are going great at Brown School! Getting more into routine every day
  • Had our open house 84% attendance that night with great feedback, mixed reviews whether kids should be attending or not.
  • Great feedback on the walk/bike to school day – very enthusiastic participation. 
  • Field work is going according to plan – hoping to wrap up in a week.  
  • First Community Meeting this Friday when we come together as a school.  
  • Thinking about how to educate parents about the WIN block
  • Newsletter is getting good feedback and good engagement 
  • Had first School Advisory Council meeting 

TEACHER REPRESENTATIVE UPDATE          
Melissa Bowen

  • Teachers focusing on building community, developing routines, modeling procedures, setting expectations
  • Collecting baseline data on reading, writing and math 
  • Wonderful to start the school year together in one building! 

MAGIC HAT ANNOUNCEMENT            
Mary Kennedy, Advisor

  • Magic Hat donated $100,000 to all town schools – Brown school received just over $21,000 which was the largest allocation out of all the town schools.  
  • This amount is directly tied to the amount of parent/grandparent volunteers at the Magic Hat
  • Next volunteer week Oct 25-29.  Always looking for extra volunteers on Thurs, Fri, Sat.  
  • You can also get volunteer hours by donating a small piece of furniture.  Thinking about bringing back the load of laundry for hours as well.  
  • All the $ raised goes towards the school enrichment budget.  
  • You get a 20% discount while you’re volunteering!  Kids grades 4 and up can come help too and they will get volunteer hours as well. 
  • During our week on Saturday, it can only be Brown School people, but you can stop by during any week and write Brown School down for your hours.  

MONSTER MASH  
Kate Schmeckpeper, Co-President

  • Ticket sales for presales are open until 10pm tomorrow (Oct 19)
    • Cash only at the door $15 single ticket/$40 for a family but we prefer people to buy ahead!  
  • Volunteers
    • Still looking for volunteers – sign up genius has been sent out and will be again.  
    • Specifically looking for people to lend Halloween inflatables for decoration.  
  • Parking – no cars in Brown parking lot.  Tower has offered us the use of the circular parking lot or on the street in the neighborhood.  Be mindful of neighbors!  
    • We will be sending out a “ghoul’s guide” to the event that will answer many questions 
  • Monster Mash is a Brown School event for Brown School families only.  

ENRICHMENT COMMITTEE UPDATES            
Mary Kennedy & Bit Coppola, Advisors

  • Finishing up our enrichment schedule for the year
  • Gardening with Holly 
  • Wingmasters are coming in this week – birds, owls, etc.  
  • Mindfulness – Jeanne Skaane coming back – really well received.For kids and possibly teachers
  • “Ooch” coming in December – skills for life series 
  • Plymouth Patuxet Museum visit for third graders
  • Many great presenters for next calendar year as well!  
  • Volunteers – we can always use them for the “day of” as greeters and making sure they have everything that they need.  

TREASURER UPDATE                                                                      
Jess Chamberlin, Co-Treasurer

  • Fall Kickoff Drive – raised just over $3,000 so far.  
  • First allocation from Magic Hat – over $21,000 – entirely towards Enrichment, our biggest line item
  • Other two large line items are: Student Support (Monster Mash), Faculty and Staff Support ($2k on teacher supply reimbursements so far) 

PBIS SUPPORT (Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports)      
Abby Lewis, Co-President

Staff Shout Outs

  • Funding staff shout outs – little rewards given to staff throughout the year

T-Shirts for school                                 

  • Funding new t-shirts for the whole school to wear to all school events 

GARDEN ENRICHMENT      
Abby Lewis, Co-President

  • Holly Hannaway – garden educator – went into the classrooms the last few weeks.  Been doing a fantastic job and the gardens are incredible.  

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES                
Karla Strobel, Co-Vice President
Contact brownschoolptomhd@gmail.com for details:

  • Harvest of the Month – monthly program (via state) to bring fresh, local produce into the schools.  Next week you can portion and serve it!  
  • Monster Mash setup crew
  • Playground Equipment – PTO purchasing playground balls, jump ropes, etc for each of the 20 prek-3 classrooms.  
  • Holiday Shop – our annual holiday shopping event for kids (all items donated).  
  • Teacher Appreciation – monthly 

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