Friday, September 23, 2022
8:30 AM, Brown School Outdoor Classroom
WELCOME & INTRODUCTIONS
Abby Lewis & Kate Schmeckpeper, Co-Presidents
- Largest school community yet – 450 students/100 staff
- Mission of the PTO
NATIONAL GRAND BANK PRESENTATION
Jim Nye & Matt Martin, National Grand Bank
- Presented a donation for $750
DISTRICT UPDATE
Superintendent John Buckey
- School year off to a great start
BROWN SCHOOL UPDATE
Principal Mary Maxfield
- Welcome to the school!
TREASURER’S REPORT
Karla Strobel, Co-Vice President
- Biggest revenue for the year is Magic Hat (at MVMS) – get about 1/2 of our fundraising/$34k per year
- Biggest fundraiser is Fun Run – last year earned $28k and also a great team building/school spirit event
- Fall Contribution Drive right now – raised $1700 so far
- Expenditure – enrichment (programs that happen during the school day for students), Welcome Events, Spirit Wear, Playground SUpplies, Faculty Support – supplies and teacher appreciation
- Budget is public on the website under our June Mtg Minutes
ENRICHMENT COMMITTEE
Bit Coppola, Advisor
- Serving 20 classrooms, 4.5 grades
- Bring in outside programs to support the curriculum
- Last year was challenging with Covid restrictions
- October – Wingmasters (birds of prey), Speaker on mindfulness, local groups on sustainability, working with teachers on programs that align with the curriculum
- Call for volunteers for enrichment – great way to get into the classroom and see hands on learning
- 100% of the Magic Hat donation goes to enrichment
TEACHER APPRECIATION COMMITTEE
Madey Poss, Co-Vice President
- Feel good committee – bring something at least once a month to show teachers we are thinking of them – usually from a local business.
- Welcome Breakfast, October lunch, Valentines Day Chocolates, etc…
- Volunteering could look like picking up coffee on the way to school or helping clean up a teacher work room at the end of the day
HALLOWEEN EVENT- MONSTER MASH COMMITTEE
Kate Schmeckpepper, Co-President
- Halloween themed carnival that happens in the Brown School parking lot – Oct 21
- Huge Volunteer undertaking
- Group of parents have decided to revive the haunted house – if anyone is good at building things we need your help!
- MM is a community building event not a fundraiser
- Tickets on sale the first week of October. If your child goes to Brown they will not get turned away, but buying tickets ahead of time really helps with planning.
- Brown School event – not for other schools. Glover has their Trunk or Treat on Oct 28.
- Need volunteers for planning and for the event itself (30 min slots during the event)
SCHOOL GARDEN COMMITTEE
Kristen Pratt, Advisor
- 25 raised garden beds all over the Brown Campus
- Holly Hannaway – garden coordinator
- Flowers are for seeding (please don’t cut!)
- Hoping the kids will be able to do tastings from the gardens some day
- This year Holly going to coordinate with room parents looking for volunteers
QUESTIONS
What is a Room Parent? – teachers will reach out to class and ask for a parent volunteer to help coordinate with PTO/supplies/special projects/holiday party, etc.
MAGIC HAT UPDATE
Abby Lewis, Co-President
- Non Profit Thrift shop that gives all the proceeds to the MHD School PTOS/PCOs
- Donate clothing, toys, housewares – lots of good stuff there and great prices!
- They work with parent volunteers to tag clothing, sort racks, organize, you can also do a load of laundry and get credit, donate a small piece of furniture.
- Brown School will get an allocation in October
- Checks are scaled based on volunteer hours – last year they gave us $34k!
- This week is Brown’s week and the next one is in October. You can go in any time but doing Brown’s week is a great time to meet other Brown parents!
- You get 50% off when you are working
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Kate Schmeckpeper, Co-President
- We have volunteer opportunities for anyone and any schedule! And we want every parent to get involved.
Contact brownschoolptomhd@gmail.com for details:
- Harvest of the Month – Lead Cara Whelan
- Separate program from the school garden.
- Last year pre prepped cups were served at snacktime
- Most of our donations come from FDC
- Instead of taking food to classrooms we are serving during lunchtime – short and social amount of time.
- Volunteer slots are filled for serving during lunch, but need volunteers to help portion out the food prior to lunchtime. 9:30-10:45am time slot
- Kids will take home a fact sheet with info and recipes related to the food of the month, along with trading cards and an “I tried it!” sticker
- New food services director John Constantino is fully bought in
- Sign up genius went out in PTO newsletter
- Teacher Appreciation Events – Lead Madey Poss
- Playground Supply Replenishment – Lead Samantha Nelson
SPIRIT WEAR & SCHOOL SPIRIT ACTIVITY
Karla Strobel
- We have SWAG for Brown School! If you’re interested in designing and selling please sign up! Going to be selling at Monster Mash and Open House.
- Going to make a “Brown School” Scarecrow for the Parks and Rec Scarecrow Stroll in October
- Sport Shop has set up an online store for on demand orders https://shop.marbleheadsportshop.com/collections/brown-school-pto
QUESTIONS
Where do we find sign ups? They go out in the PTO Newsletter.
Sign up for the directory in Membership Toolkit to get all PTO updates, including how to buy tickets for Monster Mash!!!
REMINDERS
Haven’t joined the school directory? Create an account using the following link- https://brownschoolpto.membershiptoolkit.com