PTO Meeting Minutes

Board members in attendance: Mary Beth Crosson, president, Lynn Williams, recording secretary, Kim Vu, treasurer, Theresa Story, vice president, and Suzanne Dowd, member at large, faculty representatives Deborah Ball, Cynthia Washington (assistant principal) and David DiPippa (principal). Kathy Johnson, school directory coordinator and Lisa Sharkey coordinator for school supplies were also in attendance. We were pleased to welcome several parents to this first school year meeting.

Cultural Arts Programs:

• This Monday, September 22nd, Otto the Auto will be in the school for an automobile safety assembly for grades K, 1 and 2.
• On October 9th the Marine Band will return for grades 4 - 8.
• We are hoping to once again welcome Mr. Wilson, the parent of two St. Leo the Great students, in December for a band performance for the younger students grades K - 3.
• On October 16th we welcome the African Acrobats, a group from Kenya featuring limbo, balancing, juggling and pyramid building.
• Chinese Acrobats will also be returning on December 8th.
• On November 6th Flags Unfurled assembly will be held. This is an interactive assembly designed to expose the students to history, citizenship and current events. The PTO requested that an out of uniform, Red White, and Blue day be considered. Mr. DiPippa will consider this request.
• Stars in Your School - An astronomy assembly with a Starlab planetarium will be coming to St. Leo's this year.
• Linda Dupree, a St. Leo parent, asked the board to consider the Wolf Trap Children's International Festival as a field trip event for next year's fifth graders.
• Mr. DiPippa stated that the fifth grade has also put in a request for an event at the George Mason Center for the Performing Arts.

Fundraising:

• Mrs. Crosson introduced Katie Wilson and Kim Perry who had requested an opportunity to speak to the board about a fundraising program for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Mrs. Wilson spoke about the Society's goals and mission. Mrs. Perry then spoke about Pennies for Patients, a program in which the students bring in spare change to fund research to help children who are suffering with blood cancers. A request was made to consider this as a school wide event for January or February. Mr. DiPippa stated that this was not really a PTO event and requested that Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Perry meet with him separately to see if such an event could work into the school's current calendar.
• Fuddrucker's Night Out Dinner Event: Suzanne Dowd was recognized as chair of our first Night Out Dinner event to be held at Fuddruckers on Chain Bridge Rd., Monday Sept 29th. Flyers will be handed out to children in the Weekly Communicator and after masses the weekend before the event. It will be advertised on WLEO. Fuddruckers will donate up to 20% from all sales made using a St. Leoﾒs certificate during our event.
• In December, Mrs. Dowd is working on holding another event with retailer 5 Below, in combination with Wendy's, at Fair City Mall. This is tentatively scheduled for the first week of December.
• Another excellent opportunity for fundraising was introduced. Let's Dish offers to donate 10% of proceeds from sales through St. Leo's during a specified three-month period. Let's Dish allows
  busy moms and dads to prepare and serve nutritious meals in half the time. More information on this event to follow.

Spirit Wear:

• Mrs. Crosson stated that 50 spirit wear shirts have been ordered and will be available before the first spirit wear day. She is also expanding spirit wear options and will have other items available for parents and students to order during the November 1st All Saints Family Fun Night. These will include hooded sweatshirts and pajama pants.
• Mrs. Crosson presented information regarding a Splendid Family Photo event. This is something offered by the same studio that does the school photos. Discussion was held whether families would take advantage of something like this. The board voted to look into this further and possibly schedule this in the evening or after a Saturday night or Sunday morning mass in late November or early December to allow for time for Christmas Cards/gifts.

Faculty Request for Funding:

• Mr. DiPippa presented Mr. Abraham's request for $600.00 for science materials. Mr. Abraham has equipped his class with two, 50 gallon aquariums to be used in teaching throughout the year. He intends to use these for all grade levels, allowing his middle school classes opportunities to teach the younger students what they have learned. Motion to approve made by Mary Beth Crosson, and seconded by Kim Vu. The board unanimously approved funding.
• Mr. DiPippa presented Mrs. White's request for $550.00 for music licensing for Middle School Musical. A motion to approve funding was made by Mary Beth Crosson, and seconded by Suzanne Dowd. The board unanimously approved this funding.
• Mr. DiPippa presented a faculty request for Language Arts Listening Centers for K, 1, 2 and 3rd grade classrooms (7 centers total) as well as 2 cd players. A motion was made by Mary Beth
  Crosson to approve funds and seconded by Suzanne Dowd. The board unanimously approved funding.

School Directory:

• Kathy Johnson expects that the school directory will be ready for distribution the first week in October. She stated that there are still quite a few who have not turned in PTO membership forms. Mrs. Johnson will follow up with emails to those families to enquire if they want to be included in the directory.
  Mrs. Johnson needs a list of auction donors from the rectory, and a sponsorship list from Mrs. Andy Walsh in order to include them in the directory.

Scrip:

• Re grocery store scrip: Mrs. Crosson asked Mr. DiPippa if could we send home an order form with lunch ticket ordering? Mr. DiPippa was going to look into how to make this happen. He thought it could go home in the Weekly Communicator but was uncertain if he could coordinate it with the lunch menus.

PTO on-line web page:

• Lynn Williams and Mike Hedderson are working to make this more user friendly. Mr. DiPippa would like the PTO to continue working with Mr. Hedderson on the current site to make it work for us. The computer in the hallway near Mrs. Ferlotti's office should now be set up for parent volunteer sign in.

Parent Concern:

• Tornado emergency day - Mrs. Linda Dupree asked to be recognized and raised concerns about dismissal on June 4th last school year when weather concerns resulted in an early release of the children. Mrs. Michelle McSoley also raised similar concerns about how this type of situation was handled. Mr. DiPippa assured the parents that our schools emergency plans have been viewed as exemplary during a Diocesan safety inspection over the summer.
  The events of June 4th have been reviewed by the staff and administration and the school continues to practice emergency procedures should any such event occur again.

School Supplies:

• Lisa Sharkey will be taking over coordinating the ordering and distribution of school supplies.

Budget:

• The current budget is available for review on our website under 2008-2009 budget. Final board approval was postponed until the next meeting due to time constraints.

The next meeting of the PTO Board is scheduled for October 14, 2008 at 7:15 in the Faculty Lounge. We welcome all interested parents. Anyone who would like an opportunity to speak on a topic other than on the planned agenda should contact the PTO president, Mary Beth Crosson, prior to the date in order to be included on the meeting's agenda.

Respectfully submitted,
Lynn Williams
Recording Secretary