The Agenda for the cancelled meeting was to be:

  • Meeting Called to Order
  • Jill Grady, Roxbury Health Department
  • Secretary’s Report
  • Treasurer’s Report
  • President’s Report
    • Mini-Grant Application
    • Nike Reuse-a-Shoe collection/donation
  • Teacher Liason
  • Principal’s Report
  • Committee Reports

o        Fundraising for Next Year

o        Board of Education Reps

o      Cultural Arts

o      Family Nights

o        Reflections

o        Holiday Shopping

o        Book Fair

o        Plant Sale

  • Open Items
  • Adjourn meeting

 

As for my report:

  • Mini Grant Applications

o        On Dec 10th we received a mini-grant application from Mrs. Caivano in the Media Center.  She has requested that we buy a digital camera that she can keep in the Media Center and loan out to teachers (much like she does for the camcorders).  Her request is for $100 - $150.     At this time we have $52.90 left in the line item for Mini Grants, but our overall budget currently has a surplus.

o        Instead of waiting till February for this request, let’s try something new - an electronic vote on this item. 

o        I'm recommending that we approve this mini grant request, and would like you to respond via email with a positive or negative vote.

 

  • Nike Reuse-a-Shoe collection

o        I'm happy to report that we collected 185 pairs of shoes, 165 of which went to Washington, DC to National Geographic Kids to be included in their quest to make the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest chain of shoes.  At last look, they had collected over 2,700 pairs of shoes.  The remainder of the shoes, ones without laces, was sent directly to Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe recycling plant in Oregon.  

o        A picture of a few L/R students holding the shoe chain, along with a brief description of our program, was sent to the Roxbury Register, the Daily Record and N-Geo Kids, hopefully one or all will publish. 

o        A big THANK YOU to Debra Ward, Coordinator of Roxbury Clean Communities who provided us the funds (approx $250) to ship the 9 boxes of shoes.  We'd like to keep this program going at L/R for next year and the future.  Maybe we can even expand it with RCC's help to other schools in the district.  Joanne and I will work on this.

 

 


 

Committee Reports:

o        2008-09 Fundraising: Kathy Schwab put together a 4 person committee that is currently looking at possibilities for fundraising for next year.  They will bring their ideas to a future meeting so that we can discuss and make a decision. 

o        Cultural Arts: The next program is scheduled for March 4th and they are working on trying to bring in a rocket program.  Information will follow if/when it gets scheduled.

o        Family Nights: the next family night is scheduled for Friday, Feb 15th at 7:00 pm.  It's a hot chocolate/baked good social.  Volunteers are being called to make goodies and to help serve that evening.  Yolanda is also looking into sharing the Aspen Ice night with Franklin School.  As soon as the details are worked out a flyer will be sent home.

o        Reflections: Please see your Jan/Feb newsletter for the names of L/R students who are going onto NJ state judging.  
According to Evelyn, out of 1040 Morris County entries, 834 were from Roxbury and 386 were from L/R.  We were also the only school in Morris County to have entries in all 6 art areas, including musical composition, dance and film/video. 
Evelyn also wanted to pass on her sincere "THANK YOUs" to Mr. Curtis and Mr. Deery - "the impact of Mr. Curtis asking all students to consider the topic cannot be overstated!  I know Mr. Curtis took some heat from parents, but if one child saw a way to make a difference that he didn't see before, or one person learns something from the display of the childrens' works, consider the long term impact - and the "heat" should be well worth it." 
Also, a big thanks to the ladies in the office for all their efforts, especially during the last week of the program deadline.
The display at L/R is up – thanks to Helen Kilgore, Debbie Steckler and Rakhi Mandal.  It will remain for many months since there is SO much to see.
The display at Ledgewood Mall is going up on Monday, March 10th thru Friday, April 4th.  Lots of volunteers will be needed.  There will be a “performance night” (date tbd) where film/video, choreography and musical compositions will be shown on a big screen or played on the loudspeakers.  If anyone has connections with Circuit City, please let Evelyn know since she is hoping to use them donate the equipment and also the setup time.
The district-wide ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, April 30th at EMS. 
NJ State winners will be announced in late March.
Next year’s theme is “WOW”
We’re going to be over budget this year since over 350 snack certificates were distributed at $.75 each. 

o        Holiday Shoppe:  we made $105 profit.  This is not a profit making venture, we did receive a $300 early sign up bonus, but that was offset by financial assistance we gave to students, gifts bought for some of the students who help in the cafeteria, and pricing discounts that were given on some Metro Sports items. Arlene is going to investigate some other companies to use for next year.  Even though the company was very nice to work with, there were several issues that she felt could have been handled differently.  A good example is inventory; many other companies do not require the customer to do an inventory which takes a considerable amount of time. 


o        Book Fair: February 11th – 15th, with Family Night on the last night with the store open.  All proceeds for this sale go to buying books for the library, books for the teacher’s classrooms and for the summer reading program.   
This is not the “buy-one-get-one” sale.  That will happen in the spring.
If anyone has any large urns that don’t smell like coffee that we could use for hot water for the Family Night, please call Donna or Yolanda.  All the ones that the PTA owns have only been used for coffee, and smell like it!

o        Plant Sale: Theresa is unable to be chairperson for the Plant Sale from May 7-9.  If anyone would like to step up and take her place, please call me.  Theresa will pass on all the information to the new chair who will be handling it with co-chair, Joyce Rizzo.

Open Items:
I’m checking with Jill Grady to see if she can present at either our February or March meetings.  I will ask the office to send out a mass email with her rescheduled date.