PTO Board meeting
9/8/2016
Board members present:
Cynthia Brame (Secretary)
Bridgette Butler (co-VP Fundraising)
Tracy Eckert (Treasurer in training)
Shelley Kuhlmeyer (VP Communications)
Margaret Martin (President)
Erin Morrison (Treasurer)
Molly Smith (Head Homeroom Parent)
Amanda Scheaffer (VP Community Relations)
School representatives present:
Robin Elder (Principal)
Amy Dunaway (Faculty Representative)
Tracy Poole (Faculty Representative)
Spirit Wear report. President Margaret Martin opened the meeting by asking Bridgett Butler to report
on Spirit Wear developments. Bridgette reported that shirt delivery had been slow and that some
parents had; in addition, the Spirit Wear chair resigned. She said that all of these issues are moving
toward resolution, however. Specifically, shirt delivery was slow because the vendor who orders the
shirts and puts logos on them had volume issues associated with the beginning of school. This problem
is not systemic, however, and should not continue during the rest of the year. In addition, Meredith ???
has agreed to serve as chair for the remainder of the year and will take steps to speed up delivery by
picking up shirts from the vendor herself. The group discussed the procedure for the rest of the year,
and recommends a monthly order and delivery process (i.e., orders on paper forms with payment due in
PTO mailbox 15th of month; deliveries to teacher mailboxes on 1st of month) and maintenance of the
sample store for this year. Next year, the group recommends moving to an online-only ordering process.
In addition, the group discussed modifications needed for the beginning of school next year, such as
holding more inventory for back-to-school event or cancelling back-to-school spirit wear sales and
careful setting of expectations for delivery speed in subsequent months.
PTO Accounts. Margaret reviewed how PTO accounts work, reminding the group that the PTO is a 503c
nonprofit organization that must abide by non-profit laws. We cannot allow people to “run things
through our accounts” if individual will profit from the event. We can sometimes allow school-specific
events, like the book fair, to run through our accounts if no individual profits from the activity and the
event benefits Sylvan Park students. She gave the Marathon Kids Club and the Book Fair as examples of
events that are appropriate to run through PTO accounts.
Budget report. Erin gave report on budget; see the final page of the minutes for a summary. Highlights
include CitySaver Sales and Invest funds received to date.
Funding requests. The group discussed four funding requests.
1. Ms. Riddle requested $150 for a small portable speaker system. The primary use would be for
Friday Jams. The request was approved. Ms. Riddle also said she has a call into Paul Reisch (?) to
learn how to set up the system in the auditorium; further, she plans to videotape how to do it
for future reference. The group cheered.
2. Ms. Riddle requested up to $750 for one or two playground benches to place in different
locations to allow teachers to have a view of the entire playground. She added that she hopes
parents could do the installation for free. Ms. Elder is going to check on other sources for the
benches, so the request was tabled.
3. Ms. Lowe (4th grade teacher) requested $230 for a Wobble chair for her classroom. Ms. Elder
said that requests like that should come through her as they may fit within her discretionary
budget. There was some discussion about the need for requested items to benefit larger groups
of students, and the benefits of routing these kinds of requests through Ms. Elder to ensure that
funding priorities benefit from a broad perspective. The Board did not grant the request, and
Ms. Elder will communicate with Ms. Lowe about the request.
4. A group of parents submitted an informal request for outdoor tables. The request was in
conjunction with the new “cafeteria crew” that will increase the number of adults present at
lunch to make the lunch experience more pleasant for children. This request intends to extend
the work of the cafeteria crew to the outdoors to allow outdoor lunch, presumably for rotating
classes. The proposal identified three possibilities: enough tables for one class at a time; enough
for two at a time; tables for one or two classes plus fencing. Ms. Elder noted that MNPS
guidelines require a certified employee to be present, and said that the school does not have
the staffing to place one certified employee in the cafeteria and one on the playground during
lunch. Ms. Elder said that she would communicate with the parent lunch committee about the
request and will investigate the requirements for the certified employee. She also said that
there appears to be some conflation between parent concerns about lunch and parent concerns
about outdoor recess, and that it is important to keep the two separate. She’ll address this both
with the parent lunch committee and the parent recess committee, which has requested to
meet with the leadership team. The funding request was tabled pending further information
about MNPS requirements.
Communications report. Shelley said the website is in good shape and that Elayne has posted
information about the Sylvan Park Social.
CitySaver update. Molly said we have exceeded the goal of 1000 books. The group noted that part of
the success is due to the fact that Sylvan Park started their sales before other schools, and said we
should continue this practice next year.
Sylvan Park Social update. Information about the Social will be sent out in the e-news this week and
Shelley will give Ms. Elder a blurb to include in her weekly call-out. Margaret reminded the group that
the SP Social chairs are empowered with choosing how to communicate the Invest kickoff. Erin noted
that if we have a big auction item to recognize a large investment, then we should recognize the people
who have made large investments already.
Restaurant night report. Bridgette reported an upcoming Restaurant Nights at Local Taco, scheduled for
Tuesday, Sept. 27; 10% of proceeds go back to school. She also reported that Climb Nashville Night is
Sunday, October 16, 6:15-8:15. The cost is $15 per student (which covers all costs); $5 goes back to
school. We will need a minimum of 20 kids and Climb Nashville can accommodate up to 200 kids. There
will be a sign up ahead of time. Bridgette is also working on a Restaurant Night at Edley’s in SP.
Principal’s report. Ms. Elder reported the following:
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She will be meeting with Watch Dogs to discuss kick off.
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She will be attending the Sylvan Park Neighborhood Association meeting. Margaret will find
another PTO member to attend.
The 4th grade will give a performance after the September PTO meeting.
The School Choice Festival is September 24th; we’ll be participating. She’s asking for volunteers
to represent the school.
Engage with Elder will be September 30 at 8 a.m. She said they’ll take a stroll down to McCabe,
maybe have some fruit there.
Ms. Riddle will lead a Padaeia seminar at the October PTO meeting.
The 3rd grade will have a performance in conjunction with the November PTO meeting.
School PTO calendar. Tracy put together PTO and School calendar. The group discussed how to get it
out to parents, concluding that we’ll send out a hard copy and will put it on the website.
Community outreach and tours. Amanda said that they found the MNPS dates which give a three hour
range for the tours and will ask parents to make appointments for those. She also reported on the
business open house, which will be held October 14 at 8:30 a.m. Sixty-two businesses are invited; some
have helped in some way in the past while others are community businesses that have not helped in the
past. Business representatives are invited for coffee, donuts, and a school tour. Invitations will be made
from the SP PTO email; Shelley will help Amanda with that piece. The group discussed ways to include
students in the tour, such as by asking students to make centerpieces or identifying 4th graders to serve
as tour guides. The group also discussed small gifts for the business representatives; ideas included
notes from students, coffee mugs, and pens.
Valentine’s Dance. Amy requested that add something to the agenda. A small group of teachers wants
the PTO to be in charge of the Valentine’s dance but to have the money put into gift cards for the
teachers. Margaret said that philosophically this is not how PTO fundraisers work; we don’t have
designated fundraisers but instead have fundraisers that contribute to the general fund, which is
distributed according to the budget. Amy requested that at the next board meeting the group discuss
the possibility of the PTO running the Valentine’s Day dance for next year, with the intention of
distributing funds raised from to all teachers equally. She said this is some perception that the equal
distribution does not seem to have happened the last few years. Ms. Elder said each grade level has a
certain amount from the Valentine’s dance and that she will report available funds to teachers. Finally,
Tracy said that she will create a survey to determine how many teachers want to have the Valentine’s
dance as a teacher-led event.