Round Top Elementary PTO
November 28, 2016 Meeting Minutes
In attendance: Cathy Lacey, Holly Heckendorn, Tracy Deets, Sally Friedman, Judy Nutter,
Heather High, Mary Kay Herrera, Ashby Sanders, April Peterson, Will Moody, Sharon Izquierdo,
Jeaneen Tucker.

Meeting called to order by Cathy Lacey and introductions of all present made.

A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes from the October 24, 2016
meeting. The motion passed unanimously and the minutes were approved.

Grant Request
o Ashby Sanders presented a PTO Grant Request in the amount of $500 on behalf
of 3rd grade faculty to assist in the costs of bringing Mr. and Mrs. Smalls in for
the day to lead demonstrations on sweetgrass basket making.
o The request was approved unanimously.

Officers' Reports
o President's Report-Cathy Lacey
 Recap of previous PTO events/PTO provided volunteers
 many volunteers on campus or working on projects from home in
the past few weeks as RTE prepares for Palmetto's Finest visit.
 wrapped up Boosterthon--largest fundraiser of the year.
o Vice President's Report-Sharon Izquierdo
 Contracts in progress for Aviator Carnival: inflatables, video truck, balloon
artist, King Entertainment (DJ), Ci-Ci's Pizza, Kona Ice, Mr. Sherman
confirmed for grill. Only vendor not confirmed is Chik-Fil-A.
 Still in need of a photo booth vendor as this was previously a
package deal with former DJ. Ms. High knows someone with a
photo booth and can get us contact information.
 Faculty bathroom caddies: have been restocked
o Secretary's Report-Sally Friedman
 Weekly highlight of a different "free money tip" via the blog now that
Boosterthon is over. Planning to highlight Box Tops and especially the
new Box Tops app; Publix key tags and AmazonSmile program.
o Volunteer Coordinator/Homeroom Parent Liaison Report-Holly Heckendorn &
Tracy Deets
 good turnout of volunteers week before Thanksgiving to assist in sprucing
up areas in preparation for Palmetto's Finest visit.
 grade level-specific emails to parents worked well--asking parents of
certain grade levels to take charge of specific tasks.
o Treasurer's Report-Judy Nutter
 copies of November treasurer's report and current budget provided and
attached.
 Awesome Aviator budget increased by $200 as voted on previously at
October meeting.

Director Reports
o Boosterthon Fun Run-Cathy Lacey
 great parent and volunteer turnout on day of the fun run
 final stats: 87 meals provided, pledges from all 50 states and 40
countries, 96% of students registered online at funrun.com, 77% made at
least one monetary pledge, 37.6% of pledges came from parents, 26.7%
from grandparents, 35.6% from family friends, day prior to run was
highest earning date for pledges.
o Boosterthon Collections-Judy Nutter
 97% of pledges collected (96% last year)
 50 students with outstanding pledges after 3rd count date
o Duty-Free Lunch-Sally Friedman
 lunches on 10/28 and 11/18
 about 1/2 of each lunch's volunteers are coming from the appointed
grade level assigned to heading that date.
o Box Tops-Christy Vanco
 submitted 12, 344 Box Tops on 11/1 for earnings of $1,234.40
 an additional $1.50 earned from Box Tops app
 RTE's lifetime Box Tops earnings are $25,436.55!
 for first submission of the year, RTE is top school in Richland 2, 8th out of
220 local schools and 43rd in the state out of 1,472 schools.
o Veterans' Wall of Honor-Nicole Schuldes
 looked better without the background paper
 tape from Education Wonderland worked well.
 Nicole has agreed to lead again next year.
o Grits for Grands-Holly Heckendorn & Jayne Baker
 volunteers provided by Blythewood Presbyterian and Village Church
 significant price increase by Sodexo; will not be using their catering
services next year.
 great turnout--served about 500 up from 380 last year
o Early Release Staff Treats-Sally Friedman
 12/2: PTO providing hams for staff holiday lunch; staff providing side
dishes
 voted to increase Early Release Staff Treats budget by $250 so that PTO
may provide treats as planned for Feb date and not ask volunteers as it
will coincide with LLS bake sale. Increase in budget was needed as PTO
was not planning to pay for December treats, but was asked to provide
hams for lunch rather than snacks.
o Book Fair
 Coming up 12/9-12/16
 Mrs. Symonds handling volunteer sign-ups through Scholastic website
this time.
o Community & Spirit-April Peterson
 Ci-Ci's Pizza night on 12/13; will need volunteers 5-6:30 and 6:30-8 shifts;
will promote week before; stickers to kids day of; no signs needed-still
have from previous events.

Announcements/New Business
o Jayne Baker has decided on a theme for this year's Aviator Ball: Let's Glow
(Neon). She is currently deciding on the dessert option and putting together a
decoration committee.

Principal's Report-Mrs. Tucker
o Ms. Pandora King (Autism Child Development) retiring in December
o Lysa Pendergast (Special Forces TA) taking a temporary leave of absence JanMay to complete her student teaching. She is current Staff Person of the Year.
o Mary Kay Herrera announced as 2017 Teacher of the Year.

Special discussion on Boosterthon
o PTO Board members have received some feedback that after 5 years of
Boosterthon, parents are ready to move forward with a new fundraiser.
o Will be extremely difficult to replace the earning power and reach beyond
parent/grandparent donors that Boosterthon delivers. Profit margin of 54% with
Boosterthon. Most product-based fundraisers offer 48-50% profit.
o Need a specific/tangible thing to raise funds for rather than "Technology and
Facilities." Perhaps make a list of funding needs to publicize; or make a list that
Boosterthon monies have been used for over the years. This lead to an offshoot
discussion that perhaps Read-A-Thon earnings should be earmarked for book
purchases for the media center.
o Board dissatisfied with schedule Boosterthon has offered RTE for next year
which is October 9-18; Fall Break falls immediately after run which will impact
collections negatively. As early adopters and repeat customers of Boosterthon,
Board feels RTE should receive better dates that are not interrupted by breaks.
Cathy to email Chris with Boosterthon to express displeasure with dates offered.

Addenda to November minutes
o As the PTO Board does not have an official meeting in December, several items
arose between the November and January meetings that required email
discussion and vote by Board members.

On December 8 the Board was notified by Cathy Lacey that
Boosterthon representatives responded to our request for
different dates for fall 2017. The new dates are a kick-off date of
October 23 and Fun Run date of November 1. These dates avoid
interruption by Fall Break, so it was agreed to proceed with these
dates and sign a contract with Booster Enterprises for Fall 2017.

On December 11 the Board voted to approve the purchase of 2 ladders
and acrylic sno-cone holders.

On December 14, Vice President, Sharon Izquierdo, notified the Board
that she would be resigning from her position effective immediately due
to accepting an offer to replace Lysa Pendergast on a full-time temporary
basis beginning in January at RTE.

On January 1, Cathy Lacey provided the Board with several updates due
to the resignation of Sharon Izquierdo:
 Cathy Lacey will oversee completion of contracts with vendors for
the Aviator Carnival and assist Tracy Deets in securing prize
donations for Read-A-Thon
 Holly Heckendorn will assume responsibilities for restocking
faculty bathroom caddies.
 Sally Friedman will assume responsibilities for closing out and
spending our Labels for Education points.
 Linette Stephens will assume responsibilities for assisting Lanna
Whitener with Teacher Appreciation Week treats.
 The board voted unanimously for Holly Heckendorn to assume
responsibilities for the VP position, while also maintaining her
position as Volunteer Coordinator.
 The board voted unanimously to designate 50% of Read-A-Thon
profits to the Media Center for book purchases.

On January 3, the board voted unanimously to approve the purchase of a
trophy that will travel to the class which collects the most Box Tops each
week during our February Box Tops contest.

On January 3, the board also voted unanimously to designate the
remaining Read-A-Thon profit to the Media Center at the end of the
school year, so long as that money is still available.

On January 6, the board voted unanimously to approve the purchase of
two balloon swags made of neon/black light-reflecting balloons from
Balloonopolis for the Aviator Ball at a total cost of $375. Jayne Baker,
Aviator Ball director is aware of her total budget and has directed the
dance previously.