Foothills Middle School PTSA—Board Meeting—February 11, 2008

Angela Prater called the meeting to order at 11:30 AM

In attendance were: Tom Dietrich, Angela Schuab, John Waldren, Jackie
Ferguson, Angela Prater, Elizabeth Nordi, Silvana Dice, Sandra Lancaster,
Nancy Mowat, JoEllen Colson, Amy Farris, Cindy Fraley and Jeanna Stillman.

Approval of Past Minutes

• Silvana Dice distributed copies of the past minutes from 12.10.07, and
01.14.08. December's meetings were accepted with the corrections.
January's minutes were corrected and approved for entry in the records.

New Business

• Nancy Mowat addressed the board to seek approval to use monies left
over from her Washington State Library Grant to pay the fees for Gary
Soto's visit on May 5th and 6th. The board responded that her request
was already budgeted in, so she could use the funds at her discretion.
Nancy thanked the PTSA for the financial support given to her program.
PTSA monies have offset funding cuts from Federal grants. Nancy further
thanked the Art Committee for their contribution to the brown bag series,
and the PTSA for the line item contribution of $1,000. 00 for library books.
Title 5 Federal grants will end in July of 2007.

Fundraising

• Jackie Ferguson shared that the 2 for I fundraiser letter was sent out
through iperiod. The letter should help with the tracking problems the
fundraising experienced in the past. Six cards will be sent out to students
this year, if they sell out, and turn in their first $30.00 only then can they be
allowed to check out more. The cards will be handled out midweek versus
the weekend. The check out voucher approach idea was dismissed.
Jackie shared she is exploring new vendors to be added to the 2 for I
cards. Some of the vendors cited were Cloud Nine Ice ream, Papa John's
Pizza, and Café Mela. The grand Prize for the fundraiser winner will fp a
digital camera. Turning in days will be Thursday the i'iidia J'1' 91f -
Lancaster volunteered to serve as the "in house" teacher if needed. There
will be a written contract deal with the merchants, over a verbal agreement
this year. That will help create a paper trial to help future volunteers man
the fundraiser. Elizabeth Nordi shared that she was approached by
parents that would like to see Prospect Pies back on the cards again. Amy
Farris suggested that some merchants with kids appeal be considered for
addition to the list. Jackie said that she would check on that, but added
that larger merchants support might be more difficult to come by because
of their set of rules on fundraising. Brian's Pizza in Cashmere was also
mentioned as an addition.

WASAL Snacks

• Sandra Lancaster's children will continue to help assemble snacks this
year. Snacks will serve 573 kids and sums up to 615 counting teachers.
They will be supplied weekly by category. Six graders will need 2 snacks
days, seven and eight graders will have three days of testing. This system
of providing snacks is less of a hustle and works better than donated
snacks. Snacks reimbursement protocol was brought up as of if it should
go into the school's budget. The budget amount is $ 600, 00, and the
snacks are purchased by the schools kitchen. The school will send the bill
to the PTSA. Mrs. Lancaster's class does the bulk of the work needed on
the snacks. On an average about 3, 000 snacks are needed. Testing
dates still needed to be cleared by John. Most likely the second week after
kids are back from spring break. JoEllen and Angela will coordinate the
information on the newsletter.

MEMBERSHIP MEETING

• Angela addressed the board on the need to come up with a topic for the
upcoming General Membership Meeting, before a date is set. It was
decided that perhaps Internet Safety should be explored as a topic for the
meeting. John shared that the school have had a recent case of
suspensions because of conflicts on My Space. Angela suggested that a
panel approach to the topic, might give the parents an opportunity to ask
questions that are relevant to them, versus a pre established agenda
approach. It was decided also that the board should contact different
professionals that could answer questions on the topic of media safety.
John suggested that either Phil Thompson or Paul Hughes from the WPD
would be a good fit for the panel. Silvana Dice took the assignment to
contact the WPD. John also said that he would like to have Chad and Jan
in the panel. Tom volunteered to look into the PTSA resources to access
any information available in the subject. Jackie suggested that each board
member wear a button with some catch phrase such as.. ."My name
is .....do you want to be my friend?"

PRINCIPAL UPDATE

• FMS infrastructure funds to be used to by furniture for Mr. Williams's
classroom. John was found playing hopscotch with some students during
recess recently. He reported that he had much fun! John has not met with
the teachers to establish the criteria for the R. Wilson scholarship fund. On
the refurbishing of the Mark O'Donnell, John said that as of to date he had
not been able to get a bid on the project from Mr. Zaldivar. John asked the
board if it had considered doing some thing for the upcoming celebration
of Counselors Week. Silvana clarified her role pertaining to the B.Day
snacks. She was under the impression that it was solely her responsibility.
The Staff Appreciation committee chaired by Katie Stefanides is directly
responsible for that. Silvana will clarify with Katie to coordinate the
assignments. John mentioned that the WAS. testing is coming up in the
spring. FMS is in search for a new Family Advocate. The iperiod
committee has met in the past two months to try to help students met and
surpass grade level expectations. The focus is in three main categories: -
Intervention, Guided Student Study and Enrichment. FMS has been
awarded $ 6,000. 00 in intervention funding. Some ideas to use the
funding have been to infuse reading as part of an after school day, or an
after school reading program to join the already after school math
intervention program. The teacher's would ideally be the ones in charge of the program. Pilot program for the automated phone calling—school would be allocating monies to the PTSA.

Edible Garden

• Angela Schuab provided the board with the latest update on the project.
Shelby Lockhart will be the school representative. A brown bag lunch is
set for February 19th• A PR is being prepared. Cindy Kahn, Sunnyslope
parent and former master gardner will Co chair the FMS garden. The next
step in the process will be to secure a garden spot with the aid of Brian
Visser. It's to late in the year to apply for a Lowe's grant. HEFER
International is interested in the-.project and is a potential source of
funding. The Co chair position will run on a two year cycle. A yearly $
150.00 line item should be added to the budget to cover the project
maintenance costs.

Treasurer Report

• The PTSA budget balance is $ 8167 00, with a fundraiser coming up.
Tom will email Sandra Lancaster about the teacher's reimbursement line
item. The cost for the 6th grade camp bus was $ 2,100, 00. John said that
his building funds will cover it. The Windows Expression do not need
follow up at this time. The PTSA is subjected to taxes based on the
balance as of the 15th The taxes are due on November of 2008. Jackie
wants Tom to check on the $ 188. 69 line item for the Reflections
program.

Co President Update

• Angela briefed the board on the nominating committee for the upcoming
school year. Jenny Parks and Angela have worked on recruiting
volunteers. Some positions are still open, such as Newsletter Assembling,
and the VP of Fundraising. Darci Waterman will fill Logo Wear position.
Motion to approve the nominating committee was brought up by Cindy
Fraley and seconded by Jackie Ferguson. March 31st is the dead line for
the new body of nominees to be presented. Jackie suggested that we
have a PTSA banner made for recruiting purposes. Banner costs could
run to up to $ 200, 00. Amy added that labeled bottle waters could also be
passed to promote the PTSA. Angela and Jackie will work together to
perhaps get the costs down. Angela transitioned to volunteering
involvement and mentioned that the 3 For Me PTA National campaign
could inspire more involvement and that an information bank could be
generated. The 6th grade orientation survey to be incorporated during
Open House, Angela wants to address the topic in the March agenda. The
Banking Days has been tabled. Cosmic Bowling for making Your Day
activity is a viable option. /Spelling Bee first place and alternate will
advance. Recognition for the winners will be made via Logo Wear or a
coupon if they already have one. Tom will check in with Sally. Our next
Board Meeting will take place on March loth at 11:30 AM. Amy suggested
that we have t-shirts for the board for the General Membership Meeting, or
name tags.

Adjournment

1:45 AM