PAC Meeting Notes for Monday, September 17th 2018 ~ 6:00 pm ~ Art Room

• Introductions/Committee Sign Ups
  Members introduced themselves and told the group which teachers their children had. Committee sign up sheet was passed around
• Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?Enrollment is at 711. Drop off is getting better, pick up still has some issues but is getting much smoother.
  Outdoor classroom looks great.
  4K playground was taken out for the new parking area may not be usable any more. This will be determined after they put up the fence that was saved and equipment is inspected. We will need playground for the younger children. Currently they are using the K-2 side, which is also getting dated, not rated for younger kids and doesn’t have a boundary.
• Treasurer’s Report
  $4225-donations for the outdoor classroom. $2000 was from the Student Council which was wonderful.
  $24,191.90 is the checkbook balance
  $9830- paper recycling balance $4225 was donated $14,055 set aside for outdoor classroom
  $1590 – set aside
  Spendable balance $8,546 (will be used to pay balance of outdoor classroom)
• Outdoor Classroom
  The structure is completed and we received the bill $20,547.63 which is slightly lower than the estimate. The quality is very nice and they put it up very quickly.
  The Lowe’s grant was submitted-we will be requesting the seating, landscaping and cleaning up. We will not hear about the grant until Dec. or Jan.
  We sent out letters to businesses and families asking for donations. We will recognize donations of over $100 in the Freedom Pursuit. Donations of over $200 are a bronze level, $500 are a silver level, over $1000 platinum level. We had 4 over $100, 6 over $200, 1 over $500, 1 over $1000. We need to send out thank you letters with mention that the donation is tax deductible.
  Suggestions of trophy/wood places were mentioned for the engravings. We are going to look at different options and discuss at next meeting.
  Ms. Diedrick contacted HS woods department. They may be able to help but will need more information. We will not have funds for the furniture until Spring. She will also talk with teachers to see what kind of seating they would like.
  We have a paper recycling drive going on now until Oct. 1^st. We will continue to put the money collected towards the classroom. The dumpster was moved for this drive and may move again. Mrs. Lipsey sent out a letter mentioning the paper recycling and outdoor classroom to bring awareness to the benefits of the drive.
• Teacher Reimbursements gifts
  We give the teachers (including homeroom, specials, special ed, etc) $100 to use in the classroom. We give $200 to new teachers or those that have changed grades. We voted and approved giving the teachers the reimbursement gifts again. PAC will serve sundaes at the Oct. staff meeting and explain PAC and guidelines. We have recently gone through the 501c3 status. We will need to look at getting a tax exempt form to give to the teachers to use while purchasing items. We may not be able to offer tax reimbursement for online orders. Connie will look into tax exempt form.
• Student Appreciation
  Twice a year we give the students something to show our appreciation. Typically it is a food item, in the past we have also done water bottles. Loralee will coordinate the Fall appreciation. Typically we hold this the 1^st week of October. Erin will contact her. She was unable to make the meeting tonight
• Spirit Wear
  We had a table at Open House with sizes and examples of the design. This was very well received. Parents and children liked the ability to touch and see the items. Order forms went out on Friday-some children will be bringing home soon if they haven’t already. We have received some orders already. We will send a reminder email. We are hoping to have orders ready to go for conferences. Orders are due Oct. 4^th. Terri needs to have them to business by Oct.7^th to tentatively receive orders Oct. 17^th. Terri will be looking for volunteers to help sort orders at the VFW. We are already looking at new designs for next year. We will reach out to Student Council to see if Spirit Wear days can be added to the calendar later in the year. A suggestion was made to have the sale more than one a year. Terri stated we are considering adding another sale in the Spring which would offer gadget type things and some clothes to gear towards Spring/Summer. We are unable to offer all year due to the printing cost.
• Cookie Dough Fundraiser
  Sale start date will be Friday Nov. 2^nd. The orders/money are due Nov. 16^th. Delivery Thursday Dec. 13^th. Mrs. Lipsey will talk with Cheer to see if we can use the multipurpose room. Terri will talk with the gym teachers. We don’t believe we will be able to do the prize machine due to a separate assembly that is coming in. The company is offering key chains as incentive during sale. We will add it as part of prize package at pick up. The prizes are not cumulative, same as last year. The company is pushing for online sales. Terri will need help sorting orders and during pick up. We will have pick up time beginning at 3:30, after the buses leave, to avoid congestion.
• Reports
  • Student Directory: We had the link for the student directory as part of the registration. There may be a concern that if someone entered the information and later entered a submission to not be part of the directory-it wasn’t recorded. There were also some submissions with multiple children from the same family with different responses. We would like to email an excel sheet to parents to verify-however this may not be possible due to confidentiality rules. If we can’t we will print as is. We will look to fix this for next year. Using the registry was beneficial as more children had the opportunity to sign up.
  • Playground/Donation: We received 2 full boxes of balls for the playground. We will send her a thank you with tax deductible information. Jennifer Fox and Erin went through sheds, pumped up balls and threw out ones that were flat. The balls deflate often due to them being outside. There is a cabinet in the custodian’s room with a pump and playground balls.
  • Plastic Recycling: The bins have been set up. The collection will continue through April. The plastic is weighed and then taken to a store. The amounts are entered monthly. The school that collects the most in the division (based on location and size) will receive a bench made out of plastic. Every school that participates receives an item made out of plastic. Freedom Elementary has won benches the last 2 years.
  • Magnets: We have a box of magnets that were made severals years ago when the PAC logo was created. Magnets were sent home with 4K and K children. We will continue to give to 4K until they are gone. Erin will reach out to Mrs. Hofacker to see if they can be given to families that are new to the school
• Upcoming Events
  • Picture Day Sept. 26/27
    We need volunteers to help the day run smoothly. We try to get the kids done by gym and recess. 4 parents volunteered to help.
  • Parent/Teacher Conference Meals Oct. 24th and 25th (potluck and book fair)
    Amanda Hedtke will coordinate the 2 evening meals. She will set up an online sign up for these items. She has taken notes from previous sign ups in regards to what we went through to assure we have enough food/items but not a surplus. Parents will need to park to bring in the items. We have leftover ketchup, mustard and pickles from staff cookout.
    The library hosts a book fair during the conferences. They are looking for help setting it up. It will be lower key this year and mostly books instead of other items. 3 parents volunteered to help. The tentative date is Oct. 17th. Mrs. Zabel will let us know closer to the date.
  • Badger Sports/Family Fun Nights
    These nights can only be held on Sun-Thursday nights. We typically pick days in which there is no school or early release the next day. Erin set up the Badger Sports night for May 2nd so that we have a better chance of the outdoor attractions will be running. Last year it was very snowy late and we almost didn’t have them for our April date. We discussed the Funset dates. We will host on Nov. 8th and then possibly host another March 28th.
• New Business
  The meeting date in February has been changed from the 18th to the 11th due to No School.

If you have any questions or comments, please email freedompac1@gmail.com

Next meeting date: Monday October 15th 2018 6:00 pm in the Art Room (22)