Category Archives: Meetings

• Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?
• Treasurer’s Report
• Brain Bowl-Update on results/pizza parties
• Spring Fundraiser
• Family Fun Night- March 23rd
• Discussion on how to spend PAC funds?
  • Teacher Ideas/Requests
  • Artist in Residence
• Secretary/Administrative Professionals Day- April 26th
• Plastic Bag Recycling – ungoing through April 14th
• Paper Recycling – March 21- April 4th
• New PAC Officers for next year??
• New Business

**Next PAC meeting:  Monday, April 24, 2017 6:00pm in Art Room.  Date changed due to Spring Break

Babysitting is provided by Freedom High School National Honor Society students during the meeting. If you have questions or comments, please contact Erin Lenhardt at freedompac1@gmail.com. 

In attendance:  Sue Mannebach, Tammy Lipsey, Loralee Arcand, Connie Wheeler, Erin Lenhardt, Kimberly Groenjes, Susan Rudolph, Terri Romitti

Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?  The Father/Daughter dance was a success.  The Mother/Son dance will be held on March 17.

The 1^st grade teachers are very thankful for the Ipads that PAC purchased.

Chrome books were given to Mrs. Northams and Jackyl’s classrooms.  The children are getting educated on how to use them properly. They are a great learning addition to the classroom.

Mrs. Lipsey asked PAC’s feeling was towards teachers coming to meetings.  We welcome and encourage teachers to attend.  We talked about giving some sort of incentive to the teachers who attend and give a short presentation about how they are using donated items from PAC.

Treasurer’s Report– Balance is $19,058.20.  Money set aside for flex seating is $1,000.  Paper recycling money set aside is $6,765.49.  Total money set aside is $7,642.71.  $11,415.49 is spendable money.    Connie is working on learning what is needed for the 501c status.  Terri was able to give her a contact that may help.

Paper Recycling Update from December–$631.00 earned.  The next drive will be March 20-April 3^rd.  There is currently $6765.49 in the paper fund account.  One of the teacher suggested items was a lean to roof or wooden canopy for the outdoor classroom area.  Mrs. Lipsey suggested setting up a day for volunteers to come and build such outdoor items for the school.

Brain Bowl–We still do not have a profit number or know the winning classrooms yet.  The day of the Brain Bowl went really well.  The kids and parents enjoyed testing their knowledge.

Spring Fundraiser– Michelle Gloudemans is no longer able to do it, and is asking for a volunteer to run the popcorn fundraiser.  Terri Romitti and Kimberly Groenjes have offered to help.  We plan to use the money raised to pay for the Artist in Residence.  The fundraiser will run March 1-15^th with deliver April 6^th.

School Dance –Cindy Taft ran this event.  15 High School kids volunteered, which was greatly appreciated.  This freed up parents to enjoy the time with their kids.  Kids seemed to have a great time.  There were some concerns about glow sticks on the ceiling and kids going into the Speech area from the bathrooms.  Otherwise it was a great success.  There were great prizes that were appreciated by the kids.  $144 was donated for the Freedom Food Pantry.

Family Fun Night- Erin suggested we hold the night at Funset Blvd.  We are going to ask to reserve Thursday, March 23^rd   4-8 pm since there is no school Friday, and the date needs to be a Sun-Thurs.  Funset will charge us $1 per wristband if we are purchasing as a fundraiser.  We will charge $5 and use proceeds earned for playground items.  The wristbands need to be purchased and delivered prior to the event.  We will send out information sheets soon and send out a note that the date of the Fun Night has been changed.

Artist in Residence–We received a book from Sandy Melroy, the silk artist from last year.  The book was very well done and will be kept in the library.  Erin is waiting to hear back from Ted Skennadore about the Native American performance. She has contacted another person about a Pow Wow.  We discussed having Randy Peterson for next year.  Mrs. Lipsey said September or October would be best before testing.  Erin will check to see if that is a possibility for Randy.

Staff Book Fair- We have decided to not have parents donate books in this year.  The teachers cannot use all of the books brought in due to required curriculum.  This leaves us with many books that are left behind.  We discussed finding other ways to get books for teachers, including giving leftover money at the end of the year for use of books. We will revisit later.

February Parent/Teacher Conference meal– A volunteer sign up was sent out and we are set.

Plastic Recycling– We have 983 lbs. collected to date.

New PAC officers for next year.  The positions are currently 2 year terms:  President, Vice President and Treasurer.  Erin will not be seeking another term as President. Sue will be leaving Vice President as her child will be moving to middle school.  Connie stated she would like to continue in the Treasurer position.  Anyone that would like to serve in any of the positions is encouraged to let us know.

Teacher Requests– $160.89 was used for flexible seating purchases.  Mrs. Fox requested some new playground equipment.  We will discuss after Family Fun Night.  Diane purchased some new mats for the Cricut machine.

New Business- No new business

Babysitting is provided by Freedom High School National Honor Society students during the meeting.  If you have any questions or comments, please contact Erin Lenhardt at 851-3266 or aelenhardt@gmail.com.

Next PAC meeting:  Monday, March 20, 2017 at 6:00 in Art Room.

• Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?

• Treasurer’s Report

• Paper Recycling Update from December

• Brain Bowl

• Spring Fundraiser

• School Dance – How did it go?

• Family Fun Night

• Artist in Residence- 2016 Book, any updates for current year

• Staff Book Fair

• February Parent/Teacher Conference meal- Feb 22

• Plastic Recycling-Update

• New PAC officers for next year.  The positions are currently 2 year terms:  President, Vice President and Treasurer.

• Teacher Requests

• New Business

Babysitting is provided by Freedom High School National Honor Society students during the meeting.  If you have any questions or comments, please contact Erin Lenhardt at 851-3266 or aelenhardt@gmail.com.

Next PAC meeting:  Monday, March 20, 2017 at 6:00 in Art Room.

In attendance:  Connie Wheeler, Erin Lenhardt, Kimberly Groenjes, Loralee Arcand, Cindy Taft, Mrs. Lipsey

Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?  Kids will doing a Great Kindness Challenge.  They will receive information in Guidance to promote good acts.

There will be an assembly on Wednesday.  It is about “empowering our word choice”

We are doing the School Store again.  We have been fortunate that parents are donating gift cards, but the items available cost significantly more than if bought at a store.  The company is supposed to add more items.  We may discontinue the gift card portion next year.

Upcoming dates: Parent/teacher conference Feb. 22, Mother/Son Dance Mar. 17.

Treasurer’s Report:  We had a profit of $14,916 from the cookie dough fundraiser.  This includes money spent on the pizza parties.  After discussing upcoming expenses and bills, our spendable amount is about $8000.

We still have $500 outstanding for 4^th grade RTI materials from last year.

We decided to purchase Ipads for the 1^st grade teachers, as they showed a great interest in them.  We purchased Ipads for the 4^th and 5^th grade teachers last year.  The 3^rd grade teachers received some from the district.  The 2^nd grade teachers have been using chrome books.

We decided to spend up to $1000 for flexible seating in Kindergarten.  We will ask that the teachers buy one of each item they would like to try.  The concern was that we didn’t want to purchase a bunch of items that would go unused.  Mrs. Lipsey will see if there are any companies willing to give us demos to try.  We will re-evaluate purchasing more once we get feedback.

We decided to put $500 towards sponsoring the assembly that will be presented on Wed.

Paper Recycling:  Next dates will be Mar. 20-Apr. 3  We received about $500 so far, another check came today but we do not have the total.  This drive was more successful because we had a skid of paper products that was brought in.  December is typically a good drive due to Christmas.

We have $5200 in the account (not including this one).  We will need to discuss how to spend the funds.  We have always used the funds for environmental items.

Brain Bowl:  Connie set up this fundraiser.  The items didn’t go out as planned so we needed to push out the due date to this Friday.  An email was sent out requesting volunteers, but no one has signed up yet.  We have the shirts and pencils from last year ready for prizes.  Connie will be there for start-up, Erin will be running it during the day.  Participation is down. Connie will ask Judy to send out a reminder for participating and volunteering.

School Dance:  Cindy reported the email flyer has been sent out, prizes and glow necklaces bought, DJ booked.  She has set up a sign up for volunteer that will be sent to parents.   We have contacted the National Honor Society to see if any members would be willing to volunteer.  Connie will put the links for the Brain Bowl and School Dance volunteer sign up on Facebook.  We are still in need of several volunteers.  Lori will get fruit snacks and gold fish for snacks and water to serve.

February Parent/Teacher conference meal:  Erin will set up and send out a sign up for this.

Family Fun Night:  Erin suggested doing a movie night.  Cindy suggested doing a night at the YMCA, Erin will look into this.  Cindy will see if Field of Scenes would be willing to do an early opening.  We may change the date depending on what is decided.

Plastic Recycling:  We received 269 lbs. in Nov, 398 lbs. in Dec. for 667 total so far.  This is more than last year.  It is a great start!  We discussed how the program works on the honor system of weighing the bags and then dropping them off at participating stores.

Staff Book Fair:  We had a discussion regarding if we should continue.  Last year we donated books that were not wanted by the teachers to a different school.   Sue has been coordinating event.  We will get her feedback from last year.

Artist in Residence:  Erin passed out information on a couple of suggestions given by staff.  One was a singer and the other a Native American music/dance artist.  They both are able to provide day or week long sessions.  We discussed how difficult it may be for day sessions with such a large school.   The singer seemed to be a better fit for the week long session and provide a concert the final night.  We will look to this as a possibility for next year.  We explore a possibility of a day session later this year for the Native American artist.

Teacher Requests: There are none

New Business:  Connie reported that the school has yearly audits and this year, parent groups were reviewed.  She was told that we will need to apply for a 501-3C status.  We will  look into completing this.

Next meeting Monday February 20, 2017 at 6:00 pm in the art room

In attendance:  Sue Mannebach, Connie Wheeler, Erin Lenhardt,  Michelle Gloudemans,  Angie LeQuia,  Terri Romitti, Kimberly Groenjes, Loralee Arcand, Cindy Taft, Mrs. Lipsey

Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?  4^th grade took coach buses to Madison for their field trip.  This is the 1^st year they’ve done this.  They really enjoyed it.

There were a lot of positive comments about the school pictures.  People complimented the company and liked the quality

Eric Samuel Timm will be giving a presentation on Jan 25^th.  He gives advice on empowering students to do great things.

State report cards were published.  Freedom received “exceeded expectations” in the overall score.  We are very proud of this.

Treasurer Report:  Our current balance is $8172.60, we have $3500 set aside as a cushion, our available money is -$766.89.

Paper Recycling:  We received about $400 from the fall drive.  It was down from last year.  The next drive is December 19-Jan 2^nd.

Cookie Dough Fundraiser:  Michelle Gloudemans is working on final numbers, but the totals are less than last year.  It was still successful.  We discussed reasons it may have had fewer sales.  The top classrooms will be receiving pizza parties.   We discussed possibly changing the announcements.

Teacher Wish List:  Angie LeQuia put this together.  It is on the website.  There were fewer teachers that submitted a wish list this year, but as we get more we will add them.

Plastic Bag Recycing: It is underway until April 15^th.  Currently we have about 80 pounds collected.

School Dance Feb 3^rd:  The same DJ is available.  We will not be having cotton candy this year, but will offer free popcorn and water.  We have set the budget for $750 in the past, though it typically only costs around $550.  Cindy Taft will be looking for volunteers to help make this night successful.

Brain Bowl:  Typically this is held the 1^st week of February.  Dates have not been set.  We have pencils and t-shirts left over from last year.  Participants receive pencils and the students that raise the most money receive t-shirts.

Artist in Residence: Sue will ask Lori Vandenberg (school nurse) if she has any ideas.  Mrs. Lipsey will also ask staff if they have any ideas.

Teacher’s Requests: None

New Business: None

There will be NO meeting in December

Next meeting January 16^th 2017 at 6:00 pm in the art room

*Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?

*Treasurer Report

*Paper Recycling –Update from Previous/Next Dates

*Cookie Dough Fundraiser

*Teacher Wish List

*Plastic Recycling –Now –April 15th

*School Dance—Feb. 3rd

*Brain Bowl

*Artist in Residence—Any suggestions?

*Teacher Requests

*New Business

Reminder:  We do NOT meet in December

Our next meeting will be Monday January 16th at 6:00pm.  Babysitting will be provided by Freedom High School National Honor Society students during the meeting.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact Erin Lenhardt at aelenhardt@gmail.com or 851-3266

In attendance: Mrs. Lipsey, Sue Mannebach, Connie Wheeler, Erin Lenhardt, Stacey and Keith Kumbalek, Loralee Olson-Arcand, Terry Romitti

Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?   Watch for more FES items on the district Facebook page. Oct. 24-28th is Red Ribbon week with a different dress up each day. There will be a “Super Hero” theme for Halloween.  The middle and high school will play a concert for the kids.  No clown costumes allowed for Halloween dress-up. Parent teacher conferences are Oct. 18, 19th.  The 4th grade will be taking coach buses (for the 1st time) for their Madison Field trip.

Treasurer’s Report:  $11,552.27 is the current balance.  RTI materials ($500), robotic sphero balls ($2,000), and scrapbooking materials ($150) have still have not been deducted from this balance.  A $3,500 cushion is always set aside.  Paper recycling is currently $5,289.49.  Current available balance for extra use is $112.78.

Paper recycling:  We have not received checks yet, so do not have a total.  We only had two dumpsters this time, typically we have 3.  A possible reason is that St. Nick’s school is holding a paper recycling at the same time as ours.  We will look into ways to improve our numbers for next time.

Cookie dough fundraiser:   Mrs. Lipsey went over suggestions the staff made for fundraiser goals. We discussed several items including sky panels, chrome books, ipads, playground, wiggle seats, balance balls.  Generally speaking, after PAC sponsored activities, the funds will be used for technology and flexible seating.  After the fundraiser is completed we will determine where to allocate funds.

Staff meeting report:   PAC officers attended to give staff ice cream sundaes, go over new reimbursement guidelines, wish lists and answer any questions.  We were asked if they could put their own wish list up at conferences.  Mrs. Lipsey said that would be fine.  We will still compile a sheet of teacher wish lists to put on our website and will send the link to parents.  At the PAC meeting we discussed if the $100 could be used for professional development (specifically conferences).  We decided it should not be used for this, but for items in the classroom.  The district funds conferences per Mrs. Lipsey.

Fall student appreciation report:  Loralee set this treat up.  Fruit snacks were distributed to each student.  They enjoyed them.  There were some new kids that weren’t accounted for when we received the numbers.  Next year we will have extras in the office.

Parent/teacher conference meals:  Erin sent out email to helping hands and a separate email with a link from “Sign Up” for volunteers.  The sign up link was very successful.

Student directory update:  Erin is organizing the directory.  We have about 425 student responses.

Plastic bag recycling:  Starts November 15th.   A change from last time is that they changed the structure regarding how school totals are assessed.  Last year the amount collected was divided by student enrollment.  We always had lower adjusted totals due to our high student enrollment vs a school with less students.  This year they are breaking the schools into groups of similar enrollment.  This may help us win!

Teacher requests:  currently none

New business?  Connie suggested we ask parents for things from home for “incentive prize boxes.”

Next PAC meeting: Monday, November 21st, 2016 at 6:00 pm in the Art Room.  Babysitting will be provided by the Freedom High School National Honor Society.

Any questions or comments, please contact Erin Lenhardt at aelenhardt@gmail.com or 851-3266.

In attendance: Angie LeQuia, Loralee Olson-Arcand, Tammy Lipsey, Kimberly Groenjes, Michelle Gloudemans, Stacey Kumbalek, Connie Wheeler, Sue Mannebach, Erin Lenhardt

Welcome Back and Introductions: Committee sign-up sheets for 2016-2017 were passed around.

PAC Meeting Dates for 2016-2017 school year. 3rd Monday at 6pm. No meeting in December. April meeting moved to the 24th due to Spring Break. No objections.

Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?
*A parent asked if a student directory with contact information could be created. Due to privacy issues it can’t be assembled by the school. PAC agreed to create this.
*We need a few volunteers for Picture Day to help it run smoothly. Connie Wheeler and Erin Lenhardt volunteered. PAC will see if we can get other volunteers too.
*Mrs. Zick is the new gifted and talented/Spanish teacher.
*4th and 5th grade Ipads were handed out to the teachers.
*They are using Lego Robotics that were purchased. Classes are also working with coding. The staff is exploring new technology to use in the classrooms.
*the gaga pit is up and running on the playground

Treasurer’s Report:
Connie Wheeler gave report:
Outstanding Bills from May 2016:
*still need to pay for the gaga pit. We have only paid $251 for the wood.
*1200 for robotic balls
*exercise balls
*500 enrichment materials for RTI

$12,810.10 is the current balance
$3,500 set aside as our cushion
$5,314.49 is the paper recycling balance
$311.49 is the remainder after pending bills are paid
*$500 needs to be set aside for PBS 2016-2017 school year

Open House PAC:
*Michelle Wagner coordinated
*It went well, but there were not a lot of people downstairs
*Suggested having the table upstairs
*Suggestion on selling assignment books at another time, possibly during registration

Teacher Reimbursement gifts, retirees, new or changed grades:
*New guidelines were set and distributed for review during meeting based on changes approved last year. Will edit to state “items are property of school district”
*voted and approved $100 to teachers to spend as needed
*voted and approved $200 to new teachers or teachers that moved a grade. This year they are Ms. Schmidt, Mrs. Re, and Mrs. Zick
*PAC will serve sundaes and explain guidelines at Oct. 17th staff meeting.

Paper Recycling:
*Sept. 19th – Oct. 3rd
*Connie Wheeler is setting this up
*We have always kept money separate to use for nature items. Suggestion made for a classroom pavilion over the nature center with benches and tables. Possibly doing in different phases.
*Mrs. Lipsey will ask staff for suggestions and ideas

Cookie Dough Fundraiser:
*The fundraiser will run Nov. 4th – Nov 18th with delivery on Dec. 7th
*Michelle Gloudemans is coordinating
*Cookie dough rep will come to kick off fundraiser with students. It may include cash machine that was used in previous years.
*Beginning discussion on uses for funds raised. Suggestions included Ipads. Mrs. Lipsey will discuss with staff. Our objective is to have goals set before fundraisers begin so that the information can be added to flyers.

Fall Student Appreciation:
*Oct. 5th and 6th
*Loralee Olson-Arcand is leading
*snack will be given to the children

Parent/Teacher Conference Meals:
*Oct. 18th and 19th
*Erin Lenhardt set up.  She will contact Michelle Wagner, who has coordinated in previous years, to get the information on past meals.

Holiday Shop:
*No one at the meeting is available to chair this event
*After discussion, we have decided not to run it this year and will see what feedback we get

Book Fair Set Up:
*Mrs. Zabel requested help with setting up the book fair that runs during conferences
*Sue Mannebach, Stacey Kumbalek, and Erin Lenhardt have offered to volunteer. PAC will try to get more volunteers.

Teacher Requests:
*No new requests have come in

New Business:
*Connie Wheeler coordinates activities for MAPPS in the Middle School. She suggested we have the office send emails to all elementary parents with a Volunteer Spot link when help as needed. Currently we have a volunteer form that parents fill out and then we create a master list. This may save steps and reach more parents. We will explore the idea to see if it can be done at the Elementary School.

The next PAC meeting is on Oct. 17th at 6:00 pm in Room 22 (Art room). Free babysitting is provided by the Freedom High School National Honor Society. Please come join us!

PAC Website: http://www.freedompac.org. Enter your email address to receive posting from our blog including meeting agendas and notes. “Like” us on Facebook at Freedom Elementary P.A.C. (Parent Activity Committee).

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Erin Lenhardt at 920-851-3266 or aelenhardt@gmail.com

• Welcome Back and Introductions / Committee Sign Up Sheets for 2016-2017 – (pass around during meeting)

• PAC Meeting Dates for 2016-2017 school year – 3^rd Monday at 6:00 pm. No meeting in December. April moved to 24^th due to Spring Break.  Any objections?

• Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?

• Treasurer’s Report –anything outstanding from last year? What are the balances for this year?
  • $500 to PBS for 2016/17 – best way to handle?

• Open House PAC table- How did it go?

• Teacher reimbursement gifts, retirees, new or changed grades – updated guidelines –vote to continue
  • PAC will serve sundaes-explain PAC and guidelines at Oct. 17^th Staff Meeting

• Paper Recycling- September 19 – Oct 3^rd – We have always kept this money separate from other funds.  How should we use this money?

• Cookie Dough Fundraiser – any update. Begin discussion on how to use the fundraiser money.

• Fall Student Appreciation – Set date for October. Ideas on what it will be?

• Parent/Teacher Conference meals Oct. 18^th and 19^th – earlier this year

• Holiday Shop?  Should we continue, and if so would anyone be willing to chair?

• Book Fair Set up (tentatively Oct. 10/11, also possible take down) any volunteers?

• Teacher Requests that have come in to approve

• New Business

Free babysitting is provided by during the meeting.

If you have questions or comments, please call/text Erin Lenhardt 851-3266 or aelenhardt@gmail.com

Next meeting date:  Monday, October 17^th, 2016, 6:00 pm, Room 22, Art Room.