Category Archives: Meetings

• Committee Sign Up Sheet for 2016-17 was passed around during meeting.

• Artist in Residence– Check out the wonderful mural that is now finished and hung in the front stairwell of the school! Don’t forget to ask your child what part they may have painted!  Our Artist, Sandy Melroy attended the meeting to thank us for hosting her.  Sandy went above and beyond with her commitment and PAC is very thankful.

• New Fundraiser– At our last meeting we decided to discontinue the AVON fundraiser and try something new. (We can always bring AVON back if this proves to be a mistake)  Michelle Gloudemans has been chairperson for our Cookie Dough Fundraiser and the same company offers other fundraisers.  This company has proven to be efficient and trustworthy with minimal work on our end.  After investigating our best options with this company, Michelle suggested a gourmet-type popcorn along with another that sells a variety of edibles including cheese spreads/candy. Both of these give us 50% of sales.  This fundraiser would be done in the spring so it would not co-inside with other similar fundraisers in the area/school district.

• Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?-The ABC Countdown is going good and the kids seem to be enjoying it. Everyone loves the mural!  Field day is coming up on May 26 and PAC will purchase Freeze Pops for this. The Mother/Son dance went great with lots of energy from all those boys.  On May 27, the Freedom High School seniors will visit our school in their cap and gowns for a parade and some high-fives from our elementary kids.  How fun for the teachers to see their students from past years and how they have matured.

• Treasurer’s Report–

Total money in our checkbook.  $22838.74

Money set aside for upcoming expenses.  $13,056.49

Usable money in our checkbook.  $9782.25.

A breakdown of our 2015/16 finances be published  later.

• Staff Appreciation Week– May 2-6- Michelle Wagner coordinated 3 days of treats for the staff-Dippin’ Day, Muffin Morning and Dessert Day. We got a lot of great comments.  Thank you to everyone who signed up and brought in food.

• Spring Student Appreciation Day- May 20- We will hand out Freeze Pops after the Juvenile Diabetes Walk.  Loralee Olson-Arcand will purchase them and make sure they are frozen in time.  She will also purchase them for Field Day.  She will coordinate handing them out after the walk.

• Field Day, May 26– Amy Lahay will make sure the Freeze Pops are frozen in time for Field Day.

• Fifth Grade Celebration, May 31 – Connie Wheeler is chairing this. We are getting cake/cupcake from Sweet Tooth.  We voted on cupcakes because it was almost the same price and we don’t have to deal with cutting/plates etc.  We are also getting sheet cakes for any parents who may attend.  Water will be served.  Fifth graders brought home a flyer for parents to indicate how many will attend and if they would like to purchase a copy of the 5th Grade Video.

• Fall Open House Aug 31, 330 pm-530 pm- We will again set up a table with PAC information.

• Meeting Dates for 2016-17– We decided to keep on our meetings on the third Monday of every month (no meeting in December).

• Last Day of School Recognitions/Retirees– Mrs. Lipsey knows of no retirees. We will honor the following:

$10 gift card to each National Honor Society student for babysitting.

$25 to each of the 4 custodians.

$10 to each of the Related Arts teachers.

• How to spend the funds raised this year?

– We voted to donate $500 yearly to PBS.  This was a request from Mr. Quinlan who is on the PBS committee.  Mrs. Lipsey has some great ideas on speakers to bring in next year.

– Outdoor Ga-Ga Ball Pit- $1000

– Robotic Legos- $1400

– German Foreign Language material- $129

-Safety Goggles for 3rd-5th grade- $100

– Science Supplies from Flinn Scientific- $100

– Sphero Robotic Ball- 1 kit to share- $1,199

– One Challenge Stem Kit- $299

– Exercise Balls for Classroom Seating to share, 4th grd- $300

– Enrichment Materials/Supplies, 4th grade- $500

– Resonator Bell Set- $300

– Teacher iPads, 4th and 5th grade- $5000

*The “Labels for Education” program (Campbell soup labels) will be discontinued by the company at the end of the year.  Soup labels need to be turned into the school by June 2^nd.

*PAC would like to thank Amy Lahay and Carolee Baumgart for their outstanding service over the past several years.  Both have been officers-Amy (President) and Carolee (Vice President).  Amy has chaired several events including the recent Artist in Residence and organized our Holiday Shop.   They will be missed!

Next PAC meeting: Monday, September 19th, 2016 at 6:00 pm in the Art Room. 

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

The Artist in Residence mural is expected to be displayed in the main stairwell between the 1^st and 2^nd floors soon.  Before the meeting, take a moment to stop and admire the art.

• Committee Sign Up Sheets for 2016-17 – (pass around during meeting)

• Sandy Melroy-Artist in Residence

• Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?

• Treasurer’s Report

• Paper Recycling update — what did we earn from the last one? May 23-June 13 last one of the year

• Staff Appreciation Week -May 2-6

• Spring Student Appreciation Day- May 20

• Field Day May 26 (will PAC supply popsicles?)

• Fifth Grade Celebration- May 31

• Fall Open House- Aug 31st (3:30-5:30)

• Last Day of School Recognitions / Retirees

•  Meeting Dates for 2015-2016- Keep on third Monday of every month? (No meeting in Dec)

• New Business

• Teacher Requests that have come in to approve

• How to spend the funds raised this year?  What to raise funds for next year?

• PBS 2017 ($500)
• Playground 2017

Babysitting will NOT be provided during this meeting. 

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

This is our final PAC meeting for this school year.  Please join us after the meeting to celebrate a great year at Stone Yard, W3010 Edgewood Trail, Appleton, by Players Choice.

*Mrs. Anderson (reading specialist) ABC Countdown-Mrs. Anderson presented a program the Reading Team will be doing for the students that will countdown the last 26 days of school with a different activity on each day.  The activities will be a different letter of the alphabet.  She asked if PAC would provide the items for a few of the days (B-bubble gum, I-ice cream, P-popsicles).  PAC voted unanimously to support those days.

*News from Mrs. Lipsey-There will be a concert for the 1^st and 2^nd grade on May 16^th.  Field day will be May 26^th.  Testing is going well.  They are using laptops/computers from the high school and they have been very beneficial

There will be a My Rockstar and Me dance for the mothers/sons on May 6^th.

She has been working with the staff to get suggestions on how to spend the money collected in the fundraisers this year.  Some of the staff committees are meeting at the end of April.  She will continue to get more input.  There were a few RTI items she presented.  There was a brief discussion on what RTI is and how the teachers work with different students, not just their own classrooms.  We also began a discussion on Ipads in the classrooms.   We will continue these discussions at the May meeting.  One of the items listed was an Einstein Kit for $250 that the 2^nd grade team was hoping to purchase within the next few weeks.  We voted unanimously to approve the purchase.

We approved $500 for the 5^th grade teachers to purchase of a science last year.  It has not been purchased yet due to some questions regarding shipping.  They have found a cart they want to purchase, we re-approved.

*Treasurer’s Report-The account balance is $25,148.69.  Part of this amount is money earned from our Paper Recycling ($4,346.49).  We hope to spend this on something for the Nature Center or an outdoor/environmental project.  We also keep $3,500 in our account as a cushion for next year to cover immediate expenses that occur.  We have expenses approved that have not been paid yet.  Our spendable amount is about $10,000.

*Artist in Residence- April 4-8 – Amy Lahay coordinated this very busy week.  Sandy Melroy worked with the kids on their individual projects and the mural.  She gave the students cocoons to take home.   We had a lot of parent volunteers that helped during the week.  The 4K and Kindergarten children made hand stamp squares, 1^st grade stamped squares, and 2^nd through 5^th grade created sun catchers.   The students also painted on the mural.  There were some staff members that came down to paint on the mural too.  Some of the individual projects have gone home, some are still being washed by Sandy.  The mural is expected to be back in May.  Sandy held 2 silk scarf classes with the leftover materials.  She gave $95 from the classes back to PAC.  Amy had given Sandy a thank you and gift card, we voted to also get her a Freedom clothing item.

• Artist in Residence Books-Connie Wheeler is creating books with pictures from the Artist in Residence programs.  She has done this in the past.  She is finishing up the paper mache fish one from 2 years ago and will be creating one for this year.  We voted to approve her costs in creating these books.  There will be 3 of each year made.  One for the library, art room and office.

*Family Fun Night- April 8 – There were less in attendance this year, probably due to the weather.  There were approximately 150 kids in attendance.  There were 12 minute to win it games in the cafeteria and gymnasium.  Everyone seemed to have a good time.  We had teacher, parent and student volunteers that helped it run successfully.  The cost of the event was $362.88.  We collected $61 for the Freedom Food Pantry.  We have a lot of leftover candy (that will not keep for next year) Mrs. Lipsey suggested they may be able to sell it at the My Rockstar and Me night.

*Plastic Bag Recycling– Sandy Lezotte was not able to make the meeting but prior to it let Erin know that we collected 1340.4 pounds of plastic and we were the 3rd place school.  We will receive a planter made from recycled plastic.  Good job!

*Paper Recycling– We have received one check, update will be given at the meeting in May

*Staff Appreciation Week – May 2-6-Michelle Wagner was not at the meeting but had previously agreed to coordinate.  She sends a sign up for a few days that week to provide treats for the staff.

*Spring Student Appreciation– Loralee Olson-Arcand is setting this up.  She is tentatively planning on getting freeze pops for the kids to enjoy after the walk on May 20^th.

*Fifth Grade Celebration – Connie Wheeler is the chairperson for this event which will take place on May 31^st.  In the past PAC provided the cake, however this year the 5^th grade team is working with Greg to take care of it.  They asked PAC to supply water and/or coffee.  Connie will work to get clarification on what they need.  In the past we have given the 5^th grade teachers gift cards.  This year it was suggested we do something different to include all teachers.  She will be working on this and giving an update at the May meeting.

*Fundraiser Discussion- There have been comments made to members regarding the number of fundraisers and fundraisers overlapping.  We began our discussion with reviewing how our current fundraisers have been performing.  Brain Bowl and Paper Recycling have been consistent, Cookie Dough has been significantly increasing, and Avon has been declining.  There was a suggestion of moving the timing of the fundraisers so that the fall ones don’t overlap, but that may make them more unsuccessful.  We decided to not run the Avon fundraiser for 2016/2017.  We will be using a new company for the Cookie Dough fundraiser.  They have other products that can be introduced.  We also have opportunities from other fundraiser companies if needed.  For next year we are currently planning on Paper recycling, Cookie Dough and Brain Bowl for our fundraisers.  We decided to change our focus from fundraising and determining how the money is used at the end of the year to trying to assign a goal for fundraisers as they are implemented.  We will continue discussion of upcoming needs by staff at the May meeting.

*Teacher Requests-There were no new teacher requests

*New Business/Update-The student council would like to sell drawstring bags next year and wanted to make sure we didn’t have plans to give them out next year.  We do not have plans to do this.

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

Final PAC meeting for this school year:  Tuesday May 10^th 2016, 6:00 pm in the Art Room (Room 22, lower level).

*Meeting date changed due to music concert May 16^th and District survey results meeting May 2^nd

• Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?

• Mrs. Anderson (reading specialist) 26 Days

• Treasurer’s Report

• Artist in Residence- April 4-8 – How was it?\

• Artist in Residence Books

• Family Fun Night- April 8 – How did it go?

• Plastic Bag Recycling- update

• Paper Recycling- update

• Staff Appreciation Week – May 2-6

• Spring Student Appreciation- May 20^th? Popsicles?

• Fifth Grade Celebration – May 31

• Fundraiser Discussion (Paper Recycling, Avon, Cookie Dough, Brain Bowl) Do we need to change?

• Teacher Requests

• New Business/Updates

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 851-3266 or aelenhardt@gmail.com.

Final PAC meeting for this school year:  Monday, May 2, 2016, 6:00 pm in the Art Room (Room 22, lower level).

*Meeting date changed due to music concert

– Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?-The Princess and Me Dance was held on March 18^th.  It was very successful with 110 girls pre-registering.  There were a lot of great comments regarding how much fun the girls and fathers had.  They are still looking to do something in May for the boys/mothers.

Testing will be occurring in April. It will be online. This year 4^th grade will have social studies added to the test.

PBS committee purchased books for the 4K, K, and 1^st grade and prizes for use this year.

There are 2 assemblies left this year. One will be about “Spread the Word to End the Word” and Student Council is sponsoring an Olympian Walker May 24^th.

–Treasurer’s Report– Our current balance is $30,240.36.   Part of this amount is money earned from our Paper Recycling ($4,226.99).  We hope to spend this on something for the Nature Center or an outdoor/environmental project.  We also keep $3,500 in our account as a cushion for next year to cover immediate expenses that occur.  The spendable amount is $22,513.37.  This does not include monies already dedicated to items approved for this year including Artist in Residence, Family Fun Night, etc.

–Artist in Residence– PAC is sponsoring an Artist in Residence this year for Mrs. Rudolph’s Art Room.  Sandy Melroy is a Silk Artist and will be working with students on an individual project as well as a large mural that will be displayed in the front stairwell.  Mrs. Rudolph does not work with the PreK students, but PAC has found parent volunteers to help bring the silk art into those classrooms as well.  The PreK students were also able to meet Mrs. Melroy and learn how silk is made.  Mrs. Melroy will be here through April 8.

–Family Fun Night– Friday, April 8, 6:00 to 7:30- Connie Wheeler and Erin Lenhardt are now Co-Chairs for this.  Cindy Taft organized a Minute-To-Win-It night with great ideas for fun challenging games for the students.  It should be a fun night!  Face painting and snacks will also be available.  This is a completely FREE NIGHT for elementary students and their families.  Parents must accompany their children.  We are still looking for volunteers to help run the games.  Please contact Erin Lenhardt (email is below) if you can help.  We are also asking High School students who may need volunteer hours and teachers to help with this event.

–Brain Bowl– We raised $5,743.30.  Three classrooms won pizza parties for highest participation.  Congratulations to Mrs. DeGroot’s T/Th class, Mrs. Thiel and Mrs. Margo Fox’s classes!

–Staff Book Fair– Sue Mannenbach organized a new/gently used book drive.  The teachers then get to use these free books for their classroom libraries.   Any books that are left over are donated to St. Vincent or Goodwill.  We noticed this year that the teachers did not take as many books.  We will look into the reasons why and decide if this is something we want to continue.

–Secretary/Administrative Professionals Day– Wednesday, April 27. We voted to include Diane along with the two Judys this year.  We voted to give $50 and flowers to each.  Connie Wheeler will take care of a card/money.  Amy Lahay will get the flowers.

–Paper Recycling– The next one is March 21 – April 4.  Paper products only please!

–Plastic Bag Recycling– ongoing thru April 14- We have collected 806 pounds so far!

New Business–

-Playground equipment-Ms. Fox approached Erin Lenhardt on behalf of the Climate Committee.  The group has created a list of desired playground equipment/toys to use during recess because there are many items lacking or in poor condition.  After discussion PAC voted to approve $2500 for the start-up purchase of these items.  We will also get feedback from the Climate Committee later in the year to determine how much of the wish list was able to be purchased.  Some of the items will probably need to be replaced annually.

-Some teachers commented that the electronic pencil sharpeners that we helped them purchase no longer work and the warranty was only 60 days.  This prompted a longer discussion that we wanted to look into before the end of the year regarding our guidelines for the teachers to spend their $100 gift from PAC.  The guidelines were originally put in place because we felt if the students/parents worked so hard to help us raise money, we wanted the money to go to something educational that stayed in the classroom for other students to benefit from year after year.  We voted to remove the current guidelines this 2016-2017 school year and simply state that the teachers use their $100 gift on educational items in the classroom.  We will not approve/pay for any snack items for classrooms.  We love being able to offer the $100 gift to teachers every year ($200 to any new teacher or a teacher that switched grade levels) and we hope the teachers love spending it!   Thank you to all the parents/students who help us raise that money!

-Cookie Dough fundraiser- Michelle Gloudemans has been the chairperson for this fundraiser since it has started.  Our current cookie dough vendor is now located out of state and she noted it did not run as smoothly this year.  She presented info from another vendor that also offered other items to sell along with cookie dough.  We noted that the middle school does a very similar fundraiser almost the same time of year.  We discussed options and thought about still switching vendors but just selling cookie dough or switching the time of year that we do our sale.  Michelle will talk to vendors for options and we will continue this discussion at a later meeting.  We may be reevaluating all of our fundraisers to determine if they are still effective or if we need to try something new.

Next PAC meeting: Monday, April 18, 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.

• Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?

• Treasurer’s Report

• Artist in Residence – April 4^th – 8^th

• Family Fun Night- April 8^th

• Brain Bowl- Update on results/pizza parties

• Staff Book Fair – How did it go?

• Secretary/Administrative Professionals Day-  Wednesday, April 27

• Paper Recycling – March 21 – April 4^th

• Plastic Bag Recycling – ongoing thru April 14^th\

• New Business/Teacher Requests
  • Playground toys/shed items
  • Pencil Sharpeners

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 aelenhardt@gmail.com or 851-3266.

Next PAC meeting:  Monday, April 18, 2016.  6:00pm in Art Room. 

*Reminder May Meeting will be on the 2^nd due to elementary concert on the 16^th

• Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?- Lifetouch will be our new school photographer.  Ms. Musset sent out a flyer for a father/daughter dance that will be occurring in March. There will be an option for corsage/photograph sign up on the flyer.  They will try to plan a mother/son event in May.  We will have an Olympian visiting the school in March.  We may review the need for items that can be used during recess since we have the new playground storage sheds.

• PBS request- Mr. Quinlan (2^nd grade teacher) came to our meeting and gave an overview of how we are implementing the PBS program at our school.  Staff give students Irish Best tickets when they are doing a positive behavior.  The tickets can be used for in-classroom or school wide raffles. Some of the prizes are free (lunch with mystery teacher, best seat in the house, etc) and there are prizes that have cost (t-shirts, gift cards, etc). The school holds monthly PBS assemblies with games and fun activities. After brainstorming how to fund this program, it was discovered other schools have partnered with their PTA.  Mr. Quinlan requested support from PAC and $500 annually was suggested.  We discussed as a group and decided to vote annually at our May meetings for the upcoming year.  We voted to support PBS this year for an amount not to exceed $500, and will work with the PBS group on what the financial need is for the remaining school year.

• Artist in Residence- Sandy Melroy came to give an overview for members not at the last meeting.  She is a silk painting artist from De Pere.  She will be our Artist in Residence at our school April 4-8.  The children will be creating individual take home projects.  Grades 2-5 will be creating a silk sun catcher. K-1^st grade will be creating a foam core with silk cover item.  We discussed including the 4K by having them create the foam core design and using their hand print. It was suggested we use parent volunteers in the classroom due to timing issues with 4K not having art classes. Sandy will provide a breakdown of costs including adding the 4K projects. We will also need volunteers ahead of time to prep the items the kids will create.  The art classes will also be creating a mural.  The mural will have 3 panels that are joined together when mounted. Mural placement will need to be approved. After completion of the program, Sandy will provide a book detailing the Artist in Residence week.

• Treasurer’s Report- The current balance is- $25,769.30. We always keep the Paper Recycling set aside for environmental projects.  This is $4,346.49. We also set aside $3,500 to carry for the following year.  Our current spendable amount is $17,922.81. We are still anticipating costs from pre-approved items and events occurring this year that were not included in the spendable amount.

• Paper Recycling Update from December- We collected $694.00 in the December collection.  We will be having another paper recycling drive March 21^st– April 4^th 2016

• Plastic Recycling-So far in Feb. we have collected 111.7 pounds making our total collection 476.2 pounds to date.  The bins will be removed on April 14^th so that Sandy Lezotte can get the total recorded before the April 15^th deadline.

• Brain Bowl – Connie Wheeler organized the fundraiser this year.  We are still waiting on final totals, but it is expected to be about $5800. Once we get the official results, we will announce and plan the pizza parties for the classrooms and t-shirt prizes for top earners.

• Sock Hop – Cindy Taft organized and reported the free event was very successful.  She estimated about 350 kids were in attendance.  The glow sticks, prizes, and snacks were a hit. The gym, lobby, and multipurpose rooms were full. Families seemed to have a great time. Even though over 100 bags of cotton candy were made ahead of time, they still went fast. We will consider making signs to help with any concerns (keep food out of gym, how to put tickets in box, parents need to supervise children etc) next year as needed. $671.00 was spent on the event.  $131 was collected for the Freedom Food Pantry.

• February Parent/Teacher Conference meal-Michelle Wagner will be sending out emails requesting volunteers to bring in dishes for the meal provided to the teachers during conferences Feb. 24^th. The theme will be salads. We have leftover water from the sock hop that will be provided.

• Staff Book Fair –Sue Mannebach will coordinate with the office to send a half sheet home with kids. Students and parents can bring in gently used books next week and place them in a bin in front of the office.  After collection, the books will be available for staff to select for their classrooms.  Any remaining books will be donated to charity.

• Family Fun Night – Cindy Taft will be coordinating the event on April 8.  She is considering “Minute to Win It” games.  There was some discussion regarding prizes.  We will try to get staff/teachers involved as volunteers as they have previously, the kids really enjoy it.  It is still in the planning phase with more information to come.

• Teacher Requests- There were no teacher requests this meeting.

• New Business- There were two staff members that were recently hired in the elementary school.  It was suggested PAC provide the teacher reimbursement gifts to them.  We voted and approved Ms. Hauser (new guidance counselor) to receive $200 and Ms. Re (early childhood teacher) to receive $100.

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 21, 2016 at 6:00 in Art Room.

• Any news from Mrs. Lipsey?

• PBS request—Mr. Quinlan

• Treasurers Report

• Paper Recycling Update from December- How much did we make?  When is next one?

• Plastic Recycling- what’s the new total?

• Brain Bowl – Do we have any results?

• Sock Hop – How did it go?

• February Parent/Teacher Conference meal- Feb 25

• Staff Book Fair –are we set?

• Artist in Residence- update?

• Family Fun Night  – April 8

• 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 21, 2016 at 6:00 in Art Room