Freedom Elementary Parent Activity Committee

Principal’s Report

• Sub shortages still a problem
• All school celebration for PBS this week (movie and game on Thursday) PAC will provide snack
• March madness with books (16 books pick book they think will be winner)
• March–one school one book. PAC decided to purchase one books for families that chose to participate this year. 
• VFW teacher of the year is Mrs. Northam (she will go to the next level–regional if she wins she will go to the state level)
• Title I needs assessment meeting Friday at 9 am. 
• Potential upcoming field trips are being discusse

Treasurer Report

• Only 18 teachers have done their $100 reimbursement–have until the end of the month to spend. We offer to all classroom, related arts and special education teachers. We will send out a reminder
• $43,302.39 current funds-about half of the money is allocated for different items
• Cookie dough fundraiser was very successful
• Discussed different ideas to build morale for staff and students

Community Fundraiser Nights

• Buzz’s $250 (every third Monday of the month)–posted on Facebook will be an email next month and possibly a ½ sheet flyer
• Luv2Play and Altitude do have school nights-may do in future

Spirit Wear Fundraiser

• No update on funds raised. All items have been delivered

Shout Out Program

• Mr. McManus, Mrs. Jakl, and Mrs. DeGroot received $10 gift cards for December raffle. End of the year grand prizes and everyone who has received a shout out will be entered in the drawing

Parent/Teacher Conferences (February 16)

• Buzz’s pizza and wings (plan for 60 staff) we will provide chips and soda
• We plan to be face to face unless parents request for virtual

Sock Hop/School Dance

• Postpone until spring–possibly have things available outside. We are looking into new ideas

Brain Bowl

• Probably skipping brain bowl this year possibly trying in the fall

Teacher/Staff Reimbursement and Requests

• 4K teachers requested to purchase puppets for their classrooms. Mrs. DeGroot will be retiring at the end of the year and will be taking her puppets with her. PAC approved the purchase 

New Business/Ideas

• No artist in residence this year possibly fall
• Looking for ideas to use funds for staff/student morale
• Next month’s meeting would be a no school day… we will reschedule the meeting to February 28, 2022

*Principal’s Report

*Treasurer Report

*Community Fundraiser Nights

*Spirit Wear Fundraiser

*Shout Out Program

*Parent/Teacher Conferences (Feb. 24)

*Sock Hop/School Dance

*Brain Bowl

*Teacher/Staff Reimbursement and Requests

*New Business/Ideas

If you have any questions or comments, please contact Erin Lenhardt at freedompac1@gmail.com

Principal’s report

• Lion’s Club donated dictionaries to all third graders in October
• Halloween was a success
• Book trailers are being added to announcements from Mrs. Rathsack’s classes
• Mrs. Osowski set up a game night on March 3rd for The Herd

Treasurer’s Report

• Current balance $48,003.02
• Revenue this month: 
  • Cookie Dough fundraiser $19,510.00
  • Donations $302.00
• Expenses to date: $3,841.45
• Begin thinking about how to spend the money- potentially 5th grade flexible seating, technology or other needs

Community Fundraiser Nights

• Every 4th Tuesday of the month Buzz’s will donate 10% of their profit from the day to PAC 
• Culver’s night–we are waiting to get the profit- after meeting received a check for $400
• Home Tavern–tentatively planning a February PAC fundraiser
• We are holding off on contacting Rico’s 
• Staff are receiving coffee from B’s Brew November 16 donated by Jeff at Buzz’s
• Texas Roadhouse night will be December 6
• We will plan a Funset night in the spring

Cookie Dough Fundraiser

• $19,510 in profit 
• Staff members who had 50% participation get $50 in product. 
• Highest Participation class: A Williams Top selling class: Fox and Jakl. Those classes will receive ice cream parties
• $100 gift card give away went to Madison B. and the family basket give away went to Payton K.
• December 14 will be after school pick up…volunteers are needed to help with the pick up

Spirit Wear

• There were more online orders (300) than paper orders
• This was not as successful as previous years, but there was competition from other organizations
• Tentatively beginning of December will be the date to sort the orders…watch for a sign up

Shout Out program

• There were 28 shout outs in October
  • The Winners were: Mrs. Kazik – Subway, Mrs. Re – Dollar General, Mrs. Austin – B’s Brew
• There were 14 shout outs in November at the time of the meeting

Teacher Wish List

• Reference the Freedom PAC website and PAC Facebook page

Sock Hop/School Dance

• February 4…TJ the DJ will dj the dance
• We will spend more on the dance this year due to extra funds available and small budget in the past

Brain Bowl

• This will take place in February…we will keep the same questions

Artist in Residence

• We are hoping this will take place in the Spring. Ms. Rudolph will contact potential artists

We do not meet in December. Next PAC Meeting is January 17 at 6:00 pm

*Principal’s Report

*Treasurer Report

*Community Fundraiser Nights

*Cookie Dough Fundraiser

*Spirit Wear Fundraiser

*Shout Out Program

*Teacher Wish List

*Sock Hop/School Dance

*Brain Bowl

*Artist in Residence

*Teacher/Staff Reimbursement and Requests

*New Business

Reminder:  We do NOT meet in December

Our next meeting will be Monday January 17^th 2022 at 6:00pm. 

If you have any questions or comments, please contact Erin Lenhardt at freedompac1@gmail.com

Principal’s Report

• Special Education teacher’s dog will possibly be coming in as a therapy dog
• They are exploring new options for photographers (moving away from Life Touch)
• About 200 kids are taking breakfast
• The elementary school is moving to a standards based report card (you can find more information on the elementary website under academics–FAQ standards based)
• If a family missed meeting with their teachers for conferences contact the teacher to set up a time to meet with them (not many people signed up for virtual conferences)

Treasurer’s Report

• Starting Balance $22,892.52
• Expenses this month $1,162.44
• Ending balance $21,730.08
• After expected expenses for the year there is $896.42 to spend

Student Appreciation

• Thank you Kelly Fochs for purchasing, separating, and delivering the Mott’s fruit snacks

Student Directory

• Google form was part of registration. If you filled out the google form you should have received an email with the directory

Parent/Teacher conference meals

• There was a sign-up genius for the snacks night of conferences (Wednesday–in person night)
• Little Caesars pizza was purchased for the virtual nights (Thursday)
• Inquired about availability to help set up snacks on Wednesday afternoon to have available for teachers right after school

Teacher Wish List

• This will be available on the Freedom PAC website, facebook page, and emailed to families

Teacher/Staff Shout Outs

• So far there have been 17 shout outs received Mickaela Kurtz will be sending shout out emails to staff and holding the raffles for October and November. Missy Baneck will be picking up the gift cards for all the raffles

Cookie Dough fundraiser

• Starting slow
• Order forms are due 10/25
• So far $103.50 of sales has been turned into school and $6,376 has been completed online **PAC will only get a percentage of these sales
• A reminder will be sent out this week

Culver’s Night

• This needs to be set up 30 days in advance
• October 28th is the first Freedom night at the Little Chute Culvers
• PAC will receive 10% of purchases if families present the card when ordering

Spirit Wear Sale

• Getting the order forms and sale ready to begin soon
• Erin and Terri are going to meet with Shamrock Graphics on Tuesday 10/19
• There will be online ordering and paper forms **paper forms will only have the list of items…to see items people will have to go online to view the design and color options

Other future fundraiser ideas

• VandeWalls would give 50% profit from a $1.50 candybar
• Kwik Trip offers a script fundraiser (purchase the cards at a 5% discount and then seller receives the 5% when they sell the card), 10% rebate from purchases in the store, and a car wash fundraiser (organization purchases car was cards–5/card–for $20 and sells for $36)
• Badger Sports Park and Texas Roadhouse both have been contacted multiple times, waiting to hear back from them
• Looking into Sign Country in Little Chute to see if they would do a window decal fundraiser for us
• Suggested reaching out to local places to see if they have fundraiser nights, ie: Rico’s, Home Tavern, Buzz’s.

Sock Hop

• Gym and multi-purpose room have been reserved for February 4
• Looking into who may DJ the dance

New business

• Mrs. Osowski asked if we have an Amazon Smile account…PAC may look into this option as Amazon provides a percent of proceeds for items purchased when people use this service.

Next meeting: Monday, November 15 at 6:00 pm

*Principal Report

*Treasurer Report

*Student Appreciation

*Student Directory

*Parent/Teacher conference meals

*Teacher Wish List

*Teacher/Staff shout outs

*Cookie Dough Fundraiser

*Culver’s night Oct. 28

*Spirit Wear Sale

*Information from other fundraiser ideas

*Sock Hop

*Requests that have come in to approve

*New Business

Babysitting will be provided by the National Honor Students in the cafeteria

Next Meeting: Monday November 15 6:00 pm

Principal’s Report…

• reminder no school September 24
• breakfast option beginning soon (4K-K will have breakfast in the classroom and 1-5 will have breakfast in the lunchroom)
• students will be able to dress up for Halloween (unsure if there will be food allowed during the class parties–watch the newsletter for more information)
• fall parent teacher conferences will have both virtual and in-person options (one night will be virtual and the other will be in person)
• field trips will happen this year (masks will be required)
• assemblies will not happen at this time due to fire code and COVID
• the elementary school will hopefully start welcoming volunteers again soon for curriculum support only
• so far the biggest challenge is understaffing and sub failures at the elementary school (Mrs. Lipsey is asking the board for a full time sub to be on staff at the elementary school)
• the book vending machine is doing well
• Mrs.Lipsey is looking into monthly reading logs for students

Eagle Scout Project…

• Trentin Volovsek completed an Eagle Scout project (sandbox on the playground) and gave a presentation of it
• requesting $855 to cover the cost of the sandbox
• PAC decided to cover $450 from our playground funds

Treasurer’s Report…

• current balance $22,892.52
• expected expenses $18,537.00
• amount not budgeted $4,555.52
• amount to carry over to the 2022-23 school year $3,500.00 (in the past this amount was set to allow for teacher reimbursements at the beginning next year)
• left to spend $855.52

Fundraisers…

• approval for fundraisers to happen this year (pick up may have to be done with curbside pick up. The multipurpose room is not being used as a classroom this year and may be an option)
• discussed adding the un-fundraiser to fundraisers this year so parents can have an option to not participate in the fundraiser, but still contribute money to the fundraiser
• some options to explore for this year- different attendees will look into
  • Cookie Dough-Terri will look into dates with Cherrydale as we plan to run this
  • Spirit Wear- We are in the process of setting up, however lots of supply chain issues, will need to add that to order form. May look at adding other options to sell
  • Fun nights-ex. Badger Sports Park/Funset night
  • Restaurant nights-ex. Culvers, Texas Road House, Pizza Ranch
  • Painting night (talk with Mrs. Rudolph and high school art club)
  • Gift card sale- ex. Simons Cheese, Kwik Trip, Meat places
  • Flower sale
  • Little Caesars sale
  • Vande Walles

Teacher Reimbursements

• email sent to staff to let them know they have money to spend from PAC
• PAC offers $100 to teachers, $200 if they are new or have changed grades
• We have $6400 allocated in current school year to spend on reimbursements

Conference Meals…

• meals need to be pre-packaged
• planned to do restaurant for one night and parent sign up for individual snacks for the second night

Student Appreciation…

• Erin is checking with families that said they would be willing to help purchase snack item for October

Shout Outs…

• beginning in October
• 3 gift cards will be handed out each month

New Business/other notes

• Brief discussion on dance in February. Missy offered to look into other places to hold if space is an issue
• question about a social emotional learning program (My Face)–need to talk with Mrs. Lipsey
• we plan to have National Honor Students provide babysitting at future meetings

• Introductions

• Principal’s Report

• Eagle Scout Project Trentin Vlovsek

• Treasurer’s Report

• Fundraisers-
  *Spirit Wear
  *Meal/Fun Nights
  *Other ideas

• Teacher Reimbursements

• Conference Meals

• Student Appreciation

• Items to consider for upcoming year/unfinished from last year

• New Business/Teacher Requests

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

Next meeting date:  Monday, October 18, 2021, 6:00 pm, Cafeteria.

PAC would like to thank Loralee Olson Arcand and Tammy Kurey for their outstanding service to PAC. Loralee has been the Vice President for several years, coordinated student appreciation days, purchased and set up refreshments for the dance and helped with countless other activities through the years. Tammy has co-chaired and run the school dance, helped us win the plastic challenge by coordinating collections with her company, and helped whenever asked through the years. Their children will be moving onto middle school. They will be greatly missed!

Principal’s Report

• First winners for the Book Vending Machine:  Positive Pups. Some teachers will be
  provided coins for their use.
• ABC Countdown is going very well!
• 5^th Grade Letters emailed to homes for Celebration; there will be a Zoom link for
  parents to view
  Each 5^th grader will receive a DVD of 4K-5thgrade with pictures through the years

Treasurer’s Report

• Beginning checkbook balance (5/17/21):  $24,425.50
• $155.74 reimbursements for Student Appreciation Treat
• Amount to Carry Over to 7/1/21:  $3,500 (requested carrying more over to
  2021-22 school year due to unknowns)
• $200 budgeted for 5^th Grade Celebration
• Field Day:  event will happen; freeze-pops to be provided

Bake-Off

• Entries were due Saturday, May 15; 50 participants
• Judges (3 teachers) to review pictures of cakes and participant entry comments to
  determine 3-5 winners-one per category. Winners will receive a prize of a basket of summer items
• All student participants will be given a book 
• Entries and winners will be posted on PAC Facebook page
• Kimberly Groenjes coordinating prizes and participant books (Humphrey)

Fifth Grade Promotion/T-Shirt Sales

• Caroline coordinated shirts and they were sent home
• Greg (cafeteria) will order chocolate chip cookies; to be on a table with milk cartons for
  students to take

End-of-the-Year Items

• Erin to send cards to two retirees missed previously
• For the last week of school, Erin, Kimberly, Tammy to coordinate day with drinks and snacks for staff in break room
• We will bring back the $100 reimbursements. We will send an email to staff letting them know they can use over the summer, but reimbursements won’t occur until Fall.
• Open House:  Mrs. Lipsey said they are planning to hold one before new school year

Administrative Professionals Day–April 21

• Terri Romitti coordinated lunches from B’s Brew for front office secretaries (Thurs., April 22)
• Greatly appreciated!!

Staff Appreciation Week–May 3-7

• Teachers and staff loved the Shamrocks and daily items we gave them

Student Appreciation–week of May 10

• Loralee coordinated; students received Nabisco cookie packs (3 varieties)

Teacher/Staff Shout-outs

• April:18 staff members received Shout Outs. Congratulations to the April winners!
• Mrs. DeGroot: Kwik Trip; Miss Wall: Leap In; Mrs. Presteen: Barnes and Nobles;
  Mrs. Braun: Sweet Tooth; Ms. Schmidt: Rico’s; Mrs. Kazik: Festival Foods
• May will be last month for shout-outs; have only received a few so far. All staff that received a Shamrock will be included in final raffle
• It was decided to continue with the Shout-Outs next school year

Upcoming—Field Day, Fri., May 28

• Field Day:  Loralee to coordinate the Freeze-Pops; she asked Greg about freezing
  all at the school cafeteria, which we can do; to bring in to school Monday, May 24
• For next school year, Erin noted to plan/coordinate more “eat out” nights at
  participating area restaurants to have fun days without the need for many volunteers
• Discussed how to encourage more parents to get involved in PAC; suggested
  having the teachers/students to talk to parents to become more involved, too;
  it was suggested to set up and send out a Google survey form to find out what
  might be holding parents back. If we can’t increase involvement with current members moving on, PAC may have to consider dissolving

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

Our next and last meeting date for the 2021-22 school year: 
tentatively Monday, September 20, 2021, 6:00 p

***We are unable to provide babysitting for the meeting***

• Principal Report

• Treasurer’s Report

• Bake Off

• Fifth Grade Promotion / T-Shirt Sales

• End of Year items

• Teacher Reimbursements for next year

• Open House/Spirit Wear

Reports:

• Administrative Professionals Day – Wednesday, April 21
• Staff Appreciation Week May 3-7
• Student Appreciation
• Shout Outs

Upcoming items:

• Field Day

• New Business/Teacher Requests/New Ideas for next year