Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Hardy PTO Meeting Minutes Tuesday, May 7, 2013 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. AGENDA 6:30 Introductions 6:35 Principal’s Report New principal – Kristin DeFrancisco, great news from Deb’s perspective Mrs. Garrity is retiring, so a new secretary needs to be hired Need to hire a new 1st grade teacher Kudos to organizers of Int’l Festival Mentioned a formal good-bye for our Thompson friends – the idea is to have a picnic on the grounds of the new school with 5th and 4th graders 6:50 Events/programs • Int’l Festival update • Teacher Appreciation Week – ongoing, remind families to have students prepare something for their teachers on Thursday • Walkathon (this Friday - May 10th) – grades will be color coded, there will be 6 tables setup for each grade to get punched. Only prizes will be bracelets, different colors for varying laps. • BBQ (June 4th) - • 3rd Grade Colonial Day (June 5th) • Field Day (June 14th) • 5th Grade Activities: ➢ Plant Sale (Friday, May 9th) ➢ Car Wash/Bake sale (Saturday, May 18th, rain date: May 19th) – 10-3pm, there will be a signup genius going out soon. ➢ Class Night (June 19th) –need 4th grade parents to host • Classroom supplies fundraiser – Kirsten offered to do the shopping at Costco and Jenn Irvine said she would find a spreadsheet person. Debbie Pielech will coordinate the teachers to get us the lists to send to parents. • 7:10 Financial Report two more appeal checks came in last month ($100) Int’l festival was very successful Box tops brought in $340 dollars Expenditures – split cost of Beantown Jumpers with HASP, few field trips, started to payout 5th grade graduation money, Janet Welby spent some of her budget, spent some playground equipment money, spent $200 on t-shirts for Japanese visit, got the high- volume price. 7:20 PTO Elections/Leadership for 2013-2014 –open discussion about leadership structure, possibly have a representative from each grade with specific responsibilities, delegated tasks. At Bishop there is a room parent coordinator (Heather Digregorio is the person at Bishop). 7:50 Other business Deb’s Retirement party – Monday, June 3rd, Betsey will send out a signup genius for bringing finger foods Linda Garrity’s retirement – let’s think about something to recognize her service to the Hardy School Date of next PTO Meeting: Tuesday, June 11th (second Tues. so as not to conflict with BBQ)

Hardy PTO meeting minutes, Tuesday, Apr. 2, 2013

Tuesday, Apr. 2, 2013 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. AGENDA 6:30 Introductions 6:35 Principal’s Report Deb reported on kids math activities, with display opposite cafeteria. April is poetry month; Deb is reading a short poem each Monday on loudspeaker, then hiding three copies of the poem in plain sight (finders get to take them back to their classes). Beantown Jumpers will be coming on the 12th to help with Walk-a-thon kickoff. Arlington’s new math coordinator will be holding an elementary school math night on 4/11. 6:50 Events/programs: • Literacy Night update Lisa P. suggested rotating theme every three years or so. Marci suggested setting it up so every child can go to every story. • Fit Girls update Lisa P. reported that there is a large group participating; we need more volunteers. (Tuesdays and Fridays, 2:30 - 3:30) • Int’l Festival (Apr. 27th) Gloria reported that they need more help with desserts, and volunteers to call up restaurants; we will send a letter to room parents to forward to their parents; we may need to nag parents to volunteer for this and other events; need 5-6 people to pick up food on day of, 1-2 people to help follow up with restaurants, 1-2 people to help serve on day of (will get additional help from high school students), and a dessert coordinator. Also need new people to make display tables. Need a preparation day about a week ahead of time to put materials together, either the 20th or 21st. • Teacher Appreciation Week (May 6-10) Jill has recruited one other person to help; format will be similar to last year; more info in coming weeks on how to volunteer; • Walkathon (May 3rd) We have selectman permit; next step is to make forms for assembly; we will probably get rid of the prize tables; • BBQ (June 4th) Marci has contacted Whole Foods, who will help out. We may plan a “battle of the bands” between Hardy & Thompson (Milagros will check this out). Pinal will do henna tatoos. • 3rd Grade Colonial Day (June 5th) • Field Day (June 14th) Victoria and Michael Leen (and probably Susan Dorson) will organize. Lisa nominated her husband John (Paolillo) as well. • 5th Grade Class Night (June 20th) Need 4th grade parent volunteers for the 5th grade party; • PTO Election Committee for 2013-2014 To make recruiting easier, Deb suggested that we could reinstitute child care during PTO meetings; also, we should have presidents meet incoming K parents; 7:30 Financial Report: • Annual appeal update • PTO Grant Committee update 7:45 Other business Date of next PTO Meeting: Tuesday, May 7th

Hardy PTO meeting minutes, Tuesday, Apr. 2, 2013

Tuesday, Apr. 2, 2013 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. AGENDA 6:30 Introductions 6:35 Principal’s Report Deb reported on kids math activities, with display opposite cafeteria. April is poetry month; Deb is reading a short poem each Monday on loudspeaker, then hiding three copies of the poem in plain sight (finders get to take them back to their classes). Beantown Jumpers will be coming on the 12th to help with Walk-a-thon kickoff. Arlington’s new math coordinator will be holding an elementary school math night on 4/11. 6:50 Events/programs: • Literacy Night update Lisa P. suggested rotating theme every three years or so. Marci suggested setting it up so every child can go to every story. • Fit Girls update Lisa P. reported that there is a large group participating; we need more volunteers. (Tuesdays and Fridays, 2:30 - 3:30) • Int’l Festival (Apr. 27th) Gloria reported that they need more help with desserts, and volunteers to call up restaurants; we will send a letter to room parents to forward to their parents; we may need to nag parents to volunteer for this and other events; need 5-6 people to pick up food on day of, 1-2 people to help follow up with restaurants, 1-2 people to help serve on day of (will get additional help from high school students), and a dessert coordinator. Also need new people to make display tables. Need a preparation day about a week ahead of time to put materials together, either the 20th or 21st. • Teacher Appreciation Week (May 6-10) Jill has recruited one other person to help; format will be similar to last year; more info in coming weeks on how to volunteer; • Walkathon (May 3rd) We have selectman permit; next step is to make forms for assembly; we will probably get rid of the prize tables; • BBQ (June 4th) Marci has contacted Whole Foods, who will help out. We may plan a “battle of the bands” between Hardy & Thompson (Milagros will check this out). Pinal will do henna tatoos. • 3rd Grade Colonial Day (June 5th) • Field Day (June 14th) Victoria and Michael Leen (and probably Susan Dorson) will organize. Lisa nominated her husband John (Paolillo) as well. • 5th Grade Class Night (June 20th) Need 4th grade parent volunteers for the 5th grade party; • PTO Election Committee for 2013-2014 To make recruiting easier, Deb suggested that we could reinstitute child care during PTO meetings; also, we should have presidents meet incoming K parents; 7:30 Financial Report: • Annual appeal update • PTO Grant Committee update 7:45 Other business Date of next PTO Meeting: Tuesday, May 7th

Hardy PTO meeting minutes, Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Hardy PTO meeting minutes, Tuesday, March 5, 2013 Nagaokakyo Visit – Deb has asked that we give Field Day t-shirts to the visiting students and their chaperones (they will be visiting May 2); we voted to appropriate $$ (on the order of $150) to pay for this. Events: Parent’s Night Out (last Thursday) was lovely, but turnout wasn’t great. Margaret suggested that we may be overdoing events, and thereby dissipating enthusiasm. Betsey commented that too many of our events get handled by the same core group of people. She suggested making a school-wide push for volunteers for the upcoming events. Laura Doherty suggested following the Bishop model, which involves a coordinator who works with room parents; also, each grade is in charge of an event. We also agreed that we need to keep documentation about each event online (probably using google docs). Skating party: it’s up in the air whether we even have someone to coordinate this. Heather suggested we skip it this year, or perhaps join in with HASP. We all agreed that it is fine to skip it this year. International Festival (April 27th): Pinal (co-organizer) raised some questions about the mechanics of soliciting contributions from restaurants. Volunteers will be solicited soon. Literacy Night: Coming this Thursday (March 7); Margaret needs baked goods, and people to help set up 5 - 6. Walkathon: Need a date. Deb suggested May 3 (a Friday), with a rain date of May 10. Plan to kick this off the day before April break (April 12). Heather suggested special Hardy Walk-a-thon pencils as prizes. Fit Girls: There will be a meeting on March 19th; close to 40 girls are now signed up. Teacher Appreciation: Will be May 6 - 10. Jill Swilling is looking for 2 or 3 people who are coordinated and detail-oriented, to help her pull this off. Field Day: Susan Dorson has been asked to coordinate this. We settled on June 14, with the 21st as rain date. Victoria offered to help coordinate. BBQ: We chose June 4th, with a rain date of the 5th. Marci has a contact at the Medford Whole Foods. AEF Trivia Bee (March 24th). Financial Report: Annual Appeal just exceeded its goal. (See attached report.) Principal’s Report: Deb filled in some details about the Sister City visit. Snow days: currently, the last day is June 27th; we have one more snow day left. If we go beyond that, we may have to take a day out of April vacation, or use a Saturday, or part of Good Friday.

Hardy PTO Meeting Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013 6:30 – 8:00 AGENDA 6:30 Introductions 6: 35 – Fit Girls (Sue Franchi) all schools except Thomson & Hardy are engaged in it. 3-mo program for girls to emphasize fitness through walking or running. Ends with 5K race for MWRA. $412 initiation fee per school (we’ll call Thomson and Hardy one school for this purpose). More info at www.fitgirls.org. Comittment is 2 afternoons/week. Runs March - May. We agreed to fund this, provided there is sufficient interest from 4th and 5th grade girls. 6:35 Principal’s Report • Safety update Deb led a discussion about school safety, in light of the Newtown tragedy. She reviewed the lockdown procedures in place at Hardy. 6:50 Review of events/projects and planning for upcoming events: • Picture Company We need to check whether we need a makeup day for 5th-graders. We voted to ask Hayward Photography for a 3-year contract, starting next year. • Hardy/Thompson Directory Andy has prepared a draft directory; we expect to be able to print them within the next couple of weeks. • Game Night Game night may incorporate math games this year; Julie mentioned that Gamewright came to a game night at another school and it was very successful; Julie will contact them; February 7th was proposed as a date. • Parent’s Night Out – proposed date in Mar? Jenn Irvine updated us on the ideas her sub-committee has come up with. Tentative date: Friday, March 1; B&G club will watch kids that night 6 - 9. Possible venue: Fox Library basement. Silent auction may feature teacher offerings, instead of big-ticket things. Waiting for confirmation of this plan from the Arlington Rec folks. • Winter Concert – PTO Breakfast (Feb14th) We’ll send out word via signup genius for bakers, setup, cleanup. • Skating Party (Mar) Will check with Ken Zimmerman to see if he is organizing this. • Int’l Festival (Mar) Pinal and Gloria are working on this; will meet this Friday to begin organizing. Thinking of first Saturday in April (the 6th) as the date. • Literacy Night – proposed date: Thursday, March 7th Claire confirmed at School Council that this is the date. • Walkathon (April/May) – volunteer coordinator update Jenn Irvine will help organize this. Marci will check with town to see if we can close of Lake Street. 7:20 Financial Report: • Annual appeal update • Other financial updates 7:45 Other business Date of next PTO Meeting: Tuesday, Feb. 5th

Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013

Hardy PTO Meeting Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013 6:30 – 8:00 AGENDA 6:30 Introductions 6: 35 – Fit Girls (Sue Franchi) all schools except Thomson & Hardy are engaged in it. 3-mo program for girls to emphasize fitness through walking or running. Ends with 5K race for MWRA. $412 initiation fee per school (we’ll call Thomson and Hardy one school for this purpose). More info at www.fitgirls.org. Comittment is 2 afternoons/week. Runs March - May. We agreed to fund this, provided there is sufficient interest from 4th and 5th grade girls. 6:35 Principal’s Report • Safety update Deb led a discussion about school safety, in light of the Newtown tragedy. She reviewed the lockdown procedures in place at Hardy. 6:50 Review of events/projects and planning for upcoming events: • Picture Company We need to check whether we need a makeup day for 5th-graders. We voted to ask Hayward Photography for a 3-year contract, starting next year. • Hardy/Thompson Directory Andy has prepared a draft directory; we expect to be able to print them within the next couple of weeks. • Game Night Game night may incorporate math games this year; Julie mentioned that Gamewright came to a game night at another school and it was very successful; Julie will contact them; February 7th was proposed as a date. • Parent’s Night Out – proposed date in Mar? Jenn Irvine updated us on the ideas her sub-committee has come up with. Tentative date: Friday, March 1; B&G club will watch kids that night 6 - 9. Possible venue: Fox Library basement. Silent auction may feature teacher offerings, instead of big-ticket things. Waiting for confirmation of this plan from the Arlington Rec folks. • Winter Concert – PTO Breakfast (Feb14th) We’ll send out word via signup genius for bakers, setup, cleanup. • Skating Party (Mar) Will check with Ken Zimmerman to see if he is organizing this. • Int’l Festival (Mar) Pinal and Gloria are working on this; will meet this Friday to begin organizing. Thinking of first Saturday in April (the 6th) as the date. • Literacy Night – proposed date: Thursday, March 7th Claire confirmed at School Council that this is the date. • Walkathon (April/May) – volunteer coordinator update Jenn Irvine will help organize this. Marci will check with town to see if we can close of Lake Street. 7:20 Financial Report: • Annual appeal update • Other financial updates 7:45 Other business Date of next PTO Meeting: Tuesday, Feb. 5th

Minutes, Hardy PTO meeting Dec. 4th 2012

Minutes, Hardy PTO meeting Dec. 4th 2012 Took a quick poll to see how is/isn’t getting the weekly PTO Post (Andy still isn’t). Picture re-take day will be this Friday. Need one or more parents to help out. We’ll ask the 5th grade teachers to spread the word. Directory: room parents have been asked to get info from parents, with opt-out. If we do this in-house next year, we’ll plan on using surveymonkey. Will aim to get it out by new year. Unicef: netted over $1500. Holiday Giving Tree: all stars have been taken! Parent’s Night Out (Jenn Irvine): Planning for Whittemore house, Friday or Saturday, likely in Feb or March. Menotomy Wine will come pour. Space for 100 people; will sell tickets. Possible on-line silent auction. Orgo meeting this Thursday. Winter Concert: we’ll run a breakfast as usual. Skating Party: Lisa P. will check on dates. International Festival: Milagros and Gloria are meeting this Friday, with Pinal, to start the planning. Date TBD. Undecided as yet whether we’ll have it on a Saturday. Literacy Night: Tentatively planned for March 7 (during reading across America week). May do a Dr. Seuss theme, as March 2 is his birthday. Last year we limited it to K - 2; may consider broadening it. Book donation program: Margaret Muirhead suggested expanding a small program that she has been running single-handed – parents donate $12 for the purchase of a book, which has a book plate inserted with their info. Group suggested advertising during Literacy Night, Book Fair, maybe Curriculum Night. We discussed the need to get information about what the PTO does out to parents in a more effective fashion (apparently too many parents don’t read what we send). One idea: permanent informational poster in outside bulletin board. Another: turning the Herald into a blog. Need to form a committee to determine how to spend the $4000 we have set aside for grants. Some of this money is reserved for 4th grade movie making project (about $1000). We discussed the need for more effective fundraising (participation in this year’s Appeal is only ~35%). This led to a discussion of the need for a deeper “bench” of parent volunteers. We will work with room parents to find volunteers for spring events. Victoria suggested asking room parents to send a message with a signup genius link to their parents.

Hardy PTO meeting ,Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Hardy PTO meeting Tuesday, February 5, 2013 Directory is out. Special thanks to Andy for all his work on it! Andy and Pete met with other parents (from other PTOs) to discuss directory production. Discussion with Josh Lobel about data and access to it. Game Night: We have most volunteer slots filled, but still need help with setup and cleanup. We have prizes from Little Fox, and Henry Bear’s Park (to raffle off). Gamewright has given us 30 demo games to try out, and 50 to sell at the event (we keep half the proceeds). Parent’s Night out: scheduled for 2/28. Will take place at Menotomy Beer & Wine. Jenn Irvine is organizing; needs help rounding up raffle items. Winter Concert: need volunteers to bake things, and will try to solicit coffee from Jam’n Java or Starbucks. Skating party: Not clear whether we will hold it this year. Ken Zimmerman may have looked into this. International Festival: Will send out a save-the-date shortly. Date is set for April 27th. Pinal and Gloria are thinking of having food this year, and also soliciting recipes from each table so as to make a cookbook. Literacy Night: We will keep it for K - 2, though we will ask some 5th-graders to help out. Theme: Dr. Seuss (coordinated with Read Across America, right after Dr. Seuss’s birthday). Date is March 7. Margaret and Claire need help with designing and making decorations. May get kids to help. Time: 6 - 7:45. Some kindergarten requests for books and math games are left over from last year; will need to budget these in. Walkathon: Brett, Pat Egan, and Jenn Irvine will all be working on this. Fit Girls: very popular, at least 26 girls have signed up. Sue Franchi will need volunteer help with this! Ned will check with Sue about paying for this. PTO closet: It’s a disaster! We will work on organizing a crew to clean it out. AEF Trivia Bee: Jenn Forbes is hoping that the Hardy community will contribute a team. Financial report: Slow month last month: a little money trickled in from the Annual Appeal, along with some matching gifts. We are now up to $15,635; 91 contributions, 57 at Benefactor level. Outflows: we paid for the directory, along with labels for books in the library. (There is some chance the District will start paying for library books.) Nicole reported on some of our suggestions for possible AEF grants for the upcoming grant cycle: Peaceful Playgrounds; morning yoga for kids (before school). Deb’s report: We have an artist-in-residence coming the last week in February (a percussionist). He will work intensively with 5th-graders for a week. Deb is in conversation with District and Town to figure out who is responsible for maintaining playground structures, which turns out to be complicated. Hardy and Brackett (alone) are under the auspices of the school department. In all the years Deb has been here, the only significant playground repairs/maintenance have been paid for by the afterschool program. Deb is working on changing this, so that the District will, in the future, take more responsibility for this. Deb announced her plans to retire at the end of this school year, and was met by shock, followed by sadness. We will miss her sorely!