PTO President Jessica Bivens called the meeting to order at 6:38 pm.  Members in attendance were Jessica Bivens, Rebecca Fahey, Pam Wyatt, Sharon Dowdy, Linda Twohig and Varnie Elliott.

 

Principal’s Report:

Mrs. Goins was unable to attend tonight’s meeting due to another meeting she had to attend.  Jessica Bivens reported for her that the AC/Heating unit is now up and going.  DRA testing will begin after the Thanksgiving break. 

Minutes

October’s minutes were available for review & discussion.  Jessica Bivens pointed out that she actually e-mailed Mrs. Goins about the dress code questions that were discussed at last month’s meeting, not Rebecca Fahey.  The minutes will be amended to reflect this change.  Rebecca Fahey made a motion that the minutes be accepted; seconded by Linda Twohig.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

Treasurer's Report

The Treasurer’s Report was available for review & discussion.  Rebecca Fahey reported that money is still out from the Cookie Dough Sales (9 students).  She expects to collect another $1,000, of course the longer the money is held the more likely it is that we will not collect it.  Linda Twohig made a motion that the report be accepted; seconded by Sharon Dowdy.  Motion passed unanimously.  **Discussion was also held at this time regarding an adjustment to the budget for the Playground line item.  When the budget for 2007-2008 was voted on, $50 was designated in the budget for the playground.  This was before we purchased the paint for the USA map, which came to $200.82.  We had decided last year before school was out that we would increase the Playground budget to cover this but this was not done at budget planning time.  Rebecca made a motion that we increase that line item to $200.  Pam Wyatt made a motion that this be approved; seconded by Sharon Dowdy.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

Committee Reports

Book Fair:  Kasi Ross was unable to attend tonight’s meeting.  Pam Wyatt reported for Kasi as she works on the Book Fair Committee that the last she heard from Kasi the next Book Fair will be in February and not in the Spring during the Spring Picnic as it has been in the past.  Kasi is planning to have a “Family Reading Night”, and she is very excited about this particular Book Fair.  More information to come!

 

Yearbook:  Sharon Dowdy reported that she would be getting approval from Mrs. Goins to send home a letter with all the 4^th graders asking that a baby picture as well as a current picture be sent to school to be placed in the yearbook.  Since the school theme for this year is “Believe to Achieve” she thought this would be a great tribute to the 4^th graders who will be moving on to middle school.  Right now Sharon only has one disk of pictures to be used in the yearbook, and she needs help in getting more.  She needs pictures of the Science Lab.  Linda Twohig offered to help get pictures of activities in that particular classroom.  Sharon said that she feels 2^nd grade will have a lot of pictures due to the number of field trips they take.  Usually 3^rd and 4^th grade are the ones that parent involvement is needed in order to get pictures in the yearbook because these grades take fewer field trips.  The teachers have been really helpful in the past by taking pictures during the day. 

Old Business

Exercise Bikes:   Last month we approved Ms. Ridener’s request for the exercise bikes.  When she ordered them, one was too small and one was too big, so she bought two trampolines instead.  She still has $452 left from the amount she was given.  She would like to get one more bike and one more trampoline – cost of approximately $150 leaving her with $300.  (Sharon Dowdy reported that she has one more bike coming for Ms. Ridener).  She asked if we would approve her using this money to buy karaoke disks so the kids can listen to music while they work out.  Basically they would read the words off a screen and sing along as they work out.  A discussion was help, and all the members felt that $300 was a lot to spend on karaoke disks.  Jessica Bivens will talk with Ms. Ridener about this matter, and she will e-mail all the members to vote as to how this money can be spent.

 

New Business

Winter Coats:   The front office has asked for donations of gentle worn coats to be kept at school for students in need of a coat.  A note will be placed in the upcoming PAWS newsletter.  Please check and see if you have any coats/jackets that you can donate!

 

Ashley Paine:   Dr. Bailey asked that this incident be discussed at the PTO meetings.  An emergency meeting was called for all PTO/PTA’s from all schools by the board.  People are blaming RMS, the school board, Oak Ridge police, the city, etc. for what happened to this young girl.  This was a horrible accident, nothing else.  Measures were already being implemented before this accident for lights to be put up.  They were just wanting on approval from the City and for the lights to be put up.  Actually they were scheduled for installation on Monday after the accident.  The City has a shortage of bus drivers.  As far as crossing guards, the City can’t get anyone to stay on those jobs.  Dr. Bailey is asking people who feel this accident was the fault of the school board and it’s decisions to contact them and let them know why and what you feel can be done.  Linda Twohig made reference to an incident over in Knox County where a bus driver had to pull over because students were throwing coins.  Linda said that one person on a bus is not enough.  A second adult is needed on all buses to handle issues such as students hanging out the windows, fighting, etc.

 

Teacher Requests

Ms. Boruff submitted a request to the PTO for “Whisper Phones” to be used in her classroom as well as by Ms. Anderson in the reading program.  These phones were available at her previous school, and she feels they are well worth purchasing because of the benefits students receive.  WhisperPhones works simply and effectively.  The users choose the left or right ear setting; place the WhisperPhone on their head and go.  When they speak, their voice is conveyed directly into their ear so they can hear their voice more clearly.  This creates an improved signal-to-noise ratio, which means the user can hear their voice better over all background noise.  This improved signal-to-noise ratio provides a clarified signal of intelligible speech thereby raising phonemic awareness and optimizing the process of learning to read or process language.  Hearing their own voice also encourages them to speak more quietly which equals a more quiet and conducive learning environment for others.

It was brought up that if we purchase these for one classroom, we might have other teachers putting in requests for them, which will get costly.  Rebecca Fahey suggested that if we do decide to buy a set (or sets) that they are available to be checked out through Ms. Anderson so that all classrooms can benefit from their use.  Linda Twohig made a motion that we table this request until Jessica Bivens can talk with Ms. Anderson and get more information/clarification.  It was decided that Jessica would talk with Ms. Anderson and then send out an informative e-mail so that an e-mail vote can be made.

 

 

Of note:  Volunteers are needed to cut items for the new reading program.  If you are available to help, please see Missy McCallen or anyone in the front office.  They can get you started!