Association Meeting 12/13/11

PTA held the first of 3 special afternoon meetings today at 3:15 PM.

After being welcomed and doing the pledge of allegiance we heard the principal's report. Mrs. Kerns is excited that the music program has begun! She was also glad to inform us that as of January 30th, 2012 Chess Masters will resume and following that program, Spanish Explorers will begin. There is also potential for an after school Skate Dogs program that depends on the turn out. At least 10 students need to be enrolled for the program to take place. It will be a skateboarding and scooter class, 5 weeks, 1 hr 15 min per week, $90 per session. If you are interested, please let the office know.

Our monthly slideshow was viewed.

Recording Secretary, Mrs. Michelle Arslan presented the minutes from last month's association meeting. There was an amendment made to the minutes and a motion was made, seconded, and passed to approve the amended minutes. Minutes from the association meetings are always posted on the PTA board in the main hall.

Treasurer, Mrs. Cynthia Antonette presented the treasurers report. There was a motion made, seconded and passed to ratify a series of checks. A motion was made, seconded and passed to amend a budget line, increasing by $1500 to repair the PTA shed. A quote was received by the district to complete the work but as the amount exceeded $500, that addition to the budget needed to be passed by the association.

The board has approved an addition of $200 to the hospitality/membership budget which funds all the wonderful treats and snacks that are provided for attendees of the PTA meetings. Our hospitality chair, Ms. Felice Sparks does a wonderful job!

The board has approved an addition of $200 to the Book Exchange Fund. It is a no cost program that we've just started this year and operates mostly on donations but we have allocated funds for the possible need to purchase older reading level books. We have had great success with the "bring a book/get a book" cart!

The board has approved an addition of $100 to the Box Tops program. Small operational costs include packaging and mailing but the increase to the budget covers the prizes awarded to the children that turn in the most labels. Continue turning in your boxtops, they are worth 10 cents a piece. Seasonal tracking sheets are available under the "In the Packet" tab.

The board has approved a line item addition of $150 to contract with Skate Depot for family skate night in January.

The treasurers report will be filed with the auditor.

Financial Secretary, Mrs. Bridgette Jones, presented the total deposits for last month which totaled $5671.45. The financial secretary report will also be filed with the auditor.

Parliamentarian, Mrs. Tamara Burke outlined the nominating committee. The nominating committee is a committee elected by the membership to recognize and seek qualified nominees for the elected leadership of our PTA for the 2012-2013 school year. The committee needs a balance of the new and more experienced PTA members, all of whom should be knowledgable about PTA and willing to devote approximately 3 hours to the responsibilities involved and maintain confidentiality. The committee consists of 5 members and 2 alternates. The committee will meet 2-3 times before presenting their list of nominees to the board and association in March.

The following members were nominated and elected to the nominating committee at the meeting today: Felice Sparks, Tamara Burke, Cheryl Justin, Kris Williamson, Kryssie Booth with the following serving as alternates: Bridgette Jones and Stacy Cardena.

Thanks to everyone who came out to Papalucci's for Family Dinner Night (and the singing of birthday songs to all the awesome celebrants present... ahem, ahem)

Emerson PTA will host a family skate night at Skate Depot in Cerritos on 01/26. It will be open to all emerson students and their whole families! It is not a fundraiser but the cost of entry will be $6.50 per person. Skate rentals will also be available for $2.50, but you can bring your own! Skate Depot's snack bar will be open and selling their own concessions.

Silent auction online bidding ends tonight at 9:00pm. The high bid on each basket will be the starting bid at the live portion of the auction tomorrow night! You do not need to be present to win. Spaghetti Dinner preorders for $5 will still be accepted if you send them in tomorrow. Tickets will also be sold at the door for $6. Cash, Checks and Credit Cards are accepted forms of payment for auction baskets and dinner tickets. From 5:00PM - 6:00PM we will have live music! A harpist and Mr. Gibson will duet! We have over 59 baskets to bid on! Come show your support for Emerson and get some awesome stuff! Bidding will end promptly at 6:30 pm. See you there!
(that was a lot of exclamation points...)

Next month will also be a special afternoon meeting on Tuesday, January 17th at 3:15-4:00pm in the auditorium. It will be directly followed by the teacher hosted bi-annual Emerson Family Science Night! The theme is BEING GREEN. Food trucks will be on site for the optional dinner portion of the night and the Science fun will begin at 5:30. Look for a save the date to come home soon.

VP of Membership, Mrs. Kris Williamson announced that we have reached 500 members! Way to go, let's keep it up. Last year we had 584 members and this year our goal is 609. Teachers, students, brothers, sisters, grandparents, neighbors, and friends can all be members of the PTA. $5.50 is all it takes. It's a small way to say that you support the work that we do here at Emerson and as a whole across the nation.

Way to come together Emerson!! Through the Big Red Bucket program and your donations we were able to directly help 28 families with 28 complete buckets!! Last year we donated 2 complete buckets so this increase in organization and generosity is a wonderful way to impact our community. As an added bonus,  Emerson will receive 5,000 school cents points for each bucket turned in.

Fresh and Easy shopping night we earned $525.35! That is from the shopping portion alone, not including the $1 from each $20 on the receipts collected. Keep turning in those receipts because the Shop For Schools program commences on 12/31/11.

Unfinished Business:
PTA calendars will be coming home soon. If you joined PTA at the $15.00 level, you will receive a 2012 Emerson Calendar. The dates up until the end of school (June 2012) will be customized.
Hawaiian Shirts that were caught up in the cotton madness have arrived. They will be taken to the embroiderers and will be delivered shortly to your child's classroom. We truly appreciate your patience!!
Monday 12/19 in front of the auditorium after school, Jazz Angels will host a "Petting Zoo" of instruments. Bring your child by and they will be able to look at, try and experience different instruments to see if there is something they'd like to learn to play when new sessions start on 01/18.

New Business:
none.

Wow. The whole meeting was under 45 minutes. Thanks to everyone who came! We're excited to offer the meeting at different times so that parents and other PTA members can participate in our association meetings! If catching up via the blog is how you can keep in touch, we're SO glad that you come to read! We want all of our members to feel included.

I (Kryssie Booth) will not be present at next months meeting. If there's anyone who'd like to volunteer to recap for our readers, please feel free to email me or catch me on the playground or find me on Facebook or leave a note on my car, or tell my child's teacher (Mrs. Guy) or send me a letter, or message via carrier pigeon, or call me, bring back smoke signaling, or you know... whatever :) that would be rad.

Now go bid on silent auction items!! you have only 30 minutes left!

Safe Moves Assembly

Over two days, Safe Moves of Long Beach, a grant funded  safety program came on campus and taught students K-3 about pedestrian safety and taught 4th and 5th grade students about bike safety. 

Fresh and Easy Shopping Night

Success. What a wonderful turn out to the Fresh and Easy Shopping night on Thursday, November 17th. From 4pm-8pm Emerson Teachers and Parents volunteered at Fresh and Easy helping those who came to shop. Through the program, Emerson receives 20% of the sales between 4pm and 8pm. We also collected receipts which allow us an additional donation of $1 for every $20 increment on each receipt.

We are also participating in the Big Red Bucket food drive with Girl Scout troop #2023 that is organized by the School Cents program. We had such a wonderful display of generosity from Emerson Families as well as other neighborhood shoppers. Thank you for your support.