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PTA March 2010 Meeting Minutes

Community News

Calling all 5th Grade Parents - North Harford Middle School PTA needs your help! Find out how you can help.

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PTA Budget Update March 2010

Dear Families,

Your PTA is taking this opportunity to report on the state of its fiscal health to date in this 2009-2010 Academic Year.

It takes roughly $13,000.00 to pay for the yearly programs and efforts that benefit our children - the cultural art assemblies and Academic Fairs, the Festivals and Field Trips, the weekly Ravens Breakfasts, the year-long Patriot Program and Read-to-Succeed, the always memorable Reading Event!, Reflections, Speech Festival, a week-long Teacher Appreciation, Gardeners Grove, as well as the weekly publications and materials for teachers and the occasional technological splurge! like the interactive whiteboards or capital improvements like the playground.

So far this year, our fundraisers have netted about $8,000.00. The Hop raised nearly $5,000.00, The Spaghetti Dinner raised nearly $1,000.00 and the combined earnings from Donations, Chick-Fil-A, United Script, Easter Candy, and Movie Night account for the remaining balance of $2,000.00.

Please keep in mind that the offerings this year were designed in response to your surveys and comments at the beginning of the year. The two big themes were (1) to not "nickel and dime" you all so much, and (2) to offer less product with our fund-raisers. I hope you see that your PTA heeded the call! While we continued to offer events that earn modest returns (which do add up) such as The Spaghetti Dinner, United Script, Chick-Fil-A, Easter Candy, Book Fair, Movie Night, Apparel, Yearbook, even the upcoming Math-a-Thon to benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital - they were offered more as time-honored services to our community rather than fund-raisers targeted to carry the budget.

This year, the targeted “fund”-raisers focused on athletic activity and academic effort - The Hop, The Word-A-Thon and its BFF, the Walk-A-Thon. As the upcoming Word-a-Thon and its BFF, the Walk-A-Thon is our last opportunity to close a $5,000.00 gap - that is our earning goal! If we all support it like we did The Hop, we would be there! And if going back into your own pocket doesn’t appeal – encourage your kids to reach out to their grandparents, cousins, aunts & uncles!

Pledge forms for The Word & Walk are going home with the children soon, but the gist of it has the students seeking $ pledges for correctly spelling the words on their weekly spelling tests. (Kindergarteners and First Graders will have a teacher-created list just for this event.) They receive their lists on Mondays, and are tested Friday. We are offering it for two consecutive weeks only to be sure that everyone gets a chance to participate – not so much that kids do both weeks, although they certainly may if they choose. The focus is more on participation than competition – and here’s how we are trying to accomplish that – prizes go to not only the top-earner … but a randomly drawn participant at every grade level … and overall class participation and percentages will earn everyone laps and extra time at the Walk-a-Thon in May. There will be no separate pledging or fundraising for the Walk-a-Thon! It is being offered this year as a fun in-school reward for participation in the Word-a-Thon.

And speaking of fun rewards, the prizes for The Word & Walk are big, fun and so far, donated. We have an airplane ride, pony ride, baseball tickets for the whole family, an invitation to join an NES family for a day of fishing, gift cards for local shops, opportunities to read aloud to Teacher/Staffer of choice, a custom-made fleece poncho. We have 8 so far and need 11 total – if after reading this, you have a good or service to donate, please contact Julie Marindin at JMarindin@netzero.com. Tractor ride, anyone?

NES PTA