Mark's Meadow PGG Meeting Notes of Thursday May 11, 2006

Attending: Sharon Vardatira, Deborah Timberlake, Dan Kramer, Nick Yaffe, Layla Taylor, Andy Churchill, Tom Flittie, Ian Boyd

Brown Envelope Fundraiser has been very successful this year, managed again this year by Tom Flittie, it has raised $2,518 to date. Next year Deborah Evans has volunteered to coordinate this.

Recycling is also one of our biggest fundraisers, Thank you to all who make time to collect and send in the Ink Cartridges, and to Tom again for organizing and sending them in. Ian Boyd will help to coordinate this next year.

The Tag and Plant Sale will not be happening this year, no coordinator to organize the day.

Used Book Sale: Not happening this year. (We need more people to help with organizing these activities in order for them to happen.)

The Staff Appreciation Luncheon is being planned by Andrea Keins, Koren Berrio, and John, and will be held at the Lutheran Church on Wednesday June 14th.

The Yearbook is being organized by Larry Newman and should be ready for the end of the year picnic.

End of Year Picnic: Will be on June 21st, the Rain Date will be June 22nd. Sharon will arrange for the Traditional Dunking Tank, we will try to leave the Basketball courts open for use. Parents will be responsible for supervising their children. PGG will provide drinks (water, juice, lemonade, seltzer), and paper goods. Families should bring a picnic and a desert to share.

The 6th Grade Graduation Breakfast is being planned, there are Volunteers to help set up, serve, clean up. There was a discussion of who should be planning the Breakfast, it was felt that the 6th grade families should plan the day, and that families from other grades would be asked to help the day of the breakfast. Debbie will send out Invitations this year, and will shop for supplies and food. Families will be asked if they would like to contribute food or flowers to make the day more special. Sharon will call 6th Grade families, and see if donations from local businesses can be made. The Breakfast will cost $3 a person (no cost to students). (This is not a PGG sponsored event.)

Treasurer’s Report (Dan): The PGG account has $9,569.

Principles Report (Nick Yaffe): Budget concerns, we may loose funding for the Home work Club, looking at Hiring a Title I Teacher (Joan McDonald’s position). Held a New Family Night and New Family Survey looking at the transition to MM. There will be a survey looking at home school communication. Sharon Edwards and Joan are retiring this year, there is a Scholarship Fund being planned in their honor. SGC Elections will take place at the Picnic, nomination forms are out.

501C3 Update: Layla is working on identifying the benefits of 501C3 status and nonprofit status. (Tax exemptions, Personal Liability Protection, ability to make Tax Exempt contributions.) She will speak with Individuals at other schools in Amherst about Incorporating as an Individual PGG or as part of a larger Organization. Jerry Koch-Gonzalez spoke about presenting a workshop on “Parenting from your Heart”, which he has been presenting at other Amherst Schools. This will be planned for the fall.

NEXT PGG MEETING JUNE 8, 2006