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September 2025 Meeting Minutes

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Hoosic Valley Parent Teacher Organization

Regular Meeting Minutes:  September 18, 2025

Location:  Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library

Attendance:

President: Liz Ruepp

Treasurer:  Carolyn Gifford

Secretary:  Shannon Hansen

Members (in-person):

Lisa Meehan

Erika Bates

Deb Van Valkenburg

Stacey Kyea

Jamie Pollay

Kelli Siracusa

Jessica Garner

Kimberly Macic

Called to Order:  6:34 PM

Treasurer’s Report:

Caroline is currently working with the PTO accountant to collect tax paperwork for our tax year. (Aug 1 to July 31).

Unfinished (old) Business:

School Supply Kits-update – 58 kids ordered the school kits. Everything went well except we need to remember to go in and prep the kits after they get ordered.  A volunteer came in the day before school to organize.  So far have not gotten any feedback so assuming all children received what they needed. 

New Business:

Yearly meeting dates:  Group chose the second Tuesday of every month at 6:30pm, except for November

Money Minder: Our accounting software subscription is coming up due.  Lisa Motioned to pay for the annual software subscription. Caroline seconds All in favor – Yes; None opposed

Set Dates and Committee Volunteers:

School Pictures – October 20/21 Monday and Tuesday; Chair will be working to find volunteers for picture day.  Typically there are four or five helpers for fluffing and prepping the kids for the photos.  PTO will be able to provide an initial list about who showed interest.

Chair – Jessica Garner

Volunteers – Erika Bates, TBD

Trunk or Treat – Friday October 24, Chair will be organizing volunteers and helping to plan who will be providing the “trunk” portion of the treat.  Caroline will help guide the chair since she has done this in the past.

Co-Chairs – Jessica Garner/Deb Van Valkenburg Co-chairs

Volunteers – Lindsey Donovan, TBD

Book Fair – Will be the week of October 20, Chair will work on set up and finding volunteers to help out.  This is one where help will be needed everyday for portions of the day.  Reach out to Liz if you would like to help with this event.

Chair – Liz Ruepp 

Committee – Erika Bates, Jessica Garner, Jamie Pollay

Conference Night Potluck – Thursday November 6, Chair will be looking for volunteers to cook and bring the food to the school the night of November 6.  Cash donations to purchase food will also be accepted.  Take out containers are provided to the teachers well. This is a chance to support the teachers who are staying late for parent-teacher conferences.

Chair – Shannon Hansen

Volunteers – TBD

Festival of Wreaths – Kick off December 5th to have the wreaths hanging.  Send out notification for volunteers tentatively 11/12 and have them due by December 3rd.  This event is PTO’s most consistent fundraiser, bringing in 800-1200 dollars

Chair – Liz Ruepp and Stacey Kyea

Committee – Caroline Gifford

Ornament Painting Night – December 5th; Chair works to determine how many kids plan to attend and then they reach out to buy supplies and go pick them up.

Chair – Katie Teal would co-chair, looking for another chair

Committee – Caroline Gifford, Jessica Garner

Yearbook – End of April it will be due; Chair organizes getting photos from the different activities and organizations.  TreeRing is currently the website in use to put the yearbook together.  It is an easy website to use with great customer support.  Typically the hardest part is understanding who to reach out to and get the photos.  Please send any photos from different events to secretary@hoosicvalleypto.com.

Chair – Shannon Hansen

Committee – Jessica Garner, Jamie Pollay, Specific to 6th Grade Baby Photos (Deb Van Valkenburg & Stacey Kyea)

If you see a committee you are interested in please reach out to any of the PTO emails which can be found on the website.

Dues:  Even if you paid dues last year please sign up and pay your dues on our website(it will go through cheddar up).

Funding Requests:  

Speech Department asking for a color printer and ink: the request was read at the meeting.  For awareness – John Harris is our Questar technology rep.  The members discussed whether this is a district issue because everyone needs access to a color printer.  It was also questioned who would buy the color ink going forward.  Ultimately the members question if this is really a bigger conversation that needs to happen.  *Also discussed the receiver should have directed the requester to the website where teachers can put in a funding request. 

A member questioned the use of a stipend.  It was discussed and determined this is the preferred method because people can come back and it will not be a one and done.  Additionally, people end up buying things that don’t make sense because they feel they need to spend their stipend.

Future Discussions:  

Color Run – The question was raised why the color run was not currently scheduled because it was such a positive community experience with a lot of participation.  The members discussed the giant undertaking and 90% was done by one volunteer last year.  This included daily prize drop offs and a daily checklist provided from the vendor. Additionally, the vendor we used will not work with a club so if the Color Run was under the PTO umbrella we would not be able to just give a club money.  The topic came up about doing the run not as a fundraiser, someone even suggested selling the powder packets to the parents to throw at the kids.  The kids would not get daily prizes or T-shirts.  The group discussed if the NJHS kids (~30) could organize the event.  There would need to be a plan not to have a repeat of an issue which occurred last year with some helpers.  Right now this is tabled but the best option would be spring and volunteer to organize would be needed.

STEAM Elective – STEAM elective was removed from the elementary school curriculum.  A member questioned if teachers in the school were able to pull supplies from the STEAM room to conduct mini lessons if they chose.  This was confirmed to be a yes. Many different options were discussed on how to keep these types of activities available for the students.

NYS Employee Mentoring Program – A member identified state workers can be involved in a mentoring program for grades 3-5.  Information is being gathered on how to make this happen.  We want to open up the conversation on how can the PTO help improve  career development in the school district.  Some other schools such as Tamarac have had success with career days.

Meeting Adjourned:  7:49PM

Next Meeting Scheduled for Tuesday October 14 at 6:30PM in the Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library

Reminder – any questions regarding the minutes can be directed to Liz or Shannon.  Their PTO emails can be found on the website under contact us.

June 2025 Meeting Minutes

Written by PTO Secretary on . Posted in Minutes.

Hoosic Valley Parent Teacher Organization

Regular Meeting Minutes:  June 12, 2025

Location:  Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library

Attendance:

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President:  Melissa Kalbfliesh

Secretary:  Shannon Hansen

Treasurer: Carolyn Gifford

Members (in-person):

Stacey Kyea

Lisa Meehen

Jess Garner

Deb Van Valkenburg

Jamie Pollay

Called to Order: 6:33 PM

Review of Minutes:  

Need to complete.

Treasurer Report:

Scholarship Checks were written

Unfinished (old) Business:

Yearbook – Yearbooks were delivered! Plan to pass them out Friday June 20th.  Caroline has pens for everyone.  We can post on Parent Square to hold 630 to 8pm.

Learning Fair – Lisa stated it was a quiet night, there was an odyssey of the mind presentation.  Four people showed up to see the presentations.  We need to work on promoting the event better.  I brought up the fact there were HVAA schedules sports which could have been an impact.  HVAA has avoided this day in the past, we can work on communication in the future.

Scholarships – The following won the scholarships – .

Officer Elections – No one was interested so officers stay the same.

Teacher Appreciation – The lunch was very well received.  This was the 3rd year the PTO has chosen to support local businesses.  Jamie Pollay agreed to be the committee chair next year.

Meet the Candidate Night – This was lightly attended by 12 people.  There were a total of 65 views on YouTube, people appreciated the post.

School Supply Kits – Orders need to be in by July 15, 20 have been ordered so far.  Tegan worked on getting the orders under $100.  Organizations have offered to donate kits, how could we apply this in the future was discussed.

New Business:

Book Fair – Jess Garner agreed to help co-chair.

Policy for credit card disputes – One of the guptils issues had an issue with a fraudulent charge.  The person ultimately contacted their bank.  Different organizations like cheddar up have a disclaimer, we should look into something similar for TreeRing, etc.

Funding Requests:  

Gym Class Speakers – The cost is approximately $225.  The last speaker lasted approximately 3 years which had been used daily supporting all 500 students.  Lisa motioned yes, Caroline seconded, all in favor – yes.

Senior Gift – sock concepts, approximately 60 pairs for $300. Shannon motioned yes, Deb seconded, all in favor – yes.

Future Discussions:  

Next Year Dates – Open House September 10th, Tuesday September 16th is the 1st Meeting.  Is there a way to get high school student council to our meeting.

Meeting Adjourned: 7:46 PM

Next Meeting Scheduled for Thursday September 18 at 6:30PM in the Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library

Reminder – any questions regarding the minutes can be directed to Liz or Shannon.  Their PTO emails can be found on the website under contact us.

April 2025 Meeting Minutes

Written by PTO Secretary on . Posted in Minutes.

Hoosic Valley Parent Teacher Organization

Regular Meeting Minutes:  April 10, 2025

Location:  Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library

Attendance:

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President:  Melissa Kalbfliesh

Secretary:  Shannon Hansen

Treasurer: Carolyn Gifford

Members (in-person):

Stacey Kyea

Lisa Meehen

Kayla Gregoire

Called to Order: 6:36 PM

Review of Minutes:  

No changes/comments to March minutes.

Treasurer Report:

Fall Fundraiser Sheet Provided and reminder FY ends in July for our organization.  School pics – $1864, Festival of Wreaths – $432, Guptils – $110, Membership/donations – $785, Book Fair – $2360, and Color Run – $23890 for a total of $29,441.  Ornament Painted was a break even and this is ok because it is an event for fun.  The PTO was able to buy teachers their wishlist for books with the donation money.

Unfinished (old) Business:

Yearbook – Baby photo flyer went out to parents and some pictures started to come in.  Progress is still being made getting photos, even though this year we will not be getting individual grade random photos.  I was able to pull some off of parent square and the school Facebook page.

Writing Olympics – This year was strong revitalization.  We believe it will go strong next year.  Positives about the logistics is there was good flow going into the cafeteria.  A minor improvement is working to have open questions ready and ensuring we have people as hosts in the room.

Bus Driver/Custodian Breakfast – People brought in donations for the following day to be provided to the bus drivers before the start of their shift.

Guptills Night – Overall the event went well.  We need to put a deadline on buying tickets since there were a lot of last minute requests.  People also need a reminder to bring their tickets.  Additionally, it worked well having both schools invited.

Learning Fair – Traditionally 4th through 6th graders participate.  We need to work on putting together a packet for this event.  Also kids can participate and are not required to show up to present their material.

Scholarships – Caroline will be taking lead for the scholarships.  She plans to reach out and look for volunteers to help with the judging of essays.

Officer Elections – If anyone is interested in becoming an officer please reach out to hoosicvalleypto@gmail.com.  The officer elections will be held in May.

Teach Appreciation – Decided to do this the first week of May.  While an Ice Cream Truck was discussed, the decision was made to a do a mexican lunch.  They are able to supply pans of food.  The group decided on Tuesday May 6th – Lisa will help with this event.

Previous Funding request for K2 manipulatives and flexible seating – $500 for 4 children.  Principle (Greco) stated it would not be in the school supply budget.  $100 budget with statement about versatility for the school.  Shannon motions, Melissa seconds, all in favor – yes.

New Business:

Meet the Candidate Night – PTO holds a session where they ask questions which were developed ahead of time.  It has been done in different ways in previous years but this has proven successful.  Budget Vote will be May 20th so plan is to hold this Tuesday May 13th at 630pm.

Funding Requests:  

After Prom Donation – All in favor – yes.

Sheriff’s Smart Choice Shirts – There are 66 students.  January 2024 PTO meeting minutes discuss PTO would pay for the shirts for only one year.  Shannon motions to vote no, Stacey seconds, all agreed.

Future Discussions:  

School Supply Kits – Tegan has lead for this item.

Meeting Adjourned: 7:47 PM

Next Meeting Scheduled for Thursday May 8 at 6:30PM in the Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library

Reminder – any questions regarding the minutes can be directed to Liz or Shannon.  Their PTO emails can be found on the website under contact us.

January 2025 Meeting Minutes

Written by PTO Secretary on . Posted in Minutes.

Hoosic Valley Parent Teacher Organization

Regular Meeting Minutes:  January 9, 2025

Location:  Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library

Attendance:

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President:  Melissa Kalbfliesh

Secretary:  Shannon Hansen

Treasurer: Carolyn Gifford

Members (in-person):

Stacey Kyea

Tegan Kondak

Called to Order: 6:37 PM

Review of Minutes:  

Please read the November meeting minutes to determine if changes need to be made.  Provide recommended changes during February meeting.

Treasurer Report:

All the final receipts have been collected for the fall fundraisers.  The organization has an approximate operating fund of $30,000 but a fall report will be discussed at the next meeting in more detail.  Additionally, the funds from the color run will be discussed in the next meeting.

Unfinished (old) Business:

Yearbook – Shannon was able to get the school pictures link and will start to compile on TreeRing.  Will confirm the price, but plan to have it be similar to last year.  TreeRing has an autoload capability so compilation is easy.  Gathering all the photos is the challenge.  Liz/Shannon plans to go to the school one day to get everyday photos, students getting off the bus/etc..  

Writing Olympics – So far only 3 students have presented stories, while all stories are due on the 20th.  PTO discussed how they did not recognize how many new teachers are in the school and might not understand what are the Writing Olympics.  Unclear how we communicated with the teachers so they understood what this entails.  Different options were discussed to get more involvement.  One option was to get parents/teachers to understand kids could use stories which were developed during school (especially during computer class since it is already in a media format).  The group also decided we could give out free ice cream to all the students who sign up.  Another flyer will be going out to announce this and also the three students will be provided their ice cream slips.

Bus Driver/Custodian Breakfast – Three different areas need to be covered to make sure we get the day and night shift custodians.  Unclear what date everyone will be able to support but a google doc sign up will go out once a date is decided.

Ornament Night/Festival of Wreaths – Both events went well.  The timing for the wreaths was crunched due to the fact Thanksgiving was so late this year.  Many wreaths still had to be picked up because the ice storm impacted people picking them up at the school.  Next year will have similar timing so we will need to discuss and think about the various options for this fundraiser next year.

STEAM Night – A meeting with the STEAM teacher will be held next Wednesday (Jan 15 at 230pm at the school.  The idea is to split up STEAM night to two nights to help spread out the different activities.  March 4th and March 11th were chosen for the STEAM nights.  Flyers will go out the week of January 20th to get a count so supplies can be ordered.  Shannon will reach out to NJHS members in advance so they can make sure they understand the theory they are supposed to be helping the kids with.

Guptills Night – Reminder March 21st from 6:30 to 9pm is the date.  It will be open to both high school and elementary students.  The flyer from last year can be reused.

New Business:

Learning Fair – Need to discuss this next time, only one kid signed up last year so it did not happen.

Funding Requests:  

Indoor Recess Items – Kerri Greco, $600.  This is a one time buy, since the plan will be to put in the budget next year.  Looking for playing cards, stacking cups, connect 4 sets, etc.  Motion to agree by Melissa with a 2nd from Caroline.  All in favor. 

Future Discussions:  

Scholarships

Meeting Adjourned: 7:26 PM

Next Meeting Scheduled for Thursday February 13 at 6:30PM in the Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library

Reminder – any questions regarding the minutes can be directed to Liz or Shannon.  Their PTO emails can be found on the website under contact us.

November 2024 Meeting Minutes

Written by PTO Secretary on . Posted in Minutes.

Hoosic Valley Parent Teacher Organization

Regular Meeting Minutes:  November 14, 2024

Location:  Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library

Attendance:

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President:  Melissa Kalbfliesh

Secretary:  Shannon Hansen

Members (in-person):

Deb Van Valkenburg

Stacey Kyea

Lisa Meehan

Lindsey Donovan

Meghan Luskin

Kayla Gregoire

Kimberly Macica

Jessica Hoag

Erika Bates

Katie Sweet

Danielle Paro

Called to Order: 6:34 PM

Review of Minutes:  

Please read the November meeting minutes to determine if changes need to be made.  Provide recommended changes during January meeting.

Unfinished (old) Business:

Color Run – It was a success.  Thank you to all the volunteers and the team who helped. The total profit to the PTO was $24,934, which is the largest amount raised to date by a fundraiser.  Liz is planning to hold the final meeting with the company and put the offer out for people to listen in.  Constructive feedback provided during the meeting to be carried into future years include: improve kick off times for the kids, created confusion and some kids missed their time due to acceleration of the schedule.  Positive feedback was the school videos provided good hype for the school year.

Teacher Conference Dinner – The teacher dinner went well and the to go boxes were a success.  There were enough leftovers people were able to take home.

Picture Day – Picture day went well but they only sent 1 photographer this year which caused a back up in the hallway.   Normally they send two photographers.  The company needed to be contacted to address the smile certificates which were not handed out.

Trunk or Treat – Held on Friday October 25th.  Went well with no issues.  Due to the early request and the money donations there was not shortage of candy this year.  We do need to determine how to present the option to donate money next year; people felt it was a requirement.

Yearbook – Currently working on the logistics to get access to the teachers, similar to what has been done in the past.

Writing Olympics – Tiffany Hurley is the chair for this event and will be getting help from Kimberley Macica.  The book will be finalized for March 26.  Initial flyer was submitted to the kids.  Looking into the concern the printer company used went out of business, someone at the meeting suggested a different company which they felt could pick up the printing business.  Looking to get final submittals in before January 30 to get final readings done by March.  Is it an option to reach out to the teachers to present in class – option being considered.

Book Fair – It was very busy and successful night.  More cases arrived then anticipated which made it for a tight space in the library.  The spring and fall dates have been assigned by scholastic.  Thank you for purchasing teacher’s wish lists, they were all filled.

Bus Driver/Custodian Breakfast – It was not a good idea to lump this together with the teacher conference dinner so it will be rescheduled for a future date.

Ornament Night – The planning is going well and Angela at the studio flyer has been really helpful.  A timeline has been created and people have until the 22nd to sign up.  The message has been sent out on parent square and facebook.  Liz plans to send out a list for volunteers.

Festival of Wreaths – Flyer going out late this week or early next week.  December 11th is the school concert (elementary involved) and they plan to sell tickets live.  This is the set up night.

New Business:

STEAM Night – We will hold a brainstorming meeting in the next two months.  Looking to hold two different nights in the month of February.

Guptills Night – Stacey was able to get a hold of Nancy.  March 21st from 6:30 to 9pm is the date.  It will be open to both high school and elementary students.  Need to determine the strategy to sell tickets, maybe $5 per person.

Funding Requests:  

Memory Project $15 per student – Erin McCauliffe – This was presented by the art teacher in the High School.  Pictures of students from India come to the school and the art students get to create a portrait and send it back to the children.  She thinks she has about 10-20 students interested in the project.  Motion to agree by Kim with the 2nd from Deb.  All in favor.

Small cups – Eileen LaCourse – The school provided cups during COVID and now there are no water fountains in the new sinks.  A couple questions raised during the discussion include further clarification whether this was a one time buy or multiple years?  School supply request for the future – more discussion surrounded this point and how much is already on the list.  Plan to raise some of these questions with the school.  

3rd Grade stylus Pens $26 – Kimberly Macica – The request was made for 3rd graders to practice with stylus pens for the upcoming testing.  The school only has so many pens so they need to borrow from the office and give back.  Discussed an option to add to the supply list for future years.  It was challenged to provide to all the grades who need to test with the pens.  There are a total of 266 kids.  Motion presented to buy for all students  by Stacey, 2nd by Deb.  All in favor.

Chair Back Storage Pockets $84 – Kimberly Macica – The class got new tables which do not support all the students supplies including their head phones.  Looking for the option to get storage which could be used on the back of the chairs.  Motion to accept by Stacey and 2nd.  All in favor.

Future Discussions:  Potential new business topic for the future could include:

Common funding request document.

Vendor Event – people have been asking

Community Garden

Meeting Adjourned: 7:55 PM

Next Meeting Scheduled for Thursday January 9 at 6:30PM in the Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library

Reminder – any questions regarding the minutes can be directed to Liz or Shannon.  Their PTO emails can be found on the website under contact us.

March 2025 Minutes

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Hoosic Valley Parent Teacher Organization

Regular Meeting Minutes:  March 19, 2025

Location:  Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library

Attendance:

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President:  Melissa Kalbfliesh

Secretary:  Shannon Hansen

Treasurer: Carolyn Gifford

Members (in-person):

Stacey Kyea

Tegan Kondak

Lisa Meehen

Kayla Gregoire

Tiffany Hurley

Deb Van Valkenburg

Called to Order: 6:34 PM

Review of Minutes:  

Please read the January meeting minutes to determine if changes need to be made.  Provide recommended changes during April meeting.

Treasurer Report:

Nothing to report at this time.

Unfinished (old) Business:

Yearbook – Gathering all the photos is continuing to be the challenge, but progress is being made by getting direct contacts.  It was discussed how we should target more activities so if some get missed, this is ok.  Liz/Shannon plan to go to the school one day to get everyday photos, students getting off the bus/etc.  Three major actions need to take place before the next meeting: 1) Teachers need access to the link so they can start adding photos.  2) Need to inform parents/students they can start purchasing the yearbooks.  3) 6th grade baby photo flyers need to be posted and sent home with students.

Writing Olympics – A lot of progress was made with this event.  A total of 111 students will have stories in the book, along with artwork from approximately 22 students.  The number of students is on par with previous years.  Author night is scheduled for Wednesday March 26th.  Water and ice cream has been donated for the event.  Tiffany recommended to the group to print the book from 2020.  She found the electronic file which had the completed book, it just needed to be printed.  Everyone agreed this was a good idea, students worked hard on their stories and COVID had put a halt to everything. 

Bus Driver/Custodian Breakfast – PTO agreed on Friday April 11, directly before spring break.  This also allows PTO to get access to the night custodians since our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday April 10.  A google sign-up will be going out.

STEAM Night – Both nights were a success.  People agreed splitting up the nights was beneficial to use more challenging experiments for the older kids.  K-3 had a good turnout of approximately 50-60 kids.  While 4-6 only had 10-15, they still appeared to enjoy the experiments.  Making a boat and challenging each other proved to be one of the favorites.

Guptills Night – Approximately 60 kids signed up for this night, which is a good turn out.  It is this Friday March 21st from 6:30 to 9pm.  A cutoff date of tomorrow Thursday March 20 was decided so final tickets can be passed out at school on Friday morning.  Liz will put a final reminder on parent square.

Learning Fair – We are going to try to get this to work again.  We just need to figure out how to motivate kids to participate like writing olympics.  An idea for the future is to mention it during STEAM night events.  We would hold the learning fair on Tuesday May 20th, the night of the Budget Vote.  It is no longer called a science fair because we are encouraging kids to come up with various ideas (4H topics, their writing, works of art, etc.).

Officer Elections – If anyone is interested in becoming an officer please reach out to hoosicvalleypto@gmail.com.  The officer elections will be held in May.

Teach Appreciation – Last year money was provided to the administration for a picnic to be held for the Hoosic Valley staff which included yard games.  While this was a great idea, it proved a challenge for elementary teachers to participate since the elementary school has a different schedule than the high school at the end of the year.  The majority of the elementary teachers were working on closing up their rooms.  We have done a couple of different options in the past including mugs, swag, food, a sunshine cart with snacks and treats, Chrissy’s etc.  Please let us know your ideas, we spend about $1000 on the ~200 Hoosic Valley staff members.

New Business:

School Kits – We are trying to reinvigorate this for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year.  Teagan volunteered to lead this effort but is looking for support.  Please reach out to hoosicvalleypto@gmail.com if you are willing to help.  The first major action is to get the school supply lists for each grade before the end of spring break.  Than we can work on sending out the reminder.

Bingo Night – Plan to do this again this year after the book fair.  May 16th will be Bingo Night.

Spring Book Fair – The book fair will be the week of May 12th.  Need to start looking into requests for volunteers to support.

Funding Requests:  

2 Wobble Stools for 2nd Grade Classroom –  These stools will specifically be used for the 2nd grade integrated room.  They also have the potential to be used across the school.  The two stools will be less than $500 total.  Motion to agree by Lisa with a 2nd from Deb.  All were in favor.

Manipulatives and flexible seating – this was requested for the K-2 communications room.  The difference between the integrated room and the communications was discussed.  Unclear what the real need is for these items so more information is going to be gathered for the request.

Future Discussions:  

Meeting Adjourned: 7:38 PM

Next Meeting Scheduled for Thursday April 10 at 6:30PM in the Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library

Reminder – any questions regarding the minutes can be directed to Liz or Shannon.  Their PTO emails can be found on the website under contact us.

October 2024 Minutes

Written by PTO President on . Posted in Minutes. No Comments on October 2024 Minutes

Hoosic Valley Parent Teacher Organization

Regular Meeting Minutes:  October 10, 2024

Location:  Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library

Attendance:

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President:  Melissa Kalbfliesh

Treasurer:  Carolyn Gifford

Secretary:  Shannon Hansen

Members (in-person):

Kate Teal

Tiffany Hurley

Deb Van Valkenburg

Stacey Kyea

Lisa Meehan

Lindsey Donovan

Meghan Luskin

Jamie Pollay

Tegan Kondak

Kayla Gregoire

Kimberly Macica

Brandie Buid

Called to Order: 6:36 PM

Review of Minutes:  

Please read the September and October meeting minutes to determine if changes need to be made.  Thank you, we will discuss at the November meeting.

Unfinished (old) Business:

Color Run – The run is scheduled for Saturday October 19th, and the run is producing positive vibes with the children in the school.  The PTO discussed how to handle if there are any extra prizes at the end.  The discussion revolved around every child getting a key chain.  Additionally, the $10,000 goal was already exceeded as of this meeting.  The funds will be used for future PTO events and requests.  A logistics committee was created to plan out the day of the run.  Volunteer names were provided to the committee.

Membership Drive –  More green paper was requested by the front office to send out the drive request.

Teacher Conference Dinner – November 7th will be the potluck for the teachers.  Sign up genius will be going out in the next week for this event.

Picture Day – Picture day for the Elementary school is scheduled for Wednesday October 23 and Thursday October 24.  Sign up genius will be sent out for volunteers in the next week.

Trunk or Treat – Held on Friday October 25th.  Five sixth grades parents have signed up so far.  Since only five 6th grade parents have signed up, the request will go out to the larger community.  Due to the small amount of candy donated before the event in the past, the PTO will be requesting a five dollar donation or a bag of candy donation to participate in the event.  This proved successful in the past.  Early candy donations will still be accepted at the elementary school.

Yearbook – Electronic folders have been set up.  Shannon is looking for help for the Color Run and Trunk or Treat event.  She is looking into the feasibility of QR codes in the future so anyone can submit photos.  Additionally, she will provide folder access to the school teachers for each of the grades. She will continue to look for help in the future as needed.

Writing Olympics – Tiffany discussed making the last week of March (tentatively 29/30) the due date for submittals so edits can be made.  She worked to deconflict this event with STEAM night and the vendor fair.  This year has the potential to be easier due to submitting digital files.  Kimberley Macica agreed to help Tiffany chair this event.

Book Fair – It will run from Thursday October 17 to Friday October 25.  The book fair material should be delivered any day now.  Liz identified a potential co-chair to help (please reach out to Liz if you are interested).  Sign-up genius will go out for Pre-K to 3rd grade to request volunteers to help fill out wish lists. 

Bus Driver/Custodian Breakfast – This event will be looped in with the teacher conference dinner.

New Business:

Ornament Night – This event is fun for the kids, not a fundraiser.  December 6th is the tentative date.  Kids will have the opportunity to come and decorate ornaments for their trees.  Meghan, Lindsey, and Kate volunteered to co-chair this event.  They are looking into potentially have candy canes as well.

Festival of Wreaths – This will also be held tentatively the night of December 6th.  Liz recommended a motion to buy raffle tickets which will help ease picking of the names.  Additionally, buying sturdier hooks to hang the wreaths.  Both motions were approved.  The plan will be to draw the winners on December 18th.

Reimbursements – Two motions were put forth to reimburse ice cream cards for summer school and teacher tenure gifts.  There were a total of three teachers this year.  Both motions were approved.

Funding Requests:  

Fire Prevention Day Pizza – this was requested by Bridget Chapko.  The request is for the PTO to pay for pizza for the firefighters who are volunteering to participate in the Hoosic Valley Elementary School Fire Prevention Day.  The day was opened up to the entire school so it will now be an all day event.  The group discussed the why and who would be getting the pizza.  Only the volunteers would be getting pizza, not all the kids or the school.  We discussed most of the fire fighters in the community are volunteers so they would be taking a day off to help out at the school.  Additionally, this is a school wide event, not a particular grade and it supports a community service mission.  The motion was approved to provide pizza.

Indoor recess balls/indoor recess supplies – this was requested by Kerri Greco.  Three years ago the PTO received a $1000 Stewarts grant which was specific to be used to buy indoor recess supplies.  We have not requested this grant recently.  Someone asked if this request had been brought to the school board or business office since these are really school supplies.  Since the answer was unknown, the group decided to table this request until this could be better understood.

Third grade snacks – this was requested by Beth Elmer.  Lots of discussion occurred for this topic. Third grade lunch is not until 1pm this year with most snack times being around 10am.  This leaves a large gap before lunch time.  Teachers discussed the difficulty of teaching a student when kids are hungry, so lots of teachers ask for donations or supplement themselves.  Some encourage breakfast since it is free to all students this year.  It was also identified the nurse has crackers for certain circumstances.  While the PTO wanted to help, the discussion led to the determination that they cannot supply snacks to only one teacher and cannot take on an entire “snack” program.  The group was open to supplementing a food program if there was something already in place.  This topic was also tabled for a larger discussion and a determination on how to engage the appropriate program to support snack time.

Future Discussions:  None

Meeting Adjourned: 7:51 PM

Next Meeting Scheduled for Thursday November 14 at 6:30PM in the Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library

Reminder – any questions regarding the minutes can be directed to Liz or Shannon.  Their PTO emails can be found on the website under contact us.

September 2024 Minutes

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Hoosic Valley Parent Teacher Organization

Regular Meeting Minutes:  September 20, 2024

Location:  Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library

Attendance:

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President:  Melissa Kalbfliesh

Treasurer:  Carolyn Gifford

Secretary:  Shannon Hansen

Members (in-person):

Sarah Weber

Katie Teal

Robert Vogel 

Erika Bates

Tiffany Hurley

Danielle Patnode

Deb Van Valkenburg

Stacey Kyea

Called to Order: 6:33 PM

Treasurer’s Report:

No monthly report.  Currently the taxes are being prepared, reminder the PTO tax year runs from August to August.  PTO continues to use Money Minder for online transactions and maintains the TrustCo bank account.  PTO does administer the Johnsonville Ambulance Scholarship which is maintained through CAPCOM (now Broadview) CDs.

Unfinished (old) Business:

Color Run – The PTO was able to get five local businesses to sponsor the Color Run T-Shirts.  Pre-K to 6th Grade will all receive free T-shirts for the Color Run.  The run is scheduled for Saturday October 19th and there will be daily prizes for the students leading up to the event.  Liz Ruepp is the acting chair and will be reaching out to volunteers within the next week or two.  Thank you for those who have already signed ups to volunteer, please contact Liz if you would like to volunteer for this event.  More information to come out in the beginning of October.

Scholarships:  The PTO was able to distribute six scholarships last year to graduating seniors.  $500 was given for the PTO character award which is provided to a student who is nominated by any teacher in the school district.  Two scholarships were given from the Johnsonville Ambulance Scholarship, which is targeted for students going into the medical field (EMT, PA, etc.).  A scholarship was given to a student for the PTO Character Award scholarship which any student can apply for.  Scholarships were given to the valedictorian and the salutatorian.

Senior Gift:  Socks were provided to all the seniors with a different design each year.  The PTO plans to continue having the gift be socks.

New Business:

Meeting Dates – Different days of the week were discussed.  The group landed on the 2nd Thursday of every Month at 6:30PM in the Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library.  The PTO does have a zoom link and plans to use this in the future.

Membership Drive –  The PTO numbers for the start of the school year are looking higher than average.  Another form will be sent out to students.  Remember PTO uses green paper.

Teacher Conference Dinner – November 7th will be the potluck for the teachers.  This is the late parent-teacher conference day.  PTO will be looking for donations for meals.  Sign up genius will be distributed so people can volunteer for meals or volunteer to set up and/or clean up. 

Picture Day – Picture day for the Elementary school is scheduled for Wednesday October 23 and Thursday October 24.  Two coupons per grade are provided to students who need the help with the cost of pictures.  Additionally the PTO provides helper tickets to six individuals in the school.  Sign up genius will be sent out for volunteers, the PTO looks for 3 per day to help.

Trunk or Treat – Held on Friday October 25th.  The sixth grade students sign up for hosting trunks.  The biggest need each year is the candy donations.  Please send in a monetary donation or candy donation to the school with your children.  Caroline volunteered to help get this off the ground.  If you are a sixth grade parent interested in chairing this event please reach out to Liz or Caroline by the president or treasurer email (which can be found on the website under contact us).

Yearbook – Shannon volunteered to chair the yearbook this year.  She plans to reach out other Megan Luskin for more information on the electronic folder set up.  No help is needed at this time but she will looking for volunteers in the future.

Writing Olympics – This is a program which is missed.  The program encouraged every student to do a writing piece.  All the pieces were pulled together and placed into a book.  Even a student illustrated the cover.  Editing was the biggest challenge in the past due to the number and potential number of edits.  The group discussed the benefit of authenticity.  Tiffany volunteered to chair this program.  If you would like to volunteer please reach out to Liz.

Bus Driver/Custodian Breakfast – After discussions on the timing, the group determined they plan to group this with the teacher conference dinner.  So only one sign up genius will be sent out.  The PTO will be looking for breakfast food donations.  Caroline volunteered to set up, but a volunteer will be requested for clean up.

Book Fair – (added) Liz plans to chair the book fair.  It will run from Thursday October 17 to Friday October 25.  The last day will be the same day as trunk or treat which worked well last year.  The first week is the preview week for the students so they can browse the books.  Volunteers are needed to help students write down their wish list and to help the days of buying.  The group also discussed how to help the teachers with their wish list.  Teachers reach out to Liz if you are interested in a wish list!  Liz already has a list of volunteers but more are needed.  Please reach out to Liz if you would like to volunteer for this event.

Funding Requests:  None

Future Discussions:  None

Meeting Adjourned: 7:43 PM

Next Meeting Scheduled for Thursday October 10 at 6:30PM in the Hoosic Valley Elementary School Library

Reminder – any questions regarding the minutes can be directed to Liz or Shannon.  Their PTO emails can be found on the website under contact us.

November 15, 2023 Minutes

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Hoosic Valley Parent Teacher Organization

Regular Meeting Minutes:  November 15, 2023

HV Elementary School Library

Attendance:

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President: Lissa Kalbfliesh

Treasurer: absent

Secretary: Lisa Meehan

Members (in-person):

Shannon Hansen

Jessica Hoag

Stacey Kyea

Denile Paro

Kimberly Macica

Greg Caswell

Members (online):

none

Called to Order: 6:29pm

Minutes: Not reviewed

Treasurer’s Report: No monthly report

Committee Reports:

none

Unfinished Business:

Plants for Teachers – still in process and expected to be brought in soon!

Yearbook – Megan Luskin has agreed to be chairperson for this year. This committee is in need of a co-chair. Jess Hoag has volunteered to assist with this. If anyone else is interested, please contact Megan or Jess.

Book Fair – took in $9410.91 with a profit of $2314.24. This amount is enough to cover the cost for the Zillah Herrington program. We were also able use approximately $234 to purchase all books placed in the teacher’s “wish baskets” which they greatly appreciated!

Spring book fair is tentatively scheduled for May 13-19 – possibly overlapped with a game night hosted by NJHS.

Fundraiser idea:  Color Run. Greg Caswell has participated in these at other schools and has knowledge of the benefits and the process needed to host. Several vendors to assist were discovered that offer different levels of support that are tied to different profit levels. A committee was formed to look further into which vendor (if any) makes sense based on HV’s needs and desired outcome. Stacey Kyea and Tiffany Hurley have offered to work with Greg Caswell in getting this off the ground.

Picture day – was completed and was fairly successful. Pictures should be in any day and retakes are scheduled for 12/6.

Guptills skating night – There is still a lot of interest in putting together a skating night. Several members present offered to keep attempting to contact Guptill’s to obtain details.

STEAM night – There is still interest in making this night happen – perhaps in the Jan-Mar timeframe or perhaps as part of PARP week. Liz will reach out to Mrs.Greco and Mrs. Clark to get the planning going on this. Lisa Meehan and Shannon Hansen have also offered to assist.

Teacher Potluck – was offered on the evening of parent teacher conferences. There were more financial donations than food donations so Liz bought and prepared food. Teachers were appreciative and were able to eat and/or do takeout dishes that night as well as for lunch the following days. 

Festival of Wreaths and Ornament painting night – moving forward. Wreaths will be due by noon on 12/1 and hung up that afternoon to coincide with Ornament painting night. Raffle tickets will be sold at that event and at music concerts 12/6. Winners will be selected on 12/15. Flyers have gone out for both things and publicity will begin very soon. Ornament night will have 2 time slots to attend to spread the crowd out. Please see Lissa Kalbfleish or Darcy Beaulac if you would like to help on the night of the ornament event (12/1).

New Business:

Donation Received: $275 from the Schaghticoke Angels was graciously received. Liz will reach out to thank that group for their generosity.

Funding Requests:

Kimberly Macica requested $100.72 for 4 player math game x8 for her classroom. Request approved unanimously.

Andrea Das informally requested $200-300 to support a 7th grade field trip to see Ben Frankenstein at Sage. Request approved pending submission of formal funding request and approval by the district for the trip.

Future Discussions:  None

Next meeting 12/20 at 6:30 pm in the elementary school library.

Meeting adjourned at 7:25 pm

Submitted: 11/26/2023 LJM

October 2023 Minutes

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Hoosic Valley Parent Teacher Organization

Regular Meeting Minutes:  October 18,, 2023

HV Elementary School Library

Attendance:

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President: Lissa Kalbfliesh

Treasurer: Carolyn Gifford

Secretary: Lisa Meehan

Members (in-person):

Sarah Weber

Jessica Hoag

Stacey Kyea

Amanda Myott

Members (online):

none

Called to Order: 6:34pm

Treasurer’s Report:

No monthly report

Currently working with Connie to prepare for taxes – reconciling items

Committee Reports:

none

Unfinished Business:

Plants for Teachers – still in process and expected to be brought in soon!

Yearbook – Megan Luskin has agreed to be chairperson for this year. This committee is in need of a few members to assist with editing and to coordinate taking pictures at school events. Please reach out if you are able to help.

Book Fair – arrived, prepping for preview days and for sales. Desperate need for volunteers during day and during trunk or treat. Large quantities of books were sent this year – may not need to restock but will struggle with space to get them all set out.

Tenure gifts – $274.34 was spent on purchase of gift cards for the 11 newly tenured teachers. These were presented to the teachers at a very brief reception held in the high school library.

Trunk or Treat – 18 have signed up for the event to be 10/27 from 6-7:30, can fit 24. NJHS has agreed to assist inside at book fair and also with candy distribution needs. The donation “monster” bin has been set out and a call for donations was put out. Carolyn Gifford and Carly Lorini are coordinating volunteers and doing setup starting at 4:30 that day.

Picture day – 10/25 and 26 with retakes on 12/6. Volunteers are needed during the school day. Please reach out if you can help – volunteers get free photo packages!

Color Run – nothing to report

Guptills skating night – nothing to report.

New Business:

Teacher potluck on 11/1 when teachers stay late for conferences. Liz will post signup genius to tap volunteers for food, setup and cleanup.

Web domain had expired, paid to renew it and it is now secure and should be easy to find!

Funding Requests:

Stacey Kyea and Laura Mooney requested $95.82 to purchase 6 lap trays for 1st grade classroom use. Motion approved unanimously.

Future Discussions:

Odyssey of the Mind t-shirts – Unanimous decision to discontinue purchasing Odyssey of the Mind t-shirts due to growing program and increasing costs. OM is similar to clubs, which purchase their own shirts. PTO will continue to support the OM program with needs through standard funding requests moving forward.

Ornament night – some interest in continuing this event. Liz will reach out to the previous coordinator as see if she is still interested in chairing this event.

Wreath raffle – Liz Ruepp, Jess Hoag and Sarah Weber have volunteered to chair this event. Potentially have wreaths due by noon on 12/1 to be hung that afternoon and have tickets for sale during ornament night (if that happens) and up for winter music concerts.

Next meeting 11/15 at 6:30 pm in the elementary school library.

Meeting adjourned at 7:11 pm

Submitted: 10/29/2023 LJM