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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

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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

September 2023 Minutes

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Hoosic Valley Parent Teacher Organization

Regular Meeting Minutes:  September 21, 2023

HV Elementary School Library

Attendance:

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President: Lissa Kalbfliesh

Treasurer: Carolyn Gifford

Secretary: Lisa Meehan

Members (in-person):

Sarah Weber, Adam Myott, Jessia Clark, Amanda Myott, Val Lavigne, Bessie Baldwin, Kimberly Macica, Carly Lorini

Members (online):

Stacey Kyea, Denile Paro, Darcy Beaulac

Called to Order: 6:32pm

Treasurers Report:

Issue with TreeRing – TrustCo bank refused to deposit it but had no explanation why it happened. TreeRing will be issuing a new check with hopes it will not have any issues.

Staying with Money Minder for online transactions. $240 spent for yearly fee. It’s easy to use, and money is linked directly our TrustCo account where most PTO business is transacted. There is also a CapCom account that is linked to the scholarship requirements that we are required to utilize.

Committee Reports:

School Supply kits – Delivery of 86 kits was on 9/1 and was fairly smooth. Minor damage to 2 boxes required replacement of 2 items for 1 student. Upon unpacking, 6th grade kits were missing several red binders and 12 were missing 3 subject notebooks. Vendor identified warehouse issues and eventually conceded that they were unable to resolve the problem and could not supply the needed items. Recommendation that the committee assess the need for this service and for possible alternate vendors to use going forward.

Unfinished Business:

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

New Business:

Yearbook – utilizing TreeRing again this year. Need at least 2 committee members ASAP. Please let Liz know if you are interested.

Book Fair – Have books for 2 weeks this year. Delivery typically comes the week before, expected 10/23-27 this year and will be open during Trunk or Treat. Need at least 2 volunteers to chair this committee ASAP. Please contact Liz if you are interested or would like to learn more.

Tenure Gifts – 9 teachers were awarded tenure. Motion passed unanimously to provide gift cards in the amount that matches last year for each teacher at or after the tenure reception.

Trunk or Treat – On October 27, 6:30-8:00 in conjunction with Book Fair. 6th graders sign up for hosting trunks. If they do not sell out, they are offered to teachers/staff and then to anyone interested. For more information, contact Carolyn Gifford, Stacey Kyea or Carly Lorini. Candy donations will be collected during the 2 weeks leading up to the event. Darcy Beaulac and Carolyn Gifford will work with NJHS to provide help at the event.

Picture Day – will be on 10/25, 10/26 and 12/6 by Adirondack Portraits. Need 2-3 volunteers to assist during the day. Volunteers receive a free package. Contact Liz if you are interested.

Color Run – we are approved to host this. Looking at the possibility of hosting in the spring. No additional volunteers are needed at this time.

Fundraising – Discussion regarding hosting a LipSync contest with students, staff and community participating. Mr. Myott is willing to provide input and encourage participation for this event. Cost is minimal and fundraising will be by donation and perhaps sale of refreshments. Timing was discussed for a winter. More discussion to follow.

Funding Requests:

Nicole Neary – requested $100.54 to reimburse for pizza served at Responsive Classroom training. Motion approved unanimously.

Aimee Hanna – requested reimbursement for $17 for summer school ice cream outing. Motion approved unanimously.

Adam Myott – requested up to $50 to purchase 2 DVD’s that are used as part of his Spanish curriculum. Motion approved unanimously.

Future Discussions:

STEAM Night – hoping again to get this off the ground for winter night. Discussion needed to develop a plan for this event. Perhaps targeted for winter.

Guptills Night – received another flyer publicizing a skating night. Will again pursue this as an option for an activity night/fundraising event.

Odyssey of the Mind – program is growing which sparked discussion regarding funding of t-shirts. PTO is moving away from funding those and discussing other ways PTO can support the program. Liz will reach out to coordinator.

Upton Coffee in Stillwater has expressed interest in working with PTO to support the organization as well as the teachers and staff at the schools. 

Discussion regarding the need for a membership drive. Information will be provided through Parent Square and flyers may go home to encourage families to join the group.

2023-2024 meeting times – decided to plan for PTO to meet on 3rd Wednesdays of each month where possible. Next meeting 10/19. Will publicize meeting on Parent Square, Facebook, on monthly menu, at BOE meetings and on website.

Meeting adjourned at 7:28 pm

Submitted: 10/4/2023 LJM

Hoosic Valley PTO

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Meeting Minutes

Date: April 18, 2023

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: Hoosic Valley Elementary School library

In Attendance

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President: Lissa Kalbfliesh

Secretary: Lisa Meehan

Treasurer: not present

In Person attendees:  Denile Paro, Tiffany Hurley, Stacy Maxon, Jacqui Paglialonga, Kim Macica, Stacey Kyea

Virtual attendees: none

Call to Order:

The meeting was called to order at 6:35pm

Approval of Minutes

The minutes from the March meeting were approved.

Committee Reports

  • Yearbook – Deadline to purchase has been set at April 30 in order to receive and distribute in a timely fashion. Currently,the  number ordered is down from previous years – flyers just went home so hopefully orders will increase in the upcoming weeks. Please help spread the word by sharing on social media.

Unfinished (Old) Business:

  • Plants for staff room:  delivered soon.
  • Senior gifts: 80 pairs of socks were ordered, similar to last year for a cost of approximately $400. These will be distributed at the senior picnic.
  • Senior Scholarships: The committee will begin reviewing these in the next week. Deadline is 5/1. See Carolyn Gifford with any questions.
  • Teacher Appreciation: Survey sent out, handful of responses are mixed. Will allow more time, but currently the results, with logistics and finances point to a boxed lunch. Liz will look into options and reach out for assistance in the coming weeks.
  • Meet the Board Candidates Night: Currently appears to be only 1 petition turned in. In that case, this event will not be held. Deadline is 4/17 so will assess after that date.
  • Learning Fair: To be held the day of the BOE elections in the gym (May 16). Flyers went home with kids recently. Open to 4th-6th grade students. Format and subject can be anything the student would like to focus on, worked on outside of school. See Amanda Akin for details or to assist with setup on that day.
  • Stewart’s Holiday Match:  received an award of $1000 for classroom libraries. This falls short of the amount needed for giving a meaningful amount to each teacher. Still looking for ideas to raise those additional $2000 to meet this need. First avenue will be just to ask for donations for this and see where that ends up.
  • School Supply Kits: Currently being coordinated with same vendor as last year: Bright School Kitz. Awaiting updated lists from 2 grades. Sale will be live in mid-May until mid-June.

New Business

  • Book Fair Week Activity: Book fair is first week of May. Discussion regarding activity to be held in conjunction with it. Possibilities were discussed and consensus was Book Fair Bingo night on 5/5 at 6:30. See Liz or Denile if you would like to help out – with Bingo night or with book fair.
  • Vendor Refund: Discussed and approved refunding $60 to a vendor who got ill and could not attend the vendor fair. Agreed to put a clause regarding this situation in to the contract for future years: that refunds will be granted on a case-by-case basis.
  • Volunteer Recognition: Discussed acknowledging the small number of members who provide extensive volunteer hours for the PTO sponsored activities and programs. This was done in the past with mugs and pens. See Liz or Lissa with any ideas.
  • Google phone number: Agreed to activate the google phone number to be associated with PTO to have a single access point that can remain consistent as officers change over time.
  • Website Updates:  Liz and Lissa will be moving the website out of WordPress format into Google hosted site to create a more user friendly experience as well as being easier to keep contents up to date, accessible and relevant. Reach out if you would like to assist with this project.
  • Calendar Magnets: Agreed to move forward with creating a magnetic school calendar for 2023-2024 to offer to dues paying members as a perk of membership. Liz will work on getting that set up through an online vendor in the coming months.

Funding Requests

  • HV Community Partners requested a donation to support After Prom activities. Unanimous agreement to match last year’s donation of $400 for this event.
  • Unanimously agreed to reimburse Liz $162 for cost of the banner in support of the Odyssey of the Minds Teams. Banner was purchased at Vital Signs in Cohoes and is undated so can be used for future years.

Future Discussion 

  • Kim Macica would like to create a library tour similar to the one being done by UHLS. Discussed creating a similar activity possibly with prizes and/or with linking to PARP.

Next Meeting

Date: May 15, 2023, 6:30 pm Elementary School library

Motion to adjourn was at 7:40pm

submitted: LJM 4/24/23

January 2023 Minutes

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Date: January 17, 2023

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: Hoosic Valley Elementary School library

In Attendance

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President: Lissa Kalbfliesh

Secretary: Lisa Meehan

Treasurer: Carolyn Gifford

In Person attendees:  Denile Paro, Kimberley Macica, Tiffany Hurley, Sarah Weber

Virtual attendees: Stacey Kyea, Jacqui Paglialonga

Call to Order:

The meeting was called to order at 6:33pm

Approval of Minutes

The minutes from the December meeting were not available

Committee Reports

  • Treasurer Report: Full report was distributed showing outcome for all of the fall fundraisers: current balance $8908.97.

Tax filing is complete with accountant for this fiscal year

  • Yearbook – all the school pictures are uploaded, ready to begin layout. Candid shots of school and community events are requested. Still looking to add more staff, including district office staff members. See Tiffany Hurley if you would like to help.

Unfinished (Old) Business:

  • Plants for staff room:  Donations have been received, to be delivered soon.
  • Writing Olympics: Carolyn has offered to chair this event, Sarah Weber has offered to proofread submissions. If there is an event night formed, NJHS may be willing to be involved but specific dates and times need to be established as soon as possible. See Carolyn if you would like to help.
  • Stewart’s Holiday Match:  was applied for – citing classroom library funds as the earmark
  • STEAM night: Liz was able to discuss with Mrs. Greco. Still need to finalize a date – evening, weeknight is likely (not 3/31 as discussed previously).  NJHS may be able to assist with logistics, they will let us know when the date/time are chosen. Timing being considered is late March.

Jessia Clark, Lisa Meehan and Jacqui Paglialonga have volunteered to assist with this planning/event. See Liz if you want to help.

  • Vendor Fair: Most vendor slots are full, payments are being made through Cheddar up. Date is 3/12 from 11-3. Vendor setup begins at 9. Class of 2026 and Mrs. Neary will be selling food – this is important as vendors have no other access to food during the day. 

After discussion, 9th grade class will be offered the ability to run and share profits of a 50/50 raffle. 

Additional assistance needed will be publicity – Express paper, flyers around town and social media. Also, day of help with floor marking, setup, basket raffle, take down – see Denile Paro if you can help.

New Business

  • Spring pictures will be 3/10 – unlike previous years, all kids will get spring pictures taken. Day of help will likely be needed – reach out to Liz if you are interested.

Funding Requests

  • No funding requests were received.

Future Discussion 

  • Guptills skating night – Liz Ruepp is still looking into details for this.

Next Meeting

Date: February 15, 2023, 6:30 pm Elementary School library

Motion to adjourn was at 7:21pm

submitted: LJM 2/6/23

November Meeting Minutes

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Hoosic Valley PTO

meeting Minutes

Date:November 15, 2022

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: Hoosic Valley Elementary School library

In Attendance

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President: Lissa Kalbfliesh

Secretary: Lisa Meehan

Treasurer: Carolyn Gifford

In Person attendees:  Demile Paro, Kimberley Macica, Stacey Kyea, Tiffany Hurley, Sarah Weber

Virtual attendees: None

Call to Order:

The meeting was called to order at 6:31pm

Approval of Minutes

The minutes from the October meeting were approved unanimously 

Committee Reports

  • Treasurer Report: Money minder up to date – no outstanding transactions; currently preparing for tax filing with accountant
  • Yearbook: Tiffany Hurley reported that the theme has been chosen, work is being done and pictures are being collected for school and classroom activities. Please upload pictures to the link on the hvpto website.

Unfinished (Old) Business:

  • Halloween Night: Trunk or treat went amazingly well, huge attendance and lots of positive feedback. Lessons learned will lead to a few logistic changes for next year regarding candy donation and candy hand out. Also need to emphasize that this is not a drop off event! Next year will be October 27 and Mrs Macica reported that NJHS would like to be involved this year for games in the gym.
  • School pictures took place Oct 21 and 22 – all went well for the most part. Thanks to the volunteers who assisted with that.
  • Numerous plants were obtained through donation by a community member, for staff rooms – expect to see those soon.
  • Book fair: Most successful book fair ever: total sales $8588.64 leading to profit of $1913.11, which will largely cover the need for the Zillah Herrington program in spring. Also had $900 in scholastic dollars to spend which were used partly to obtain library books and the remaining went to obtain ZH books. Big thanks to the volunteers on this, but note that it’s crucial that we find a volunteer to head this up for future book fairs.
  • Conference Night Teacher Potluck: successful event, appreciated by teachers and staff. Especially popular were grab and go items like pizza and garbage bread. Leaving takeout containers was also a big hit and made cleanup easier. Thanks to those who donated, set up and cleaned up!

New Business

  • Festival of Wreaths: Communication for this went out and publicized on website and facebook- currently have 10 wreath commitments and expecting more. Call for volunteers to sell tickets during band and chorus concerts (12/8 and 12/15) as well as during ornament night on Dec 2nd will go out on Parent Square and Facebook, or see Liz. Wreaths we’ll be hung on 12/1 after school.
  • Ornament Painting night: This will be on 12/2 6-7:30pm, coordinates with Festival of Wreaths. Order forms went out and online ordering has been set up thru cheddar up. Ornaments are expected to be returned and distributed the week ofDecember  19th.

Funding Requests

  • The funding request by Erin McCaullife for $220 to fund a field trip for art students to Mass MoCA was rescinded as the cost was covered by MAC.
  • No funding requests were received.

Future Discussion 

  • Guptills skating night discussed as a winter activity. Liz Ruepp will call for details and scheduling options to be discussed next month.
  • Discussion of hosting a STEAM night with area businesses doing presentations and activities for students. NJHS may be able to assist with logistics. Proposed date for consideration is 3/31 in evening. Suggestion was made to consider setting the activity up to include the junior high students as well. Committee will be forming shortly – reach out to Liz or Lisa if you are interested.

Next Meeting

Date: December20, 2022, 6:30 pm Elementary School library

Motion to adjourn was at 7:20pm

submitted: LJM 12/11/22

Meeting Minutes

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Date: September 22, 2022

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: Hoosic Valley Elementary School library

In Attendance

President: Liz Ruepp

Vice President: Lissa Kalbfliesh

Secretary: vacant

Treasurer: Carolyn Gifford (virtual)

In Person attendees:  Lisa Meehan, Tiffany Hurley, Denile Paro

Virtual attendees: Alyla Goldman, Brandee Silloway

Call to Order:

The meeting was called to order at 6:37pm

Approval of Minutes

The minutes from the June meeting were not presented due to the transition of roles, that resulted from the resignation of the past Treasurer. Carolyn Gifford is now the Treasurer. 

The board moved to appoint Lisa Meehan to the secretary position for the remainder of the term.

Committee Reports

  • School Supply Kits:  Lisa reported that 103 kits were sold in May thru August. Delivery was on September 1st and went smoothly (with assistance from the office staff and Meghan Luskin). A check for the fundraising portion in the amount of $282.75 is being mailed to the Elementary School office by the vendor.

Unfinished (Old) Business:

  • Town Hall concert: Liz reported that HVPTO was invited to participate in the Schaghticoke town hall concert selling of 50/50 tickets in return for half the proceeds of the drawing. This is a lucrative fundraiser with very little input of effort. It was noted that the unavailability of the original volunteers lead to a last minute call for help and ideally needs 2 or 3 volunteers to fulfill our obligations to participate in this event. $470 was collected.

New Business

  • 2022-23 Meeting Dates: Those present agreed to hold regular meetings on 3rd Tuesday of each month while school is in session. Any changes to that schedule will be publicized through the website, email and Parent Square.
  • Folders for K & 1st grade: Cori Kinnicut recommended purchasing Hoosic Valley folders to be given to students in several grades at the beginning of the school year. It was decided to look into the cost and consider this for next school year. Anyone with specific comments or concerns should contact Lissa.
  • Tenure Gifts: 12 Hoosic Valley teachers & staff are up for tenure. Voted to purchase congratulatory cards containing $20 Vanilla gift cards for each, to be presented at the upcoming district tenure reception.
  • Indoor Recess Carts: The grant money from the Stewart’s match program form 2021 ($2000) is earmarked for Indoor Recess carts and activities. Liz is currently in discussions with Mrs. Greco to coordinate and decide the current needs and logistics of these purchases.
  • Passive Fundraisers: Amazon Smiles fundraiser will continue. A link for participating is on the HVPTO website. Some previously used passive fundraisers (BoxTops for Education, Hannaford Tools for Schools) are no longer available. Any ideas for similar types of fundraisers should be brought forward for consideration.
  • Halloween Night: 
    • Tiffany Hurley and Carolyn Gifford volunteered to chair the event this year’s Trunk or Treat which will be held Friday October 28. Anyone interested in helping should contact them.
    • Lisa Meehan was approached by Valley Falls library to gauge interest in joining with them in bringing a singer/storyteller event as part of the Halloween festivities. There is interest by those present but more details are needed. Lisa is gathering that information and gauging community interest and will call for a virtual vote if the funds of approximately $250-275 is going to be requested.
  • Pictures Days:  Elementary picture days thru Adirondack Studios will be October 20 and 21. Two volunteers are needed for each day; volunteers get a free photo package for their child. Contact Liz if you are interested.
  • Scholastic Book Fair: 
    • Currently scheduled for October 17-28
    • Discussion regarding the timing of this event – if the singer/storyteller event could overlap, there would be ideal opportunities to bring families in to buy from the book fair as well. 
    • Need volunteers during the preview days, whatever time can be given is appreciated 
    • Suggestion was made to check if high school reading buddy helpers and parents of the youngest grades could assist.
    • Book Fair is in great need of a person to take over this event and chair it in the future. Ideally, the person could shadow this year to learn the process. Please see Liz or Bessie Baldwin if you are interested.
  • Plants for Staff Rooms: Discussed the need to liven up staff rooms at both building with green plants. Liz will look for reasonable priced items or donations and bring it forth for future vote.
  • School Banking: A volunteer is needed to chair. It has been on hiatus during COVID and a new chairperson could establish the schedule and frequency of doing school banking. If interested, contact Liz.
  • Membership Drive: Discussion about recruiting new members. Flyers will be going home with elementary parents, recruiting was done at both open houses and new members can sign up on website at any time. 
    • Going forward, the focus will be on rapid, meaningful communication in order to get members and non-members interested in sharing ideas, input and their time. PTO has been added as a Group in the Parent Square App so hopefully that new outlet for communication will be helpful for keeping connected and increase engagement. 
  • Vendor Fair- Denile will chair. Scheduled for March 12. 

Next Meeting

Date: October 18, 2022, 6:30 pm Elementary School library

Motion to adjourn was at 7:48pm

submitted: LJM 9/26/22