Christ the King-PTO

CKS PTO Board Meeting MINUTES February 11, 2015, 6:30 p.m. _______________________________________________ Meeting started at 6:34 p.m. People in attendance: Katherine Marsella (President), Katie Nunn (Vice President), Mary Ann Lickteig (Secretary), Tara Banks (Treasurer), Angela Pohlen (Principal), Odile Steel (Associate Principal), Jon Hughes (Development Director), Tracey Whitney (Administrative Representative), Ryan Lyford, Debbie Byrne, Earl Handy, Courtney Lamontagne, Melissa Holzman, Jenn Pizzagalli, Amy Langevin, Lorin Holmes, Toni Sneddon, Tyler Boddie 1. Opening Prayer 2. Accept January PTO Minutes — Katherine Marsella moved to accept; Tracey Whitney seconded; minutes were accepted. 3. Public Comment a. Jenn Pizzagalli asked for an update on the school’s new web site. Angela Pohlen said that the site will be great, but it’s behind schedule. The goal was to have it up by January. Angela, Odile Steel and Jon Hughes will go through training. b. Advancement Updates — In lieu of reporting on the School Board meeting, because there was no meeting, Jon Hughes spoke about advancement. i. Volunteers are needed to post school news on Front Porch Forum. ii. Dennis McNeil will perform a benefit concert for CKS at the Flynn March 19. Volunteers are needed to take and hang posters. Sponsors are being sought to help defray $10,000 in expenses. iii. The school plans to start a Wall of Distinction honoring alumni who have excelled. The idea is to honor between one and four people at a dinner each year. The first one will be part of the 75th anniversary gala dinner and dance on May 30. The honoree will get a plaque and another plaque will hang at CKS. Jenn Pizzagalli cautioned that Rice Memorial High School undertook a similar honors program but it fizzled; the dinner got too expensive. 4. Treasurer’s Report — Tara Banks reported that the PTO is more than halfway to meeting its $50,000 budget with the two biggest events — Cabaret/Silent Auction and Spring Challenge — still to come. 5. New Business: a. Strategic Planning Retreat Day Report i. Angela explained that the Feb. 7 retreat was part of the process of developing a five-year-plan, which is required for accreditation. The school will use the plan as a driving document to focus efforts and inform decisions. The 42 people at the retreat did a SWOT analysis to identify the school’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. ii. Massachusetts consultant Rick Blain of Richard R. Blain & Associates facilitated the retreat and will continue to consult on the five-year plan. His $15,000 fee will be paid by the Excellence in Education Foundation and private donors. iii. Next, the steering committee will distill goals. After break, task forces will form to research specific topics. b. School Board Report — Jon reported that the School Board did not meet in February. 6. New Business a. Catholic Schools Week Update i. Odile reported that the student council worked hard to facilitate events, and all students had a great week. ii. Angela said there was a great turnout from the community for the school assembly honoring a variety of community organizations and also a great turnout for the father- daughter dance. iii. Katie Nunn said she loved the open house and suggested having another in the spring as a sort of step-up day for parents to visit the classroom their child will have next year. b. Cabaret/Silent Auction Update — Katherine, Katie and Mary Ann i. The silent auction committee had its first meeting Feb. 5. The goal is to target businesses whose item bring in the most money and have 75 auction items each night. Smaller items will be bundled in packages or baskets. ii. The committee is considering asking for a donation of diamond jewelry because this is our diamond jubilee. We may ask for a watch, too, to have jewelry for men. iii. Jon said Lasik eye surgery has been donated again. Other auction item suggestions: braces, swapping vacation homes with another school. We are hoping to get classrooms to do baskets based on different themes, such as Italy, gardening, spa and movie night. iv. We’re planning to have a “Restaurant Row,” where people can buy restaurant gift certificates at face value. v. Mary Ann reported that the Cabaret theme is Diamond Jubilee. Stage decorations include a 75th anniversary logo flanked by chandeliers. c. Spring Challenge Update — Katherine reported that Kathy Mumma and Shawn Farley are co-chairs. Soon, the web site will be ready for families to enter addresses for sponsor solicitations and kids’ T-shirt sizes. d. Future of Genevieve’s sale discussion i. Katherine asked if we should consider retiring this sale but noted that it brings in about $8,000 so we’d have to find a sizable replacement fund-raiser. ii. Katherine heard some complaints about the quality of some items. iii. Wrapping paper gives us the highest return and we are considering just selling from that catalog instead of the three or so we offered this year. iv. Angela said she doesn’t like the incentives that are dangled in front of the kids to encourage them to sell. Instead, she’d like to see an incentive that would be something that would benefit the whole school. v. Other fund-raising ideas offered: a lottery calendar; a boot/trunk sale, where people bring their call filled with tag sale items; selling coffee and doughnuts during Greater Burlington Girls’ Soccer League games; extending the golf tournament into an evening event to attract non-golfers. No decision was made. Meeting adjourned at 8:11 p.m.