North PAC Meeting Minutes: February 24, 2009

Attendees: Eight attendees.

Treasurer’s Report: $1,xxx in account. $340 specifically allocated for the Retreat in April.

Disco Ball: Jen created an info-folder for future Disco Balls. We did not break even this year. We were approximately $4 short. Hall School is having a family event on a Thursday evening in March (5th or 12th). We can sell our extra snacks/juice and cookbooks. ECFE outreach flyers/brochures will be available at the event also.

Recommendations for future Discos: Make more of an effort to make it a fundraiser. Charge more for snacks. Need more advertising. We need to discuss paying the DJ and the couple who set up and work the lights at another time.

ECFE Funding Calling Campaign: The E12 Education Budget Policy Division is looking for parents to testify about ECFE on Thursday, February 26, 2009 at 8:30AM in Room 112 at the State Capitol.

New Chairs: Sherri is grateful for the beautiful new chairs. They are well taken care of.

New Fundraiser: Wagner’s “My Garden” Spring Plant Sale Fundraiser. No money needed upfront. We would pay $15/kit. We can charge what we want and keep the rest as profit. Retail price is $28. We would charge $20 for a $5 profit per kit. If we sell 30, we would qualify for free delivery. Under 30, there is delivery fee or we can pick them up. Order forms and mini-posters are available from Wagner’s. Deadline is March 14th for preliminary order. April 10th deadline for submitting our final order. May 3rd first available date to pick up the plants. We would choose a day, likely Thursday, May 7, to pick up orders at Hall. S & A will co-chair the plant sale committee and be in contact with Linda and Wagner’s. More information can be found at: http://wagners.biz/

Easel Purchase: The easel Annette needs for Mona Moede costs about $300-400+ in the catalog. Annette will look into all options and look for the best deal. A. shared that he receives discounts from an office supply store that we could use.

Books the PAC purchases for use in the classroom: A. mentioned that we could look into getting a donation from a local business to pay for books, or get a grant from an organization.

Momcation/Retreat Committee: The committee needs more parents to join and meet on a Monday afternoon. Aqueelah expressed interest in joining the committee.

LAC Report from last Thursday night:
South PAC’s Cinco de Mayo and Vehicle Day events are coming up, as well as the End of the Year Picnic.

A South ECFE parent educator is asking for feedback, safety suggestions/precautions for a Kids-Fishing event. We briefly discussed the events’ need for life jackets, care with fishing hooks, limited casting or just let the children drop their line without casting.

The Budget Task Force found that there was not a clear way for parents to make payments for ECFE. Are parents to mail their checks to the main office, or take money in class? Some parents had checks returned because the semester was over before the office rec’d their check. The Budget Task Force decided that mail-in is the best way, and will take checks even if the term is over. If you can pay more, please do, but it will not be tax-deductible. Our PAC discussed the possibility of online payments and also parent educators asking for class payment in the form of a general announcement and gentle reminder to pay.

We need March, April and May volunteers to represent the North PAC at the LAC.

On-going business: For the last 5 minutes, we planned the next Parents Night Out – May 13th. Choice of restaurant was postponed for the time being. One option brought to the table was Bellanotte downtown. An ECFE parent’s spouse works there and brought a brochure to class.

Meeting Adjourned at 6:59pm.