TO NEWS********************PTO NEWS*****************PTO NEWS

RUNU2CCE (Are You New To Cedar Creek Elementary)

The PTO Board welcomes all familiar faces from last year and all the new faces this year. During Meet the Teacher Night, we encouraged all parents to make a special effort and introduce themselves to the new parents. Making new families feel welcome, goes a long way in making our school a better place. There are several ways the PTO Board is working to make new families feel welcome. 1) Our PTO Website http://sites.google.com/site/ccepto/Home has helpful information and 2) hosting RUNU2CCE – a new-family meeting where the board personally welcomes new parents to CCE. These meetings will be held on a monthly basis, based on need. New parents should feel free to stop-in for information or ask questions. Please contact PTO, via our email address: cedarcreekpto@gmail.com, if you are interested in attending. Dates will be posted on the website beginning in late October.

The 2009-2010 PTO Board:

Yvette Hatfield-President Tricia Sebghati-Vice President

Carol Walter-Treasurer Ginna Armstrong-Secretary

With 75% of the board returning from the previous year, we’ve made plans and set aggressive new goals this year. The PTO seeks to be a powerful voice, a relevant resource for families and an advocate for education and the well being of every child at our school.

GOAL 1: LEAVE A LEGACY OF INSPIRATION & ORGANIZATION

As a board, we would like to capitalize on the fact that we “hit the ground running” and we did not have to “learn” our roles, we spent Year One doing that. This year we are organizing and documenting committee processes so the 2010-11 PTO Board can navigate more easily. We have already begun the search for replacements so the new board will have an opportunity to “shadow” the current board. We hope to have the prospective 2010-11 PTO Board in place by January of 2010. If you are interested in any of the board positions, feel free to contact us for further information.

GOAL 2: INCREASE COMMUNICATION WITH PARENTS

Last year, we established an independent CCE PTO Website. This was the first step towards communicating more effectively with parents. The intent was to make PTO happenings more readily available. We believe this website is helpful, but it remains a “work in progress” as we are continually trying to improve it. We meet quarterly to discuss old and new business, finances and to give others an opportunity to discuss issues or concerns; as they relate to the children, the staff or the parents. In the past, our meetings have not been well attended but we continue to promote and encourage parents to come and be apart of the decision making process. The meeting notes are available in the PTO Notebook which is located in the school workroom near the front offices. Parents can look at these meeting notes whenever they wish. For security purposes, we do not post our budget or other specific financial information on the website. We believe in the stewardship of PTO funds, and do not wish to open ourselves to the potential dangers of having private information made public.

GOAL 3: BUDGET REALIGNMENT

At the beginning of the school year we shared our budget concerns; given the cuts that were already taking place at the district level. We mentioned that the annual WALKATHON was intended to be our only school fundraiser but if our collections fell short, we would have to do more fundraisers or cut the budget accordingly. Unfortunately, we were unable to reach the goal of the walk-a-thon alone and now we are faced with the challenges a budget shortfall brings.

GOAL 4: INCREASE PASSIVE FUNDRAISING OPPORTUNITIES

Budget busters were offered at the start of school. Selling entertainment books and participating in the Target Card school program were two ways in which Mrs. Prichard was able to bridge the gap with her district-to-school budget cuts. The district budget cuts have a direct impact on our PTO budget. We can either cut our current PTO budget OR we can raise more funds. One painless way to raise more funds is through passive fundraising. Our school is enrolled in several reward programs such as Papa Johns pizza nights, plastic recycling and box-top collections. We’re bringing back the Dollars for Schools program through HyVee receipt collection also. This program remains in the approval process but we hope to have a collection box in the lobby soon. These programs work by utilizing what we already use in our daily lives such as buying pizza and shopping at the grocery store. Last year we made $207 in paper recycling, $233 in Papa Johns orders, $1134 through box-tops and $1143 from Target. We hope to make even more money this year! These are easy and quick solutions for everyone. If we all work together, we can make this the best year YET!!!

PTO SAYS “THANKS!”***************************PTO SAYS “THANKS!”

Enrollment Volunteers-The Board would like to thank all the ladies who helped with Enrollment, back in July. We always need help staffing spiritwear sales, pto committee sign-ups, yearbook sales and school supply pick-ups. Thanks to Stefanie Sparks, Laura Poland, Ginna Armstrong, Carol Walter, Tricia Sebghati, Kris James, Heather Warden, Krista Smith, Julie Kmetz, Shelly Claussen, Michelle Mathia, Christen Moore, Donna Mealman, Carrie LaVoy, Karen Miller, Rhonda Curry, Amy Batty, Melissa Daniels, Lisa Beebe, Courtney Boschma, Renee Anderson, Mandy Nicholls, Danielle Beitzinger, Lori McLaughlin, Amy Kelso, Tiffany Sanders, Nicole Cagle, Julee Varela, Kathy Winegar, Sherrie Murray & Kristin Capeluto. We apologize to anyone we may have missed—thanks again!

Walk a Thon Volunteers-Thanks to Sherrie Murray and Ginna Armstrong for co-chairing this event!  A special thank you to the committee chairs for this event:  Julie Kmetz, Tiffany Sanders, Kristen Capeluto, Sara Tarvin, Mindy Gueldner, Nicole Cagle, Janet Wall, Lori McLaughlin, Lisa Beebe, Kathy Winegar, Trista Mindedahl, Julee Varela, and Chad & Aimee Kelso! A special thanks to all those parents who helped the day of the event, by marking laps, attaching lap cards, counting laps, taking pictures and/or handing out water. Your assistance is appreciated, thanks for making the event such a success!!!!

Book Fair- Thank you to Lisa Beebe, her committee and all the volunteers who participated making this year’s book fair FABULOUS.

Landscape Committee- A special thanks to Jennifer Kelter, Vanessa & Shane Montegomery, Darin & Jennifer Jones, Zoe Gorden, Amy Batty, Amy Parker, Gretchen Landherr, Sue Manning, Terisa Morgan, Christy Drummond, Mark Taylor and the rest of the landscaping team for all their hard work! It looks great. The next landscaping work day is Monday, October 12^th from 8:30-10:30. There is work being done in the butterfly garden to support the full life cycle of the butterfly, it is integral to the teaching curriculum. We applaud your efforts!

Kids Connect, a new committee at CCE, was designed to get children involved in social activities outside the school. The first event, Cosmic Bowling was held Friday, September 25. Over 100 attendees helped contribute to a very successful event. Look for more fun activities to come such as Taekwando on 10/16 and Skating-Halloween style on 10/23. Thank you to Jennifer Kelter and her team.

PTO Committee Chairs-The board would like to send out it’s sincerest thank you to all the Committee Chair Alumni that agreed to return. Stefanie Sparks for Book Club, School Supply Kits & Summer Movie Tickets. Jennifer Kelter-Landscape, Laura Poland-Yearbook, Family-Fun Bingo Night-Lisa Butler, Box-Tops-Kris James, Holiday Giving Tree-Krista Smith & Danielle Beitzinger, Field-Day-Tamarha Evert, Book Fair-Lisa Beebe, Stacey Kelter-Comets Care, Pizza Night-Janet Wall, Directory-Lori McLaughlin, Carnival-Tahseen Uddin, Yvette Hatfield-Hospitality & SpiritWear & Ginna Armstrong for Room Parents & Walk a Thon.