Monthly Meeting Minutes

February 2025 PTU Meeting Minutes

Meeting called to order at 7:02PM

Michelle welcomed everyone.

Minutes approved first by Caitlin Ehrmann, 2nd by Stephany Ehrmann

       Principals Report: lots of things coming up. April, May, and June will be crazy.

Presidents Report: Stephany Ehrmann was approved for the communications position.

Faculty Advisory Report: (Jill Feder) the author, Matt Landis came out and was great. Kids loved him.

Family Fun: Shay Swartz updated everyone on Bingo,  272 tickets were sold there were 220 in attendance. They received a lot of donations. The committee tried not to beg the small businesses who always donate. Shay thought she went over budget but Caitlin corrected her, that she didn’t. They learned some things for next year. Someone had mentioned maybe to use a QR code for Amazon wish list. Kelly Pescatore asked why ticket prices went up. She answered that it’s because of the price of everything, like soda and water. Michelle mentioned that when family bingo first started it was small and maybe we should step things down a little. She said no fault to those running it now. That is what they saw in previous years. Keith Berger (Treasurer) changed it to the fundraiser on the budget.  Caitlin Ehrmann suggested going over the budget for next year. Keith asked what ticket sales were for last year, Kelly answered 340. Shay said she would like to advertise earlier next year.

E4E: Caitlin gave exercise for education updates. Mrs.Novak (MDS Teacher) said she would not like to have separate MDS stations. A parent asked what exercise for education is. Caitlin answered. Shay said it is like field day but it involves the community. A parent asked if there could be a handicapped football station. Caitlin said she would be open to it but would have to check with Mrs. Novak. The top 3 students with the highest donations will get to ride to school on a fire truck.  Students will have to get dropped off at the firehouse and ride from there. Kelly said she did not like having the kids first and last names on the website. Caitlin said it is private. Caitlin asked about sending home postcards. Kelly liked the idea. A parent mentioned making a template and sending it out.

Communications: Kelly will get in touch with Stephany Ehrmann. She asked Caitlin to let her know what she needs. Kelly is reaching out to Dave Thomas (Communications Director for district) about drone footage. Mrs.Baker said Kelly did a great job with the Art Show footage. Candace Courts asked if we could promote the business T6 Gaming Lounge. Kelly said we have to keep the (Facebook) page school related. It was asked if we could post the directory on social media. Mrs. Baker will look into it. A parent was concerned about having information on social media.

Spring fling is coming up. It will be free admission and there will be a DJ. The date is April 3rd. Talent show is also coming up. 

Meeting adjourned 8:07

October 2024

Board Members present:

President - Michelle Kratz

Vice President- Megan Ferrara

Co-Vice President- Caitlin Ehrmann

Secretary- Julie Scheetz

Treasurer- Keith Berger

Faculty Present:

Mrs. Baker

Mrs. Feder

Mrs. Kratz

13 attendants present, including board members

Meeting called to order at 7:05PM

Minutes approved first by Kelly Pescatore, 2nd by Stephany Ehrmann

Principal Report: (Mrs. Baker)  The fall festival parade is on Thursday, October 31. Mrs. Baker mentioned we could use a few Halloween costumes if anybody has any on hand. Free and reduced lunch forms are available to fill out, if anyone needs help Mrs. Baker will help them. Conferences have been moved to December 10th and 12th because of the trimesters.

Faculty Report: (Jill Feder) book fair will be December 10th and 12th

Presidents Report: someone from South reached out to Michelle Kratz looking for volunteer opportunities.

Family Fun: 99 (skate) tickets sold so far. Total spent on supplies is still under budget. Someone asked if the (InLine 309) snack stand will be open, the answer is no. Some teachers are coming with families. Mrs. Baker said to let her know if we are close to the number allowed. Keith Berger would like to comp the teachers their tickets who are attending. The board agreed to do that. It was agreed to put up to 15 tickets aside for teachers. Mrs. Baker thanked everyone.

Spirit Wear: items will be delivered tomorrow. Caitlin Ehrmann will be in to deliver them to classrooms on Thursday. $351 was raised.

Directory: The directory went out and an updated one will go out in the spring.

E4E: A flyer was made and sent out to the committee members

Social media: Kelly Pescatore asked how the dine and donate went. A $190.67 check will be sent out, in about four weeks. Kelly will keep blasting skate night. She asked if we would be able to bring our own skates. It was answered yes. Kelly will make a post that dressing up (in costume) is only for the kids at the fall festival.

Gift Shop: Everything will be dropped off the day before. We will be getting a register again this year. Megan Ferrara will send out volunteer opportunities for key club soon. Mrs. Baker asked if she should have the same set up as last year. Megan and Kelly Pescatore said it would be great. Kelly asked if they could get a PTU allowance for the kids who are short on money when checking out. Keith said yes.

Stephany mentioned that Central has a Halloween event the same night as the rollerskating event. Kelly let everyone know that Lauren Shaak reached out to her to see if current board members at Sellersville have children at South. They are struggling for volunteers. Mrs. Baker mentioned that we should put that on the Facebook page. A Parent asked if anyone had any input for her to help on a golf scramble for her daughter. Caitlin said she knows someone who has done this and can share contact information with her and so does Kelly. Mrs. Baker thanked them. 

Meeting adjourned at 7:55 PM.

September 2024

Board Members present:

President - Michelle Kratz

Vice President- Megan Ferrara

Co-Vice President- Caitlin Ehrmann

Secretary- Julie Scheetz 

Treasurer- Keith Berger

Faculty Present:

Mrs. Baker

Mrs. Otto 

Mrs. Kratz 

28 attendants present including board members

Meeting called to order at 7:02PM

Minutes approved first by Caitlin 2nd by Keith 

The PTU board members introduced themselves. Mrs. Otto also introduced herself and the rest of the staff that will be attending the PTU meetings this year.

RAMpacks presentation- Michelle explained the RAMpacks program. Michelle said that this program is a huge necessity at our school. She explained that we are trying to give back to those who give to us. In recent years, we have not spent much of our budget due to lack of funds during the pandemic. The PTU donated $3250.00 to the RAM packs organization. About 300 students in the district receive RAMpacks throughout the year. It all started with five kids and now there are three packing locations. This program provides students with snacks throughout the week and bags to go home with on the weekend, filled with food they might need. Mrs. Baker thanked the RAMpacks organization for all that they do. 

Principal Report: Mrs. Baker said everyone came back happy. Unfortunately, this summer we lost title l status for our school. She mentioned that if anyone needs free and reduced lunch, please fill out the form. There will be No calendars this year. Everything will be on the website. A Parent mentioned you can toggle the calendar back-and-forth from school to school and that is how you can see the information on the calendar. Kelly said she will put it on the website.

Faculty Report: The teachers really appreciated the welcome back breakfast. Open house is this week. Mrs. Otto gave some updates on some things to come this year.

Presidents Report: not very much to report now. It has been a quiet summer. Everything must be translated, as Sellersville has English Second language students. Kelly said she can help with this. 

Family Fun: Shannon introduced herself. She mentioned that last year they wanted to focus on family fun events. Skate night will be coming up on October 25, bingo February 7, talent show March 12, and the spring fling tentatively April 3. Their committee is always looking for helpers.

Spirit Wear: Caitlin gave a good explanation of what spirit wear is. She mentioned that it is a small fundraiser, three dollars of every item bought will go to the PTU. So far there has been $120 raised and the website will go until September 17th. Mrs. Otto will share this in seesaw. 

There was a discussion of having some items to sell at events this year. You can have the item shipped to your house or the school. If you ship to the school, shipping will be free.

Hospitality: Julie mentioned that Melissa came to help with the back-to-school breakfast. The next event being planned is the conference dinner.

Directory: Megan is following up with Cathy Sheldon on the directory. Mrs. Baker explained what the directory is. She pointed out that this is the only way the school can share information. She recommended putting some sort of contact information into the directory. If there is a class party, this is the only way to get classmates contact information. A parent asked how her child can get information in the MDS class.  Mrs. Otto said she will pass along this information to Mrs. Novak.

Gift shop: Megan explained what the gift shop is. It is where kids can come in and secretly shop for their parents. Sometimes fifth graders will help shop. This event is not a fundraiser, but they do make a small profit. It is always a great turnout. 

Social media: nothing new to report. If anyone needs any help on any committees or anything posted to let her know. The Sellersville Facebook page has to be for PTU related questions only.

E4E: Caitlin explained what E4 E is. It is the biggest fundraiser of the year. Last year we brought in over 19,000. We are always looking for helpers.

Dine and Donate: Jillian turned in a donation check for $118.65 from the Hickory Stick Dine and donate. The next one is October 10 at Red Robin. Mrs. Baker mentioned the hickory stick has a food truck, which is technically an ice cream truck. Jillian explained what kind of services the truck offers.

Michelle asked if anyone had any other questions. A parent asked if everything would be wheelchair accessible at all these planned events. Shannon will check with the roller rink, but in years past, wheelchairs were allowed on the rollerskating floor. Michelle explained that we do try our best to accommodate all students at Sellersville, Caitlin also mentioned that exercise for education has many activities and stations for MDS students. 

Meeting adjourned 7:40 PM.

May 2024 PTU Meeting Minutes

Board Members Present:

President-Michelle Kratz

Co-Vice Presidents

Megan Ferarra

Melissa Bonner

Treasure-Keith Berger

Secretary- Julie Scheetz

12 Attendants present including 5 board members,

Meeting called to order at 7:04

Michelle welcomed everyone.

Minutes approved 1st by Stephany, 2nd by Keith

Principals Report: 

Mrs. Howerton wishes she could be here. She wanted to thank everyone for their help. The board members each received a thank you,  and Amazon gift card from the staff. Kids worked hard on PSSA’s and they all did a good job. Mrs.Baker said to tell your kids they did a great job and she is very proud of them.

Treasury Report:

Keith said it’s that time to start thinking about what we want to do with extra funds

President's report:

Michelle asked if Mitch took down the old E4E website. The answer was yes. Caitlin and Kelly were asked to write down any email and passwords they have. Caitlin added Keith to the Better World  website. We would like to get the Facebook page set up so that Kelly doesn’t have to be the only one to answer all the questions.

Committee Reports

Michelle gave Melissa  a gift card from the PTU. Everyone thanked her for all of her hard work. Melissa volunteered for 9 years.

There was a vote to cancel the June meeting. Everyone voted yes.

Family Fun:

Shannon passed around FF updates. She went over some ideas and approximate costs. Some of the ideas were, rollerskating night, bingo, talent show, spring fling dance. Shannon welcomed input and other ideas. Mrs. Baker would like to get some dates together and get them on the calendar. It was mentioned that book bash is a title l event and not a PTU event. The PTU does not want to exclude anyone who does not celebrate Halloween. Megan mentioned expanding on the day that’s already planned for kindergarten welcome back. A parent asked if it would be a possibility to have the talent show at central. Mr.Phy said it would not be set up the way  he can set it up. Keith is worried how kids can get out of control at the school dances. There would need to be some sort of guidelines so the kids are not out of control. Some parents are upset that other schools have a dance. There were a lot of questions. One was , how we will limit the amount of kids, also what will the parent child ratio be, and will teachers be available to help.

Mrs .Baker asked about dine and donate dates. Caitlin responded that the Perk will be November 18th, and the rest are not set in stone yet. Hickory stick and Kool Licks  could be in the summer. Red Robin possibly in January.

Hospitality: Teacher appreciation was last week. A majority of the items were donated by families. Leftover gift cards from bingo were raffled to the teachers. Gift cards and flowers were passed out for administrative professional day.

E4E: It  looks like no rain. Total so far raised is $16,883. Megan asked if schedules went out and Caitlin said yes, multiple times. 3 families donated 500 plus, they will receive a Amazon gift card. Caitlin asked if the families could be announced.Caitlin said  Next years date will be 5/15.

Social Media: Kelly asked about posting E4E on social. Mrs.Baker said yes. Kelly reminded everyone that she created a google suite. She reminded committee heads to add information.

The board next year will be:

Michelle Kratz: President

Megan Ferrara: co Vice President

Caitlin Ehrmann: co Vice President

Keith Berger: Treasurer

Julie Scheetz: Secretary

Meeting adjourned 8:34  pm

April 2024 PTU Meeting Minutes

Board Members Present:

President-Michelle Kratz

Co-Vice Presidents-Melissa Bonner

Treasure-Keith Berger 

Secretary- Julie Scheetz 

15 Attendants present including 4 board members, 

Meeting called to order at 7:00

Michelle welcomed everyone. 

Minutes approved 1st by Keith, 2nd by Melissa

Mrs. Otto gave the Title I presentation. She asked if anyone had questions and handed out the parent engagement policy. Everyone signed. She also mentioned more information will be coming out about a color. She thanked everyone.

Principles Report:  There is a ton of dates that should be coming out real soon.  PSSAs are next week.  The next month will be very busy, look out for dates.

Treasury Report:

Keith updated everyone on the treasury report. He also thanked Caitlin on all of her hard work on exercise for education. 

Faculty Advisory Report:

Kickball is coming up for swebs. Details are still being worked on. There’s a lot of stuff happening between now and the end of the year.  Some different field trips that will be happening are Camp of America, Peace Valley, Legoland, Hellericks Farm. 

President's report: Megan is looking to have gift shop on December 6. Mrs.  Baker said she just has to double check on that date. It’s been busy with PSSA’s coming up, but she will check real soon. Michelle got some information about the Ram packs. They would like to request a time to meet. Michelle asked what we should do about that. Mrs. Baker said we have about 35 students who use ram packs, and it’s a really good program. Mrs. Baker said if they would like to come to the next meeting or maybe the first meeting in the fall might be more valuable for her. It was mentioned that it’s hard to ask for donations for something like this from our students when a lot of our students use the services. Michelle mentioned they may just want to get the information out about their fundraiser coming up. Mrs. Otto said she would pass it along to Seesaw. Caitlin mentioned possibly taking money from the budget to donate if it’s available next year. Keith would like to evaluate it and see if that’s an option. Michelle also mentioned, there are snacks in the lunchroom. Some kids don’t have money for snacks. She was wondering if maybe there’s a way the PTU could donate through some sort of program so that the kids could get snacks who can’t usually have them, as rewards. Keith also mentioned pulling from the budget for something like this. Mrs. Baker mentioned next year breakfast will not be free.  Michelle and Mrs. Otto both said how wonderful Susan is in the cafeteria. She caters to the kids and makes great food. We won the card queen contest. We may have been the only ones who sent in. She’s going to set up her signs for teacher appreciation week. Caitlin was nominated for co-VP for next school year. Julie is taking over the hospitality committee next year. Michelle will help if needed . 

Committee Reports

Family Fun: Shannon mentioned some different possibilities for next year. She mentioned having a welcome back picnic.  She would also like to keep bingo and the talent show.  She has a bunch of other ideas. She mentioned getting together on the side to plan some of these ideas out.  Michelle said that could possibly overlap with book bash. Mrs. Baker said they have an August welcome back event. Stephanie said she tried to coordinate a welcome back for the kindergartners. Some parents felt like there wasn’t enough of a kindergarten introduction this year. Stephanie mentioned possibly having this be a PTU run event. Mrs. Baker said it was good feedback. Michelle said that next year we will need to get a new raffle license.

Hospitality: administrative professional day is coming up.  Melissa organized gift cards and flowers. She’s doing something different for the staff. A luncheon will be Wednesday, May 8. The PTU will purchase the main meal. Leftover gift cards are going to a raffle system for teachers to have.

E4E: The schedule and map went out. $10,402.00 has been raised so far. As of now, Mrs.Pratt’s pm class is in 1st place. Shirts have been ordered. The class with the most donations wins free recess, and the teacher wins an oriental trading gift card.  Caitlin asked about posting stats so far. It was mentioned making a leaderboard of the top five. 

Caitlin and Jillian had an idea to have a dine and donate committee since the recent dine and donate was such a good turnout. Jillian put together raffle baskets that totaled a $610 profit. The perk also donated $500. Melissa thanked Jillian for doing that. It was a really great turnout. Caitlin would like to sit down and set a budget for next year and see what needs to be brought in for exercise for education. There may be no June meeting and we will vote on that in May. It Was mentioned Lindsay Dorner had a baby.  Melissa will get her stuffed shark. Mrs. Baker also mentioned giving one to Mrs. Hoffman because she will be retiring this year.

Meeting adjourned 8:27 pm

February 2024 PTU Meeting Minutes

Meeting called to order at 7:02PM

11 people in attendance including board members

Michelle welcomed everyone.

Minutes approved first by Kelly, 2nd by Melissa.

Principal's Report: lots of stuff going on, talent show tryouts were scheduled for tomorrow but are canceled due to a possible snow day. They are rescheduled for the 23rd. New times will be determined shortly. PSSA’s are coming up. The data team is working with Kids on testing strategies. The third graders are really excited about the test. The kids are told not to stress about these tests.

Presidents Report: nothing to report at this time.

            Faculty Advisory Report: Mrs. Feder thanked everyone for the wonderful Bingo night. She said all the teachers said it was great, nothing was overlooked. Caitlin                     asked if Bonnie was keeping a record of what she does to run bingo so future committees will have all the information. Kristi will do this for Book Fair, Bonnie will do                   bingo.

Treasury Report: not much to report. $87 was deposited for box tops.  Popcorn was purchased for movie night that had to be canceled due to rain, so it was used for bingo. Keith said the ladies crushed it for bingo $4651 was brought in and there was $775 in expenses. Next year we will need to put out $25 for the kindergarten carnival.  Mrs. Baker will put out three things for the gift basket.

Family Fun: talent show is coming. We will be going with the same company for gift shop next year. There was a lot of talk on Facebook about asking for a me and my person dance. Mrs. Baker said if this is a request to come to a meeting and present what you would like to do and how you are willing to volunteer. She said the girls who are running the talent show have done this and they did a really good job. They came with a great plan and the ability to volunteer. Mrs. Feder also mentioned that we have tried these types of events outdoor in the past, and due to rain they had to be canceled. We don’t have enough room to accommodate the amount of people inside the building. Kelly will update this on the Facebook page. Caitlin said she would be happy to join a committee to do something special for the fifth grade. She has heard in the past that fifth grade does not have a graduation, but it was answered that they do, and will have a graduation. There are a couple of leftover bingo prizes, and they will go to the swebs program. There are a few leftover adult gift cards, and they will go into a teacher appreciation raffle. Bonnie thought they could put a ticket in for the one they want to win, and then raffle from there.

Hospitality: teacher appreciation events are filling up on the sign-up genius. Melissa will plan something for this month. Mrs. Baker mentioned we could use the raffle for St. Patrick’s Day possibly.

Book Fair: the PTU took over the book fair a few years ago, because the librarian at the time was not able to run it. Now moving forward Mrs. Feder is going to take back over the book fair. Kristi will share all the information she has with her. Keith asked if this would come off of the PTU budget and it will.

Directory: The spring update went out.

Exercise For education: so far, the sponsors we have lined up are, CrossFit MX, Pennridge Unified Track and Field, Pinnacle volleyball Academy, Power Parkour Ninja, Montone fitness. We are still waiting on dance and Granite Forest dojo’s reply. Caitlin is working on ideas for the Autistic support class and MDS students. So far $100 has been donated by QNB, 250 from Wegmans, and $25 from Oriental trading. Oriental trading also does school incentives. The website is changing to Better World foundation. They build websites for free for nonprofit organizations. Prizes are being worked on for donors in hopes to get more donations. Working on more experience prizes and we will use a raffle system.

Social media: nothing much to update. Kelly is going to address the school dance on social media. Kelly asked that if we should take the volunteer link down from the website now that Mrs. Feder is taking over book fair. Mrs. Feder answered yes. Caitlin asked if she could suggest changing wording for the PTU, gearing it towards the fact that we are a title I school. Caitlin will share some wording she had in mind with Kelly. Bonnie asked Kelly who was going to take over her position when she is done. It was mentioned that Kelly does a great job handling Social Media.  Kelly isn’t sure but said Megan would be a good fit for the job.

Caitlin wanted to mention she’s very happy with Mr. Jerome taking over the health class. Her kids are having a great time in health class. Some other parents agreed that their kids are enjoying it too.

Meeting adjourned 8:05 PM

January 2024 PTU Meeting Minutes

The meeting called to order at 7:04 PM

Michelle welcomes everyone.

Mrs. Howerton represented Mrs. Baker, and the faculty. She thanked everyone for the conference dinner and for the Cocoa and cookie bar. She asked what the teachers can do to help with bingo. Bonnie recently sent out a sign-up genius for teachers. A Parent asked if she could help with bingo, Bonnie explained she will reach out if they need more help. She would like the parents to be able to play bingo with their families. Gifts are coming in from the Amazon wish list. There is a group collecting gift cards for adult prizes. We will need about 20 gift cards but would like to have extra. If anyone would like to reach out to local businesses that would be great.  Megan spoke to Landis tonight and will follow up. A parent asked about how many attended last year Bonnie said we had about 300, it was a big success. This year it will be at the high school we should not have a problem hitting the Max allowance. Bonnie was going to ask Mrs. Baker if we could have a wine basket as a gift.

  Presidents Report: nothing to report at this time.

Treasury Report: Keith mentioned that the treasury report has been missing from the agenda the last few times. Julie is going to fix it (Sorry Keith!!)

According to the report, gift shop was off by $40. Kelly can see how this can happen because the night is crazy. Kelly said a ton of Kids did not have enough money. A Parent asked if there is a way to send out a flyer. Kelly said that would give away the gift surprise for the parents. It was a great success. A lot of fifth grade helpers came this year. We sold about $3000 worth of items compared to last year in the $2,000 area. Bonnie mentioned that they run into the same problem with book fair, with kids not having enough money. A parent asked if we could have it over more than one night, Kelly said oh God no. PTU made about $300. Book fair brought in about $1900, book bash broke even, Exercise for Education already brought in $1500. Keith said it’s a great start to the year.

Family Fun: Jill Brown, set up a dine and donate at The Perk on April 8.

Hospitality: we had a conference dinner In November. In December we had a hot cocoa bar and cookies donated by parents. Little gifts went out for the teachers. The sign-up genius will be going out shortly for monthly teacher appreciation items. These will need to be individually wrapped things. Melissa will be doing something this month.  In May there will be a teacher appreciation luncheon. A Parent asked if that includes all faculty members, including custodians. Melissa answered, yes.

Exercise For education: Caitlin attended a faculty meeting to help explain all the efforts and get an idea of prizes. It was discussed that Mr. Malatesta might agree to being slimed. Caitlin got a lot of feedback from autistic support teachers about gearing something different for them. It can be very overwhelming for them, a parent asked if they could go first. Caitlin said it’s kind of a packed day. Megan asked if she could get an update on the sponsors that would be there, and she could help with a plan for some of the students to make things a little easier for them.

Social media: nothing to report.

Talent Show: Candace gave some updates about the talent show. They are looking for volunteers. They are going to need a lot of hands helping to move things in between acts. Right now, they are planning to have it in the gym so everyone can see it.  There may not be enough room on the stage. A Parent asked if we are turning children down. Caitlin said we hope not to, but it does have to be a real talent. The show should be one hour in total. Once we do rehearsals, we will know more. Caitlin asked about what content is allowed. Candace said run it by Mrs. Baker to be sure. Megan asked if people will be cut if there were too many song or dance acts.  Candace suggested if there are a lot of the same acts, maybe some kids can group together.

Caitlin asked when the Spring Director has to be done. Michelle will ask Mrs. Baker. Bonnie asked about fifth grade pictures and baby pictures. Mrs. Wagenmann is still taking over your book. Kelly mentioned having Dave Thomas take pictures for the talent show. Candace said she would reach out to him.

Caitlin asked when the Spring directory has to be done. Michelle will ask Mrs. Baker. Bonnie asked about fifth grade pictures and baby pictures. Mrs. Wagenmann is  still taking over the yearbook. Bonnie is going to have a basket geared towards Pennridge gear for bingo. She asked if there were any leftover items from SpiritWear. Caitlin mentioned she has a hat. Mrs. Lennon mentioned to Bonnie in the past that she would like to come back to be a number caller for bingo. Bonnie mentioned she does not have her contact information.

Meeting adjourned 7:57 Pm.