The PTO provides for programs designed to enhance each grade’s current curriculum, provides teachers with additional
materials not covered in the school’s budget, and hosts many family-fun and community events.

Monday, December 9, 2013

PTO Discussion on Polling Places and Student Security

Tonight we'll discuss parent's concerns about having the schools wide open during election days, compared to the effort devoted to student security during the rest of the year.  This discussion comes in response to several parent's voiced concerns and the school boards inclusion of the question on a recent parent survey about school scheduling next year.

We'll discuss the following letter, and vote on whether to send it to the district school board and administrative staff.  We'll also discuss other options available.  The next school board meeting is next Monday (12/16) at GHS in the Library, and if you consider this an important issue, we would appreciate you attendance there too.

Letter to the Greendale School District:
------------------------------------------------------------------------

December 12, 2013

Greendale School District
6815 Southway
Greendale, WI 53129



Dear Greendale School District Administrators and School Board,

With the anniversary of the tragedy in Newtown Connecticut upon us, the safety of students, their teachers and school administrators is on many parents’ minds.  While we are confident that safety is a priority for the district, and confident that generally the students are in as secure environment as possible, there is one glaring issue of concern:  election days.

We would like to express our appreciation to the district for including this issue in the recent school schedule survey that was made available to parents online, and are very happy to see that the school district is looking into closing this distressing gap in school security.  We also hope the school district understands the urgency and significance this is due.  It’s safe to say that if the events in Connecticut had happened on a Tuesday in November, this would already be solved. 

In the school schedule survey, three options were presented to parents:  1) Request that the Village of Greendale move voter polling locations, even if this inconveniences some residents; 2) Arrange the calendar to have days off for students on known election days; 3) Assign Village staff to manage voter traffic in the schools on election days.  As a PTO we would like to recommend the school district prioritize the first two options.   No matter what Village staff are managing traffic, the simple fact is that if the doors are open, anyone can get in.  Furthermore, separating the polling from the students’ school days will not only make it safer for students, but will also make it easier for staff to do their job of educating and developing our future without having to worry about or cater to strangers in the classroom.

And while adjustments can be made to the 2014-2015 school calendar, we would also like to urge the school district to look into what can be arranged for the three election dates remaining during the current school year (12/17/2013, 2/18/2014, 4/1/2014) all of which fall on days when students are in class. 

We understand there are many demands on your time and resources.  We also feel that the safety of our students should be a priority amongst those demands, and thoroughly appreciate your continuing resolution to share that priority with us.

Thank you again for considering this issue.

The Highland View PTO

Agenda for Dec. 9th 2013


Highland View PTO
Monday Dec. 9th, 2013
Agenda

1) Welcome
2) Review Minutes, Nov. 11, 2013  2 Minutes
3) Treasurer’s Report   3 Minutes
4) Past Events    5 Minutes                                                                                                         
All The World 
5) Upcoming Events   5 Minutes
Sock Hop   
6)Updates  5 Minutes
Book Fair
Spirit Wear   
7) Winter playground equipment  10 Minutes
8) Voting At Schools (Discussion and approval of letter to school district) 10 Minutes
9) Fifth Grade Playground Equipment 10 Minutes
10) Principal’s Time  

Draft Minutes For November 11, 2013

(To be approved at the PTO meeting Dec. 9th 2013)

Highland View PTO
November 11, 2013
Minutes

Twelve individuals were in attendance.

Aleks Skibicki welcomed members and asked everyone to introduce themselves.

The minutes of September 9, 2013 and October 14, 2013 were approved.

The treasurer’s report was approved.

Past Events
Garden Championship: Over 600lbs of produce was grown in the gardens.  Highland View brought home the trophy.

Family Dinner Night: The evening was fun.  We fed 60adults and 54 children.  The net income totaled $373.31.

Fun Run/ Walk:  Raised $1400.  It was mentioned that maybe a hour later start time next year could help with the turn out.

Box Tops: Katrina Cooper cut and counted the box tops which totaled $3,000.00.

Art to Remember: The items in productions should arrive on November 27th.

Fall Fundraiser: Pick up Wednesday at 6:00 pm. Good profit expected similar to last year.

Current Projects/Upcoming Events
Fun Fair: Question on why the date was move to March verses May was addressed.  The games will be done in house this year.  Teachers will Purchase bikes again this year. Ideas were being thrown around such as classroom baskets, Donations, Spring concert seating.   

Around the World: Students have been doing skits to promote the event during morning announcements. Souvenir will be given to students who turn in stamped passports. Three performances scheduled.  Mrs. Flater will read the book All The World to the students.  The book will then be raffled. We will have a craft and resding room for the kids to visit.  Maybe 5-10 volunteers needed.

Latin Dance:  Approved $341.25 for the latin dance for 4th and 5th graders.

Game Club:  $255 approved for Game Club.


Updates

Bruce Paprocki Volunteer Award: Add line to procedure document that states that “The PTO may choose not to give the award in any given year.

Musical Lunch Program:  Harpist to perform on November 21st.

Spirit Wear: Everyone agreed to get the spirit wear order forms out sooner than later.  We will use the same form as College park. We may have another spirit ear sale in spring.

Kilowatt Challenge: HV electricity usage is down 7.7% and is in the lead!

Applebee’s: Dave Braun to look further into a pancake breakfast fundraiser.

Free Fundraiser: Flyer was viewed by everyone and looked good.

Bounced Checks:  PTO needs a procedure in place on how to handle bounced checks. Cheryl Kelly will start looking at banks to transfer the checking account into the name of HV PTO.

Teacher Wish Lists: PTO is in need of teacher wish list.

RIF: Distribution could be on December 16th or it may be later.  Cost $1400 this time could mean less expense next time.

Principal Time
Positive behavior ticket pulls have started.  Some of the prizes are extra recess, lunch with teacher of choice or Mrs. Flater, read in or game with Mrs. Flater.  The kids walked to the high school to watch the marching band.

Announcements
Next PTO Meeting December 9, 2013

Meeting Conclusion
The gift for most parents at the meeting was given to Miss. Karnowski.

The meeting was adjourned.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Fundraiser Order Pickup


The pick-up date for school fundraiser orders is 
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 20th!

All orders will be available in the gym after school until 6:00.  If you can’t make it, please give someone written authorization to pick up your order for you.  If there is absolutely no way for you to get your order on the 20th, call or email Aleks Skibicki ( 414-423-1224 kwaterk1978@yahoo.com ) ASAP so we can make arrangements.

If you can arrive earlier to help set up, we’ll start getting the pick-up ready at 2:30.  We’d appreciate any help we can get.  Just call or email to let us know to expect you.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

October 14th Minutes

Highland View PTO
October 14, 2013
Minutes 
(Approved 11/11/2013, Technical Amendment 11/13/2013 pending approval*)

Eleven individuals were in attendance.

Aleks Skibicki welcomed members and asked everyone to introduce themselves.

The minutes of June 10, 2013 were approved.

The treasurer’s report was approved.

Current Projects/Upcoming Events
Family Dinner Night: Menu established as soup, salad, dinner rolls and cupcakes.  Milk, Coffee, and water to drink.  Most items needed are being donated.  Concerned about the amount of participants.  Magician performance starts at 7:00 pm to 7:45 pm.

Garden Championship: The date for the event is October 16, 2013 at Greendale High School. Event will be county fair style. There will be games and cake.

Step Up/Run Walk: The run walk is set for October 20, 2013.  Highland View took second place for the highest amount of participants registered.  College Park took 1st place.

Around the World: Will cover in the October meeting.

Updates

Battle of the Books: Very happy to have 73participating students! $350.00 needed to provide students with either a $5.00 gift card for Barnes and Noble or Scholastic Book Club.  It is more beneficial for the RIF program to provide the $5 for Scholastic Book Club.  Would need to have a Spring Book Fair.

Fall Fundraiser: Approximately 80 Families participated deadline was October 11, 2013.

Bruce Paprocki Volunteer Award: Kristin Settle said this award was approved by his spouse.  The cost of the Plaque is about $100.00.  Still need to put together a sustainability plan.

Neil Gaiman Visit:  Still In process, waiting on update.

Handy Helpers:  Nothing new to update 

Musical Lunch Program:  Mrs. O played her flute to a variety of music.  The kids really enjoyed it.  October 23rd a Professor from Alverno College will be coming performing Blue Grass music.

Art to Remember: Looking at an Early November delivery date.  Orders due by October 23, 2013.

Spirit Wear: Aleks said it is ready to go.

Panther Paws: Have started and the kids are excited.

Fun Fair: Question was asked if the teachers would still make the donation to purchase two bikes. Mrs. Flater will look into.

Florentine Opera Assembly 
They will not charge extra for the whole school.  Did say that the performance is aimed to entertain the younger students.

Restaurant Fundraiser Night
The individuals are to contacts these restaurants about a possible fundraising night in which the restaurant would donate a percentage of the proceeds to the PTO.
Panther Pub- Jason P
Outback- Shawn
Mc Donald’s- Tracy F
Apple Bees- Dave B

Principal’s Report
If Floretine Opera is presented to the whole school space could be an issue.  The fun run walk raffle basket is “Snuggle with a Good Book”. Contain gift card, coffee and mug.
A safety walk was done with the police chief, Dr. Tharp and Bryan for drill preparations.
Will look into an additional bike rack.

Announcements
Next PTO Meeting November 11, 2013
DJ Needed for the Sock Hop.

Meeting Conclusion
The gift for most parents at the meeting was given to Miss. Karnowski.

The meeting was adjourned.


*Technical amendment:  In the Principal's Report, the last word was corrected to "rack" from "rake."  
Original sentence: "Will look into an additional bike rake."  
Amended sentence:  "Will look into an additional bike rack."





Highland View Spiritwear is available now!

Spiritwear is here! The order form will be going home this Friday (11/15/2013) but if you want to see it in color, here you go:


You can return the form you get from school, or, if you click on the image above to enlarge it, you can print that and send it back to school.

Just be sure to return it before November 22nd.  And make your checks out to "Highland View PTO."

Thanks! 

Thursday, October 31, 2013

October President's Report

What a busy October!

We've had a lot going on, and it's been great.

1) The Highland View Garden won this years all-school garden challenge! We had over 20 volunteers who helped raise over 200 pounds of produce throughout the summer. We'll get the garden cleaned up and ready for winter this month, and start looking for a repeat next year!

 2) Thanks to Colleen Thiel, Highland View set a new school record for attendance at the Greendale Step Up To Better Health Fun Run. The Final Count was over 140 walkers and runners represented our school. 

3) Our school continues to dominate the Greendale School District Kilowatt Challenge, winning the monthly award for most-energy-improved-school again!

 4) Our Family Dinner Night was a big success (Thanks Mary Braun!) we had over 100 attendees, which was a considerable increase in attendance from last year. Everyone had a really fun time too. The magician that performed for us was great, and the kids were talking about him the next day. Thanks to all the volunteers and chefs that helped make this a big success.

 5) Musical Lunches continued in October with Paul Smith, a folk guitarist who played us some selections from Woody and Arlo Guthrie and Jorma Kaukonen. I don't know who enjoyed it more, the kids or the teachers! Paul did a great job keeping the kids involved and answering their questions and showing them neat guitar tricks.

 A couple quick reminders:

 1) One of Highland View's premier events still needs your help! The All the World festival is still looking for families to share a little bit about their culture. The event is Friday November 15th. You can make a display, or share a craft or song, or dance, or food. Contact Srta. Bradley at jessica.bradley@greendale.k12.wi.us . Please!

 2) Our next meeting is Monday, Novemeber 11th in the Highland View library at 6:00.

September President's Report

We sure have a lot going on this year!

The Welcome Back events all went well, and we learned a few things too.  Coupling the Ice Cream Social with the Meet-Your-Teahcer days for 4K and for the other grades worked out well.  Between the two of them, the PTO served out 22 gallons of ice cream!  But most importantly, Highland View families had a chance to meet their compatriots and fellow-wanderers for the year, and make connections that'll benefit everyone in 2013-2014.

The Highland View garden, my pet project since last spring really took off.  Classrooms and teachers and helpers have already enjoyed a lot of great produce, and the (literal) fruits of their labor.  We're still hammering out a date for the championship party, but no matter what, the garden proves that when we all work together, we all win!

Our other new projects for this year are rolling to a great start too.  We're an inch away from getting a final specific set of guidelines for our new "Handy Helpers" committee to use in determining what they can and can't fix for teachers.  The musical lunch program is moving forward too, with a handful of volunteers already set to come perform for our students during lunches this year.  

I'd also like to take moment in my report to remember one of the PTO (and Highland View's) most dedicated volunteers.  Bruce Paprocki passed away this month, and he will be missed by all of us here.  

Highland View you later!

Aleks




September 9th Meeting Minutes

Highland View PTO
September 09, 2013
Minutes

Thirteen individuals were in attendance (including Mrs. Weber and Mrs. Flater).

Aleks Skibicki welcomed members and asked everyone to introduce themselves.

The minutes of June 10, 2013 were approved.

The treasurer’s report was approved.

Report of Past Projects/Events
Village Days: Jason Patzfahl noted that the booth was well received.  There are still prizes leftover.  We will also look into prize donations for the 2014 booth.  The games at the booth were spin the wheel, toilet paper toss and a Frisbee tic tac toe. The profit was approximately $350.00.

Welcome Back Picnics: Aleks Skibicki reported that Welcome Back Picnics were both well attended. After Highland View families met their teachers for the 2013/2014 school year they enjoyed a nice cool treat on a hot day. We went through 17 gallons of ice cream. Mrs. Flaters suggested we should think about possibly placing toppings in shaker type containers. This the way children wouldn’t be placing their hands directly into the topping bowl and help germs from being spread. 

Back to school Breakfast: The welcome back breakfast had good attendance.  Parents enjoyed muffins, fruits… after dropping their children off for the first day of school.

Current Projects/Upcoming Events
Family Dinner Night: This Event is scheduled for October 18, 2013.  Mary Braun is still looking into a restaurant or possible Caterer for the event.  Discussion around possibly having some small raffle prizes at this event to draw in more interest.

Garden Championship: Gardens are doing wonderful.  The date for the event is October 16, 2013 at Greendale High School. We discussed devoting a yearbook page to the gardens.

Box Tops: Katrina Cooper was not present but had wanted to know if there would be a classroom competition for raising the most box tops like in years past. It was agreed that there would be a classroom prize.  The specifics were not discussed.
Fun/Run Walk: The walk is set for October 20, 2013 at 10:30 am. Aleks Skibicki passed out flyers to promote the event.

Bruce Paprocki Volunteer Award: Kristin Settle will being looking into a cost and a way to sustain a school volunteer award named in honor of Bruce Paprocki who recently passed away.

Neil Gaiman Visit:  He is an English Author who resides here in Wisconsin. His publicist has been contacted and he may be willing to do an assembly for our school. We need to know what the cost of the visit. We need to ask questions to allow us to maximize his talent. Kathleen Skibicki is the liaison for this project.

Handy Helpers:  This new committee is well underway.  We will need to solicit for handy volunteers.  All volunteers will need proof of insurance and sign a waiver. Mrs. Flater will work on getting a list of the jobs that can be done by the handy helpers. 

Musical Lunch Program:  Have been receiving quite a bit of interest in performers. 

Campbell’s Soup Labels:  Michelle Persike reported that we have 20,000 points.  She is looking for some guidance on what the school needs.

Spirit Days: Haven’t established a definite plan for Spirit Day. Looking into purchasing   shirts for the students.  Mrs. Weber Suggested Will Enterprises.  The number of shirts need is approximately 500. Discussed if we should give parents an option to buy a shirt to help offset the cost of the student’s shirts. We could possibly get help from PCA with the shirts.

Florentine Opera Assembly 
The Florentine Opera Assembly is only performed for our younger students. $500 was approved for an additional assembly for the older students. Grades for the assembly will be determined at a later date.

Principal’s Report
Mrs. Flaters report that Highland View was off to a great start. She said she has been focusing on getting to know the students and spent time in each classroom reading poems.  She has also spent some of her time helping getting the 4K students settled in their new routines.

She mentioned she is looking at a supervision schedule and a crosswalk being painted for the back parking lot.
Announcements

September 16, 2013 district budget meeting.

We are looking for a Chairperson for the sock hop, Lori Hanlon is willing help the new chair.

Meeting Conclusion
The gift for most parents at the meeting was given to Ms. Severson.

The meeting was adjourned.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

2013-2014 Volunteers Needed!


A lot of people have stepped up to help out this year, but there are still things we need help with!  See the blanks below?  We need you to fill them!  (Of course if there's anything--even something not empty--that you'd like to help with, we'd love to have you!) 

PTO Chair List 2013-14

PTO Chair List                             2013-2014

All the World Festival                     Amanda Kachikis
Art to Remember                           Kendra Bradford??
Birthday Board                              Amanda Kachikis
Book Fair                                      Cheryl DeWalt??
Box Tops                                      Katrina Cooper
Campbell’s Soup Labels                Caroline Roberts and
Michelle Persike
Conference Dinners (Nov.)                 Kristin Settle
Conference Dinners (Feb.)                  Kristin Settle
Family Dinner Night                           Mary Braun
5th Grade Celebration                         Bonnie Randow
Fundraiser                                          Aleks Skibicki
Fun Fair                                              Angel Barylski
Fun Run/Walk (Oct.)                          Colleen Thiel
Health Room                                      Karen Hickey
High Interest Day                               Christine Michalski
Highlighter Board                               Jessica Anaya
Ice Cream Social                               Paula Sibila
Market Day                                       Amanda Kachikis
Milk Caps                                         Angie Latus
Olympic Day                                     HV staff
Phone Book                                       Jessica Anaya
Publishing Center                               Lori Hanlon
Read Me a Story Night                     Alison Julien
RIF                                                  Alison Julien
Run/Walk (with Olympic Day)                                             
Sock Hop                                                                           
Spirit Days                                       Amanda Kachikis
Spirit Wear                                                                         
Staff Appreciation Week                  Amanda Kachikis
Village Days                                     Jason Patzfahl
Yearbook                                        Cheryl Sanders
Website                                           Aleks Skibicki
Welcome Back Breakfast                Aleks Skibicki
Welcome Back Picnic                      Aleks Skibicki

Welcome Back!

Welcome to 2013-2014! It looks like the link to this site will stick around this year, so we'll update it more regularly. (We're still not sure why the PTO link disappeared for most of last year from the Highland View website, but we're back baby!) We'll get the draft of the minutes from Monday's meeting up as soon as they're ready so you can preview them and see what we're talking about and working on. In the meantime, I'll update the event chairperson information on the sidebar and add a post here to reference as well. If there's a place you want to help, let me know in the link at the right and we'll get you involved! Our next meeting is October 14th, so we'll see you there! Aleks

Friday, February 1, 2013

Treasurer's Report

With apologies to all, I will be not be available for the PTO meeting 2/11.  I'm submitting my report here.  Feel free to ask any questions via email:  kwaterk1978@yahoo.com.

Thanks,
Aleks Skibicki
Highland View PTO Treasurer


PTO Financial Report
1/14-2/11 2013

Starting Balance:       $21,094.53

Expenses:
Sock Hop DJ Expenses           $158.40
Sock Hop Misc. Expenses           $370.77
Conference Dinner $100.51
Sock Hop startup Change           $120.00
Book Fair Invoice        $2,006.68

Total: $2,756.36

Deposits:
Membership             $10.00
Sock Hop Early Tickets $145.00
Sock Hop Change Reimbursement           $120.00
Sock Hop Late Early Tickets             $28.00
Market Day             $57.68
Sock Hop Proceeds (Day Of)   $1,073.90
Market Day             $85.69
Art to Remember (late check)   $64.00
Interest on Account (1/24)              $0.57
Total: $1,584.84

Final Balance:       $19,923.01

Notes:
1)  The Sock Hop was so much fun, I would have called it a success even if it didn’t make a dime.  BUT, it came out $717.73 ahead! ($1,246.90-$529.17)  Way to go Mrs. Hanlon!  Thanks for all your hard work and the work of all the volunteers that made the night a success.
2)  I haven’t scheduled a meeting of the budget committee yet.  I’m planning that for late February/early March to get one, maybe two meetings in before the March PTO meeting.  So, if helping us develop a budget template and process for moving forward sounds like something you might be good at, or just want to have input, let me know and I’ll make sure you’re involved.  kwaterk1978@yahoo.com . 

Awesome Sock Hop!

Just a quick PTO thanks to Mrs. Hanlon for her excellent Highland View Sock Hop this year! And of course a big thank you to all the parent and staff volunteers who helped out to make it a success.
Great Job!

January 14th Proposed Minutes

These are the proposed minutes for the January PTO meeting. If you see anything that needs to be changed, make a motion at the beginning of the PTO meeting on February 11th.

Highland View PTO
January 14, 2013
Minutes


Fifteen individuals were in attendance (including Mrs. Olszewski and Mrs. Dietrich).

The minutes of the November 12, 2012 meeting were approved.

The treasurer’s report was presented and accepted. The PTO thanks Colleen Thiel for her leadership of the Run/Walk for Education, which raised nearly $1000.

Report on Past Events
All the World Festival: Amanda Kachikis reported that many families attended the event and they had more performers than last year. The children’s prizes for completed passports worked well. Amanda expressed thanks to the staff for their involvement.

Conference Dinner: Kristin Settle stated that there was an abundance of volunteers and that the dinner was well received.

RIF Book Distribution: Alison Julien noted that the first book distribution was held in December, with all the students receiving a book. The next distribution will be in March.

Current Projects/Upcoming Events
Sock Hop: Lori Hanlon reported that all is ready for the Sock Hop scheduled for this Friday, January 18th. Forty-two families purchased tickets in advance and eight individuals signed up to participate in the chili cook-off.

Read Me a Story Night: Alison Julien noted that this event will immediately follow the family dinner on Friday, February 8th. She will be recruiting volunteer readers and donations of cookies.

Family Dinner: Natalie Thiel is chairing the dinner scheduled for Friday, February 8th, 5:30-6:30 p.m. Dinner will consist of spaghetti and garlic bread from Klasiana’s. Advance ticket sales will be requested through a flyer to go out soon. She is asking for help from 5th grade students to clean up.

Book Fair: The next book fair is tentatively scheduled for the week of February 25th.

Conference Dinner: The second conference dinner will be held on February 25th and is chaired by Amy Schwark.

Spirit Wear: Chairperson, Jessica Anaya will be sending order forms home with the students in the next couple of weeks.

High Interest Day: Denise Sanders gave an overview of this event which is for 3rd-5th grade students and gives them the opportunity to participate in various workshops on careers, hobbies, etc. High Interest Day is the afternoon of Thursday, April 25th. Anyone who is interested in leading a workshop should contact Denise.

Budget Planning Process
Aleks Skibicki discussed the need for advanced planning in putting together the organization budget for the coming year. He noted that input from the PTO membership is preferred and if anyone is interested in serving on the budget committee (meeting three times in the coming months), they should contact Aleks.

Principal’s Report
Mrs. Dietrich discussed tentative plans to incorporate a science theme into this year’s open house event. She mentioned the idea of bringing in Mad Science to do an assembly for some of the students while other students demonstrate their science projects for family members in their classrooms. This would help ease congestion throughout the building. A PTO member suggested creating an art gallery in the gym instead, turning the night into an evening of Arts and Sciences. Mrs. Dietrich liked this idea and will explore it further with the school staff.

A review of the school’s safety plan has been completed and changes made as appropriate. A flyer went home regarding a recent secure drill.

The 5th grade students will lead Friday’s CARE assembly on attitude.

Lunch hour math tutoring will begin soon. Fifth grade students will tutor 3rd graders, 4th graders will tutor 2nd graders, and 3rd graders will tutor 1st graders. A fourth day will be used for math games.

Mrs. Dietrich and Mrs. Olszewski sought input on changes to the talent show. The number of students interested in participating has increased over the years to the point of having to cut 3rd grade out of the show last year and still the event is too long. They are considering moving it to an evening event, which was generally endorsed by PTO members.

Meeting Conclusion
The gift card for most parents at the meeting was given to Mrs. Bushman.

The meeting was adjourned.

November 12th Meeting Minutes


Highland View PTO
November 12, 2012
Minutes


Fourteen individuals were in attendance (including Dr. Tharp and Mrs. Dietrich).

Dr. John Tharp, Superintendent of Schools for the Greendale School District, and HV parent, addressed the meeting and briefly discussed his philosophy of education. He responded to several questions from parents about curriculum, standards, and other topics.

The minutes of the October 15, 2012 meeting were approved.

Aleks Skibicki distributed the annual budget, the monthly financial report, and a fall fundraiser overview. He noted that we are expecting a $7200 profit from the fundraiser and that one-fourth of the students participated in the fundraiser.

Current Projects/Upcoming Events
Publishing Center: Lori Hanlon gave an overview of the publishing center and its function. The center opened today and Lori noted that volunteers are always needed and welcome, both for working at the center during the school and typing stories at home.

Sock Hop: Lori Hanlon stated that the Sock Hop is scheduled for January 18th and is an all-school dance and fun event for the students. Parent volunteers are needed to be stationed around the school to help keep order during the event.

All the World Festival: Amanda Kachikis noted that the event is this Friday from 6:00-7:15. There will be fourteen exhibit tables as well as performances every 15 minutes. Additionally each child who completes the world passport that they use throughout the event will receive a prize/gift.

Conference Dinner: Kristin Settle recruited volunteers online and has a number of families contributing salads, desserts, etc. for the staff conference dinner on November 26.

RIF: Alison Julien gave an overview of RIF (Reading is Fundamental) and noted that the first book distribution will be December 18. Volunteers are needed for this all-day event, where each student in the school receives a new book.

Report on Past Events
Art to Remember: Kendra Bradford reported that more than $5000 in sales will result in approximately $1700 in profit for the PTO. Products are scheduled to arrive on December 12, with the exception of late orders which will come in January.

Fun Run/Walk for Education: Colleen Thiel chaired this event which had its highest turnout for Highland View, with about 140 participants, raising about $1300.

Market Day: Amanda Kachikis informed the group that the most recent Market Day was the best sale to date, raising over $200.

Proposal for Meeting Time Change
A member requested that the PTO consider changing the meeting time from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Attendees at this meeting discussed this issue and decided to leave the time at 6:00 p.m. for the time being, but to perhaps revisit the issue in January.

Principal’s Report
Mrs. Dietrich mentioned that the Florentine Opera assembly for the younger grades is scheduled for February 13. She also noted that students will start earning tickets for positive behaviors through the CARE program and requested the use of PTO funds to purchase raffle prizes. The PTO noted that funds had been budgeted for Read 20 and are available to CARE in lieu of the Read 20 program. She also described how students had written letters to veterans last week in honor of Veteran’s Day. She noted that the winter concerts are coming up next month: Dec. 11 is K5-5th grade, Dec. 17 is K4, and Jan. 16 is band/orchestra.

Meeting Conclusion
The gift card for most parents at the meeting was given to Ms. Bayer.

The meeting was adjourned.