02/16/22 PTO Meeting Minutes

Attendees: Lesley Bassin, Abby Fanelli, Corey Ryder, Ann Hilton, Miranda Budine, Helen Look, Robin Suter, Amanda Lodge, Bill Harris

Treasurer Report

Report is positive. PTO is thankful for the generous 4K parent donation. The PTO board voted at the last internal meeting to increase teacher stipends. Teachers have responded with a lot of appreciation.

Principals report

Thankful teachers for the increase in stipends.
Grant submitted. This grant will be for the staff and 59 students with IEP’s and other learning difficulties.
Stacey Hatfield and Mr. Harris are pursuing an Eberwhite therapy dog. Expenses to be shared by Ms. Hatfield and the school. Eberwhite gear for dog is in the works by Abby.
There is a buzz that parents may be invited into the school again as volunteers. Many students are in need of extra help and involvement. There is a particular need for social emotional help. News will be coming out in the next week to the parent community to start the volunteer process. Mr. Harris is asking for a few parents to go through some training so they can take on a deeper volunteer role.
One book-three schools was presented to the teachers and they are excited to embark on the new project.

Sustainability

Recycle bin for plastic film can be brought out by 5th grade safety patrol. When and where are the next questions, once those have been answered and the 5th grade has been informed this can begin. Kindergarten/Lower el door has the most traffic. Do we need a bin for each entry (3-4?). The bin has been a big success and is currently full and needs to be emptied.
Lunch waste as a topic is starting to be addressed as we transition into getting parents back in the school for projects around that. Here are Bridget’s notes, as she could not attend the meeting: Lunch Waste Reduction Contest - A group of AA Climate Ambassadors are doing education and engagement within AAPS. Climate Ambassadors educate and engage the Ann Arbor community on the city's 2030 carbon neutrality goal (I am one of the few Climate Ambassadors with young kids in AAPS, so I (Bridget) am their "unofficial" AAPS connection :). They would like to do a pilot "lunch waste reduction contest" at EBW. The Ambassadors would run the contest which would look something like this: 1) establish a baseline/average amount of lunch waste going to the landfill by weighing it; then, 2) start the waste reduction competition between lunch groups by encouraging reducing (taking only what you will eat), composting, and recycling while continuing to weigh landfill waste (ideally with student involvement in all pieces of the project). The lunch group that has the least amount of landfill waste overall will win (there will be some prize TBD). There is some funding available to the ambassadors to get the scales, prize, and other equipment needed. The contest timeframe could be anywhere from a week to a couple of weeks. The hope would be that the composting and recycling practices are sustained beyond the contest (I (Bridget) can help with this and perhaps this could be handed off to AAPS's new Sustainability Director...) I (Bridget) have an email chain going with Bill on this topic; he is interested in doing this at EBW in the spring/end of year when we hope volunteers can be back in the building or in the fall. The Ambassadors will work on a more detailed proposal to share with Bill in the coming weeks. We do NOT intend to do this contest as an additional workload for EBW staff. The idea is that the ambassadors would run the entire contest (of course, with some advice and coordination from EBW staff but we wouldnt ask EBW staff to plan and execute it). I(Bridget) know there were PTO members who mentioned interest in lunchtime waste reduction - send me a note if you are still interested and I will rope you into the conversation.
Earth Day Planning - Reached out to Alyssa to begin planning the Earth Day event (proposed Sat. April 23 due to 5th grade camp the previous week and to include families). Brainstormed some activities; a few parents indicated they were interested in helping and I will reach out to them after chatting with Alyssa. Question for Bill: did EBW woods woodchipping already happen during playground build? If not, and we want to do it this spring, perhaps we incorporate that into the Earth Day event.
Michigan Green Schools Application - Due March 1. Mostly complete. Mrs. Lindsay and Mr Harris are distributing a google doc for EBW teachers to let me know what environmental/sustainability curriculum and activities might be happening in their classes. I will then include this in the application.

Equity

The Eberwhite equity committee had a second, very productive, meeting. Commitments were made to make sure there is an equitable classroom experience for all students at Eberwhite.
SEA2, going forward with one book, three schools.
Bridget is coordinating parent volunteers to read chapters and record them for students who may need a recorded chapter, due to parents working evenings, etc. Miranda will connect Bridget with Kathy Glei and she will work with her from there.
Bach will need to be reimbursed for the books, Abby is requesting that we cut that check before the books are distributed. The PTO agreed at the internal meeting that we can reimburse Bach school. Lesley need an invoice (Miranda will be getting her one), and check can be cut by the end of the week.
Nancy Shore, and AAPS employee and Eberwhite parent, has been instrumental in gathering information and supporting the Eberwhite equity committee.

Events

Decade Dance/Ice Cream social combo or possibility of changing the entire event(s). Robin Suter would like to get a conversation going about reinventing the Ice Cream Social or possibly some entirely new year end event. Volunteers are needed to talk about the future of ice cream social. Decade Dance will be combined with the ice cream social this year (or maybe hook into the Earth Day celebration). Next year (2022/23) Decade Dance will go back to an indoor event to take place in February.

Miscellaneous Items

5th grade graduation Rachel Robinson has inquired about it. Volunteers are needed. In the past PTO has taken a relatively hands off approach for graduation. Probably the same this year.
Grant request has been made for social emotional well being.
Board recruitment for next year. Informing the public is important, can each PTO board member talk to 3-5 people per week for the next several weeks putting the word out there? Please give names/email addresses to Abby and she is happy to reach out directly to people who are interested. Have the sandwich boards been purchased?
Open seats for 2022/23 school year: President, Events coordinator, Communications.

Next Meeting

March internal and public meetings will be held at the same time: March 9th at 6:30. (per Bill Harris availability)