Somonauk Education Boosters – March 17, 2005

 

Brenda Warhurst called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m.  Beth Westbrook read the minutes of the January meeting.  Sue Cromwell had a correction to the minutes.  A digital camera is being purchased through the Box Top program.  Sue Cromwell made a motion to accept the corrected minutes.  Theresa Corriveau seconded the motion.  The motion was carried.

 

Treasurer’s Report

 

Carol Thomas reported that as of 2/28/05, there was $9,497.68 in the checking account and $10,914.44 in the money market account.  Brenda Warhurst reported that we would be going over the budget for the 2005-2006 year at the April 21, 2005 meeting.

 

Correspondence

 

Thank yous were read from Brownie Troop 624 for SEB’s support and from Sue Workman for the $5,000 for band uniforms.

 

Old Business

 

Campbell Soup Labels – Sue Cromwell reported that she looked through a current catalog and that due to the enormous amount of labels needed to purchase anything, we will not be collecting labels.  Sue reported that when we do receive labels, we donate them to other local schools.

 

Nominating Committee – Jay Streicher presented Donna Toft as nominee for Vice President and Theresa Corriveau as nominee for Secretary.  The nominees will be voted on at the April meeting.

 

Committee Reports

 

Market Day – Anne Novey reported that in May the teachers and staff would receive 10% off of their orders up to $10 in honor of Teacher Appreciation.  Market Day will donate 5% with the remaining 5% coming from the Market Day profit. 

 

SchoolKidz – Anne Novey reported that the supply lists are finalized and that the contract should be finalized within the next week.

 

Band Boosters – Brenda Warhurst reported that the cheesecake sale had just been completed.  There is a 7^th/8^th grade band contest on Saturday.

 

Memorial Day BBQ – Chuck and Cheryl Kessler are the chairpersons for the BBQ this year.  Cheryl reported that she will be putting an ad in the April newsletters.  She reported that everything is on schedule for the BBQ. 

 

Teacher Appreciation - Amy Such and Dena Kramer are chairing Teacher Appreciation week.

 

New Business

 

Rosati’s Fundraiser – Brenda Warhurst reported that Rosati’s offers fundraising nights similar to those offered by Pizza Hut.  We pick the day, Monday through Thursday, that we want to hold the fundraiser and send home forms which must be returned to Rosati’s with the order.  It was decided that we would try this since it costs us nothing except the cost of the forms to be sent home.  Brenda will contact Rosati’s about holding a fundraiser sometime over spring break. 

 

Freshman Orientation/Parent’s Night – Brenda reported that Mr. Mantzke had requested that SEB provide punch and cookies for both Freshman Orientation and Parent’s Night.  The officers voted to approve the request.   Twenty-five dollars was spent for Freshman Orientation.  Parent’s Night will be March 23, 2005.  There will be a presentation on substance abuse that is open to everyone.  It is estimated that $25 should cover the cost of Parent’s Night.

 

Sophomore Biology Field Trip – The Sophomore biology class requested funds to offset the cost of their field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry to view the body exhibit.  The officers, Jay Streicher, and Connie Hamer approved to fund the field trip at $5/student earlier in the month.

 

Brenda Warhurst would like to set up a committee to decide what SEB will fund in the future.  It was noted that in the past, we have had to rely on former officers and staff to remember what was funded.  She would like to have something in writing.

 

Freshman English Class – The freshman English requested $300 to help fund bringing a Shakespeare production of Romeo and Juliet.  It was pointed out that the freshman read Romeo and Juliet in English class and that the production would be viewed by the freshman class, 8^th graders, and anyone else in the high school that was interested in seeing it.

 

Brenda Warhurst reported that she would like to see an email sent to the teachers at the beginning of the year explaining the $150 teacher allotment and that if the money was not spent by Xmas, they would lose it.  The process for requesting their $150 allotment was discussed. 

 

There was some discussion of the name of Somonauk Education Boosters and the fact that SEB is the equivalent to a Parent/Teacher Association.  There was also discussion of having a contest for an SEB symbol.  The contest would be open to art students and the symbol would be used on a new brochure for the fall.  Sue Cromwell moved that Mr. Underhill be consulted about the contest.  Brochures would be given out at Back to School night.  There was also some discussion about changing the name of SEB to something that let the public know that this is our Parent/Teacher Association.

 

It was reported that Teacher Appreciation week was May 1 – 7.

 

Mr. Streicher reported that the Elementary school had won the Academic Improvement Award for increasing our standardized test scores by 15% for the past 2 years.  He is planning an Academic Carnival to be held in the Middle School.  There would be games similar to those at the Halloween Carnival and refreshments.  He would also like to have the Wheel of Wisdom after the carnival.  He reported that Wheel of Wisdom costs $700 and he requested whatever assistance SEB could provide.  The carnival would be held at the end of April or the beginning of May.  It was noted that the middle school also won the award.  Theresa Corriveau stated that she was in favor of anything that motivates.  Mr. Streicher also reported that there would be a Character Counts parade.  Carol Thomas reported that there was $3,000 budgeted for enrichment with $1,500 left.  There is also some money in the fine arts budget, but that fine arts expenses usually begin coming in this time of year.  Mr. Streicher reported that the activity account could pay for the Wheel of Wisdom if necessary.  It was noted that there was approximately $5,000 left in the Teacher’s Requests budget.  The time period for requesting money has past, so there will only be disbursements of those requests that came before March 1.  Debbie Fisher made a motion to provide approximately $700 for Wheel of Wisdom.  Theresa Corriveau seconded the motion.  The motion was carried.  There was also a discussion of future requests for funding of the Traveling Dinosaur Museum.

 

Debbie Fisher wanted to know what caused so many people to attend this month’s meeting.  The Kessler’s reported that they had read about the meetings in the school newsletters.  Donna Toft reported that she was going to tell her friends what an “awesome” organization SEB is. 

 

There was another short discussion about the contest for designing a symbol for SEB.  It was decided that a prize would be offered and that Brenda Warhurst would look into the possibility of having a local business donate a prize.

 

The next meeting will be April 21, 2005, at 7:00 p.m. in the James R. Wood Learning Center. 

 

Theresa Corriveau made a motion to adjourn the meeting.  Diane Ash seconded the motion.  The meeting was adjourned at 8:07 p.m.