Easley PTA Quarterly Update

Dear Easley community,

It’s hard to believe we are well into our second quarter! It seems like just yesterday that we were

celebrating the beginning of the school year with hot dogs--- about 700 to be exact! Remember how hot that night was?

We are so grateful to be part of a community that shows up to celebrate together--- and wow, have you shown up this school year! Easley’s PTA is perhaps the strongest it’s ever been with record attendance at our free-of-charge events, roughly 75% of PTA committee members serving for the first time and incredible support of our early fundraising efforts.

Below is a summary of PTA work so far and what’s to come.

Wasn’t Fall Festival incredible? Our PTA Activities Committee, chaired by Gabe Trujillo, brought so many great innovations to the event this year. Gabe and Ryan Kelly, our PTA vice president, co-chaired Fall Festival. Other members of the committee include Maria Esposito, Jennifer Garrison, Leah Hughes, Jessica Irven, Rusty Privett, Mychal Powell, Ryan Sailstad, and Carolyn Stoe. Thanks to all the parents and teachers who volunteered – and to the front office staff who helped in a variety of ways. Special thanks to Brian Mannino, George Bruns, and Jennifer Hauser for taking the plunge in the chilly water of the dunk tank, again and again!

Apex, our fundraising company, provided DJ services for both Fall Festival and the Welcome Back Dinner.

Speaking of Apex, our successful partnership with them allows us to limit additional fundraisers to include only those that families have told us they enjoy, like Easley Night Out or participating in book fairs organized by our wonderful Media Center staff.

Our Fundraising Committee is chaired by Rachel Kuliani. Other committee members include Rachel Lewis, Emily Ryan, Jamie Bey, Emilia Chiscop-Head and Maria Esposito. Demi Sewell leads Easley Night Out.

The Broken Spoke Farm fundraiser raised $200.

The Elmo’s Diner fundraiser raised more than $1,000. We also loved the poster our fabulous art teacher Sheila Galgano, made with students.

In addition to standing PTA budget items like honoring teachers and staff, giving each teacher a grant to buy supplies, supporting supplies for Specials classes, and paying for community events like Fall Festival (just to name a few items!)—we have also funded several special projects. Special project requests originate from Easley administration or teachers in which other funding sources are not available.

So far this year, we have funded:

1. Neurodiversity professional development for staff –$4,450 supporting additional grant money from the DPS Foundation. Teachers and staff will receive instruction for how to best support neurodiversity in the classroom and sessions will be offered to families at Easley in coming months as well

2. Sensory and anxiety support aids for students - $500 – materials which help to calm and soothe students through a wide variety of stressors

3. Professional development for Fifth grade math - $347

4. Transportation for Fourth Grade Field Trip - $3,500 – this is money to offset the cost of charter buses in order to make enriching, hands-on experiences accessible to all fourth graders as they study and travel to the different geographic regions of our state

“Part of the reason we’ve seen this strong growth is because of the PTA funds spent last year on literacy materials for our exceptional children's department.” – EC Teacher Mary Harriss on the growth in reading test scores among exceptional children at Easley after state testing data was released

"The course was phenomenal and a real game changer for how I go about teaching 5th grade math. I have been able to share some classroom routines with families during our grade level back to school night. The parents enjoyed the thinking and reasoning that this course brings to math. Our 5th grade students are also growing in their ability to use reasoning in solving problems. " - Fifth grade math teacher, Teresa Parkinson, on professional development funded by the PTA

Our community support committee has made our teachers and staff feel very special several times already this year--including surprising teachers with breakfast treats and lunches on early release days.

The committee is chaired by Megan Maloney. Other members include Carol Terry, Emily Synan, Nikki Kanarr, Elizabeth Bass, Bridgette LeCompote, Carolyn Stoe, Amy Schmutz, Lisa Ashworth, Jamie Bey, Laura Toptine, Liz Radzicki, Shanika Williams, Kristin Lott, Lili Wang, Amanda Shoe and Maria Esposito. Tara Edwards leads room parents.

As part of teacher support, the committee also shops and delivers orders from the non-profit Crayons2Calculators, which provides free supplies to teachers.

The PTA has also provided funds for teachers to discretely buy supplies for students in need, like a backpack or a coat.

We are delighted that we are fully compliant with NC PTA standards—including the completion of an audit of our financials from last fiscal year. We are extremely grateful to our audit committee, Ryan Gunzel, James Kellerman and Rusty Privett for the care, time and attention they invested in our financial review.

We also started a PTA board this year to govern our work – including the development of a handbook with standing rules outside of the NC PTA Bylaws. We believe this will make our transition of leadership and work responsibilities much easier from year to year. We are grateful to the following people who serve on our board. Jennifer Hauser, Dana Walker, Erin Medlyn, Ryan Kelly, Megan Kilb, Leigh Muller, Gabe Trujillo, Rachel Kuliani, Megan Maloney and Rachel Lewis.

We are also very grateful for the parent volunteers supporting our Spanish translation and interpretation, Sarah Heath and Miriam Brodersen.

Easley Night Out: LocoPops - November 13 - 14, 2023

PTA Pie-Drive for Teachers and Staff: November 20, 2023

Apex Fundraiser: February 26 - March 8, 2024

Spring Fling: April 19, 2024

Spring Book Fair: May 6 -10, 2024

November 13, 2023

December 11, 2023

January 8, 2024

February 12, 2024

March 11, 2024

April 8, 2024

May 13, 2024

**All meetings are at 6:30 pm in Easley's media center and via Zoom

Easley PTA Website https://www.easleypta.org

Easley PTA Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/easleyeaglespta/

For any questions, please email easleypta@gmail.com

The PTA wishes you a spectacular rest of second quarter and a joyful and restful winter break! Thank you again for your support of Easley's PTA and making our school so great!

Erin Medlyn, President

Ryan Kelly, Vice President

Leigh Muller, Treasurer

Megan Kilb, Secretary