The meeting was called to order at 5:34 pm. The attendees were Kelly Sturgis,Ashley Shinn, Tifani Miller, Dylana Carlson, Elizabeth Culbertson, Kristen Lingafelter and Keri Coate.
The Principals report was given by Mrs. Coate. She started with a recap of Bingo Night. The event was well attended and PTO made $2,766.35 during the event. The Student Council made $270.00 at the concession stand and their funds will be used for a classroom popsicle party during their March Madness event.
Suggestions were made as a group to help make Bingo Night successful in the future:
More seating
Better sound system
Project numbers onto wall/screen for all participants to see
Communicate with winners the location of prize table
Better method to keep track of attendance
The silent auction held during Bingo Night was also a success. Highlights include:
Lots of great items for available for auction
Teacher lunches went over very well with bidders
Using only one door for participants to exit to help streamline the silent auction checkout
Follow up phone calls for winners who left before end of silent auction
The total amount of the most recent bank deposit was $2,824.75 which included both the Bingo Night proceeds and Box Top money. This money will now be available through the central funds and a PO will be needed to access the funds for future purchases.
Movie Night was denied due to lack of licensing to show the movie. Suggestions were made to use the Orpheum Theatre or possibly obtain a license to show the movie at Steele. The cost for the Orpheum may be around $300 or $400 which includes the showing, cleanup and possibly concessions available for purchase. One challenge may be some families may not have transportation to and from the Orpheum. A suggestion was made to use school activity buses to shuttle families from Steele to the Orpheum. Mrs. Coate will check on the availability and requirements. Ashley sent an email to determine if the original date of March 30th was available to rent the theater. PTO communication about this event will be followed up via messenger due to the close proximity of the next PTO meeting and movie night.
Parent Teacher Conferences will be held March 23rd and 28th. Mrs. Coate will provide a taco bar on the 23rd and the PTO will provide a potato bar on the 28th. Ashley will check on pricing for the potato bar.
Pizza Ranch fundraiser will be held on April 17, 2023. Ashley created a sign up genius for volunteers and there are still some slots available to sign up. All cash tips and 7% of sales will be provided to Steel PTO for the night.
Dylana mentioned she had provided Mrs. Coate a few social media tips to be able to post more highlights of Steele events and classroom accomplishments in an attempt to gain more followers. Teachers/PTO should use the shared google doc to submit graphics they created, and Mrs. Coate will use them in her posts and newsletter. She can just pull the submitted graphic with any comments into the newsletter or post being made on the Steele page. PTO can assist reach more families by resharing any Steele post.
Dylana has also been posting more content on the Steele page and has her posts scheduled to send out on specific days to encourage more families to join the PTO page. Currently, there are just over 250 followers. A few members suggested having a competition to gain more followers among the teachers or PTO and once a determined amount of followers is reached, Steele could hold an event such as ‘Pie in the Face’ for a teacher or staff member. The Student Council could get involved and send out a poll to students to determine which teacher/staff member. Other suggestions were made to promote the Steele PTO page such as projecting a QR code during Movie Night prior to the showing and handing out postcards at Backpack Night with PTO information/QR code.
Elizabeth. mentioned there is an abundance of gingerbread house kits (4 pallets full) that FISH Food Pantry is able to donate to Steele to utilize as we choose during any of the events. Suggestions were made to use them as STEAM projects or during family engagement events.
Meeting adjourned at 6:32 pm. The next meeting will be held at 5:30 pm on Monday, March 27, 2023.
