Parent - Teacher Organization
  

September PTO Newsletter

Dear Families,

It is with much excitement that we are starting the new school year.  We would like to take an opportunity to outline some of the activities and successes that we had last year.

First and foremost we would like to highlight where the majority of the money that was raised was spent last year.

·         Technology- The PTO was able to purchase 28 Mimio’s for the classrooms and 13 overhead projectors.  The cost was $42,438.34.   A Mimio is an electronic device that allows teaches to use interactive teaching methods with their classroom.  The Mimio is quickly replacing the Smartboard that many of the other schools are currently using.  During the November 2008 PTO meeting we had a representative from Mimio come and perform a demonstration with a complete Q&A session.  All members present were in agreement that this was a good purchase for our school.  At the end of the year, we purchased a portable microphone, with CD player to be utilized for assemblies and programs.  This was after many requests from families regarding programs held in the cafeteria and the inability to hear their children. The cost was $3,973.75.

·         Teacher and Facility Support- Historically the PTO has donated Christmas gifts to the faculty.  The gifts are for teachers, administration, and support staff.  The cost of these gifts was $6,524.10.  The parents present voted at the May 2009 PTO meeting that the PTO will Sponsor a nice Christmas luncheon on the last day prior to Christmas break and the amount of money will be decreased in the upcoming school.  Many families purchase gifts for their teachers so the focus of our financial support of the gifts will be on the support staff and administration.  Last year for our gifts we purchased gift cards through the new Scrip’s program and we were actually saved $450 on the gift cards that were purchased.  For teacher appreciation week we purchased gift cards using the same program and teacher appreciation week cost. $1,999.22.

·         PTO Scholarships- The PTO supports 4-$300 Scholarships for graduating 8^th grade school entering a Catholic highschool.  We will continue to support and pay for this.

·         Licensing- The PTO pays for the schools professional license that we must have to show any recorded programs.  The cost of this is $210.00

·         Track and Field Day- We financially support all the ribbons, awards, Popsicle’s for that day.  The average cost from year to year is  $546.24.

Here is a breakdown of our biggest fundraising events.

 

Walk-a-thon	$27,093.88
Tasters	$9,102.86
Sping Fling	$16,590.93
Magazines	$3,083.33
Market Day	$2,885.37
Box Tops	$2,904.70

Who is a member of the PTO?

We would like to remind everyone that every parent is a member of the IHM PTO.  Your level of participation is decision.  We always encourage families to attend the meetings and bring new ideas to the table.  We prefer that agenda items be email at ihm_pto@yahoo.com a week prior to the meeting to allow it to be printed on the agenda.  If ideas are brought to our attention this is where it will be discussed.  Often members are great at bringing us ideas but we need more people to lead the initiatives.

New this year…..

Any parent that attends the PTO meeting their child will get an out of uniform pass for the next school day.

 What new initiatives were accomplished in the 2008-09 School Year?

·         Improvement of the school’s technology

·         Trunk or treat

·         Changes in the walk-a-thon structure

 

What changes are expected this year?

·         More family night out events at local restaurants

·         Addition of the Scrips Program

·         Green initiative

What is the easiest thing that each parent could do for the PTO?

Utilize the resources that we have available.  For example:

·         Kroger’s gives us a 4% rebate on all refillable Kroger Cards.  If each family spends $500 a month and they prefilled the Kroger card, then we would make $20 just from that one family.

Here is an interesting statistic… We have 400 families in our school, we could make $4,000 a month on Kroger alone.  The only cost is a very small amount of time by putting your money on the card provided by the PTO prior to the start of your check out transaction.   We are sending new cards home this year to make each family has a card.

How do I use the Refillable Kroger card?

At the check out (prior to your transaction) just tell them how much money (cash, credit, or debit) you want on the card and they run add it for you.  It is that easy!

What is the addition of the Scrips Program?

We are extremely excited to offer another money-making opportunity for our school that won’t cost families extra money.  Just making money off of things that you already purchase. The Scrips program offers many gift cards to stores, restaurants, gas, etc.  A percentage of the purchase goes directly back to the PTO.  If you know that you need to purchase a gift, clothing, gas, going out to eat that month please consider buying the gift card from this program.

 

How does it work?

We are enclosing the order form, this will be placed on the Website.  Please send in your order by the 15^th of each month and the cards will be sent home with your child by the end of the month.  Please only send checks made payable to IHM PTO.

 

Thank you for your support that you give the school.  We look forward to seeing you at the meetings this year. 

September 22^th

November 9^th

February 8^th

April 12^th.