APRIL 2014 PTO MINUTES

April 14, 2014

Carol McDonald, Co-President of the PTO, welcomed everyone in attendance to
the meeting.
Principal's Report
Principal Lyons reported the following:
On Thursday, April 17th, we will be having a Boston Strong Day. This day will be to
celebrate athleticism, our first responders, and show support for everyone running the
Boston Marathon particularly our fourth grade teacher Mrs. isocchi.
A collection container will be out where students and staff can ma!e a donation to Mass
"eneral #ospital$s %ighting &ediatric 'ancer, the charity Mrs. isocchi is running for this
year (http)**www.crowdrise.com*sarahvisocchi+. ,tudents and staff are welcome to wear
athletic, running clothing and Boston ,trong colors on the 17th. -e would li!e to wish
Mrs. isocchi and all the runners a great race.
.Mrs. /ynch has been very helpful in organi0ing the te1tile fundraiser which she will
discuss in more detail later on in the meeting. Also, congratulations to Mrs. /ynch on
presenting at the 2ational ,cience 'onference which was recently held in Boston.
.Two members of the #arlem ,uperstars visited &ine "len the beginning of this month.
The students en3oyed the comedy and message from the players about the importance of
wor!ing hard at school.
. 4n March, educational consultant and author, 5elly Boswell, wor!ed with !indergarten,
first grade and second grade teachers on %riday. 5elly and classroom teachers discussed
nonfiction reading, written e1pression and the 'ommon 'ore 'urriculum.
.,tudents from Burlington #igh ,chool stopped by &ine "len. They performed songs
from the play "rease. The students greatly en3oyed the performance.
.Than! you so much to everyone for helping out and volunteering at the &ine "len
'arnival 6718. 4t was a great event.
.'ongratulations to our &ine "len 8th and 9th graders for a great performance at the All.
Town Band 'oncert. Also, congratulations to all the performers. 4t was ama0ing seeing
students from grades 8 through 16 all performing together.
.:r. Mitchell :. 'hester, 'ommissioner of ;lementary and ,econdary ,chools for the
,tate of Massachusetts visited &ine "len ;lementary ,chool. 'ommissioner 'hester
3oined me for my wal!.throughs of the classrooms. -e had the opportunity to observe a
fifth grade classroom having a "oogle #angout (video conference+ with students in
,icily, 4taly, as part of -orld <ead Aloud :ay. The students had an opportunity to read
to each other. 4t was very interesting to hear how students in 4taly s!i on Mt. ;tna, an
active volcano. 'ommissioner 'hester also had an opportunity to see the Bridges
Together &rogram (http)**www.bridgestogether.org*+ in Mrs. isocchi$s 'lassroom.
Melissa ,imas Tyler, a reporter from 2;'2 2ews, also visited today. ,he interviewed
'ommissioner 'hester about the &A<'' assessment which we will be piloting at &ine
"len ;lementary ,chool later this month. ,he also interviewed some fifth graders and
Ms. Marcus. 'ommissioner 'hester told me, =&ine "len is an outstanding school. 4 am
very impressed with the technology and high level of instruction 4 saw in the
classrooms.=
.&ine "len ,tudents in grades 1st through 8th had an opportunity to have a conversation
with Bob ,hea (bobshea.com+ through ,!ype today. Bob ,hea is a an author and
illustrator. #is picture boo!s are very popular and well li!ed by students at &ine "len.
To help us celebrate <ead Across America :ay and :r. ,euss$s Birthday students and
staff came to school today dressed up as their favorite boo! character. 4ncluded in the day
were green eggs and ham made by the !itchen staff.
&rincipal /yons then led a discussion as!ing =#ow would people feel about having two
conferences and two progress report cards ne1t year>= -e currently have ? progress
report cards and one conference. The conference would li!ely be in
2ovember and April and the progress report cards in @anuary and @une.
CO-President's Report
'arol Mc:onald announced that the recent &ine "len 'arnival was a great successAA All
e1penses are not in yet, but it appears to be about a BC777 profit which is up B1777 from
last year. T#A25 DOE to everyone involved who helped ma!e this a successAA
Board 2ominations &apers are now available for anyone interested
Teacher Appreciation :ay is scheduled for May C, 6718
,Fuare 1 Art -or! was a great success and will be available for pic! up the first wee! of
May
9th "rade Moving Ep ceremony is scheduled for @une 6?, 6718
Treasurer's Report
Adrienne Mattson, Treasurer of the PTO, distributed a updated written budget to
everyone in attendance
There will be an Orange Leaf Fundraiser on April 29, 2!"# !$% of all sales will be
given bac& to the school#
Teacher's Report
'ane Lynch, (rd )rade Teacher at Pine )len *chool, attended the +eeting and
discussed in detail the ,ay *tate Te-tile .ecycling .ebate Progra+ that is currently
ta&ing place# This for profit progra+ is a town wide recycle te-tile pro/ect# There is
a recycling bin at each school# ,ay *tate Te-tiles pays a rebate of 0!1ton for these
unwanted te-tiles up to a +a- of 0"# Mrs# Lynch re2uested all rebates that the
Pine )len PTO receives go to the *cholarship Fund for graduating Pine )len
students#
Reuest !or !u"#s
Mrs# 'ane Lynch re2uested 0!$ for one banner and si- signs to be placed around
,urlington to help pro+ote the ,ay *tate Te-tile .ecycling .ebate Progra+#
Laura 345lia, Pine )len Librarian re2uested a total of 029 to help fund 2 progra+s
for the LT6# The first progra+ is called Tales2)o Audioboo&s which is a +obile
audioboo& service that strea+s thousands of na+e7brand titles fro+ leading
publishers and storytellers to +obile devices and des&tops in the classroo+ and
beyond# These boo&s help with the 6o++on 6ore 6urriculu+# The cost is 0!9 for
one school year and allows unli+ited 2"18 school or ho+e access for boo&s grades 97
:# These audioboo&s encourages reading co+prehension s&ills, creates +ore fluent
readers and +uch, +uch +ore; The second progra+ is called ,rain <ive which is an
eboo&s on de+and syste+# ,rain <ive is web based with over ( titles available#
This progra+ is available now and over the su++er and allows children 97: to chec&
out boo&s for only 0! per boo&# A 0! re2uest was +ade to fund this progra+#
Annual re2uest for 0$ =02$-2> for the ,urlington <igh *chool *cholarship Fund#
2 scholarships are given to graduating Pine )len *tudents#
Me$%er Participatio"
A re2uest was +ade for a written list of recent Pine )len 6arnival raffle winners# A
written list will be provided and sent ho+e in all children4s bac&pac&s#
Mrs# 'ane Lynch as&ed what the criteria is for children to benefit fro+ the Fa+ily
Fund for things such as The After *chool <o+ewor& 6lub and any other activities
held at Pine )len *chool after hours# Principal Lyons stated he wor&s with his staff
to find out which fa+ilies are in need of these funds and encourages any
fa+ily1teacher who thin&s a child +ay 2ualify for these funds to spea& to hi+#
Atte"#a"ce
6arol Mc3onald Macri, 6atherine )illespie, )inelle 3avidson, 'ohn Lyons,
Adrienne Mattson, 'oanne *hortell, Michelle O4<are, Laura 345lia, 9i+ <ayes, 6aroline
Taitelbau+, ,eth ,aglio, 5rin Fill+ore, 'ane Lynch, *tephanie *+ith, 9i+ 3aly