Orchard Farms PTO

Executive Board in attendance: Lisa Gargaro, President, Wendi Barricelli, Vice-President, Mr. Norman Laliberte, present Principal and 2nd Vice-President, Mr. Dennis Charpentier, incoming Principal and 2nd Vice-President, and Laurie Thies, Secretary.

Meeting was called to order at 6:58PM.

Lisa Gargaro thanked everyone for coming to the PTO meeting. She mentioned the new art teacher, Mrs. Erb, and listed the many honors that she has earned.

Lisa introduced the executive board. She also introduced the new principal, Mr. Dennis Charpentier. She expressed a special thanks to Mr. Laliberte, who has been the interim principal.

Mr. Charpentier spoke of Mrs. Erb with high regard. He also stated that he was honored to be principal of Orchard Farms.

Lisa Gargaro introduced the new second grade teacher, Mrs. Dadona.

Lisa went over PTO protocol and the guidelines to be used during the PTO meetings. She also explained the duties of the PTO executive board and committee chairpersons.

Lisa emphasized that she would like to utilize the skills, resources, and businesses of Orchard Farms families. Everyone gave a round of applause to the Perrotta family for providing all of our PTO printing.

Vice President’s Report: Wendi Barricelli reminded everyone that the PTO’s walkathon is scheduled for September 26th. She emphasized how important this walkathon is as our main fundraiser for the year. A sign-up form was passed around for parent volunteers for the walkathon.

Wendi explained that Entertainment Books will be sold as an incentive to join the PTO. Parents have the choice to either join the PTO as usual, with a $5 fee, or to buy the Entertainment Book for $20, of which Orchard Farms keeps 50% of the profit.

Another simple fundraiser will be a night to eat at Chelo’s. On a particular night, date to be set later, anyone who eats at Chelo’s will be donating 20% of their bill to Orchard Farms.

Orchard Farms is joining the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Foundation and Mastery Martial Arts in this year’s Community Service Program. The PTO will provide wooden “breaking boards” to each student that will be decorated during art classes. The art teacher will pose the issue with the younger students as sending ‘good wishes to someone not feeling well’. The boards will be taken to the 3rd Annual Flames of Hope Waterfire Event on October 11th. The boards will be broken in a symbolic ritual and placed as wood for the Waterfire. Because of our school’s participation, we will be able to carry one of the 300 torches on October 11th. All Orchard Farms families are invited to attend and march with us. ABC will be doing a documentary regarding community efforts and we might be included. Tim Horton will match all donations. Any questions, please call Wendi Barricelli at 270-0665.

President’s Report: Lisa Gargaro stated that Spirit Wear inventory will be available at the Open House on October 21st. A volunteer is needed to order and sell the inventory. Sandra Zayat and Pamela Payne came forward to be co-coordinators for Spirit Wear.

We will be conducting a coat drive to benefit COZY again this fall. Kim Perry will send home more information soon.

Treasurer’s Report: Lisa Gargaro provided the treasurer’s report. She reported that the school has received a grant for $3500 to cover the cost of a sign for the entrance to the school. It will be the same as the one at Hope Highlands Elementary School. Lisa will meet with Confreda’s to determine the optimal place for the sign.

It was discussed that the school is still in need of curtains for the stage in the cafetorium. Wendi will send out fundraising information expressing the goal of purchasing stage curtains and informing the parents that we are working toward that goal.

Lisa Gargaro mentioned that the teachers have been turning in their requests for supplies. Electric pencil sharpeners and kidney-shaped tables were among the items requested.

The by-laws were changed last year to state that the amount of money the PTO should carry forward with from one fiscal year to the next would increase from $5,000 to $8,000. Lisa reported that we came forward with close to $12,000 and currently have approximately $10,000. The budget will be finalized and presented at the next PTO meeting. It will be voted on at the November meeting.

Secretary’s Report: Laurie Thies reminded everyone to sign the PTO attendance form. Laurie encouraged everyone to sign up for one or more committees on the posters that will be located at Open House. One parent recommended including email addresses on the posters so that the committee chairpersons have that information.

Committee Updates

After-School Activities: Lisa Levin said that she will run a six week session in the fall and a winter session that will run for 8-10 weeks. She will eliminate the spring session due to low enrollment during that busy time of year. After-school activities will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 4 or 5 different classes will be offered. The program may start at 3:15 this year because the dismissal procedure is taking longer with the increased number of students in the school.

Several parents brought up the issue of dismissal. A number of complaints have been voiced concerning the amount of time it takes to sign out the students. Mr. Charpentier stated that he is willing to accept the inconvenience at dismissal if it is ensuring the safety of the students. Lisa Gargaro and Mr. Charpentier will meet to discuss other possible options.

Box Tops: Barbara Smith White will continue as chairperson for this program. She mentioned that she has a lot of box tops from last year to submit and we should be receiving a large check this year. Sheets for the box tops will be sent home soon. Free ice cream will be offered to the grade collecting the most box tops. Barbara said that she would like to get the student council to help with the graph in the foyer.

Barbara asked if the school ever received a check from the Target Visa promotion. 1% of purchases made by Orchard Farms parents is supposed to go back to the school. Lisa Gargaro stated that she would email Pauline Lisa, former principal, to inquire into the matter.

Lisa informed Barbara about the office supplies available for her use that are located in the lefthand side of the closet in the office. She said that the supplies are available to anyone working on PTO related business.

CEAB: Rhonda Perrotta agreed to continue going to the CEAB meetings as the representative for Orchard Farms. The meetings are held on Mondays at 7:00 once a month to discuss issues between the city and the school.

Cultural Arts: Diane Shelhart will continue on as chairperson of this committee. She has held off on scheduling any cultural arts events until the new principal had started. She is looking for teacher or parent suggestions. If anyone would like to suggest a cultural arts event, please email Diane at djshelhart@cox.net. It was suggested that Diane contact Patrick Dunning, the storyteller who came to the school last year. He was highly praised by the teachers and the students. His program is very expensive, so if he were to return, it may be scheduled as an in-school field trip and a fee may be collected to help with the cost.

Sean Gately is involved with the Looking Glass Theater. He will contact Diane about presenting a program at the school.

Fundraising: Please see Vice-President’s message.

Hospitality: Arlene Lawton and Jadra Catauro will continue to be co-chairpersons for this committee.

Ice Cream Sales: Dawn Ferry has agreed to take over as Ice Cream chairperson. Ice cream is sold on Wednesdays and Fridays during lunch. Warwick Ice Cream is providing some sugar-free, low-fat ice cream choices. Sign-ups to sell ice-cream will be posted at Open House. Thank you Dawn for volunteering.

Membership: Information about our fall membership drive will be sent home shortly.

Photo/Publicity: Lori Cipolla has volunteered to take pictures at the school events and to post them on the board in the foyer. Thank you Lori for volunteering.

Social: Stacy Calvino will once again coordinate the Father and Daughter dance. She scheduled the event for Friday, May 29th at the Alpine Country Club. Stacey would like to alternate the date of the dance each year between spring and winter. Stacey welcomes any feedback or suggestions at scalvino@cox.net. A sign-up sheet for this committee will be available at Open House.

This year a mother and daughter event and a father and son event are to take place. We are in need of chairpersons and volunteers for both events. Sign-ups will be at Open House.

The corn maze event will not be held this fall. Lisa Gargaro is thinking of trying to organize a Trunk or Treat around Halloween.

Sunshine: Thank you Arlene Lawton and Jadra Catauro, chairpersons for Sunshine committee, for providing a wonderful teachers’ welcome back luncheon from Delicios’s Deli. They will be coordinating the fall food drive and the holiday toy drive.

Volunteer Connection: Dawn Ferry has volunteered to coordinate the various efforts as needed throughout the school year. Thank you Dawn for helping.

VICS: A volunteer is needed to attend the VICS meetings four times during the year. A sign-up will be posted at Open House.

Yearbook: Connie Manzi has offered to be in charge of the yearbook. Thank you Connie for volunteering.

Website: Steve Kostecke explained that the website is updated daily and encouraged everyone to visit the site at www.orchardfarms.org. Steve needs to renew the account. He suggested a 3 year renewal plan because it is most cost effective. It will cost $214 for the 3 years. He will renew it and submit a receipt for reimbursement.

Lisa reminded everyone that Open House is scheduled for Tuesday, October 21st.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, October 14th at 7:00pm.

Open Discussion: One parent addressed Mr. Charpentier on his feelings regarding getting to know the children individually and how this compares to working with middle school students.

One parent made comments about recent news events and the departure of the former principal.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:44pm.

Laurie Thies
PTO Secretary
secretary@orchardfarms.org