Friends of Southwest Charter School
Meeting Minutes
October 2, 2012
In attendance: Krista, Sarah M., Caroline, Liz, Nicki, Heather, Christina, Hanne
Review September Minutes (Krista)
No changes or additions.
Open Board and Auction Co-Chair Positions (Krista)
We have not received any nominations for the Vice-Chair of the Friends Board. So, we are still looking to fill that position.
We also need 2 Auction co-chairs. These need to be filled as soon as possible. The auction is our largest fundraising event. Last year, we grossed nearly $60,000. The main focus of last year’s auction was to raise funds for the improvement of the outside play area. This year, staff have not defined a clear fundraising goal for the auction. Krista suggested some possible ideas such as technology, skylights (5 or 6 class rooms).
Sarah has compiled an auction handbook detailing the roles and responsibilities of the 2 Auction co-chairs. The greater Auction committee is ready to help the potential Co-Chairs with support and expertise. We just need two leaders. This year’s theme is Vintage Vegas. Happy to report that Nicki Stewart and Christina Cartwright have agreed to be this year’s Auction Co-Chairs!
Sarah and Don Mutal have been working on getting figures for the installation of skylights. Seth Litwin (Board Member) is getting in touch with the building owner to see if he is amenable to the addition of skylights to the building. If we get the go ahead from the building owner, we would need to get the okay from the Board, hire an architect, etc.
Staff Appreciation Campaigns (Krista)
Curtain/Wall for Great Room: Teacher Amanda had asked Friends to research the possibility of adding a curtain/partition in the Great Room. As a starting point, Jen Litwin talked with Grand & Benedicts on Macadam. They said that a folding wall most likely wouldn’t work for our space and they recommended a curtain-style wall. Grand & Benedict’s suggests talking to companies that do window treatments or theater supply. The addition of a curtained wall may be too cost prohibitive.
Hallway Art Hanging System: Teachers have wanted this for a long time. The ones from Ikea will cost at least $150 to install. We could do our own hook and eye system, but we are concerned they won’t look as nice and be poor quality. Heather suggests that it would be money well-spent if we purchased the Ikea ones. We could see if our small fundraisers from the fall could cover this. Sarah M. will check with Amber and Monica for the measurements that had been done previously. Sarah will have this information and cost estimates to present at the FOSWCS November meeting.
November 1 & 2 Goal Setting Days: Friends will organize conference potlucks again this year providing breakfast, lunch and dinner for teachers and staff. Krista will send out a sign up sheet via Signupgenius.com.
Staff Bathrooms in Office: Laura suggested a staff appreciation idea – sprucing up the staff bathrooms. They could use paint, art, baskets, etc. Heather and others spent a lot of time last year decorating the Griffin Den for the teachers, but unfortunately, the space doesn’t get used. We should find out if teachers really want the bathrooms fixed up or is there something else we can do? Heather will check in with Monica to see if this is something they would like or if there something else.
This year, we’re providing one birthday cake a month for teachers and staff instead of a cake for every individual birthday. It just got to be too much.
Community Life (Amie/Juli)
Juli and Amie couldn’t attend tonight, but Krista passed along the following:
We have 2 restaurant nights scheduled at Pasta Pastarini at 2027 SE Division St. (Corner of SE 20th and Division) on February 4& 5, 2013.
McMenamins will announce the date of our Fulton Pub restaurant night in mid-November.
We are working on dates for Pizzicato in Hillsdale and also an east side location.
Unfortunately, Salvador Molly’s is already full this year. Juli and Amie are also still playing phone tag with Laughing Planet and Dick’s Kitchen.
Clinton Theater is not available for an October movie night; but Juli and Amie are checking with the Moreland Theater. If we have to wait, the first week of January 2013 might also be good because the kids are on Winter Break until January 7th.
Juli and Amie are working at getting a 5% of day’s sales at the Laurelhurst Whole Foods. We are waiting to receive an email application. It was also suggested we try to get a day scheduled for the Pearl Whole Foods.
Christina has been looking into getting the school at Sharing Spree date. First, we need to get 50 supporters. Then we can qualify as a nonprofit of the day and receive 10% of all Sharing Spree sales. We also get 5 % of any purchase if you designate a SW Charter as your non-profit of choice. We need to promote on blog, Facebook, email, etc.
Fall Fundraising (Hanne)
Overall, fall fundraising with the Chinook Books and Valley Theater tickets is not going well.
We had hoped to sell 100 Chinook Books, but we’ve only sold 20-30 so far. Also, we’ve only sold 20-30 Valley Theater tickets. Hanne will sell at Thursday AM coffee.
Krista will hand out some order forms for Chinook Books/Valley Theater at Run 4 the Arts. Krista will also have books on hand.
Hanne will have Marlene/Anne email the Chinook Book/Valley order form out this week.
Maybe next year we’ll just sell the Chinook Book through scrip. We still get 50%.
Free Family Night, December (Krista)
The success of the Fall Harvest Festival showed that our community enjoys having free family community building events.
Laura had suggested having a craft night. Families could create something with the kiln and have it fired before the holidays. We could also have several craft stations with different projects.
We’re thinking of scheduling a family craft night for a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. It’s difficult for east side families to get back over to school on a Friday night.
Hanne will check with Anne for dates. We’re thinking Dec 2nd, Dec 8th or 9th. We also need to consider the church and Lego League schedules.
We need to remind families that it is a family-event and kids must be supervised.
Liz will work with Laura to plan craft stations. Our goal should be to use things we already have in the basement storage room or recyclable items that families can bring in with advance notice. We could have a dessert potluck, brew coffee, etc.
Auction Kickoff/Brainstorming Session (Sarah M.)
The Auction Kickoff/Brainstorming session was a success last year and the auction committee would like to do it again. We’re thinking Tuesday, November 13th at 7pm. Sarah will check the school calendar and confirm with Marlene.
Room Representatives/Parents
We’re still looking for room parents for several classes. Liz will send out a blog post with the room representative job description. Here’s who we have so far:
Amanda – Melissa Allen
Monica – Caroline Falcone
Mike — ??
Susan – JoLea Ulschmid
Paul – Kristi Hansen
Josh – Chiara Thayer
Lisa — ??, but Krista has a good lead
Anthony – Christina Cartwright
Sarah – Stephanie Spann
Next meeting: November 6, 2012 7:00 @ SWCS Great Room
Friends of Southwest Charter School 