Friends of Southwest Charter School
Meeting Minutes
April 2, 2013
You can also access the minutes as a Google Doc by clicking here.
Online Auction (Liz)
We have set the dates for the online auction for Monday, April 29 – Monday, May 6. We decided on these dates in order to encourage people to shop for Mother’s Day.
We discussed the pros and cons of broadly publicizing the online auction outside of the school community. There are issues with delivery, shipping costs, etc. The consensus was that we should spread the word in whatever free avenues we can and that we probably won’t attract many bidders from far outside the community.
Getting items to winners within the school community will be easy, but delivering items to winners outside our immediate community may be more complicated. Some ideas we have to simplify fulfillment would be to stipulate on the auction site that all items must be picked up at SWCS on Thursday, May 9th. This is the same day that plant sale orders will be available for pick up. We can have a crew of volunteers assist with this.
We will publicize in several free online newsletters including the E-Current (S. Waterfront newsletter), Hillsdale News, Southwest Connection. Liz will also check onto the Sellwood Bee and others.
We also decided to make a small number of flyers that we can post in the apartment buildings and businesses in the S. Waterfront, businesses on Macadam, and perhaps in Sellwood too.
We may also post information about the online auction in the community section of Craigslist.
There is some work to be done in getting items ready for the online auction. There are about 24 physical items that need to be photographed. Liz will ask Jessica Nichols if she might be willing to do this.
Many of the items on the online site need better descriptions and pictures and links added from the web to make them more appealing. Liz has started this, but we see if she can get some help on this.
JD Kiggins has two new items that might be added to the online auction. One is a lunch with talk radio host Lars Larson and the second is a visit to the set of Portlandia. Liz will follow up with him on this.
We won’t be selling the SW Charter t-shirts at the online auction. It would take a minimum order of 45-50 shirts to make it worthwhile. Sarah G. mentioned that t-shirt sales from the regular auction have been sluggish.
Liz hopes to begin publicizing the online auction by mid-April after Tax Day. Within the school community, we’ll be using Facebook, the Friends blog, and the school newsletter to promote items.
Liz will work with Krista on developing a sample email/Facebook post that community members can share with family and friends about the online auction.
Staff Appreciation Week (Hanne)
Hanne will be coordinating Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week May 6 – 10
We reviewed what we did for staff last year. Monday families brought in flowers, Tuesday we provided coffee and breakfast, Wednesday was chocolates and love notes, Thursday was custom sandwiches from Zupan’s, and Friday we provided a potluck for the Friday staff meeting.
Hanne would like to include a role for our older students during Staff Appreciation Week. We did a little brainstorming and came up with the idea of a “treat trolley” that several upper grade students could roll around to the classrooms on Tuesday filled with coffee and pastries for teachers and staff. Christina will recruit students from upper grades. Kathy may be able to suggest an 8th grade girl who’d been willing to help.
We discussed our budget for the Staff Appreciation. We have some funds from the auction we can use. We estimate that lunch will be about $150 and coffee could be $50 unless we brew our own. Chocolate, breakfast treats, and Friday potluck items will be donated by families.
We would rather not spend too much money on this, so we discussed some ways to gently ask the community to donate funds for staff appreciation week. It has been difficult for room representatives to collect money from families this year.
One suggestion was to put a button on the online auction site that allows families to donate funds for staff appreciation. Liz will look into adding this to the online site.
We can also ask people to put a check or cash in the lock box at Kathy’s desk. Checks must include a note on the memo line stating that the money is for “Staff Appreciation” and cash donations must have a note attached indicating that money is for “Staff Appreciation”.
We will ask to community to bake treats for Tuesday and the potluck on Friday.
Schedule of Events for Staff Appreciation Week:
Monday – made-to-order sandwiches from Zupans
Tuesday – treat trolley with coffee and pastries
Wednesday – flowers provided by families
Thursday – chocolate provided by families
Friday – potluck for staff meeting/lunch
Hanne will be sending out emails asking for help with this soon.
Community Life (Krista)
Our Community Life Co-Chairs were away.
Family Science Night for April is most likely a no-go.
Spring Plant sale is coming up. Sarah will be sending out details soon.
We’ve tentatively scheduled a parent happy hour meet-up for Friday, April 12th at Buffalo Gap on Macadam.
Thursday AM Coffee (Krista)
This Thursday’s morning coffee will focus celebrating our volunteers.
Kathy is trying to find some older girls to help with coffee and BSE & ASE kids have made cards. Krista is having teachers work with the kids on thank you notes during class.
Krista will make coffee. Nicki will make sure Grand Central bakery items are here.
A special “Volunteer of the Year” award will be presented!
Krista will send out an email through the room reps about the coffee and have them distribute through Shutterfly. Liz will put on the blog.
Field Day (Krista)
Field Day is the last day of school Friday, June 14th
It would be great if Carolyn would be willing to coordinate again this year. Krista will ask her.
Willamette Park is already reserved thanks to Laura B.
Next meeting: May 7th 7:00 @ SWCS – Annual Meeting and elections held
Friends of Southwest Charter School 