Friends Meeting Minutes ~ November 2014

Friends of SW Charter School (FOSWCS)
Monthly Meeting Minutes
Elephant’s on Corbett
November 4, 2014

Open Forum Community Comments

Lisa’s 5/6 class is conducting a food drive to benefit the Oregon Food Bank. The class that collects the most items will win a party hosted by Lisa’s class. So far Susan’s ¾ class is leading. There is a collection box outside each classroom.

Kathy told us about two upcoming craft fairs in the S. Waterfront that Sarah Anderson has secured booths at for anyone (students and parents) who would like to participate. One fair is at the National College of Natural Medicine (NCNM) on Saturday, December 13^th from 10 am – 6pm. The other is the South Waterfront Craft Faire on December 5 & 6 in the Mirabella’s Willamette Hall. Kathy is thinking of doing an afterschool craft day so that kids can make things. Parents are welcome to help out and use a classroom to teach a craft. Nessa, Kathy and Jonathan have committed to participating.

Kathy thanked Friends for her birthday gift.

Open Positions

We have open several positions on the Friends Board and the Auction Team

Secretary – Responsible for taking meeting minutes, maintaining the Friends blog, Google calendar, and lobby bulletin board.
Vice President – Especially looking for someone who might want to step up to President next year.
Treasurer
Auction Sponsorship Shadow
Auction Procurement Chair for 2015-2016

If you or anyone you know might be interested, get in touch with Christina.

Run for the Arts Update

Adrienne has finished the deposit with Young Audiences. All totals will be announced at the Run for the Arts Awards Ceremony on November 21^st at 8:30 am.

Marlene and Anne are working on the awards ceremony logistics, Power Point presentation, etc. T-shirts and pencils will be distributed to teachers. In addition to the usual prizes for top earners, there will also be some additional prizes for things like most laps run, etc.

We would like some photographers for the awards ceremony, even if it’s just pictures from your phone. Jen Downer was suggested. She is a professional portrait photographer.

We will start planning for R4TA 2015 in the spring. All agreed it worked well dividing the work among three people. We’d like to continue this model next year.

Staff Appreciation Committee Update

Students donated 200 lbs. of Halloween candy for Operation Gratitude!

Melissa is planning the annual staff holiday party. A Sign Up Genius request will come out in the next few weeks.

Melissa is organizing another work party. Amanda is talking to the staff to see what they need done.

Community Life

Morning Coffee is this Thursday, November 6^th after drop-off.

November 18^th – We will have a “Dough for Dollars” Pizzicato fundraiser. Gift cards also count toward the fundraiser.

November 28^th — Black Friday Roller Skating at Oaks Park. Need a minimum of 25 people. The rink will open just for our school. Kathy suggests that everyone come dressed in Star Wars attire!

February 9^th – Restaurant night at Hopworks Urban Brewery (29^th & SE Powell). To get donation to school, you must mention to your server that you are from SWCS.

Auction

Carrie reported that we need about 10 more people to do procurement work. There’s a lot to do, but it’s easy work. Sarah, Jessica, Heather, Naomi, and Christina volunteered to help. You’ll get access to the Google doc and you can contact whoever you want. Carrie will email everyone with the forms you’ll need. She will also post them on the Auction Facebook page.

Sarah has contacted last year’s sponsors and has already gotten four yeses including Hillside Imports and Mr. Greenbeans. We need to get the word out about sponsorship levels and what benefits sponsors receive.

Even for a low-level sponsorship, sponsors receive their logo and link to their website on our auction website and the school’s newly renovated website. Also, their logo goes on flyers, email blasts, and the printed auction catalog. They are included on press releases to the community at large, receive tickets to the auction and swag the night of. Pretty good deal!

Friday Lunches

Teacher Amanda has asked whether we would consider providing lunch 1x per week. We might ask Rovente Pizza. They are providing the pizza for the Run for the Arts party. We might start with once a month and see how it goes.

Jessica is interested in making this happen. Sarah M., Sarah G, and Naomi are willing to help.

Emerson does something like this. We might want to check to see how they run their lunch program.

Another restaurant to try to work with is Jola Café on SW Corbett. They offer a school lunch menu.

Buddy Bench

We’d like to include a buddy bench in the school playground.

A buddy bench is a special bench where students can sit if they are feeling bored or lonely. It’s usually brightly colored and labeled “BUDDY BENCH” in big letters. Other students can then go to the bench and ask them if they would like to play or talk.

It is a simple idea to eliminate loneliness and foster friendship on the playground. A buddy bench is more than just a playground decoration. Designating such a bench is a helpful way for schools to facilitate “peer support” among students. Peer support as a critical factor in combating school bullying.

Maybe we could have the kids come up with a name for the buddy bench.

We need to paint the bench and perhaps place it by the clock in the play area.

Yearbooks

Elise has volunteered to work on a school. Anna’s daughter Stephanie works on Wilson’s HS yearbook would be will to help us compile one.

Elise also mentioned having Jen Downer take over for Tryon Creek to take student photos. Jessica mentioned that it would be nice to have a photographer do holiday family portraits as a fundraiser.

Financial Update

We’re doing great.

Last quarter, we received $410 from Fred Meyer Community Rewards. About 50 families are enrolled. Liz will do a blog post and make a flyer about this and Amazon Smile that we can laminate and put on the fence outside school.

We raised over $1200 in Chinook Books.

We raised $200 in T-Shirt sales. Sarah can do another order if we get 36 orders.

So far this year, we have spent $715 of our $5000 budget.

Final Community Comments

Jessica from the Board will try to attend to our monthly meetings.

Board is also looking for new members too. Next Board Meeting is November 20th at 7:30 pm.

Dates to Remember