Friends of SW Charter Meeting Minutes ~ August 2015

Friends of SW Charter

August 4, 2015

Meeting Minutes

Dates to Remember

Open Forum Community Comments

Family Camp Week at Camp Wilkerson

Run for the Arts (Adrienne)

Run will be Wednesday, October 7^th
Caruthers Park is reserved.
If there is money available, Adrienne would like to have some race bibs made that can be used for the next few years. Color-coded bibs make it easier for parent lap counters. 200 bibs of 4 different colors cost approx. $210. Bibs could be used for other events as well.
We are partnering with Young Audiences again this year. No one had great energy or ideas to break away from Young Audiences.
Adrienne could use help with planning the Run for the Arts kickoff assembly on September 11^th. Specifically, she is looking for ideas for an all-school incentive prize and assistance with banner and sign making. We need about 11 individual prizes. E.g. Wunderland, movie passes, restaurants, etc. There may be things left over from the auction that we could use as a prize

2015 Block Party with S. Waterfront Farmers Market

Thursday, September 10^th in cooperation with the S. Waterfront Farmers Market at Caruthers Park
Elise and Liz are working on a scavenger hunt, online or otherwise. Farmers Market has tattoos and magnets and maybe bakery coupons we can use for prizes.
Mandy doesn’t have the signs she made for activities from last year. Aaron will check with Marlene.
Because of the activities at the Farmers Market itself, we don’t need to have as many of our own activities.
We will have the dress up booth, guessing game, corn hole, and scavenger hunt.
Farmers Market will have music and food.

FOSWCS 2015/2016 Board Member Openings

We are hoping to increase the size of the FOSWCS board to 5 members that act as a collective to make decisions. Our hope is that people can feel out the roles they are suited for. People can put their heads together and share tasks.

We need to recruit people outside the immediate circle. It would be helpful for people to know what’s expected, time commitment, etc.

It would be nice to have voting at the meetings, but we need more people on the board.

Melissa will join as a member of the Board. But she doesn’t want to give up her staff appreciation duties, etc.

Maybe put out a call that at least each class has a few people attend Friends. There are a lot of new Kindergarten families that we may be able to draw from. Melissa’s son will be in Kindergarten and she can maybe get some new parents interested.

Committee Openings – Community Life

The Community Life committee is responsible for scheduling restaurant nights and monthly coffees.

Last year, Harmony and Amber filled this role. Christina is waiting to hear back from them. We are hoping they’ll at least do September until replacements can be found. Christina will be working and she won’t be able to help out in the AM.

It was suggested that instead of having the AM coffees the 1^st Thursday of every month, we change to a certain day of the month like the 5^th of every month. We might be able to get some people who can’t come on Thursdays.

In the past, we picked up snack donations from Grand Central the night before an AM coffee. This could dissuade some people from taking on the Community Life committee. It was suggested that we just spend $20 a month on treats. Then, those purchasing the treats can be reimbursed.

If we get more people on the Board, there might be someone who might be interested in doing Restaurant Nights.

Room Parents Needed

We will start looking for room parents soon. We’ll have an email all in one and then we’ll see if we need to do individual emails.

It was suggested that either on the blog or Facebook we do a “Volunteer Spotlight” to feature someone who does something for Friends. E.g. Elise and the chickens, etc. Why they enjoy it, how they get involved, how they fit it in.

Adrienne would like to see an all-school directory this year. She is willing to work on it. Friends needs to get the data from the office and Adrienne will do it on her own. Christina will talk with Anne about this process.

School Board is actively looking for Anne’s replacement. They hired a head hunter.

Financial Update

We’ll need to vote on where the remainder of our funds will go. Last year, we raised $5508.24 from restaurants nights, chinook books, yearbook, t-shirts, plant sale amazon smile, Fred Meyer, etc. But there may be expenses that haven’t been taken out of this amount. Christina will need to check with Nicki.

We also offered teachers $200 mini grants. We had 4 teachers apply. Christina already has teachers who are interested in applying for grants this upcoming school year.

We need to promote that our fundraising activities go toward the scholarship fund and teacher grants!

We need to do an article that promotes what we do more like the mini grants, etc. We need to promote ourselves more.

Final Community Comments

Buddy Bench – kids broke the bench before it could get painted. We need to get another bench.

Playground beautification committee – this is something we should have as part of the FOSWCS Board.
All-School clean up before school? No one on the Board has talked about it. Aaron will bring it up next meeting. 3^rd Thursday of August 20^th.

TLC Committee – Melissa Allen would like to start a committee that supports school community members (staff and families) who are going through a difficult time. This would be a good announcement for Back to School Night. We could also email or have a handout.

Maybe we need a handout with all the things Friends does and an introduction to all board members and committees.

Put pictures on blog of board members and have lanyards for Board members to wear at events.

Halloween Candy Exchange – Melissa is looking for someone to take this on. It’s a really easy project. Melissa has prizes and contact with a dentist who will take all the candy and pack it up.

For a Google Docs version of the minutes click here.