Also, we will be combining our Booster Club Meeting with the PTSA meeting this month.  We thought we would see if that works better for everyone and maybe we can get more participation for both.

See you there!

 Present: 

 Tara Packham, Jodi  Pfiefer, Brady Dickinson, Brent Bergen, Debbie Bergen, Kim dahlquist, Cindy Requa, Anthony Barnhart,  Lori Barnhart and Jennifer Hall

 Budget

Carol Cunningham was unable to attend, but provided a budget breakdown.  Total income since November 8 was $79 derived from Kiwi Loco sales ($49) and Best Seat in the House sales ($30).  Total expenses during that time were $5 from bank maintenance fees for paper statements.  Carol was going to looking to receiving electronic statements.  Balance on hand as of January 10 was $1,747.40.

Prom:

Kayla, Student Council representative, asked the PTSA to provide refreshments for the prom to be held on May 5 at the Radio Rendezvous.  It was estimated that approximately 300 students would attend.  PTSA agreed to provide the refreshments and determined that they would not help financially with the Royalty at this time.

Fundraising:

Best Seat in the House tickets were somewhat sluggish, but still brought in some income.   PTSA will be selling BSH tickets at at least 4 more games.  Tickets are sold during the JV game with the seat raffled before the start of the Varisty game.  Volunteers were still needed to sell tickets on January 25 (v. Twin Falls) and February 8.  It was suggested that the Honor Society may be recruited to sell as a fulfillment of their volunteer hours requirement.  Ice cream sandwiches will also be sold at the January 25 game.

It has been agreed upon that the PTSA will host a dinner/student revue/silent auction as a fundraiser. 

The tentative date is March 9.  Each advisory class will provide a basket for the silent auction.  Tickets would be $10 each.  There was discussion about who would provide the dinner.  Possible choices included Canyon Crest and Johnny Carinos.  Mr. Dickinson stated that he would get price and menu information from Johnny Carinos.  It was also suggested that student acts be reviewed before the night of the dinner.  There was also a suggested to provide a prize to the top ticket seller.

It is hoped that this fundraiser could raise enough funds each year to become the sole fundraising effort for PTSA.

Committees:

■  Advisory:

Cindy Requa reported on the current numbers for advisory parents/classes:

Seven  12^th grade classes and six 9^th grade classes still needed advisory parents.  10^th and 11^th grades had two vacancies each.  Tara believed that better recruitment of advisory parents during registration might help fill the classes next year. 

■  Senior Class All Night Party:

The Barnharts reported that the donation letters asking for donations of goods or cash had been sent out and they were getting a positive response.  They have already received some donations.  A letter to Senior parents soliciting donations will also be sent, along with a letter for Junior parents about providing food for the party, which is standard practice.

Scholarships:

The PTSA will be providing scholarships this year of $100 each to a Senior boy, a Senior girl, and a teacher.  These will be chosen by an application process.  The application has yet to be developed.  It will not include a GPA requirement, but will require a written essay.   A letter with instructions about the application/process will also be developed.  No deadlines have been put into place yet, but a 4-6 week application review process is typical and the PTSA would like to announce the scholarship winners at the Academic Award banquet. 

Misc. :

there was a suggestion to move the next meeting from Feb 14 to Feb 7, so as not to conflict with Valentine’s Day.  However, a move to the 7^th would be conflicting with other school activities. 

 Tara also mentioned that she had attended the “No Apologies”  class which was offered by the Pregnancy Crisis Center for 10^th graders.  She stated that it provided excellent information, the students were respectful,  and she would recommend the class to future 10^th grade students.

 Principal’s Remarks:

 ■ Mr. Dickinson stated that Canyon Ridge won the Albertson’s Foundation Go On Challenge for advanced classes and was awarded $100,000 for the school.

 ■ Canyon Ridge also received a $275,000 grant to work with English Language Learners.

 ■  Families for College Night was scheduled for Wed. January 11 from 4:30 – 6:30 at the school.  This is an opportunity to get information regarding colleges, admissions, financial aid etc and various college recruiters would be on hand to answer question.

 OUR NEXT MEETING IS FEBRUARY – THE DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED

Agenda

New Business:

Fundraising:  Best Seat in House, Kiwi Loco, Dinner/Silent Auction (March 9th?) Kosteleky? Offered to help organize class baskets.  Potato Sale at Twin Falls game?

Senior All-Nighter: Barnharts, and Mancaris.  Junior class to donate food, chairperson

PTSA Scholarship Award: Criteria: GPA, finacial status, acceptance to college.  Nominated or application? 

Hospitality: Michelle Turner

 Other Business:    Move next meeting? Feb. 14^th to 7^th?     Approve/disapprove

 Principal’s Remarks: Brady Dickinson

Jodi Pfeifer; Cindy Requa; Brad Requa; Kim Dahlquist; April Swisher; Roanne Mancari; Scooter Mancari; Debbie Bergen; Jay Muir; Carol Cunningham; Jennifer Hall

Budget

There was no formal budget available for this meeting. Carol Cunningham indicated that PTSA had $65 in income since the last meeting.

Fundraising:

Potatoes were not sold at the last game. Due to an oversight, they were not cooked and ready for sale.

One of the goals this year for PTSA is to help to build our budget. Numerous ideas for fundraisers were offered including sale of items at the basketball games, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, and a fun run. All parents/PTSA members are encouraged to bring forward any fundraising ideas they may have.

Note: The couch and awning for the Best Seat in the House are being stored in the drama room.

Website:

April Swisher provided some more information about the website. The website is a repository for parent/PTSA information. It also has links to the PTSA meeting minutes and contact information.

PTSA Presidents Plaque:

Mason’s Trophies has prepared a perpetual plaque (started last year) listing the names of the PTSA presidents. The cost for the this plaque is $56. It was voted and passed that this cost will be paid from PTSA funds.

Committees:

■ Advisory:

Cindy Requa reported on the status of the advisory parent recruitment. To date she has had the most response from the Sophomore and Junior parents. These grades are only missing parents for 3 advisory classes each. The Freshman class only has one advisory parent so far and the Senior class has two advisory parents.

Some of the special advisory classes with mixed grades still needed advisory parents also.

Only one teacher requested not to have an advisory parent.

The responsibilities of advisory parents consists of helping the teacher when necessary and keeping class parents informed – preferably through e-mail – of any pertinent information regarding school and advisory activities. Advisory parents visit their advisory class on the third Thursday of each month and bring snacks and a drink.

Advisory is a structured time when students work on material geared toward their academic success.

April Swisher offered to help call parents and recruit for classes which still needed advisory parents.

■ Senior Class All Night Party:

The Mancaris reported that the All Night party would be held on Friday, June 1 at Nazcart. The committee was seeking suggestions from the students as to what activities they would like have available. A donation letter has been prepared and will be going out the first of next week. Donations can be in the form of money or goods.

There will be NO meeting in December.
Have a safe and happy holiday.

Our next meeting will be January 10, 2012.

In addition, for two and ½ weeks in December, there is an opening during the day (10 – 11 am, 11 am – noon) to individually tutor an ELL student with an online class.

If you are interested or know of anyone who would be interested in volunteering their time, please contact Mrs. Talkington at talkingtonca@tfsd.org. You can also respond to this email and I will be sure she gets your reply.

Thank you for considering this opportunity to give service.

Respectfully,
Tara Packham
Canyon Ridge PTSA President

Tara Packham; Kim Dahlquist; Anthony Barnhart; Lori Barnhart; Roanne Mancari; Scooter Mancari; Brad Requa; Cindy Requa; Michele Turner; Carol Cunningham; Brady Dickinson; Debbie Bergen; Blaze Requa; Jennifer Hall

Budget

Carol Cunningham gave the Treasure’s Report. Our income for the month was $688.35. Our expenses were $228.69. Our PTSA account balance as of October 11, 2011 was $1,969.95

Homecoming:

Due to the many donations that were received, PTSA raised $436.00 during homecoming through the sales of potatoes, corn, soda, and water, as well as from Best Seat in the House tickets. White Mortuary also contributed $100 cash to help offset costs.

Other Fundraisers:

No sales were made at the Oct 6 game due to bad weather.

The next home game is scheduled for October 21. PTSA will be selling potatoes again and Best Seat in the House tickets. Help is needed to sell potatoes and tickets. Set up is at 6:00 pm and selling will be from approximately 6:30 to 8:30pm. If you can help during this time, please contact Tara Packham at mattntara@packhams.com Mr. Dickinson indicated that because school would be in session that day, the potatoes can be cooked in the school kitchen. Potatoes will be obtained from Detweiller Farms. All other items are already available.

Website:

April Swisher (who was unable to be present at this meeting) requested that PTSA purchase the domain for Canyon Ridge High School PTSA. April maintains the website, which includes announcements, copies of the minutes and other PTSA information. The approximate cost for this purchase is $15 for one year. PTSA voted to purchase this domain. Carol Cunningham requested that the PTSA receive more information regarding the domain, what is included on the website, etc.

Committees:

■ Hospitality:

Michele Turner was in the process of updating the school event calendar with Mr. Dickinson. Mr. Dickinson requested that PTSA provide dinner for the teachers on November 9 , for approximately 50 people. This is during Parent/Teacher conferences, when teachers must stay late.

PTSA also provided fruit and refreshments for staff during September and received a nice thank you note.

■ Advisory:

Cindy Requa reported that she was waiting for an updated parent advisory list from Carol Warner. Once this list was received, Cindy would be contacting past advisory parents to determine if they wished to continue. All freshman classes would require new advisory parents. Cindy believed that most Junior and Senior class parents from the past years will probably continue. The third Thursday of each month will probably be parent advisory day.

When the advisory lists are available, Cindy will send out an e-mail with more information about what advisory is and what is expected from advisory parents.

■ Red Ribbon Week:

It was decided that PTSA would not be involved in Red Ribbon Week. Most of these activities are already covered by school/student council events.

■ Senior Class All Night:

Anthony Barnhart indicated that the PTSA Senior All Night committee would be meeting with student council in the coming weeks to work on this event. It had been decided that the All Nighter would be held at NASCART this year. It was suggested that the committee work on creating a form letter asking for specific donations and that this be available to distribute to businesses by December, at the latest, as many businesses set their donation budgets for the next year before Jan 1. It was also mentioned that requesting a donation in person, whenever possible, was often more effective than sending a letter.

There was some discussion about the bank account which has been set aside for Sr. All Night party funds. The balance of this account is approximately $100. This is the residue of old federal grant funds which were awarded for this specific purpose. This grant is no longer available and party funds must be raised solely by the school. Mr. Dickinson indicated that the Junior class raised money for this from their prom and almost all dances are specific fundraisers for the Student Council.

It was originally determined that this account should be spent down and closed. However, after more discussion it was determined that if businesses wished to make a cash donation it could be put into this account and tracked more effectively.

Principal Comments:

Mr. Dickinson stated that he felt the school year was still going well. He indicated that there would be a student representative and teacher representative available at November’s meeting.

The next regularly scheduled PTSA meeting will be November 8 at 6:30 pm in Room 301.

 Wendy Garcia, Mike Pfeifer, Jodi Pfeifer, April Swisher, Lori Barnhart, Anthony Barnhart, Brad Requa, Cindy Requa, Michelle Pato, Gari DeBoard, Michele Turner, Kim Dahlquist, Carol Cunningham, Nicole Cotterell, Joe Cotterell, Woraprom Keepnick, Carol Hill, Debbie Bergen; Tara Packham; Brady Dickinson; Jennifer Hall

Tara Packham brought the meeting to order and introduced the officers for the 2011-2012 year:

Tara Packham, President

Kim Dahlquist, Vice President

Carol Cunningham, Treasurer

Jennifer Hall, Secretary

Carol gave the Treasure’s report and the proposed budget was reviewed.   Tara noted that approximately 15 more members signed up this year at registration than last year.  She explained that we would be doing various fundraisers throughout the year due to the fact that our school is fairly new and PTSA has not yet had an opportunity to build up a budget base. 

Currently Canyon Ridge PTSA has $1,510.29 in the bank.  The proposed budget was passed unanimously.

There was a brief discussion explaining the purpose of PTSA and some of the activities we take part in.  Essentially, PTSA acts as a communication bridge between parents, staff and students.  It is a place where parents can get information, get involved with the school, and express any concerns they have.

One of the goals for the PTSA this year is to be able to provide one scholarship to a senior boy and one to a senior girl.  The scholarships will probably be presented at the Academic Banquet in the Spring.

Best Seat in the House:

Wilson Bates donated a couch and Creative Cabinetry has built a platform in the bleachers for the couch to sit on.  The “Best Seat in the House” will be available for all home football and basketball games, and various other sporting events as requested.   At the end of the year, Wilson Bates will take back the couch and donate a new one next Fall.  Tickets for the “Best Seat”  are raffled for each home game for $1.00 each.  PTSA raised $182 from ticket sales during the first home game of the season on September 2. 

It was decided to announce this promotion before the Homecoming game and sell tickets at each lunch period during Homecoming week (Sept. 19-22).  Michele Turner indicated that she could help sell tickets.

Homecoming:

After much discussion, it was agreed that PTSA would sell baked potatoes and corn on the cob during the tailgate party before the Homecoming game.   Parent volunteers were in charge of getting the following donations:

Brad Requa:                       Corn

Joe Cotterell:                     Potatoes

Nicole Cotterell:               Water

Tara Packham:                   Butter, sour cream, cheese

Cindy Requa:                     Salt and pepper

Debby Bastian:                  Napkins, cardboard “boats”

Jennifer Hall:                      Cutlery

There was discussion on how to get the food cooked.  It was decided to check with Canyon Ridge kitchen staff to see if PTSA could use their facilities.

Carol Hill, Gari DeBoard, Michele Turner, and Wendy Garcia also agreed to help with Homecoming.

Tara volunteered to coordinate Homecoming Royalty, with the help of April Swisher and Michele Turner.  Nominees and ballots need to be available by Monday, Sept. 19.  Royalty will be announced at the assembly on Sept. 22.  Gari DeBoard stated that she would work on getting the convertibles from Rob Green, since she works there.  There was some question about letting football players participate as Royalty members as this could interfere with  their participation in the game.  It was decided to wait until the nominations were in and the issue would be decided at that time.

 Other Fundraisers:

Kim told the group about the key-tag  available from Jamba Juice.  When using this tag, 10% of the purchase price would be donated to a school of choice.

It was decided to table discussion of any other fundraisers until the October meeting.

 Committees:

 ■  Hospitality:

 Michele Turner agreed chair the Hospitality committee.  It was suggested that she contact Jan Adams for help, who was the prior Hospitality committee chair.  Hospitality committee helps provide two meals per year during Parent/Teacher Conferences and during Spring registration, when teachers must stay late.  The committee also acknowledges the teachers during the school year with random acts of kindness.

 ■  Advisory:

Cindy Requa agreed to chair the Advisory committee.   Gari DeBoard stated that she would help recruit advisory parents.  Cindy explained that the purpose of this committee was for the parent to act as a liaison between the teacher and other parents in the advisory class and help the teacher with advisory activities.    Having parents in the classroom during Advisory has met with mixed results in the past.  Mr. Dickinson stated that he would discuss advisory in staff meeting on Wednesday and get input on what the teachers think about having Advisory parents in the classroom.    This issue would be revisited at the October meeting.

 ■  Senior Class All Nighter:

The Barnharts, the Bergens and the Mancaris (who were not present at this meeting) agreed to coordinate the Senior All Nighter in the Spring.

Prinipal Comments:

 Mr. Dickinson had all the parents present introduce themselves and tell who their children were.  He expressed his appreciation of the parents who were at the meeting and encouraged further participation by parents during the high school years.

He stated that the year was off to a good start.  The only issue so far was that fewer students seemed to be leaving the school grounds for lunch, creating overcrowding and long lines during lunchtime.  He stated the school serves approximately 700 students during lunch and 65% of the student body receives free or reduced lunch.   He stated that there was a possibility of adding a fourth lunch line to expedite food service.

The next regularly scheduled PTSA meeting will be October  11 at 6:30 pm in Room 301.