• LJES PTO Meeting Called to Order at 7:30 am
• Meeting adjourned at 8:22 am
Executive Board Members Present: Dana Hourani, Sarah Topol, Carolina Tiller, Cher Jabbari, Christal Duimstra, Virginia Price, Stacey Gubernator, Kaitlin Barr, Amani Bernstein, Dorothy Tse, Liz Copperman, Rebecca Jacob, Erin Sullivan, Dr. Stephanie Hasselbrink
Absent: Megan Roeske, Georgina Gaerin
Approvals
2024 Budget approved at 7:38 am. Carolina motioned first, Stacey seconded – all in favor.
August and September 2024 Financials approved at 7:39 am. Carolina motioned first, Stacey seconded – all in favor.
May 2024 Meeting Minutes approved at 7:40 am. Christal motioned first, Liz seconded – all in favor.
September 2024 Meeting Minutes approved at 7:42 am. Carolina motioned first, Stacey seconded – all in favor.
Co-President’s Report: Dana Hourani and Sarah Topol
Happy birthday to Dr. Hasselbrink!!
Thank you Carolina for being a wonderful past president and for supporting in the transition of Sarah and Dana into their new roles.
Thank you to Kim. She has a new collection of logo wear and new logo wear is being gifted to the teachers by the PTO.
Co-presidents provided an update regarding the upcoming Family Wellness Night to be held on October 25 from 4-6 pm. Committee asked to get the word out. We need volunteers to help with transitioning the kids from the starting run to the rest of the event.
La Jolla Elementary School PTO Meeting Minutes
Executive Board Vote
The Executive Board was asked to vote on the below five items.
Vote #1: The board was asked to vote on the addition of the anti-bullying program committee, a description of which was included in the agenda. Motion to approve adding the committee – Carolina motioned first, and Kaitlin seconded – all in favor. Approved at 7:38 am on October 8, 2024.
Vote #2: The board was asked to vote on the addition of Abbas Hasan as a committee chair for the anti-bullying program. Motion to approve adding Abbas Hasan as committee chair of the anti-bullying program – Kaitlin motioned first, and Stacey seconded – all in favor. Approved at 7:41 am on October 8, 2024.
Vote #3: The board was asked to vote on moving the Directory from print to digital. Privacy was discussed and the directory will be sent via room parents in a PDF format. Addresses will also not be included in the directory anymore. Logos for sponsors will also continue to be included. Discussion. Motion to approve adding the committee – Carolina motioned first, and Kaitlin seconded – all in favor. Approved at 7:44 am on October 8, 2024.
Vote #4: The board was asked to vote on the name change of the Family Picnic to Family Social. It was also explained that, per feedback from the previous meeting, there will be designated locations at the event for classes to meet. Alternative names were also discussed. 10 members voted for the name change, two voted against. Decision was made to wait until the position for the event committee chairs is filled so they have input on how they would like to have the event next year and then vote.
Vote #5: The board was asked to vote on PTO funds being used to purchase a laminator and Ellison cutter for immediate use by staff. Motion to approve the expenditure – Kim motioned first, and Liz seconded – all in favor. Approved at 7:56 am on October 8, 2024.
Teacher’s report: Erin Sullivan- thank you in advance from the teachers for logo wear and laminator.
Treasurer’s Report: Christal- 85% of fundraising goal achieved so far in membership. A few checks have gone out for PTO expenditures.
Auditor’s Report: Virginia Price- Audit is going great. They are going digital and Virginia has received numbers from Christal and she is reviewing.
Communications VP (Social Media): Liz Copperman- Social media is currently heavy with pearl sponsorship posts and we need pics from the LJES community to balance out the feed. Teachers were requested to provide pictures of school events. Cheryl suggested that she can use pictures from the yearbook drive as well. Christine shared an idea for a teacher feature (Guess the teacher or Fun fact Friday).
Book fair needs a new chair next year since Georgina will be leaving. There is some interest already. She also updated everyone on the Warwick’s event on October 12th. 20% of proceeds from the event will be donated to LJES Library. Please come by! Several teachers will be reading books for kids and Ms. Hannah will be playing music. Additionally, this year, families can shop online for the event as well.
VP Programs Report: Amani & Georgina - Programs for conference week are being arranged. They are working with Dorothy for the eblast. There will be 4 vendors. Chela Gonzales is going to be shadowing the program chairs so she can take over Georgina’s spot as chair for the next school year.
Friends Liaison Report and Co-Chair VP Volunteers Report: Kaitlin Barr – Open Aire Market’s Harvest Festival is on 10/27. Friends is still running its Annual Giving Campaign and the Cocktail Party is coming up on 10/18.
Garden Committee Report: Diana Brunmark – The committee has 6 chairs. They appreciate how open and welcoming of an environment the school and PTO has been. There was a Gardening Day last September and it went well. They hope to ultimately be a community educational resource. They are trying to apply for grant for $1300. They would like to create arches on the beds and add garden space. They have been researching the school district’s garden rules. Last month they had gardening lessons for 3rd grade. There has also been significant family involvement and families have been contributing a lot of ideas. There are gardening coordinators in each class. They are also hoping to create connections in the gardening community outside of LJES.
VP Communications Report – Dorothy Tse - Nothing new to report. A few eblast updates coming soon. When the PTO wants to fill open chair positions, she can send out via eblast.
VP Tidings - Megan & Rebecca
1st issue delayed due to an issue with the printing company, but it has been resolved and the issue is going out today or tomorrow. They are looking for chairs and have had some people showing interest in shadowing.
Additional Updates
Kim Custard: The PTO website is online (ljes-pto.org). There is a lot of have a lot of information on there. PTO members were asked to please read through to see if there are any changes needed. The website includes info on the pto, parent resource center with helpful docs. Christal can help. Working on having it linked through social media.
Virginia: Dr. Weiss’ program went well. Will come back in January for another series.