Welcome to

May 7, 2008

June 4, 2008

President Jeanne Johnson called the meeting to order at 9:45 am and the Pledge of Allegiance was said.

Jeanne called for a motion to approve the March minutes. Brenda Kasch motioned, Denise Lowry seconded and the motion passed.

Congratulations to the Father Daughter Dance committee. Tomorrow I am attending a calendar school picnic committee meeting tomorrow. Please put your tentative dates on the working copy.

Good Morning! We sent a “thinking of you” card to Melissa Gracias, after a short hospital stay.

As of yesterday, the old tax exempt letter expired. If you did not get a new letter at last month’s meeting, there are plenty available.

On the 23^rd is my favorite group study regarding next year’s budget While it is the responsibility of each committee chair to contact their vice president, I am asking that the board members contact any committee chair that they have not heard from regarding the monetary needs of next year. Everyone’s input is truly appreciated at these group study meetings and I encourage you to attend.

Current budgets are on tables and if any committee chair did not receive their updated income and expense report, please see me. If anyone has questions, please let me know.

Art Awareness~ Tricia Bibbiano: More supplies have been purchased for the Palos East Art Awareness room. Paper seems to be running out more than previous years. Mrs. Creevy has sent some information regarding a program called “Picturing America” that I will submit to Maureen Collins for review. Mary Beth Doubek is dedicating herself to Art Awareness for next year as Palos East Rep. I am still waiting on confirmation from Kathy O’Leary as the West Rep. Sixth grade art fair is slowly rolling along. It is all set up and a note went out for parent volunteers. May 12^th, if you are interested we need moms between 8:15 and 3:00. Please contact Cheryl Hill: werhills@sbcglobal.net

Humanities~ Susan Larson Spencer, Cindy Helson, Caryn Connery, Karen Krown: At Palos West on April 9^th students will listen as Wayne and Karen Brown of Ocean Adventure from California dispel myths about sharks in “the ASTRALIA Great White Shark Expedition”. Children will learn from the slides of the habits of sharks as they see science concepts applied to the ocean environment.

Palos East March programs were Wheel of Wisdom at Family Book Night, we had a great turnout. Cold-Blooded creatures was presented for second graders and Yoga Kids for Kindergarten. Upcoming on April 22^nd we presented Starlab for 3^rd graders, a dome with views of the plants and stars. May 2^nd, Spirit of the Eagle, tent showing Indian Life on the Plains, will be presented to fourth grade.

Reading ~ Beth Brodecki and Carrie Bandyk: The reading committee is thrilled to announce the dates for the two authors coming to our schools. Internationally acclaimed storyteller and author Syd Lieberman will be speaking to the 7^th and 8^th grade students at Palos South on April 17^th. Caldecott Award winning author and illustrator Eric Rohmann will be speaking to the students at Palos East on April 30^th and Palos West on May 1^st.

The Newbery Bowl at Palos South had wonderful participation this year with 10 teams of 7^th grade students competing. The top team will compete against Evergreen on May 6^th, with all of the participants invited to attend to cheer them on. Following the bowl, the students will return to a pizza party sponsored by the reading committee, and prizes will be awarded. National TV turn off week is April 21^st -27^th. We will be sponsoring contests at the three schools to encourage participation in this event.

Safety ~ Laura Dolan: Boom Troupe hit the ball out of the park with their assembly on tolerance at Palos West. Their program story line featured children on a field trip. Each child was unique in that one was physically challenged, one had autism, the other shared her family’s ethnic customs, and the last child shared her anxiety over her family’s economic challenges. It was done very thoughtfully and with much care and respect. The children really enjoyed it, and I heard through the grape vine that many children brought the concepts and story home to mom and dad that evening.

We hosted a nutritionist from Athletico at Palos East before our Easter Break. Miss Jennifer talked to the kids during the lunchtime hour. I was amazed at the knowledge that the children had already on the subject of healthy food. We are in the process of tweaking this into a program that we can hopefully bring into the school a few times a year to encourage healthy eating practices.

Family fun night was approved, anyone willing to chair the committee, can do whatever they would like. We are thinking around September, as a back to school function, possibly a Sunday. We are thinking it should fall under social committee.

Hot Dog Day~ Gen Dazzo: No problems, we are waiting for approval for the menu to be turned in tomorrow, April 3.

Santa’s Secret Shop~ Dawn Winkelman: I have talked to the administration at Palos West and Santa's Secret Shop is scheduled for December 6th (1st Saturday in December). I have also secured the same deal with Fun Services that we had in 2007 (no inventory, discount of 10%, and $100 early signing bonus). Jill will be taking over the lead co-chair position with a new co-chair and I will be helping in the background.

Father/Daughter Dance~ Norma Koos: The Father/Daughter Dance was held at South with just under 500 in attendance. The following girls won door prizes:

The dollar raffle was a huge success. Every 15 minutes we pulled 30 names from the start of the night. Food was great and music was a success. The dance floor was always jammed. We also gave additional door prize tickets to contest winners. Decorations were led by Julie Loya, who did a great job! T-shirts were also a huge success.

Mother/Son Night~ Susan Mish: Everything is going along well. Ticket sales are moving forward nicely. T-shirt orders need to b in by Friday of this week (or no later than Monday/Tuesday) of next week. We are currently working on gathering raffle prizes and collecting and purchasing decorations. Games are all in order and we think the variety will be awesome! All ages will be covered as well as many things for Moms to participate in. Anyone wishing to assist in the decorating process or wishing to donate raffle prizes is very welcome.

Silent Auction~ Jenny Lee, Susan Mish: Thank you letters have been sent. We have already received a donation for “Instant Kharma” courtesy of Lush Hair Bar and Salon. They were very generous for School House Rock, and we greatly appreciate their support. Our main goal before the end of April is to secure our DONATIONS CHAIR. Again, if you or someone you know is interested in helping us in this capacity, please contact Susan 361-4280 or Jenny 675-3465. It is VITAL that we fill this position ASAP.

Golf Outing~ Tanya Adams and Victoria Talerico: We have assembled part of our Committee and had our first meeting yesterday. We are anticipating proposing a budget by April 15^th. We do have several donations already for our Give Away’s at the Up to Par Banquet and continue to book more entertainment for the venue. We also have two hole sponsors and are working to have all spoken for by May 1st.

Graduation~ Martha Motycka: “OMG”! We are only 6 weeks away from the dance. Everything is moving along well. Our decorating committee met yesterday at Gaelic Pak and we did a “mock” set-up of some to the larger props. Gen Dazzo was able to get a lot of large props from the Sandburg party. They look Awesome! The Catholic Charities ball is April 29^th and we are getting whatever we want from their decorations. We are really trying to “borrow” from the community wherever we can. Goody Bags are finished, except to stuff them. Invitations committee is meeting on Friday at 5pm to address them. Thank you to the Capuano family for donating them. The food was selected and we decided to do the chocolate fountain. We are working on getting raffle prizes. The Neufeld family was very generous and donated White Sox tickets and a Coach purse.

Hospitality~ Rashida Boxwalla: We have our third event for the year, Aril 25^th, teacher appreciation lunch. Menu is from Frangella’s.

Membership~ Jennifer Snell: The date for packet stuffing has been set for Wednesday, April 16^th at 9:30 am at central. Ii am sending around a sheet of paper for volunteers to sign. I will give all volunteers a reminder call a few days prior to the stuffing. If your committee would like to put a flyer in the registration packet, please have your flyer approved by central and copies made by Monday, April 14^th. You will need 2000 copies to be ready for stuffing on the 16^th.

We will have a date for the Back to School Breakfast by the next PFA meeting. I am working on a location for the breakfast and will have more details next month.

PFA Connections~ Kathy Mazies: Articles are needed by April 25^thfor the last connections. tmazies@comcast.net

Candid Memories~ Gail Fagan: Everything is still on time. Please NO more pictures. We have received and collected over 4,000 pictures. We will start putting them to music next week.

Superintendent~ Dr. Joe Dubec: We want to start connecting technology to the homes. There will be a Technology family night May 13^th. We are also looking into a technology summer camp in August. (A short video regarding the applied tech lab was shown.) In the new middle school schedule, all 6^th graders will have an opportunity to work in the lab and there are many options for the 7^th and 8^th graders to work it into their schedule as well.

School Board President~ Mrs. Sheila Pacholski: Last months board meeting was at Palos South, we recognized academics and athletics, and next months meeting will be at Palos West.

Palos South Principal~ Mr. Chris Bingen: More opportunities are being afforded to the students with many options for next year’s schedule. We met with the 8^th graders to talk about the 8 weeks left. White Pines is coming up. All Teams, plus staff members are going and are excited! The White Pines trip for next year will be April 13-17^th for the sixth grade. Sixth grade orientation will be held on the 24^th, 6:30-8pm.

Palos West Principal~ Mr. Ron Cozza: Thank you to Junior Great Books volunteers, the kids and teachers appreciate it. Pride assembly for 3^rd quarter is Friday, to recognize academic and behavioral achievements. Pennies for Pooches is starting with the cook county canine unit coming. Our volunteer luncheon is coming up, April 17^th. The kids will work spreading mulch and planting a large tree, purchased with money from the recycling committee, on Earth Day. Year Books sale is ending and pictures will be April 16^th. We will host Grandparent/special person day on May 22.

Palos East Principal~ Mrs. Pat Creevy, Mrs. Mrozec: Our humanities assemblies have been wonderful. A WWII veteran came in and spoke with the kids, and we will be doing a coffee sale to benefit some of the veteran homes in the area. We hosted a sunglass day right before break, and the money collected will be going to help purchase a new overhead for the lab. Our Spelling bee will be held on the 4^th and 5th and Earth day is coming up on April 25^th. Lake Katherine is coming for 1^st grade with some animals. Spring picture day is Friday the 18^th and the Choral concert is Tuesday the 29^th at 7pm. Character coupons winners for March will get to play board games in the media center.