CSPN Board Meeting

July 30, 2007

In attendance: The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. with Dr. Susan Copeland (part time), Pam Rose, Claudia Lakey, Senese Duhart, Janet Denkler, Lee Meyers, and Jane Parks in attendance.

Minutes: Secretary Lee Meyers will email the April board minutes and May parent meeting minutes for board approval.

Bank Statement: Lee opened, briefly reviewed and initialed the June bank statement and handed it to Senese for processing.

Treasurer’s Report: A formal report is not yet prepared for this academic year. Janet noted CSPN just missed breaking even for the 2006-2007 school year, but the board agreed that the major purchases in the areas of library improvements, technology, and the climbing wall were all worthy expenditures.

Website: Claudia reported that Joe Lakey is working on improvements to the school web site, with graphics following the U of M College of Education template. Claudia also noted that we are now working with a new web host that will offer greater flexibility for our site. Teachers will be able to develop their own web pages and parents can more easily sign up to receive school emails. The new host is slightly more expensive at $10 per month compared to the previous $3 per month. Co-treasurers Senese and Janet stated that they would work out an automatic draft to pay this charge directly from the CSPN account.

Info Fair: This event will be held again this year to coincide with Meet the Teacher time on August 3. Board members are asked to attend, if possible. Jane suggested we provide directory forms at this event so parents can go ahead and submit that information. Last year’s directory information will be available and parents can just check it for accuracy or note any changes. The library will be open for tours during this time. Susan noted that the letter about the fair did not go home with the director’s letter as intended. To promote this event, we’ll use posters and the web site.

Info Pack: Pam pointed out that our goal is to reduce the amount of paper we sent home to parents, while still giving them the information they need. The packet will be streamlined, with basic information about CSPN activities and directions to go to the school web site for more details. For those who don’t have access to the Internet, a hard copy will be available in the office.

CSPN Calendar: The calendar is almost completely set, with the exception of Holiday Fair and Book Fair for which we need Ms. Coleman’s input.

Support Drive: Janet will chair the support drive this year. Last year we raised a record amount from this drive, and Janet expects to follow similar procedures.

Fall Fest and Silent Auction: Pam shared printed materials from another school’s auction that included some very creative auction items, including activities involving the teachers. Susan will review the information to see if this is something we could add to this year’s silent auction.

Board Meeting Schedule: The group discussed alternative meeting times that might allow more parents to attend. Because of board member work schedules, morning meetings are not possible, so the group chose Friday afternoons at 1:30 p.m. Pam will look into which Friday of the month might be best. The group preferred the second Friday of the month, but Pam will first see how that fits with the academic and activity calendars.

Committee Chairs: Most chair positions are filled, although someone is still needed to head up Holiday Fair. Carmen Wilson is the new chair for the Cookie Dough Sale and Jane Parks is the new Spring Fling co-chair.

Parent Night and Parent Meeting: There will be a CSPN Parent Meeting to coincide with Parent Night on August 16. The agenda for the CSPN meeting will be to introduce the board and committee chairs, to share our goals for the year and to review CSPN accomplishments from last year.

Summer Skate Night: The crowd was about the same size as the summer skate night last year. CSPN netted $78, but this event is intended for community building rather than fundraising.

Goals and Planned Expenditures: There was much discussion about possible goals and major expenditures for this year. The group agreed to ask for input at the August Parent Meeting before making any final decisions.

Next Meeting: Pam will get back to board members with a date for the next meeting.

Adjournment: There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:55 a.m.