Attendees: Tyler Newell, Elizabeth Howe, Chip Minto, Lilian Graham, Barbara Newell, Susan Wood, Annie Fox, Christina Crawford, Daniell Urban, John Mark Niehls, Chris Blasko

Attending Via Zoom: Laurie Shirey for part of the meeting

School Update by John Mark

Refinishing of the gym floor hasn’t yet begun. The contractor is awaiting materials. The gym has been completely repainted and lights and bleachers have been replaced. The basement is in the process of being gutted.

Enrollment has continued to increase. There are 495 students currently enrolled for fall. There were 380 at the beginning of last year. The secondary grades are completely full, except for grades 7 and 9, which have been split into two classes. The average class size is 32 per grade level. A dozen new staff have been hired since last year ended. As of now, all teacher position have been filled.

Two modular classrooms are schedule to be delivered before school starts. There are coaching openings for sports. The most pressing need is for high school girls soccer for fall. Both high school basketball coaching positions are open.

The modular classrooms are fully furnished thanks to a COVID grant. Use of these modulars is restricted to two years due to the grant. It’s only possible to get a two-year permit for the modulars without having to go through land development. The two-year permit can be renewed at the discretion of township. Placement is still being discussed with the township.

Budget:

There’s $53,300 available for allocation in the general fund. The recommendation is to pay the balance of gym floor. Twenty faculty laptops will be purchased out of the COVID grant and will not impact the budget. Laptops for students will be replaced as well. The sports budget has $6,100 to allocate.

There was a discussion about uniforms. The budget will be focused on fall sports and spring will be addressed later after Mike ? returns to the country.

There was discussion regarding Barbara’s line items.

The teacher stipend line item increased to cover the additional new teachers.

Many annual items were increased by 20% to account for increased enrollment. A line item for the ice cream social was added. The social will be structured differently next year to encourage participation in the PTO meeting.

A request for a rocking chair from preschool was added.

Town halls will resume this year.

Robes were added back as a line item after previously being tabled and the budget was balanced to zero by adding funds to the general PTO expense line item. Everything that was requested was approved and funded. A motion was started by Barbara, seconded by Christina, and the general fund budget was approved.

Events:

See the doc “2021-2022 PTO Events” for a list of upcoming events for the 2021-2022 school year as well as PTO meetings. Many dates are tentative.