A regular meeting of the EMS Parent Group was called to order by President Molly Brennan in the LGI room at 1:03 pm.

Attendees: Ken Sanders, Linda Fox, Molly Brennan (PTO President), Nancy Ciatti, Sharon Cressman, Suzanne Romero, Pam Shapiro, Laura Hedgecock, Sue Reynolds, Kathy Williams, Cherie Natole, Lori Schneider, Claire Petrak, Cheryl Swaim, Lori Heiden, Penny Jaksim, Sreela Datta, Lori Sawyer, Sandie Borregard, Karen Brehob, Jim White, and Sue Coscarelly

Introductions: Mrs. Iatrou stopped by to introduce herself. She is the Student Council representative. Mr. Jim White, Media Specialist, wanted to thank and encourage future volunteers for the annual book fair, which usually raises approximately $2000.

Battle of the Books will be the first week of April. Teams from East will need parent volunteers.

Working in the Media Center is a great opportunity for volunteers. To volunteer, please contact Mr. White through email at Jim.White@farmington.k12.mi.us

Roundtable Discussions: Math Olympiad - a parent volunteer is needed to run the program at East. There is training available at the district level. East would like to have two PTO co-chairs for this program.

Cheryl Swaim, the East Parent Network chairperson, brought forth the following issues: currently there are 280 families signed up to receive school information through email. As this is Mrs. Swaim’s last year at East, the PTO will need a new volunteer to chair this position for next year. Mrs. Swain encourages parents to submit ideas through email for new groups.

Email Groups - Mr. Sanders clarified that there are 2 email groups at East: the Parent Group and ListServ. There are currently 800 families on ListServ but this number likely includes families that have moved on from East. It was suggested that a note be placed in the directory to encourage all families to use these methods of communication.

Lori Heiden, East Website Administrator, requests that parents contact her at eastparent.org if a parent has suggestions for additional web content.

Approval of minutes: The minutes from the May 2007 meeting were approved.

Principal’s Report: Mr. Sanders thanked the volunteers who helped with schedule pick-up and Titan Training Day. It was agreed that the day ran quite smoothly.

The school calendar is posted on the district website.

• There are (8) Early Release days: 9/28, 10/26, 1/18/2008, 2/15, 3/20, 4/11, 5/9 and 5/23; students are dismissed at 11:55 a.m. on these days. Students will eat lunch before going home.
• There is no school on the following days: 11/6 and 11/21
• There are (3) half-days this year: 11/30, 3/7, and 6/13.
• Please note all these days are tentative pending contract negotiations.

Open House: Mr. Sanders opened for discussion a new format for the East Open House on Sept. 18th. EMS is considering turning it into a true open house where parents may freely drop by any classroom during the two hours of the open house. Pros included: parents can cover more than one child’s schedule of teachers; more free-time to sign up for ListServ in the media center and purchase directories or water; parents would not have to commit to the full two hours; parents could meet only the teachers they choose; parking lot less congested. Cons included: long lines forming as parents wait to greet teachers; parents wishing to conference with teacher instead of merely meeting the teachers; potentially receiving less information than structured open house.

Picture Day is September 12. A few parent volunteers are needed to make the day run smoothly. Students will be called down from assigned classes throughout the day.

Field Trips: Mr. Sanders is looking for parental input for grade level field trips. In the past East has sent a group of 7th graders to Chicago and 8th graders to Cedar Point (Penny Jaksim is the Parent Coordinator). Due to the lack of teacher teams, he is looking for volunteers willing to help with and/ or run the trips. EMS is looking for a possible overnight for the 7th graders in the spring.

There are currently only 53 kids signed up for the 8th grade Washington D.C. trip. The staff is trying to encourage more students to participate so the trip can take place as planned. There is a parent meeting right after the open house on Tuesday, Sept. 18th at 8:30 pm in the cafeteria.

The first BonaVenture skating party of the year is October 2 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. We need approximately 125 students to participate or it will end up costing East money. Turn out at the last party in the spring was less than 100. Thoughts?

The Costick Center will be closed on September 13th. Only the Ice Arena will be open.

The Entertainment Books sale is taking place. Please encourage kids to take part. Prizes will be awarded this year. Money raised from the sale helps subsidize the student planners, field trips and other unbudgeted school expenses such at the school mural. Checks should be made out to East Middle School.

The magazine sale fundraiser will take place at the end of October. Please save your renewals until that time; it is an easy way to support the school.

Fall athletics have begun (football, girl’s basketball and cross-country). Encourage your kids to try something new. Games are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays beginning on September 18th. It was suggested that tryout information for all team sports be posted on the calendar. You can also check the website highschoolsports.net for game schedules.

Important Dates: September 17 - Directory published
September 18 - East Middle School Open House 6:30-8:30 p.m.; volunteers are needed to sell directories and water

Active Committee Updates: Hospitality - there will be no MEAP snacks this year

Old Business:

• Trees - Steinkoff is waiting to be contacted in regards to the purchase of trees for the property.
• East Information Magnets - more will be ordered at the end of the year if there is any extra money in our account.
• Lockers - there were many problems the cleaning and resetting of locker combinations this year. That is being looked into.
• Supply lists - parents in attendance asked if a general supply list for each grade may be made available each summer before school starts, when supply choices are plentiful and prices are good.

Next Meeting: The next meeting of the EMS Parent Group will be in the LGI room Oct. 9th at 1 p.m. It was discussed and decided that every third PTO meeting will take place in the evening, with potential avoidance of the second Monday of the month, which conflicts with elementary school PTA meetings.

Meeting adjourned at 2:24 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by A.Sue Coscarelly