Wells Elementary PTA – Board Meeting Minutes 

February 11, 2022 

The board meeting of the Wells Elementary PTA was called to order on February 11, 2022 at 8:03 am via zoom by president, Annamarie Saavedra, with secretary, Joanne Carrasco, being present. A quorum  was not established. 

The minutes of the previous board meeting from December 3rd, 2021 were presented but not approved  since a quorum was not established. 

The treasurer’s report showed:  

The treasurer did not provide a financial report. It will be sent to the board via email once  Annamarie Saavedra receives it. The new bank account was opened and checks are being cut  and moving things along. Everything has been submitted to Capital One and Annamarie  Saavedra is expecting a check from them any day now. The fraud department at Capital One will  be issuing a reimbursement check for what was taken out of the account. Currently what is in  the account is the money from the PayPal account, this is approximately $30,000-$35,000.  

No treasurer report was presented.  

There were no correspondences to share with the membership. 

President’s Report was presented by Annamarie Saavedra. 2022-2023 PTA recruitment will begin.  Annamarie Saavedra will be working with Keith Williams as parliamentarian to create google forms and  gather volunteers for next year. Keith Williams with gather everything and send it out and collect  information for next years volunteers. With things normalizing we hope to get more volunteers to help.  Regarding the bike racks, one vendor has come by the school to look at the space and provided an  estimate. There are 2 more vendors that will be on campus in the next 2 weeks and will provide  Annamarie Saavedra an estimate. Once all the estimates are in they will be shared with Sara Meyer.  PISD and PTA council has issued new guidelines. We are always aware that guidelines can be tightened  depending on new covid variants. We are moving forward with planning events for the future.  

Programs Report was presented by Annamarie Saavedra. Wells Reads One Book will be promoted and  partially funded by the PTA. The school will support $2,000 of the cost towards this event. Once the  teachers decide on a book the PTA will see if the scholastic credits from this years book fair could be  used towards the purchase a portion of the books. Wells Reads One Book will be tied to the read-a-thon  to encourage kids to read. This event will be coordinated to take place after spring break. Multicultural  night is pending, we are waiting to see what happens with the district and covid cases before we  proceed with setting a date to plan it. Field day is scheduled, a ninja nation course will be part of the  course. Earth week is coming up in about 6 weeks. If anyone has fun ideas please let Natalie Drake  know. Friendship parties are taking place on Monday February 14th. All parents have received  Information to volunteer and donate. GLCs don’t have to sign up for a slot. Amy Carter planned Crave  popcorn for the teachers for the month of February. On March 3rd teachers will have an ice cream truck  from Tongue in Cheek. It will be parked in the back of the school. Amy Carter will find out more  information in the event parents want to purchase ice cream for kids after school pick up. In April the 

teachers and staff will be treated to Sonic drinks. During teacher appreciation week in May there is a list  of things that will be done to treat the staff during this time. The theme during teacher appreciation is  “Teachers are Super Super Hero’s”. It was suggested the cafeteria workers have a dress up day and this  will be tied in with teacher appreciation week. The week of February 14th is a staff meeting, Annamarie  Saavedra will send out a link to everyone for those that want to contribute items towards the after  school meeting. This semester we are trying to get parents to donate food items towards staff meetings.  

We have an adopt a school program and for this year Israel Saavedra is looking for a school in the district  that has a less active PTA and we can plan something for teachers during teacher appreciation week this  year. There is a budget in place for this and we would provide teachers with lunch during that week. If  we can work the budget better there is the chance we could adopt 2 schools. Once he has  recommended schools he will let the board know. Sara Meyer recommended 2 schools that were  supported in the past: Meadows and Memorial elementary.  

Communications Report was presented by Annamarie Saavedra. Elizabeth Conrad has asked that if  there is any information you wold like to go in the news letter please send it to her. Her contact  information is: elizabethconrad@me.com.  

Volunteers Report was presented by Annamarie Saavedra. We have not heard much from Zooni Butt for  the last semester, who was responsible for VP of Volunteers therefore Annamarie Saavedra has invited  her to step away from her position. It's possible her availability may have changed and has asked her to  let someone else fill that role. We have another person that can step in that position and it is Calie  McDougall. She has agreed to fill this position and we can appoint her and get it approved at the next  general meeting. February is 5th grades turn to volunteer for Orange PTA folders. March will be the PTA  Board members turn to help volunteer stuff the orange PTA folders. March 30th will be a request to get  as many volunteers for orange folder stuffing as possible because the books for Wells Reads One book  event will have to be unboxed and put in all students orange PTA folders. For the month of March we  will need a volunteer to take over Joanne Carrasco’s role to help with orange folders. She will be  unavailable and will need someone to take on that role. Joanne Carrasco and Annamarie Saavedra have  been volunteering to stay during the after school robotics program. With Joanne Carrasco being out we  will need another volunteer that can commit for 45 minutes after school to sit in one of the rooms  during robotics. A post with the sign up genius asking for volunteers will be going out. Please keep an  eye out for that and sign up if you are available. Watch D.O.G.S is a national program that is  implemented in schools. It's a way to get Dads or male figures on campus in schools. There is interest  from a parent who will be coming in to the school who is also a PISD board trustee that is interested in  bringing this program back to life. If anyone is interested in helping be part of this program please reach  out. Dads will come on to campus and help wherever the help is needed. The idea is to have more male  figures visible on campus. In the past this was a sign up for a full day on campus. On average in previous  occasions Dads signed up for 1 or 2 days for the year. One parent suggested dads be possibly allowed to  volunteer during recess. This request could potentially fall under the counselor whom already works on  programs like K.O.P.S. (Kids Offering Peer Support) program for 5th graders has started. This is a program  where students mentor and help younger students in elevate classroom or help during recess. Tiger  dads used to help in the morning with carpool doors for various reasons this has fallen aside. Our safety  patrol coordinator helps with 4th and 5th grade students that help with safety patrol in the mornings.  Sara Meyer would want to help support programs already underway and help fill in the gaps where there  might be need. There are areas and some structures are already in place where this request could be  added on. Since tiger dads has gone dormant, new dads need to be recruited. 

Ways and means Report was presented by Gayle Stanley. We have the green light to begin planning the  spring carnival and auction. It will take place on March 26 with a rain date of April 2nd. If anyone wants  to be part of the planning committee please reach out to Gayle Stanley. More information and sign ups  will be coming out. SOLE passes are currently on sale until February 17th and they will be delivered on  the 18th. Sprit night is coming on February 16th at Joe’s Pizza N Pasta. Chick-fil-a spirit night is planned  for the month of March. The read-a-thon will be tied with Wells Reads One Book. The 2nd world wear  bin is being arranged by Gayle Stanley. With regards to the carnival and auction, there are 2 separate  expense line items in the budget for these: $5,000 for spring carnival and $5,000 for the auction. We  have combined these events therefore we also have combined the budgets. Since they were established  as fund raisers and there are many items in the budget that were budgeted to spend but we haven’t  been able to, the expectation is that this event will at a minimum pay for itself. Gayle Stanley will start  doing research on food trucks and attractions. We would still ask for donations in case parents want to  help underwrite the cost of things but our goal is to cover the cost and allow families to have fun.  

Wells Administrative Staff Report was presented by Principal Sara Meyer. Thank you for the approval of  the laminator and for all the hospitality that has been done for the staff. All the sign ups for friendships  parties have gone out and all the grade levels have been able to communicate what their plans are. This  could not happen without the support of the PTA. Open house has been ok’d to take place in person.  Sara Meyer will be meeting with the leadership team to talk through a safe structure for this to take  place while still making it fun for students to showcase their work. The planning phases for multicultural  night, Wells Reads One Book and field day is underway. There are different groups of staff dedicated to  these events to help lead the way. House Bill 4545 and intervention support groups happening for  students in need due to covid and implications that it has had on education, Christine Miller a teacher at  Wells, has been helping students and the funding was going to run out in mid-end of January but Sara  Meyer requested more from district and Christine Miller will be allowed to stay on board until mid April.  This is a great support for classroom teachers and students. Planning is already underway for the next  school year. If anyone has questions or ideas on how to finish this school year out or for next year please  send them to Sara Meyer or Annamarie Saavedra. Sara Meyer and Annamarie Saavedra met with Wize  academy to give feedback and talk about potential ideas in the event the robotics program continues for  next year.  

Questions, comments, new business: A question was asked about volunteering on campus to help with  maintenance of the school. Is this allowed with PISD? Sara Meyer shared that not if its maintenance or  repairs to the physical structure or grounds of the building for liability reasons it must all go through  facilities and maintenance department. Wells has been asked to come up with a list of things needing  maintenance repairs for February with bond funds coming up. Student council has been able to help  with some items that are not permanent or a liability. The PTA has a budget to help spruce up the front  of the school. Annamarie Saavedra has a list of what is budgeted towards beautifying the school and she  will send it to Sara Meyer to see what can be done. The deadline to order yearbooks is March 20th and  February 24 to upload pictures on the PTA site. Annamarie Saavedra will post this information on each  grade level Facebook page and do a special edition newsletter to go out with yearbook information. She  will prepare a special edition newsletter to go out for Tuesday. 

Announcements: 

Important Dates: 

Board Meeting Dates: 

• Friday, March 18th at 8:00am 
• Friday, April 8th at 8:00am 
• Friday, May 6th at 8:00am 

General Meeting Dates: 

• Wednesday, March 30th at 8:00am 
• Thursday, April 28th at 4:00pm 
• Wednesday, May 18th at 8:00am 

Meeting adjourned at 8:54am.