SOPG MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY 9/14/2010

Approximately 20 people were in attendance, including SOPG board and Ms. Jillian

Pizza and cookies were available to all attendees and children. Thank you SOPG!

Toilet paper game: we all introduced ourselves with the toilet paper game.

Principal's Message: Kim was missing, which is very rare.

H2Oasis ticket was pulled by Jonathan and Shailynn won. Yay, Shai!

Kris went over the SOPG event brochure and the lingo and explained most of the programs.

OPEN HOUSE for the neighborhood side is 9/15/2010 - PTA will be providing dinner for a small amount of money.

OPEN HOUSE for Optional is Thursday 9/16/2010. SOPG will not be providing dinner. There will be a small program then an in-class presentation. It lasts about an hour.

PACT (Parents and Children Together): 9/17/2010 starting at 1pm. Parents should arrive about 12:45 to help set up the MPR (multi-purpose room). This week's PACT is going to require a village of parents :)  We will have multiple stations holding 15 children while they await their turn in the house. If you have any good fire stories (probably useful and not too scary) please bring them along and discuss with a teacher like Jillian. Children will be at each station for 45 minutes.  Jillian is in need of several items: firefighter hat, boots, clothing, etc. There's going to be an event where children have to race to get into a firefighter uniform. 

Everybody should have received the permission slip for this event. This is going to be a very exciting PACT - it's all about fire safety. 

WHAT IS PACT? It's an event where parents act as teacher/helpers and we usually have one per month. This is when our teachers get together to plan for upcoming major events. April Ney is in charge of coordinating and setting up PACT. Most PACT events are from 1:30 - 3:15, but the PACT this week is longer than normal because of the specialty of setting up a two story house for the kids to evacuate.  If you have any ideas you think would be cool for the kids, please email April Ney. 

PTA: will need additional help from SOPG for a few items: festival, picture day, etc. There will be a competition for box tops - the class that collects the most box tops will win an ice-cream social. Although PTA is the neighborhood side, SOPG also benefits from PTA as well so we should all support them.

Project Day: traditionally held the first Friday in December, failed last year because we did not have 6+ parents to lead the 1/2 day morning class. It's all about making projects with the children. The kids usually give these as gifts. If you have a special talent or like doing something that children can do, please consider volunteering your time/talent for this day.

Volunteers: do whatever you can - either at home or at school. Most of us have jobs and can only do what we can. "Don't sweat it" per Nan.  We did go over the purple sign up binder and the volunteer log book. If you have questions about either, please contact Nan or Kris.

FALL bike trip recap: WET and FUN! Good times overall and we found out that we can fit the entire optional program under the  canopy at Goose Lake park!

Spring bike trip NEEDS:

1. A new coordinator to learn the ropes because Amy Johns will be leaving after this year.
2. Valley of the Moon permit now - April will do this right away.
3. A bike mechanic because so many bikes came in with bad tires, bad chains, etc and a bunch of guys spent a few hours getting bikes ready to go. 
4. Crosswalk guards
5. Signs set up
6. More parents on bikes and driving / volunteers - this is a huge event!
7. An event binder that explains everything that must be done before each ride.

Fundraising: do you have comments on it? Tonight there was a discussion about it and most parents rejected the idea of Innisbrook and their items. However, people were still interested in raising money and the discussion seemed to revolve around whether Optional can think up some different ways to raise money. If you have comments, please let Kris or Nan know. Tim suggested Green fundraising - as, traditionally, Susitna is a very green school and endorses recycling and such.  Tim has gotten a lot of information about recycling of toners, computers, etc. This has come up in the past and Tim will research it further for this year.

ART SHOW - Lucinda needs help framing everything before 9/25 or thereabouts. The art of Susitna children will be on display atKaladi Brothers Coffee - www.kaladi.com 621 W 6th Ave, Anchorage - (907) 277-1881 in October -- so your children might have pieces of art in a First Friday event!

http://susitnaoptional.org/

The 2010-2011 SOPG Board are:

Co-Chairs: Nan Magrath and Kristen Bierma
Secretary: Jamie Lang
Treasurer: April Ney
Members at Large: Teresa Wagar