Covington PTA 2009-2010

Board Members (*Elected Officer)

President*		Steve Taglio		Executive VP		John Hamblin
1st VP (fundraising)*		Darcy Ratner		2nd VP (volunteers)*		Kathleen Vitakis
Secretary*		Erin Miller		Treasurer*		Julie Altinger
Financial Secretary*		Lisa Burroughs Kim		Auditor*		Signa Atherton
Historian*		Anjana Nagarajan		Parliamentarian		Jenny Williams
Communications		Lori Cox		Principal		Erin Green
Teacher Representative		Genie Sitler

PTA Executive Board Meeting Minutes

9-1-09 minute (draft)

PTA Meetings

	May 21, 2009	2009.5.21 meeting minutesapproved
	September10, 2009 8:30 am	2009.9.10 meeting minutesapproved
	October 8, 2009 7:00 pm	2009.10.08 meeting minutesapproved
	November 12, 2009 8:30 am	PTA Mtg 11.12.ppt
	February 11, 2010 7 pm	PTA Mtg 2.11.ppt
	March 11, 2010 8:30 am	PTA Mtg 3.11.ppt
	April 8, 2010 8:30 am	PTA Mtg 4.8.ppt
	May 13, 2010 8:30 am	PTA 5.13 Mtg.ppt

PTA Forms

Reimbursement Form

PTA Chairs and Descriptions

Amazon Rebate Program (Dale Tritschler) Covington is part of the Amazon Associates program. The school earns referral fees (5% or higher) when someone clicks through the Amazon link on the Covington homepage and selects and purchases items at the Amazon site. The Amazon chair publicizes the program to the Covington community and works with the webmaster to make sure links are set up correctly on the Covington website. Auction (Diana Ekstrand & Jenny Williams) The Auction is Covington's biggest fundraising event -- and a lot of fun! This year's auction theme is "A Night of Good Fortune" and will be held on Saturday, March 20, 2010 at the Cabana Hotel in Palo Alto. Back to School Picnic (Dolly Eckinger & Ula Ghosheh) The Back to School Picnic is an annual event that allows parents to meet their children's classmates and their families as well as classroom teachers in a relaxed, informal setting. Birthday Book Club (Jana Schlansker) This program offers parents the chance to honor their child's birthday while helping to grow the book collection in the Covington Library. Children donate a brand new book to the library; the book is selected from an extensive "wish list" put together by the librarians. A nameplate is placed in the book honoring the birthday child, and he or she gets to be the first Covington student to check out their birthday book. Book Fair (Suzie Allison & Sandy Furuichi) Covington hosts an annual week-long Scholastic book fair. This year's fair is scheduled for November 30 - December 4, 2009 in the Multi. Numerous volunteers are needed to help set up, clean up, and staff the event throughout the week. Box Tops Fundraiser (Lisa Kim) The Box Tops for Education program generates revenue for Covington through the collection of box tops from a wide variety of food products. Boys' Night Out (Bob McGrath) Boys' Night Out is an opportunity for boys and their parents to have fun and get to know one another. This year, Boys' Night Out is scheduled for Friday, October 23, 2009 at Palo Alto Bowl. Communications (Lori Cox) The communications chair coordinates content for the Back-to-School packet and communicates PTA and school event/activity information from PTA Executive Board and committee chairs to the school community. The chair attends PTA Executive Board meetings, creates publication schedule, edits and submits content for publication in the Howler newsletter, Covington's website and marquee. Covington Spirit Wear (Paige Kaplan) The Spirit Wear chair helps foster school spirit by providing students and families with Covington logo wear. The chair's role is to provide the traditional Covington T-shirts and sweatshirts and to develop new products as necessary. This is not a fundraising committee. Directory (Kenna Fenton) The Directory Committee coordinates the preparation of the annual Covington Directory. They also manage Covington's database. Emergency Prep (Nancy Morimoto) The emergency prep chair is responsible for maintaining emergency shed supplies, assisting during emergency drills, and overseeing the classroom emergency prep volunteers. Each of the classroom volunteers helps maintain the classroom emergency kit and keeps the emergency backpack (used for fieldtrips) in their classroom stocked. At the beginning of every year they assist with preparing class emergency badges used on fieldtrips and in the event of a real emergency. Escrip (Anjana Nagarajan) Escrip is Covington's most important shopping fundraiser! How does it work? Register any or all of your existing grocery cards, credit cards, and debit cards at www.escrip.com. When you use these cards at participating stores you'll automatically start earning rebates for Covington. No other forms to fill out, no receipts to track. To earn rebates at Safeway you need to register your Safeway card. For Macy's, register your Macy's card and use it when you shop. To earn rebates at Andronico's, Whole Foods, and most other participating stores just pay with any registered credit or debit card. The Escrip chair publicizes the program to the Covington community and tracks participation and rebates on a monthly basis. Family Dinners Out Fundraiser (Erin Miller) The Family Dinners Out chair organizes dining fundraisers at local restaurants approximately once a month. Restaurants rebate to Covington PTA a percentage of the receipts from Covington families dining on a particular night. The chair makes arrangements with the restaurants, publicizes the events to the Covington community, and follows up with restaurants to ensure timely payment of rebates. Field Day (Sherri Glein & Pauline Goloubef) Field Day is a morning of fun and games for students and teachers. This year, Field Day is scheduled for Friday, June 4. Parent volunteers are needed to staff a wide variety of activities. Field Day for Kindergarteners (Sherri Glein & Pauline Goloubef) Kindergarten students enjoy their own field day activities in the kindergarten play area. This year, Field Day is scheduled for Friday, June 4. First Grade Lunch Tables (Louanne Gonzalez) At the beginning of the school year, first grade parent volunteers assist first graders at lunchtime, helping to open tricky packages and dispose of garbage and recyclables appropriately. Gift Wrap Fundraiser (Jana Schlansker) Covington partners with Genevieve this Fall to raise funds through the sale of a wide assortment of high-quality wrapping paper and gift items. This is a low-key, optional fundraising program. Covington families place orders during a specific time frame and products are delivered to the school for distribution by parent volunteers. Genevieve donates 50% of all sales back to Covington. Girls' Night Out (Valerie Cairns) Girls' Night Out is a mixer for girls and their parents. This year, Girls' Night Out is scheduled for Wednesday, November 18, at Winter Lodge. Giving Tree (Rachel Botsford & Valerie Nichols) The Giving Tree chair organizes Covington's holiday gift drive for a local community services organization. Hospitality (Margaret Chang) The Hospitality Committee coordinates coffee and goodies at monthly PTA meetings and Principal Coffees. Hot Lunch (Rachel Botsford, Kenna Fenton, Valerie Nichols) The Hot Lunch program, which offers lunch five days a week to students in grades 1-6, is a service of the Covington PTA. The program is a major source of revenue for the PTA projects at Covington, and is made possible through the efforts of our many wonderful parent volunteers. Committee chairs manage the database and payment system, work with food vendors to plan nutritious and tasty menus, and recruit and manage the volunteers that serve lunch each day. Parent volunteers are organized into teams that are responsible for serving lunch one day every three weeks. Junior Olympics (Therese Blockhus, Rachel Botsford, Kathleen Vitakis) The Junior Olympics is a district-wide event held on a Saturday in the Spring, April 24, 2010 for all fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. Junior Olympics (JO) co-chairs recruit volunteers, work with the physical education (PE) teachers to support training during PE time, record time trials, order T-shirts, enter students' event selections, recruit and coordinate parent relay coaches, and attend monthly district meetings. Kitchen & Closet Coordinator (Ann Wolff) The coordinator makes sure that the Multi kitchen and the PTA closets are kept clean and organized. LAEF (Katie Roper) The Los Altos Educational Foundation (LAEF) works to raise funds and to provide financial support as a supplement to the resources of the Los Altos School District for the purpose of funding academic and enrichment programs, and improving the overall education of students in the schools of the Los Altos School District. Each of the nine schools in the district has several parent representatives to LAEF and provides volunteers for the annual phonathon in October. Click here for more information about LAEF. LAIR (Suzy Allison & Aleana Yiu) LAIR stands for Lunchtime Activities Interests & Recreation. This is a parent-led program that students love! Last year's activities included: bingo, arts and crafts, knitting, outdoor games, drama, puzzles, indoor board games, origami, and more. LAIR depends on parent volunteers sharing their talents and interests. Please consider volunteering once a week, every other week, or even just once a month.

Landscaping (Suzanne Kasso) The Landscaping chair identifies landscaping needs and oversees the maintenance of PTA-planted areas at Covington. The chair coordinates landscaping activities with the Principal and Los Altos School District. Library (Jana Schlansker) The Library Coordinator recruits parent volunteers from each class to help with weekly library visits. Volunteers escort students to and from the library, check student books in and out on the computer, and shelve books during class library time. Lost & Found (Ann Wolff) Clothing items found on campus are displayed on the rack outside the Multi. Smaller items and more valuable items are kept in the school office. Items that are not claimed will be donated to charity during winter break and at the end of the school year. Please label all jackets, sweatshirts, and other items that might be left behind; an attempt will be made to return labeled items to students' classrooms. Marquee (Anna Lee) The marquee coordinator inputs PTA and school event announcements into the computerized marquee system located on the school's Multi-purpose building. New Families Liaison (Sudnya Shroff) The new families liaison is a resource for new parents who have questions about school practices, activities, events, etc. They make either written or verbal contact with the new families through the new family orientation and ongoing communication throughout the year. Parent Education (Elena Shea) The parent education committee schedules speakers with a focus on information to support parents. The committee also makes the Covington community aware of worthwhile speaking events at other schools. Pet Parade (Ann Wolff) This year's 62nd annual Kiwanis Pet Parade is scheduled for Saturday May 15, 2010 at 10am. The chair publicizes the event to the Covington community and makes sure banners, balloons, etc. are at the gathering site. Photo Gallery (Aleana Yiu) The Photo Gallery chair is responsible for taking pictures at school events, then printing and posting pictures in the glass cases in the front of school. PTA Membership (Kathleen Vitakis) The membership chair is responsible for recruiting parents and teachers to join the Covington PTA. Room Parents (Lori Parsons) The Room Parent is the main liaison between the teacher and parents in the class. Room parents provide assistance to the teacher by organizing parent volunteers for class activities. Science Fair (Ingrid Choong) The Science Fair brings together students from kindergarten through 6th grade in the creation and display of science projects. This is an all-school event held each spring, March 15 - 17, 2010 and is a wonderful opportunity to encourage children to think of a problem and formulate a solution to a scientific problem. The science fair chair also organizes family science night in January. This is always an intriguing, fun-filled community event. Site Council (Paige Kaplan) School Site Councils were established by the State of California as a way to involve parents and teachers in important decisions regarding how their school functions. Site Council meets monthly to develop and monitor school-wide goals for Covington, including improving student achievement and ensuring school safety. Meetings are open to all. Sixth Grade Class Gift Committee (Katie Roper, Elena Shea, Kris Sheridan, Ann Wolff) This committee is composed of parents of sixth graders. These parents help coordinate fundraising activities for the grade (e.g. bake sales at school events) and work with students and the principal to select and purchase a class gift to Covington. The committee treasurer holds on to funds raised, disburses funds for the approved gift, reports back to sixth-grade parents, and returns any remaining funds to the PTA. Sixth Grade End-of-Year Party Committee (Mari Beth Bird, Anjana Butaney, Elena Shea, Kris Sheridan, Dale Tritschler, Ann Wolff) This committee is composed of parents of sixth graders. These parents organize the end-of-year class party in June. Responsibilities include coordinating food, activities, and transportation with help from other parents of sixth graders and support of Covington staff. Staff Appreciation (Valerie Nichols & Emma Rossi) This committee honors Covington teachers and staff with monthly appreciation activities. They also host a dinner for teachers on Open House night in the Spring, and coordinate with Room Parents to arrange flowers brought by children for their teachers for Open House. Sunshine Committee (Yvonne Cornell) The Sunshine Committee organizes support to Covington families affected by a major illness or accident. Technology Committee (Bob Baxley, Jim Fenton, Steve Taglio, Jenny Williams) The Technology Committee supports the implementation and use of computer-related technology as a core teaching tool at Covington. The committee draws on the many talents of our technology-savvy parents to augment the work of the computer lab aides who support teacher technology needs. They welcome volunteers who can bring enthusiasm and energy to help with the planning and implementation of technology projects throughout the year. Walkathon (Wendy Angus & Suzanne Kasso) The Walkathon brings the whole school together for a fun-filled day of walking and fundraising. The theme for this year's Walkathon is "Walk Around the World" -a celebration of all the cultures at Covington. It will be held on Saturday, October 10, 2009. Webmaster (Jing Wu) The role of the Covington Webmaster is to develop and manage the school website which provides up-to-date information and online service for school programs and events. Yahoo Groups (Bob Baxley) The Yahoo Groups chair plays an important role in communication between parents and teachers. The chair helps set up the classroom Yahoo Groups and oversees their ongoing operation. Yahoo Groups are intended solely for the communication of school and classroom-related information. Yearbook (Sudnya Shroff & Jing Wu) The yearbook committee compiles all the photos from the year's activities as well students' school photos. They create memorable pages showing school events and help to organize grade level and/or classroom collage pages. They work with each classroom photographer. Covington's yearbook is published in the spring. Orders will be taken in the winter.

For questions, issues and/or suggestions, please contact askPTA@covingtonschool.org.

 

 

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