Meeting Minutes – October 2020 | Field Elementary PTO

Details

General Update – Naomi
- Virtual meet and greet for students changing teachers due to the resumption of face to face learning will be held on Thursday, 10/16 at 2:15-3:00 pm via TEAMS
- Our fall Work Day on October 3 was a big success! Field community members cleaned up the soccer field, cleaned and sanded it (the PTO is responsible for maintaining the turf), and organized and cleaned out the PTO storage room in the T-buildings. Thank you to everyone who came out to help!

Treasurer’s Report – Gloria
- Some small expenditures and pop-up fundraiser results; there is also money earmarked for our arts ancillary.

Campus Planning – Naomi & Matt
- Given the current situation, we determined at the last meeting that the best course of action regarding fundraising is to focus on one particular goal/project at a time. To that end, the Executive Board members identified 3 projects in need of funding with the goal of improving Field and supporting the Field community:
  - “Deadland” – the outdoor area on Studewood by the blue truck. Matt (VP of Camp us Improvement) has a plan to create turf mounds similar to those at Levy Park, with at least one tunnel, also a new trash can and some kind of art feature.
  - Front sign replacement – HISD will not fix the sign, which no longer works at all. The sign is a great way to get news out to the community and could in the long run be an income producer but is quite expensive to fix/replace.
  - Basketball court shades – to make the space more useable (provide some relief from the sun) and more attractive. However, this would likely be a huge project given the space that needs to be covered and the potential amount of time/money involved.
- Having compared the three projects, the Executive Board decided that the Deadland project is most achievable at this time, and so fundraising efforts will be focused on that.

Fundraising Update – Courtney
- Short-term fundraising ideas: Boosterthon, Readathon, flower/wreath fundraiser (contract with a company to sell holiday arrangements at a mark-up)
- 2020 Gala Update- since our big event was canceled due to the pandemic, we have a credit with the event space which is good for one year from the date of our event. As we see how fundraising efforts/the current situation goes, we can begin to think about some kind of auction/bigger event in the spring.

Upcoming Event – Naomi
- An outdoor, socially distanced opportunity for Field families to come together, chat, and hang out. The PTO will provide food and have some spirit items for sale (Date/Time TBD)

Miscellaneous-
- Afterschool care for children returning to face to face learning: Oscar and Hai will create a survey to send to PTO-registered families in order to connect community members in need of an aftercare option for their children, as there is currently no after school program at Field.
- Ancillaries: We have not yet heard about the grant for our arts ancillary but will go ahead with it regardless. Library and PE will be asynchronous for students continuing virtual learning. Mrs. Esquivel is hopeful that a TEAMS-based Name That Book group can start meeting later this fall.
- Some kind of directory for Field families? The PTO will look into this as the school is not able to publish/share contact information. In the meantime, Field families are encouraged to contact any of the PTO board members as collectively we have kids across all the grades at Field and can help create connections (or know someone who can).
  - fieldespto@gmail.com
  - fieldespto.vp@gmail.com
  - fieldespto.secretary@gmail.com
  - fieldespto.treasurer@gmail.com
  - fieldespto.fundraising@gmail.com
  - fieldestours@gmail.com