Minutes

St. Thomas Preschool Advisory Board Meeting

January 14, 2010

The Saint Thomas Advisory Board Meeting was called to order 12:30 p.m. at the St. Thomas Church nursery.

 Present: Michelle Garmon, Dusty Murphy, Amy Geile, Lorie Cueva-Garcia, Jenny Toole, Jennifer  Peterson, Debbie Brooks, Nancy Ruther, Julie Nentl, Amy Huether, Tracy Curtin.

Opening Prayer was said by Amy Geile.

There were no minutes for the December holiday luncheon which took place of the meeting.

Agenda was approved.

 President’s Report

Nancy Ruther

•Nancy welcomed everyone to the meeting.

 Director’s Report

Michelle Garmon

·         Observations in the classrooms have begun.

·         Our NAEYC coach, Bridget Longoria, will begin consulting on January 15, 2010 to look at the classroom portfolios and help begin our process.

·         The Catholic Diocese awarded St. Thomas Catholic Preschool grant money which will be used for NAEYC accreditation and a school library.

·         Registration for the 2010-2011school year for current families will run January 25, 2010-February 5, 2010.  It will then open to new families.

·         Dusty presented a draft of the summer camp brochure.  The camp will offer new classes and be formatted differently to include full day options and lunch.

Committee Reports

 Fundraising

Jennifer Peterson and Tracy Curtin

·         The Boots and Lace Fundraiser planning is going very well.  About 180 items have been secured and more are coming daily.

·         Live auction will have a puppy, 1 hr. private wine tasting with somolier from Vin Table, a Sedona Breakfast flight, Disney package and flying lessons.

 Community Service

Jennifer Toole

·         St. Thomas Preschool sent 25 food boxes to the San Carlos Reservation for Thanksgiving.

·         The St. Jude Trike-a-Thon raised $1600.

 Communications      

Lori Cueva- Garcia

·         Posada was a huge success!  Families have expressed positive feedback and liked having the dinner and piñata.

·         Planning will start for Teacher Appreciation Week.

 Treasurer

Amy Heuther

·         St. Thomas Preschool received $3,000 in donations from the church collections during Sunday mass for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.  They are restricted contributions and monies will be used toward school supplies.

·         Registration packets will go home with the new tuition increase.  Some families may be concerned with the new cost.    At the meetings that we held a few months ago, the topic was

difficult to discuss. The tuition increase that has been agreed on is to ensure that our tuition covers payroll and our operating budget.  It is important to remember that our increase will support and maintain;

     ·         Quality Early Education

·         NAEYC Accreditation (National Association for the Education of Young Children are quality early childhood standards and guidelines)

·         Children’s Library addition

·         Teacher Retention (reliable, consistent, educated, wonderful educators)

·         We are seeking a Developmental Kindergarten in our near future

New Business

·         Debbie suggested that next year for Posada we sell Tamale Tickets and families can purchase dinner.

·         Parent coffee will take place, Wednesday January 27, 2010 at 9 a.m.  Families can purchase Boots and Lace tickets.

The next board meeting will be Thursday, February 4 at 12:30 pm.

Minutes respectfully submitted,

Debbie Brooks