Meeting was called to order at 7:10pm.  Lisa Ruvo (PTA president) welcomed new members and old members.

The PTA Board was in attendance:

Lisa Ruvo, PTA President
Traci Scarduzio, Vice President of Programs
Jo Anderson, Corresponding Secretary
Clara Riviere, Vice President of Membership
Dina Finelli, Treasurer
Shelly Black, Recording Secretary

Teacher Liaison: Mrs. Plambeck will be continuing in this role so we have communication with the teachers.  Lisa explained the PTA supplied Emergency Buckets in each classroom available to use in the case of an extensive lock down; they contain water, toilet paper, snacks among other things.

PTA membership: Clara Riviere reported 64 PTA members at this time.  Parts of the membership goes to programs, assemblies and activities for the kids.  There will be sign-up table at Parents as Partners.  Please join!

Corresponding Secretary Report: Jo Anderson  reported receiving many Thank You's from children who enjoyed the almost finished play ground.  Our Field Day (Survival theme) also yielded some Thank You's.  Jo passed them around.

Budget/Fundraising:  Lisa reported that PTA donated $1500 to the playground last school year, so we depleted most of our funds;  our fundraiser this year is very important!  We are thinking of ideas to have outside the school fundraisers.  Our Budget for the year is around $28,000.   We are also looking to cut some corners by eliminating coffee at PTA meetings, room parent tea refreshments, some teacher allocations; we do not want to cut any of our programs/assemblies which are educational and the kids really enjoy.  A question was raised about how the account balance was used between May and September; Lisa explained that there were playground funds to move over from the After School Program and other items that needed to be paid for.  To finish the playground completely, we have to install a 2nd swing set, cement, sign, benches, picnic tables which will be taken care of by the NYS Grant we received through Patrick Manning.  Many thanks to Kim Busche for meeting with Mr. Manning several times to discuss the grant and get the ball rolling.  We would not have know about the grant if it was not for Kim.  Thank you also to Nancy Buck, for wading through the paper work and red tape to get this grant through to us!

Committee Reports:

YearBook:  Andrea Corbett and  Linda Kugler are the chair people.  This year, the yearbook will be fully in color with hard cover 72 pages, which raises the cost to $25.  To mitigate the cost, they are planning a fundraiser selling key chains and pens personalized up to 8 characters; they will sell for $6 each  and we keep 43% profit on that.  Booster pages will be sold where parents/relatives/friends can say "Congratulations" to their children.  Also business sponsors are a consideration.  We need  people to volunteer to take photos at various events; there are cameras with film available for any volunteers.  They prefer not to receive digital photos online since it took a lot of time for them to go get them printed.  Please send in any printed photos in an envelope marked YEARBOOK.

Boxtops for Education:   Boxtops and the contests run by Karen Feldweg, raised about $3000 last year.  The Summer/Early Fall contest will end Oct 21st; please mark all envelopes with teacher's name (and am or pm for Kindergarten).   Also, save Campbell's soup labels.  Go to Boxtops4Education.com and sign up for their marketplace;  certain online purchases (like JCPenney, TJMaxx, Landsend, Target, Oriental Trading...) will give a percentage to our school.  We were Number 6 in New York State for total boxtop points collected!

Volunteers:  Please sign up and volunteer for the activities in our school.  Two big ones that need (Co-)ChairPeople are Science Fair in March and Talent show toward the end of  March.  An idea was brought up...maybe a faculty Talent Show could be arranged as a Fund Raiser.

Board of Education Meetings:  We are considering forming a rotating (maybe every 3 months or so) group of people who would make the commitment to attend.  The Board has complained in the past that parents do not attend.  There are overcrowding issues in the Junior high and High Schools in the district; children are now being forced into multiple Study Halls per day since all elective class are full.  A link to the Scheduled meetings will be added to our webpage.

PTA Council:  A lot of information is given out and it is a good place to state your concerns; perhaps this could be an alternate/addition to the Board Meetings.   We need a couple of volunteers to cover this meeting which is held every month at various district schools; it is not as long in duration as the Board meetings.

E-Mail Distribution List:   Chairpeople please send **ALL** office approved memos to SDBlack@us.ibm.com so that the information can be sent home via the distribution list.  Visit the google group link to sign up to receive e-mail memos:  http://groups.google.com/group/FishkillPlains

Family Fun Night:  Oct 28th  there will be 2 shows Laser Light Show.   Tickets will be sold in advance so that we do not exceed the 200 person max in the cafeteria.

Website: Please e-mail SDBlack@us.ibm.com if you see anything that needs to be updated.  Shelly will remove the 2002(!) astronaut visit and will update the After School Care information.

Fencing near the new playground.   Bill Crossin is the Safety and Transportation representative for the district.  There was a volunteer to bring up to him the poor status of the fencing near the new playground.

APR painting status.  The cost of this would have to fall under programs, since it is not a separate line in the budget.  Once the fall fundraiser is in, we can consider some allocation for this.   The kids would be involved in the painting.  "Bulletin Board' Display frames will be incorporated so that Mrs. O'Shea can display the children's art work.

Reflections:  Letter will be going home for this soon with details.  Participation was not spectacular last year, so we are hoping to do better and maybe involve the teachers to help encourage participation.  There were some nice prizes last year.  "I Wonder Why"  is the theme this year.

Traffic nightmare at 376 and Lake Walton was brought up.  The bridge on 376 is closed, so Lake Walton is more heavily used than usual.  A turning lane is in the plan to be added.  Town Board is the place to bring up any further concerns.

St Vincent DePaul - Kim Busche and Eva Santos will be sending home information.  There is a lot of need especially due to the hurricanes.   Food will be our main focus this year.  It is a good  fit into our Character Education themes that give the kids an appreciation for those in need right here in our area.

Hurricane Katrina:  Change is being collected by Mrs. Brady.  Possibly adopt a school through the Red Cross and give Fishkill Plains kids pen pals; we can collect and help fill some of the children's specific needs.  Operation Christmas Child is one organization that is worth looking in to.

Dianne and Steve Aquilino, Carol Geraci, Dawn Hackett  all worked on our beautiful garden.

We are collecting gently used stuffed animals for Iraqi children to be sent overseas through Patrick Manning.  There is a healthy competition brewing between Gayhead and Fishkill Plains to see which school can collect the most, so send them in!

Meeting was adjourned at 8:30pm.

Upcoming meetings:   Monday, Oct 17th  9:15am
                                Friday, Nov 18th  9:15am
                                Thursday, Dec 15th   7:00pm