Word from Williams – Williams PTO

Spring in coming! However, the playground still has snow and mud so please continue to pack boots and snow pants for outside recess. Please also check the Lost & Found by the gymnasium for lost hats, gloves and other items! Even better, label your items with your child’s name to ensure fast return of their clothes. You can get yours through Label Daddy and a portion of your purchase will benefit the Williams PTO.

Treasurer’s Report for March 1, 2015

The second quarter of our fiscal year (December 1 through February 28) has flown by. We still have not been able to gain much ground on the Annual Campaign. Our current total is $12,785, just about 80% of plan. We’ll hope to make up this gap with the strong showings of our other fundraisers.

This quarter, we raised an additional $912 income from our “Be Ahead Of The Game” sports clinics. That puts the total income for that effort at $2,568. Remember that our budget sheet only forecasted a $300 profit for the clinics. Through our relationship with “Just Next Door”, we raised $95 at the holiday shopping night held in December. The big anchor this quarter was, of course, the Summer Camp Auction. We cleared $6,378 from Bidding For Good for that auction. We hope that, when we close out the Vintage auction, that the two will have netted $12,500, so we’re in good shape. Parents’ Comedy night at Bocca Bella proved very successful, pulling in $990. Rounding out fundraising for this quarter is an update on our shopping commissions and corporate matches. The shopping commissions (which stem from Box Tops, Amazon and Target – all of which sent us checks this quarter) brought our annual total on that line item to $991. Corporate matching income is currently at $1,542, which is double plan.

Total income to date is $33,445. Our fiscal plan projects $40,850 by start of June.

On the expense side, Creative Arts and Science programs, like Emilie Boon and Techsploration, have logged $11,949. That budget is almost at plan. The PTO has paid $2,203 in discretionary funds to both the teachers and the principal. All discretionary budgets total $6,250 for the year. We’ve also finished our mini-grant cycle for the year, paying out $3,208. We will be checking in with mini grant recipients soon to see how their purchase are making a difference in the classrooms. To this point, the PTO has funded $1,685 for books and supplies for the library. We do not expect any additional purchases against that line item for the year.

Lastly, the PTO Executive Board voted unanimously to use technology money and $8000 worth of funds from the surplus to make purchases of Redcat audio systems for all of the classrooms at Williams. That purchase was made through NPS and totaled $11,636. All students will be able to take advantage of this exciting technology.

At the end of the second quarter, expenses for all school operations is $34,881 and PTO operations total is $1,691. Total expense is therefore $36,573.

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact treasurer@williamspto.org.

Thanks!

Dawn Plummer, PTO Treasurer

J-U-M-P for Williams on Friday 3/27 at Launch Watertown!!

On Friday, March 27th, between 4 pm- 8 pm, Launch Trampoline Park Watertown will hold a special Williams School Day where Launch will give back to our school 25% of all jump proceeds collected from patrons who simply mention Williams. So why not plan for a full-out jump-fest?! Bring your friends (ALL ages are welcome -yes, adults can jump too!), and have a BLAST! Launch Watertown’s brand new facility is located on Pleasent St. right acrosss from Russo’s Market, and the 18,000 sq ft. space not only has multiple open tramp fields, but also has trampoline dodge ball, basketball, and foam pits.

We are excited to announce the purchase of Redcat audio systems for every classroom at Williams. After numerous consultations with Mrs. F-D and NPS Technology, the PTO approved funding to update all classrooms with sound amplification systems. Some classrooms were already equipped with these systems to benefit children with hearing difficulties. However, these systems are found to benefit all children while saving the voices of teachers as well. Even more exciting is that some schools have found that student achievement increases with use. You can read more about these systems at: http://store.lightspeed-tek.com/products/redcat/redcat-media/ and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-stibal/post_6146_b_4261637.html

NewtonSERVES is on Sunday, April 26th. NewtonSERVES is a Day of Community Service that brings together over 1,000 volunteers of all ages to complete more than 50 community projects for the benefit of numerous non-profit organizations and City of Newton departments. Volunteers work in teams on morning, afternoon or all day projects throughout the city, such as cleaning up parks, planting gardens, building and painting school bookshelves, spring cleaning at non-profit organizations and helping senior citizens. By enhancing the City of Newton’s sense of community, NewtonSERVES helps to foster a culture of year-round volunteerism.

Williams will have its own project on the school grounds. We hope that families can spare an hour (or the day!) to help make Williams beautiful. We’ll be working inside and out. We’ll have things to work on for adults and children so everyone can participate. T-shirts and snacks for all participants. More information to follow.

The Spring Scholastic Book Fair is coming in May! You’ll be able to get all your summer reading lists filled up when the fair comes on Thursday, May 28th and Friday, May 29th. Stay tuned for more information.

Friday, April 3rd – No School (Good Friday observed)

April 20-24th: April vacation week

May 4-8th: Staff Appreciation Week!

As always, we’ll be announcing events as the calendar progresses to keep checking your emails and the website.