Chestnutwold Parent Teacher Organization (PTO)
Meeting Agenda: Oct 8th, 2025
Attendees: 7 board members, 14 attendees, Mrs. Leach, 1 4th grade Teacher
Welcome & PTO Highlight of the Month
Phoenix Fun Day - one of our favorite events here at Chestnutwold. Impressive how many volunteers we had this year. Helped allow parents to have fun with their kids, rather than volunteering for multiple timeslots. $7,500 to go towards class enhancements. Jen and Grace did a great job
Vote to Approve Minutes from Last Minute (Approved)
Vote to Approve new Treasurer, term from Nov 1 - June 30, 2025
To keep our bylaws as smooth as we can, new treasurer will have a shorter term - Joe Macnamara (Approved)
Phoenix Fun Day Recap
Treasurer’s Monthly Report
We just closed the form for classroom enhancements, next step is to review requests. Teachers can ask for supplies, games, furniture etc. Directly impacts kids and classrooms.
Upcoming Events & Activities
Trunk or Treat on Sat 10/25 in the Chestnutwold Parking lot @ 5:30. We have 8 cars so far, we need more volunteers for trunks.
November 7 - Parent Quizzo - Sign ups are now open. If you have a table of grade-level parents or couples that’s a great way to have fun at the CREC. You can buy one ticket or a whole table. Post on grade-level facebook groups to put together a table
Looking for one more person to help with Quizzo - especially with raffle baskets, or if you have something to donate for the baskets - send an email to chestnutwoldevents@gmail.com
Holiday Market on Sunday December 14 - if you know anybody in the community who wants to be a vendor, we’re currently looking for more people
Election Day Bake Sale 11/4 (shifts from 8-4) - we still need a lot of shifts to cover that day, we should be good with baked goods.
In-School Events:
Juggler’s Little Circus on 10/30
Still need leads for Art in the Classroom - that role coordinates on project with classroom volunteers, and a small role with the Art Show
Clubs - We have 19 after school clubs supported by about 25 volunteers. Over 200 kids are participating. Reminder that we’ll be doing this in the Winter again (Feb/March timeframe). We may also try to do a few more paid clubs.
Principal’s Remarks
Busy start to the year!
5th grade classes are going on “Living History” field trips at Nitre Hall (in addition to end-of-year field trips)
WIN groups have started
Wizard of Oz auditions started for 5th grade (early this year)
Kindergarten visit from the Oakmont Fire Company on Friday
Teacher’s Remarks - Kelly Lucas, 4th grade
Thank you for support from classroom enhancements.
Looking forward to spiritwear sales (should be out soon).
Reading Olympic forms will be going out this week for 4th and 5th graders, will be on teams of 12 kids, and competition in the spring. Nobody has the amount of reading olympic teams that we do, teachers give up their lunches to volunteer. Kids get really excited, learn about new genres. Price increased a bit due to DCIU asking for funds for each team. May need PTO to help with funds.
Flag football starting 10/27 - medical form coming out soon for all sports. Just games, no practices. Teams should come out on 10/17. Trying this year to have a team be color rather than wearing pinnies.
Question about ELA this year vs last year (first year ELA is not leveled, second year of Wit and Wisdom Curriculum district-wide) - students are challenging themselves more. Working with partners, discussing learning, finding evidence helps support students. Better morale. Things look/feel better this year. Now that teachers know the curriculum things are running more smoothly. Haven’t seen any issues now that things aren’t leveled. Different in a good way. Teacher who now has a mixed classroom vs one with kids who needed more support, thinks its much better now, different voices adding better perspective. Groups easier to manage. WIN time still allows for targeted instruction for kids who need to stretch more in one direction or the other.
IDC
First meeting is next week, nothing to report yet
Note on other schools - most other schools don’t do a play, and in other schools, teachers run paid clubs
New Business
Lice - what is the policy in schools?
From Pupil Services/Nurse Protocols - Because it is no longer recognized as a disease/health hazard, there is not a precedent to report it. For privacy it isn’t communicated, in the same way it’s not communicated if someone is sent home sick
Can it be changed? Bring up at IDC
Lice Presentation
How do you get head lice? Head-to-Head contact - Heads touch innocently and often. You can’t tell your kid not to put their head near others, or not to hug etc. The best way to manage is through a combing head check.
If you have lice, what do you have to do in your house? ONLY 3 things - the head, the brush, and the towel you last dried your hair with. Carpet, bedding, toys etc don't need to be cleaned. No need to vacuum, bagging stuffies etc. (this is for fleas and bedbugs, this is when info was grouped together for three different parasites) You don’t have to worry about your house. Neurotoxins no longer effective against head lice (have been used for 60+ years, resistance has built up in lice starting in the 70s). Post-Covid they don’t really work at all. Companies have no incentive to fix it. It takes up to 3 weeks of daily work to get rid of head lice without effective treatment.
An effective lice control plan for your family: you can’t rely on a nurse to control an outbreak in your class, your grade, your school. A visual check is only going to find an obvious case, it can get missed. Nothing in the classroom has to be cleaned because of lice. You need to do a combing head check regularly. Prevention products do not work (maybe for an hour). If you do have lice, tell people. You’re not helping people by not saying anything
Peace of Mind Head check (Do this Twice a Month): After a bath or shower when your hair is wet, add detangler spray, connect with your child about their day. Any plastic handle comb isn’t strong enough for removing nits. Imagine your head is a circle, make a peace sign and check in three sections. Connect each swipe by overlapping with the section before it, keeping the comb against the scalp. Wipe on a white paper towel to look for eggs. If you have really short hair that combs back, comb it like Elvis. Otherwise do side-to-side. Most evidence of head lice is at the top of the head and on the sides, not on the nape of the neck and behind the ears. If you’re itchy it’s from an allergic reaction to the bug bites, this is where you’d feel it more on your neck/behind ears. Top and sides are most important. Back of head is less important. Not everyone is allergic to the bug bite, so not everyone itches. You can text Ilene if you’re not sure what you see on your paper towel when checking.
Life Cycle of Lice - fertilized female bug gets onto a new host, right away lays ~20 eggs. Has a meal right away. Bug dies within a day or two. Bugs dies, and then eggs take 5-6 days to mature, then take 7-10 days for new bugs to mature. About a month until you are contagious. Kids who got it at camp went to school and about 2 weeks in they are contagious. Then it passed to other kids and the cycle starts again. Lice used to be seasonal (June - Jan). Sept is the quietest month just because kids are getting to know each other.
You get lice for all the right reasons, schools aren't responsible for checks, if you find lice, tell people who you’ve been with for the past 3 weeks. You don’t need to clean your whole house.
How to clean your brush? Remove hair each use to prevent lice spreading from shared brushes. After lice, dunk in a container of hot water, freeze it
Ilene’s treatment kills bugs on contact - dimethicone-based, olive oil, rosemary, beeswax. Apply like hair color, spread through with a regular comb, then use the nit comb. Try to make this fun. Second treatment in 5-6 days to kill the nits that hatch.
Very very unlikely that a bug would stay on the surface to transfer from one person to the other.
Human head lice is species-specific (not to/from pets)
If you have hair on your head you’re a candidate for lice, no matter the texture. Hair care products that are greasy can actually help deter head lice