September 2026 PTO Meeting Minutes

Written By Chestnutwold School PTO

Attendees: 2 Kindergarten teachers, Mrs. Leach, 7 board members, 26 attendees

  • Welcome & Introduction to Chestnutwold PTO

    • PTO Highlight of the Month: Used funds raised last year to make improvements to the staff and teacher lounge

    • Vote to approve Erin Lawrie as co-president - APPROVED

  • Overview of SY26-27: Clubs, In-School Activities, Events

    • Unique Volunteer Opportunities this year

      • 5th grade committee - will be discussing that more next week

      • in person talent show this year

    • Phoenix Fun Day is next Friday - looking for volunteers for this, and taking bake sale donations. Also taking pizza pre-orders. Fun event with inflatables, crafts, raffles, spiritwear

    • Clubs: 

      • 4 paid clubs still have space - theater club has opened up to 2nd grade

      • Volunteer-led clubs - Sign-ups will be going live on Friday, but the list of clubs/dates is now listed on the website. Will notify families which club they are in by the end of September. Looking for a co-lead for Roots & Shoots, and leads for 2nd grade clubs

    • In-School activities - Fall

      • Extreme Science assembly on 10/3

      • 11/3 - Election day bake sale and clothing drive - we could use volunteers for the clothing drive

      • Young Writer’s day - local authors come to talk about their book, music, etc. with classes. Will be looking for parent volunteers to take authors to the classrooms

      • Book Fair

    • Future in-school activities: 

      • Art in the Classroom - focus on an art lesson, coordinate with their child’s teacher on date and time. Projects get featured in the spring Evening of the Arts

      • Considering combining art and music or STEAM in the classroom - open to anything for parents to share real-world experiences with classes 

      • MLK day of service - needs a co-chair

      • Monthly Teacher Appreciation - sign up with a buddy to do one special thing per month. Some months have a budget, some are free. You can come up with your own idea or get help from the chair

    • Homeroom Helpers

      • Homeroom helpers help plan class parties, send emails to the class about gift collection, share info about PTO events etc.

      • Change based on parents and observations over the past several years - same parents signing up each year, often in multiple classrooms. Wanted to make a system that’s more inclusive, encouraging more parents to get involved. The hope is that more parents who haven’t volunteered in the past might step up once they see that there are vacancies. 

      • In the past, only homeroom helpers could attend parties, but now 1 adult per child is invited to all class parties. Homeroom helpers coordinate with teacher about the parties, and with families to help organize the party.For working parents - its ok if you can’t attend all the parties. Not a lot of time commitment to plan the party - often times most communication is via email/text

      • 4 Homeroom helpers per classroom. Used to be first come, first served. We wanted to be more equitable so we changed this to a lottery system. If there are not enough HHs, one option is to have parents commit to help plan just one party.

      • For parents who are solo helpers, the board will work on ways to better support you. We welcome all feedback - we want to make sure this is a system that works for everyone

  • Vote to Approve Minutes from Last Meeting - APPROVED

  • Treasurers’ Monthly Report + Vote on 2026-27 Budget  - APPROVED

  • Principal’s Remarks

    • Thanks to everyone for joining - this is a special community, all because of you

    • Lots of info in the Friday Smores - please try to read them!

    • We’ve had a smooth start to the school year, positive vibe in the building across the board. 

    • Last week and this week we were doing beginning of the year assessments - used in part to create WIN groups (grades 1-5). These will start end of Sept/beginning of October. Every 6-8 weeks we reconvene at the grade level as a data team, talk about what kids need and are getting, and re-evaluate as needed

    • 6 CHeCK traits - Chestnutwold advisory committee discussed and wanted to make these more meaningful and accessible - revamping to use the acronym of “RISE”. We are working through making sure everyone understands these and that our kids are embodying these words.

      • If anyone is looking to help from a visual/design perspective, reach out to Mrs. Leach

    • One book, one Chestnutwold - book is called Blackout - power goes out and everyone has to find things to do. Looking to find ways to connect to our community in new ways. Planning a family night related to this book - might include board game stations and other screen-free activities. Looking at 11/2, ironing out the details

  • Kindergarten Teachers’ Remarks

    • Thank you for the coffee and pastries for day after back to school night, and for the staff lounge and classroom enhancements

    • ELA - Working on the letters T, B, F (sounds, formations), sight words with songs to go with them. Have your kids be ‘sight word detectives’ in the car etc.

    • Math - huge difference from 3rd grade. Talking about finding things that are exactly the same, things with differences, different sizes, colors. Kids are encouraged to explain their thinking (1 on 1). Fun to sit and hear what the kids are thinking.

  • Intra-District Council - no rep tonight

Chestnutwold School PTO
Next

May 2026 PTO Meeting Minutes