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Do you remember when you were new to FKES?
Now that you are not new, we would like to have you help us welcome those who are…
Based on information/ideas gathered at the January PTA meeting, the FKES PTA is creating a New Parent Mentoring Program at Forest Knolls. Our initial focus is to provide mentors to the new families/parents of children that will be in kindergarten at Forest Knolls next year.
Would you be interested in being a mentor family to a new family? You would act as a resource and point of contact for questions as the year begins, tapering off as the year progresses (say by end of October 2012).
The family mentor program is designed to welcome new families and guide them through the first few months as well as to encourage greater participation of parents at all levels in activities at Forest Knolls. We are hoping to help further strengthen this community of parents and students at Forest Knolls.
If you have any additional questions, or if you are interested in becoming involved in this new program, please let me know at hospitality@fkespta.org. Please feel free to share this request with families that you feel may be interested in this new opportunity, either as participants or mentors.
Gretchen Vidergar
Hospitality Chair
The staff and PTA at Forest Knolls have hosted some wonderful activities this school year, and I’d love to be able to show them off in this year’s yearbook. So . . . if you have photos from a classroom activity, a class field trip, or an after-school activity that might fill out our yearbook pages, I’d love to receive them.Please email your photos to: Ronita Hook at yearbook@fkespta.org. When you send them, please identify the event and the individuals in the photo so that we can properly label them AND so that we can check with the office to make sure we have permission to print them in the yearbook. If the photo is of your child, please include in a statement that we have permission to publish them. Thank you!Ronita HookYearbook Coordinator
Balloons! Small Children!! Circus Clowns!!! (Okay, truthfully, there won’t be circus clowns). Volunteers Needed for Kindergarten Orientation: Volunteers are needed to help run Kindergarten Orientation for entering kindergarten families on May 3 and 4, 2012. Orientation runs from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. on Thursday (with a one-hour lunch break at noon), and from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. on Friday. Thursday volunteers will work morning (9:00-12:00) or afternoon (1:00-3:00) shifts. Friday volunteers are need for the morning (9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.).
Volunteers will be involved in tasks like:
• Giving school tours every hour on the hour during their shift. Spanish-speaking volunteers, in particular, are needed to help with the tours;
• Taking pictures of children;
• Handing out numbers in the parent room; and
• Greeting new parents to help lead them to rooms.
In addition, volunteers are needed before Orientation to:
• Hang up orientation materials (on Wednesday, May 2, at anytime of the school day);
• Blow up balloons and help with set up (from 8:00-9:00 on May 3 and 4);
• Make name tags on your computer for incoming Kindergarten students (can be done at home or at school a week before orientation; and
• Hang up orientation flyers in the neighborhoods on the light poles and at grocery stores in the area.
If you can lend a hand, please contact PTA Volunteer Coordinator Renée Hutchins at rhutchins@law.umaryland.edu. Thanks in advance for your support!!!
Renée Hutchins
Volunteer Coordinator
Time to start thinking of spring, when we hope to get more students and teachers out on the nature trail!
Here are a few opportunities for FKES kids and families to get involved: Nature-loving student writers.We need a few students who are excited to write about nature, to add to our existing nature trail signs. Topics will focus on animals and plants on our trail. Woodworkers. We’re looking to create new wooden signs that mark the trail entrances and remind visitors of the trail rules. Ideally we can use reclaimed / recycled wood. This could be a great project for a scout!
Weed removers and rakers. English ivy is starting to smother some trees. Plus, some leaves never got raked in the fall. Please consider joining us for Second Saturday landscaping morning, Feb. 11, from 10 a.m. – Noon, to help. (Check in via email before coming, in case of bad weather!)
To get involved, contact Clare Nielsen Neal, Conservation Landscaping, at conservation.landscaping @ fkespta.org.
Clare Nielsen Neal
Conservation Landscaping Coordinator
Forest Knolls PTA will be in need of a Treasurer for the next school year.
If you are a detailed oriented person with some accounting experience, this could be your chance to make a lasting contribution to our school!
Your current FKES PTA Treasurer, Uli Nasshan, is happy to talk with anyone interested finding out about this position and getting to know more of the details over the next few months. This is an important position that is required for the PTA to exist and continue to help our students.
Estimated time commitment: 8 hours a month (closer to 12 hours / month in the first and third quarter of the school year)
- Prepare and present monthly financial reports at all PTA Executive Board for review and approval
- Provide summary of financial activities at General Membership meetings
- Convene and chair FKES PTA Budget Committee
- Prepare proposed budget in collaboration with President
- Present the Proposed Budget to Executive Board and general PTA membership
- Handle all PTA financial transactions in accordance with PTA guidelines and procedures
- Ensure that bank signature cards have current authorized office holders
- Secure two authorized signatures on all checks
- Interface with anyone in PTA who handles money, assuring that PTA procedures are followed
- Maintain all PTA financial records
- Keep the Executive Board and PTA membership informed of expenditures versus budget
- Forward payments (dues, insurance, assessments) to MD and MCC PTA
- Responsible for tax filings (prepare taxes and provide support to accountant for annual taxes)
- Work with PTA Auditor (annual)
- Be familiar with and abide by current FKES PTA bylaws
Contact Bill McGrath (president@fkespta.org), John Acosta (vice.president@fkespta.org), Nate Conroy (recording.secretary@fkespta.org) or Uli Nasshan (treasurer@fkespta.org) to find out more!
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