South PAC meeting minutes April 17, 2008

The next meeting is Thursday, May 15, 2008, from 7:00 to 8:30 pm at Wilder School (34th & Chicago). This will be our last meeting for the school year. In addition to regular business, we’ll elect officers for next year and have an opportunity to sign up for committees. Get the best committees now, before they’re taken!

LAC meets from 5:00 to 5:30 pm (dinner) and 5:30 to 6:45 pm (meeting).
As always, free childcare is provided for both meetings.

Attending: Christy Pettis, Tina Ham Peterson, Jessy Schrandt, Michelle Mougin, Sara Hong, Trisha Hanson, Elise Robinson, Heather Cholat

Treasurer’s Report (Tina)
Our balance is approximately $ 2000.

Cinco de Mayo Event (Christy)
The date is Monday, May 5, at Wilder School (34th & Chicago). Potluck from 5:00 to 6:00 pm. Activities from 5:30 to 7:00 (kids crafts, music, bubbles & dancing). A motion passed to spend approximately $400 for the purchase of chips, beans & rice, and craft supplies. Volunteers are needed to staff the event.

Vehicle Day (Jessy)
The event is Saturday, May 31 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, at Sabbathani (38th St and 3rd Ave S). Jessy completed all the calls on the list (yea Jessy!), and got 7 commitments and several more possibilities. The Bloodmobile may participate and also do blood donations. We also may have car-seat inspections. Food donations will be taken for the Sabbathani food shelf.

Flyers (Elise)
Elise developed 2 prototypes and took comments and suggestions. She’ll bring a mock-up for the next meeting, as well as information on costs.

Work With the U (Elise)
Elise talked with a U of M PhD candidate, who suggested we should be as specific as possible about what information we want, and whether we want a longitudinal study or something more like data-mining. We decided that ideally, we’d like both, although the legislators need information sooner rather than later. One important thing to discover is whether ECFE parents tend to stay in the Minneapolis Public School system. That information could prove valuable in making a case for continued ECFE funding. Elise will contact Sharon Moser to see what kind of information might be available from MPS.

Year-end PAC Family Picnic (Christy)
The picnic will be the afternoon of Saturday June 7 at Keewaydin Park. We’ll have a potluck. PAC will supply pizza.