March Meeting Minutes

South PAC Meeting March 19, 2009

Attending: Sarah Sl, Rachel, Jessy, Angie, Kris, Heather, Christy, Trisha, Sarah Sh, Catherine

MELD Class Update: (Christy) Eric Hansen from Sullivan is looking for feedback on parent-led MELD classes. What would entice parents to teach these classes? Options included training, year-long classes, choosing locations, and PAC-provided gift cards or a small stipend. Classes would be free for MELD teachers. It was agreed that gift cards provided by PAC would be a great idea and there was general interest and support around the table.

Treasurer’s Report: (Christy for Tina) We have $2,008.64 which does not include the $1,000 that Trish secured for us through her employer, Best Buy.

LAC Report: (Christy and Trish) There was a general discussion about the need for volunteers and organization on lots of projects including writing grants, marketing, outreach and networking. Christy and Trish reported that PAC is awesome at organizing volunteers to do things, we just need to know exactly what we’re organizing. A conversation ensued about all of the possible things we could help with and Kris got really excited to go back to her staffers and brainstorm “concrete tasks” for PAC to organize (i.e. last day of school clean-up).

Advocacy: (Christy for Sheila) Sheila is still looking for help with getting principals to visit ECFE classrooms. This is important both for retention of ECFE parents and so parents know that ECFE matters to the administrators at their school. Catherine volunteered to work with Sheila.

Newsletter: (Catherine) Always looking for ideas to feature in the newsletter. The group came up with a great list that Catherine feverishly jotted down. Please continue to send ideas (or submissions) to Catherine or Christy.

Web site: (Christy) Elise is working on our (awesome) new web site and will be compiling a list of “Things to do in the Twin Cities with Kids” when her own life adjusting to two kids settles a bit. Haven’t we all discussed this list in our classes a million times? Aren’t there seemingly many copies with different ideas all over our sites? Let’s merge them together and send people to the web site. Email your ideas to Christy.

Vehicle Day: (Angie) Looking for cool car ideas and will schedule a committee meeting soon. Jessy, Jill, Heather, Sarah Sl, and Kelly are on the team.

Cinco de Mayo: (Trish) Trish and Tony will connect to work out the details. Sarah Sl is on the team. Tuesday, May 5th at Wilder.

PAC Night Out: (Christy) Where should we go? When should we go? After lots of (fun) discussion, we settled on Friday, April 24th at the Chatterbox in Highland Park. There will be an early option (for those who are dying to get out for dinner) and a late crew option (for those who need to stick around the homefront longer but who still desperately need to get out without the kids) with the hopes that the two will intersect in the middle. Let’s not leave Christy on her own at a bar again, ‘k? Catherine will send an Evite.

Speaker Events: (Trish) Angie’s going to do a Baby Sign event on a weeknight during May, probably at Hale. They’ll work with Kris to firm up details. Email Angie good signs that you used with your kids or think would be helpful to new parents to learn.

Elections for 2009-2010 PAC: (Christy) Christy will need some help next year since she was crazy enough to accept a chair position on the PTO of her daughter’s school. Leadership and committee positions available next year include:

Co-chairperson
Treasurer (Tina is stepping down)
Secretary
Gingerbread
Preschool Fair
Fundraising
Advocacy

Get working on your campaign slogans now!

Year-End Picnic: (Christy) The big ECFE Year-End Picnic is scheduled for Thursday, May 28, 5:30, at North Regional Park off I-94. Teddy Bear Band from 6:15-7:15. Stay tuned for more details.

Next Meeting: Thursday, April 16th.

Minutes submitted by Catherine.