Thank you to all who have participated this year - whether in donations of money or time - in achieving our key PTA goals: raising funds to enrich the educational experience of all our kids, and in building a supportive and involved community of Spruce Street families and staff.
Some highlights from our tenth year:
Some special thanks...
Thank you to our outgoing PTA Executive Board members - Kathy Alecia, Caroline Rouine, Nicky Saunders, Beth Goldoff, Wendy Juan, Staci MacKenzie and Dawn Gallagher. We are all indebted to you for your service, and also grateful that we are not losing you from the school altogether!
Thank you also to those involved and dedicated parents who are 'graduating' this year - including Laetitia Damiani, Keri Bannon, Gabriel Regentin, Lugi Hernandez, Shara Perez, Shab Boettle and Elda Rotor.
Thank you to all the class parents, volunteers, and families who get involved at every level. You can all be so proud of your contribution to the very special place that our school is.
Need a reminder of just how special Spruce Street is?
Take a look at the video put together by Nancy and Shawn Hughey for yesterday's Tenth Birthday Celebration.
A look ahead to next year... always room for improvement.
We heard from parents wanting us to hold meetings in the evenings - they want more engagement with the PTA process, but perhaps don't need to hear the minutiae of a monthly meeting. In response, this month we launched the first of our evening Deep Dive Budget meetings, which we will repeat. Be sure to attend in the Fall for a fantastic insight by Nancy into the way the DOE budgets work, as well as details on how the PTA raises money, and where those funds are spent.
As we continue to look for new ways to streamline and simplify the experience of our PTA members, one area crying out for improvement has been the annual purchase of supplies...
Rather than the school receiving hundreds of boxes and bags of individually purchased supplies over a period of weeks, (and as a result, teachers being unable to start on day one with a fully ready classroom), the PTA and Valerie will now take on this role ourselves.
Teachers and students will have a much more organized and calm first day; we will drastically reduce packaging waste; there will undoubtedly be significant cost savings from purchasing in bulk; and parents - even middle school! - will be all done with one easy payment. Look out over the summer for your Paypal link, and ensure this initiative provides the simplification we intend.
We look forward to seeing old friends, new teachers and classmates, and welcoming new-to-Spruce families, when we return in the Fall. There'll be no shortage of opportunities to get involved and play a part in furthering our school again next year.
Wishing you all a wonderful and relaxing summer!
Rachel Nolan and Sonia Jacobson
PTA Co-Presidents
Some highlights from our tenth year:
- We started with our biggest Welcome Back Social yet - not in the cafeteria! - with so many new enthusiastically engaged parents;
- We held our first Taste of the Seaport on Pier 17, and made a record $67,000 for each school, despite a touch of rain;
- Spooktacular bridged the loss of original chairs with a whole new committee stepping up;
- Gala moved to a beautiful new location, and suffered no loss of revenue: we maintained corporate sponsorship levels despite a late change in personnel, and increased ticket sales made up for the new space hire costs;
- Read-a-thon hit a new high with $20,000 in profit;
- We launched a brand new fundraiser with Spruce Experience, aiming to outsource events beyond the core group (and replace the need for a second carnival), as well as to help provide opportunities to socialize throughout this year of celebration. This steadily building fundraiser made $10,000, from 20 parties and 250 attendees.
- Overall, despite an originally projected deficit of $65,000, we closed $27,000 ahead. This result is despite having covered more expenses than before - such as our expanded Chess program, and a longer/more involved middle school field trip to Washington DC.
Some special thanks...
Thank you to our outgoing PTA Executive Board members - Kathy Alecia, Caroline Rouine, Nicky Saunders, Beth Goldoff, Wendy Juan, Staci MacKenzie and Dawn Gallagher. We are all indebted to you for your service, and also grateful that we are not losing you from the school altogether!
Thank you also to those involved and dedicated parents who are 'graduating' this year - including Laetitia Damiani, Keri Bannon, Gabriel Regentin, Lugi Hernandez, Shara Perez, Shab Boettle and Elda Rotor.
Thank you to all the class parents, volunteers, and families who get involved at every level. You can all be so proud of your contribution to the very special place that our school is.
Need a reminder of just how special Spruce Street is?
Take a look at the video put together by Nancy and Shawn Hughey for yesterday's Tenth Birthday Celebration.
A look ahead to next year... always room for improvement.
We heard from parents wanting us to hold meetings in the evenings - they want more engagement with the PTA process, but perhaps don't need to hear the minutiae of a monthly meeting. In response, this month we launched the first of our evening Deep Dive Budget meetings, which we will repeat. Be sure to attend in the Fall for a fantastic insight by Nancy into the way the DOE budgets work, as well as details on how the PTA raises money, and where those funds are spent.
As we continue to look for new ways to streamline and simplify the experience of our PTA members, one area crying out for improvement has been the annual purchase of supplies...
Rather than the school receiving hundreds of boxes and bags of individually purchased supplies over a period of weeks, (and as a result, teachers being unable to start on day one with a fully ready classroom), the PTA and Valerie will now take on this role ourselves.
Teachers and students will have a much more organized and calm first day; we will drastically reduce packaging waste; there will undoubtedly be significant cost savings from purchasing in bulk; and parents - even middle school! - will be all done with one easy payment. Look out over the summer for your Paypal link, and ensure this initiative provides the simplification we intend.
We look forward to seeing old friends, new teachers and classmates, and welcoming new-to-Spruce families, when we return in the Fall. There'll be no shortage of opportunities to get involved and play a part in furthering our school again next year.
Wishing you all a wonderful and relaxing summer!
Rachel Nolan and Sonia Jacobson
PTA Co-Presidents