2024-8-12 LPO Meeting Minutes
2024-8-12 LPO Meeting Minutes
Lancer Parent Organization Board Meeting
August 12, 2024
Call to Order: 6:35 p.m.
Location: LHS Room 180
Recording Secretary: Amy Buckley
Attendees: Giovanna Lear, Deanna Vardeman, Aleta Harris, April Ladner, Amy Buckley, Nicole Vandesteeg, Dawn Hagen, Tara Ference, Dawn Werk, Jennifer Adams, Jenny Champlin, Stacy Nagel, Sara Robeson, Karen Calcaterra.
Guests: Dr. Mandy Lewis, Dr. Colleen Fields, Dr. Matt Borzillo, Mrs. Natasha Fischer, Mr. Jon Sumner, Dr. Mike Franklin
Secretary, Amy Buckley:
Reviewed bylaws content regarding eligibility to vote.
June 18, 2024 Minutes Approval. Sara Robeson motioned, Jenny Champlin seconded. The motion carried.
August 12, 2024 Consent Agenda Approval. Aleta Harris motioned. Jen Adams seconded. The motion carried.
Principal, Dr. Karen Calcaterra:
● Lafayette custodial staff (we are short-handed approximately 5-6 positions) have been working hard to prepare our school as a clean, welcoming space for the start of school.
● The main and back gyms have been refinished.
● New furniture is in place in Room 180.
● Phase 2 of the library remodel is complete.
● The parking lot, along with areas inside the building have been repainted. A new parking lot is coming next summer.
● Lancers Landing was able to utilize extra flooring from the recent preschool remodel.
● 11 new staff members (9 teachers, 1 support staff, 1 administrator) have joined LHS
● Many meetings and events are taking place this week.
● Freshman and Sophomores will be able to trade in their chromebooks for a newer version.
● The traffic flow for drop-off and pick-up will remain the same as the 23-24 year.
● Homecoming is scheduled for October 5th
President, Giovanna Lear:
● Upcoming events–please sign-up on the board and committee chair sign-up to assist.
● Lancers Landing has exciting new changes including flooring, a fresh coat of paint, new fridge, removal of circulation desk, addition of glass display cases and new mannequins. Spiritwear is tagged and a new inventory system in place. There are changes to food/beverage offerings in the store to provide healthier options.
● Please be sure you are signed up for the GroupMe in order to receive important reminders.
● Edits to the bylaws and standing rules will be shared before the upcoming 9/9 meeting for a vote.
● Presidents’ Forum Leadership Conference will be held at Lafayette on the evening of 9/11. Please plan to attend.
● Mark Masterson and Shalini Arya have decided to step back from their positions at this time. Deanna Vardeman will assume full Treasurer responsibilities going forward. Seeking a co-director for the Class of 2026 and a co-manager for Lancers Landing at this time and will welcome Mark and Shalini back if their circumstances change.
Special Guest Introductions, Mandy Lewis, Colleen Fields, Matt Borzillo, Natasha Fischer, Jon Sumner and Mike Franklin:
● Members of the Lafayette High School Administration team joined in and provided brief introductions of themselves and their role at Lafayette.
Treasurer, Deanna Vardeman:
● Monthly Financial Report was distributed and discussed.
● A revised 2024-2025 Budget was prepared and shared for discussion. The revisions were felt necessary due to the anticipated changes in income for Lancers Landing (due to change in item offerings and volunteer shortage impacting store openings) and ability to adequately support expenses.
● The revised budget will be presented for approval at the 9/9/24 meeting.
o Of note, the disbursement to each class will now be 1k instead of 2k.
o Discussed was the idea of covering the cost of some senior class items/activities instead of larger gifts raffled off at Senior Celebration.
● Additional Lancers Landing changes for this year include each shift manager having a unique login for Square, the elimination of punch cards and minimum purchase amounts (may revisit) and the addition of $25 Square “credit” cards for purchase.
● Each class treasurer will also have a unique login for Square.
VP Communications, Aleta Harris:
● Newsletter, Aleta Harris
○ Newsletter reminders will be sent every Wednesday. You can reply to that reminder email or email me directly with updates.
○ Per request: Each Class has their own Class Page on the LPO website. The LPO website is intended to be a place where parents can do a one-stop-shop for all their LPO information. This includes finding Class information that was shared in the newsletter and is too much to share on social media. Class Directors have access to maintain their own pages..
○ Each Class has their own Social Media they can use to communicate reminders, deadlines and general information. Giovanna and Aleta are administrators on these accounts as well. Instagram will cross post to Facebook, but not vice-versa.
○ PTO’s may get access to use Parent Square soon.
○ Please send in information you would like included in the newsletter by Friday before the following Monday release date. Mid-week email communications will be reserved for deadline reminders and urgent information.
○ Please remember that current practice is to single space after a sentence.
● Directory/Membership Toolkit, Martha Czymmek
○ Special thanks to our President, Giovanna Lear for revamping our LPO Membership Toolkit (MTK) website with our new domain: https://www.lancerparentorganization.com/!
○ If you have not done so already, please login to verify your email address, review/update your contact information & select your student/family directory inclusion preferences. Not sure about your website login information or password?
Current LHS & former RVMS families, login as a "Returning User" using your email that receives LPO Newsletters & "I forgot my password" instead of creating a new account.
○ Rockwood Valley Middle School & Lafayette High School student families were added or excluded in our Directory/Newsletter database based on the 2023-2024 District FERPA forms.
○ If you are a student family coming from other schools, select "New User" to create a website account. *First time website login requires email address verification.
**Check your SPAM folder if the email verification link is not in your inbox.
○ Contact me at LancerBuzzBook@gmail.com if you have questions and/or LPO website access issues.
○ As of 8/9/2024, LPO website details:
Contacts: 71 Active, 1246 Outdated
1541 Students: 9th Grade = 248, 10th Grade = 414, 11th Grade = 447, 12th Grade = 432
Social Media, Michelle McSpadden (presented by Aleta Harris):
● Looking for a co-chair skilled in Canva or similar and QR codes
● Giovanna is requesting a nonprofit Canva account
● Working to fix some social media glitches
● It was suggested that Instructional Technology Specialist could provide a tutorial on Canva and QR codes to interested members of the LPO during the school day. Dr. Calcaterra could help to coordinate this.
VP-Community Involvement, April Ladner:
● Volunteers Needed:
o School Store Manager (Inventory), Class of 2026 Co-Director, Staff Appreciation Chair, Community Events Chairs (Homecoming, Volleyball Challenge, Special Olympics)
o All Volunteer Interest Forms submitted online go to April and she distributes out to appropriate board member/committee chair.
o Volunteer Signups for 24/25- School Store (managed by the School Store Manager), One Time Opportunities, Class Event signups and Board & Committee Chair Signups
● Homecoming Parade- October 4, 2024
Need volunteers to assist the day of with the judges stand. April will provide a description of duties to Aleta to advertise.
● Special Olympics-April 25, 2025-chair needed
● Staff appreciation: monthly recognition, Nicole Vandesteeg
○ Goodie bags for staff to be delivered on Friday, August 23rd
● Staff appreciation: back-to-school donuts, conference dinners, end of year lunch
o A Committee Chair is needed for these catered events.
○ Donuts for staff to be delivered on Friday, August 23rd
○ Fall Conferences: October 10th or October 16th 2:30pm-4:00pm
○ Spring Conferences: February 27th or March 5th 2:30pm-4:00pm
○ End of year Luncheon: Friday, May 23rd
● Volleyball Challenge- April 11th 5:30pm-chair needed
VP-School Support, Monika Sud (presented by Giovanna Lear):
● Lancer Direct Donation Campaign-renamed and will be promoting to families
● Lancer’s Landing Store
○ Looking at new items to introduce in the school store
○ Idea-offer an “Item of the Month”
○ Need a co-manager and morning shift managers
● School Grants, Dawn Hagen:
○ Will take place in Spring Semester. Working out financials from 23/24 to finalize some requests for purchase.
● Spiritwear
○ New Spiritwear items have been added to the online store and in store inventory.
○ Offering youth size t-shirts this year.
○ Inquiring about selling inventory at football games.
○ Online store has a new look, check it out.
Class of 2025, Dawn Werk & Tara Ference:
● Fall Memory Makers (Mother/Son Brunch and Father/Daughter Dance) will be held on November 2, 2024. Volunteers are needed.
● Spring Memory Makers (Mother/Daughter Bingo and Father/Son Game Night) will be held on March 1, 2025. Chairpersons have been confirmed.
● Awaiting the St. Louis Cardinals Schedule to plan Senior Week
● Baccalaureate will be held on May 8th, 2025.
● Senior Celebration (May 12, 2025) has good volunteer interest, but is in need of a chairperson.
Class of 2026, Elizabeth Nolan: (presented by Giovanna Lear)
● Elizabeth met with Shalini Arya last week and has the binder. Seeking a co-director.
● Taste of West County-February 24, 2025
● Important note–the Class of 2026 graduation will take place the same date as the Eureka High School graduation. Both schools currently use Amp Up for their Senior Celebration. It will be necessary to either book early or locate another venue.
Class of 2027, Jen Adams:
● Jenny Archambeault has joined as a co-director.
● There is interest in a possible chairperson for Trivia Night-March 1, 2025
● The carnival boxes in the LPO closet have been re-organized and inventoried for the Class of 2028. Carnival content will be added to the google drive for the 2028 Class Directors.
Class of 2028, Jenny Champlin, Stacy Nagel & Sara Robeson:
● Our team met together to lay out the year and our roles on Wednesday, 8/7 with Giovanna & Aleta. We're excited to get started!
● Class directors met with Principal Fischer on Friday, 8/9 to discuss the year and upcoming events. We will have 2 tables outside the theater for signups at the Freshman Parent meeting. Freshman orientation will be the following day. New this year is a parent coffee at 10:30am.
● We made plans for the Freshman Tailgate on 9/13 at 5:15pm-more details will be made available to families as well as donation and volunteer requests in the upcoming weeks.
● Winter Carnival-January 25, 2025
Meeting Adjourned at 8:05 pm
Next LPO Meeting: September 9th, 2024 6:30pm (Executive Board), 7:00pm (All) LHS, Room 180. This will be a general meeting.