Meetings

Lancer Parent Organization Board Meeting

February 12, 2024

Call to Order: 7:08 p.m.

Location: LHS Library

Recording Secretary: Amy Buckley

Attendees: Sara Robeson, Giovanna Lear, Aleta Harris, Amy Buckley, Mark Masterson, Tracy Montgomery, Beth Nelson, Dawn Werk, Jenna Fleming, Jennifer Zeck, LaDonna Ellis, Michelle McSpadden and Dr. Calcaterra.

 

January 8, 2024 Minutes Approval. Sara Robeson motioned, Dawn Werk seconded. The motion carried.

February 12, 2024 Consent Agenda Approval. Aleta Harris motioned, Mark Masterson seconded. The motion carried.          

Principal’s Report, Dr. Calcaterra:

• Interstate has reprinted the Senior Memory Maker photos and they are being distributed this week.
• Lafayette was named a State School of Character.
• The musical, Freaky Friday recently wrapped up. It was a great show.
• Phase 1 of the new furniture in the library was showcased and has been seeing good use by students and classrooms.
• The new outdoor water bottle filler will be turned on in time for the beginning of Spring sports.
• Future large items in need of replacement at Lafayette include a new sound system for the theater and a new outdoor scoreboard. Less expensive item would be nice street signs for our lanes.
• Trivia Night and Taste of West County are being advertised to the staff.
• 13 Lafayette seniors were selected as Glory of Missouri award earners and will travel to Jefferson City to be honored.
• Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held on 3/7/24 & 3/13/24.
• The Class of 2027 Carnival was a great event. Thank you to all who assisted with this event.

  

Treasurer, Mark Masterson:

·         Monthly Financial Report was distributed.

·         The LPO Budget looks to be on track. While Lancers Landing sales are down, there is a wider margin this year which is keeping revenue on target.

  

President, Sara Robeson:

·         Grant information – the grant cycle will be starting soon. The RFP, google form and scoring rubric were shared. Please contact Sara if you are willing to serve on the grants committee.

·         Dawn Werk motioned and Mark Masterson seconded to add students with a staff sponsor to be eligible to request grant funding. The motion carried.

·         Dr. Calcaterra will communicate to staff about the grants program. Students will receive communication about the grants program via email, as well as the tv monitors with a QR code.

·         $12,500 is the currently budgeted amount. There was a discussion about the possibility of earmarking funds for larger capital projects. Any budget amendments will require a vote by the general membership at our April meeting.

·         The May 2023 meeting minutes cannot be located. Approval of $17,000 for the library furniture and $3,000 for the outdoor water bottle filling station took place at the May 2023 meeting. Aleta Harris motioned for a re-confirmation of the May 2023 vote for library funds and water bottle filling funds. Mark Masterson seconded. The motion carried.

·         A reminder for class fundraisers to report funds raised after the event to the Lafayette community.

·         Closet Clean up Clean Out- We know the closet is in high use for the next 2 months.  Please make sure to put all items into their original spots as much as possible.  I realize people are staging items for upcoming events, but unfortunately sometimes there are events between the time an item is "staged" and the event it is being "staged" for.   By pulling items up front for one group's convenience, it makes it more difficult for someone else.   After events are finished for the year, we will be doing another closet clean out. LaDonna Ellis volunteered to assist with the clean-up.  

 

First VP-Community Involvement, Giovanna Lear:

·         We will be putting together the slate of officers and committee chairs for a vote April 1st.  Please let us know if you plan to return, or not, to your current position.  We will be seeking volunteers to fill those open positions and would love to have the help of the entire LPO to encourage parents to join.      

·         You can email Giovanna Lear at lancerparentorgvp@gmail.com to let us know your plans for the 2024-2025 school year.  We appreciate all you do and hope you will continue to serve our students, our staff and school!

·         Volleyball challenge will be coming up in spring semester on April 12^th, 2024. Volunteers will be needed.

·         Special Olympics will be on April 24th, 2024. Volunteers will be needed.

·         School store is still struggling with volunteers. We may need to consider alternative options for staffing and store hours.

·         Staff Appreciation (Nicole) provided snacks for the staff during the February 9^th Professional Development Day.

 

Second VP-Communications, Aleta Harris:

·         The LPO newsletter will go out every Monday, indefinitely.  If you have any information you would like included in the newsletter or added to the website, please send to the VP of Communications (lancerparentorg@gmail.com) by Thursday evening.  Information included in the weekly newsletter will be added to the LPO Class Pages on the LPO Toolkit Webpage.  If we don't hear from you we will continue to run the same content from the previous week. The newsletter is being opened.

What to include:  A complete write up with event name, date, time, deadline, details, contact information, clip art.

Visit the LPO home & Class web pages to see what our families see.

• LPO Toolkit Website Home page
• Class of 2024 page
• Class of 2025 page
• Class of 2026 page
• Class of 2027 page

* Please confirm that your Grade-level principals have the correct LPO website links, LPO and Class social media links.

·         If you need something added to the LPO calendar on the LPO website please email us with “calendar” in the subject line and we will get that added so it will automatically show up in our newsletter and on our website. Communications will add the main LPO & Class events to the calendar, but if you have smaller scheduled meetings or events that you would like added, please send a specific email with your request.  

LPO Calendar

Class of 2024, Tracy Montgomery & Beth Nelson:

·         Senior Celebration co-chairs have been identified. 97 tickets have been sold so far. This is less than what the Class of 2023 had sold by this time.

·         There are conflicts for kids with AP exams, extracurricular events and not wanting to be out until 5am. Checked into starting earlier at AmpUP, but it would cost an extra $2000-$3000. Discussed pros/cons of adding a release time of 2am into the custody of parent/guardian to hopefully encourage greater class participation. It was decided to keep a 5am release for all.

 

Class of 2025, Dawn Werk & Tara Ference:

·         Taste of West County--Please join us for the 22nd Annual Taste of West County on Monday, March 11 from 5:30-7:30 pm.  We have a limited number of tickets available, so be sure to secure yours now.  Please see this LINK for directions on how to purchase your ticket.  TOWC is our major fundraiser for the Class of 2025!

·         Taste of West County has 15 restaurants confirmed and 12 additional possibilities considering. Ticket sales are being promoted. Class of 2026 can hand out flyers to attendees at Trivia Night. Requests have gone out for student volunteers.

·         Gift cards are being donated

Class of 2026:

·         Trivia Night—8 adult tables and 6 student/staff tables have been sold. Round sponsors and silent auction item donations are needed. An Amazon Wishlist has been created. Will create one signup genius for student volunteers. A trial run will take place on 2/18.

 

Class of 2027, Jennifer Adams & Jenna Fleming:

·         Carnival went well. $7,893 was the net profit from the event. A great group of volunteers assisted with the event.

 

LPO Website/Membership Toolkit, Martha Czymmek:

·         At this time, I will be taking a break from managing both of our websites to focus my volunteer time on the Buzz Book & other end of year MTK tasks through 2024-2025. 

·         Thanks to Aleta & Giovanna for creating/updating the format & content for our new Newsletter & Websites!

 

Staff Appreciation & Hospitality, Nicole Vandesteeg & LaDonna Ellis:

·         Hospitality- We were able to thank the counseling department with a Chip & Dip, veggie and dessert bar last week for Counselors Appreciation week. They were very appreciative. Thank you carnival committee.  We used the left over nacho chip single bags left over from that event. It was perfect. 

 

·         We are planning now for the final Parent Teacher Conference dinner for teachers on March 13th. We will serve Qdoba again. We will put out a volunteer sign up in a few weeks to get a few volunteers to help like last time. 

 

·         We are also planning for the final all staff luncheon which will take place May 24th. Still deciding on a vendor for that event. That event will need volunteers as well. Any ideas send them to LaDonna. 

 

Social Media, Michelle McSpadden:

·         LPO will no longer be posting on our X (formerly Twitter) account.

·         Michelle prefers text messages (314-221-5212) for information that needs to be shared on the LPO main social media Instagram and Facebook pages or stories.

What to include:  A complete write up with event name, date, time, deadline, details, contact information, clip art.

Visit the LPO and Class social media pages to see what our families see.

·  LPO Facebook & Instagram

·  Class of 2024 Facebook & Instagram

·  Class of 2025 Facebook & Instagram

·  Class of 2026 Facebook & Instagram

·  Class of 2027 Facebook & Instagram

 

Meeting Adjourned at 9:02 pm

Next LPO Meeting: March 11, 2024  7:00pm, LHS, Room 180