After a lack of interest in the Fair Grove PTO (Parent Teacher Organization), a new PTO board has been voted in and membership has greatly increased after their first meeting on September 16th.
The new board is composed of President, Pebble Dolan, First Vice President, Mariah Freedle, Second Vice President, Ashley Monday, Secretary, Brittany Neely, Treasurer, Keitha Hokanson, and Historian, Kacie Counterman.
40 new members were in attendance at the September meeting. In order to bring in said members, flyers were posted around the school and teachers were asked to contact parents about the meeting.
PTO held their second meeting on October 6th, where 25 members were in attendance and they inducted one new member.
Before PTO gained these new members, Project Graduation had planned to take over all PTO sponsored events, including the Holiday Shop and School Carnival. Kim Boatwright, preschool teacher at Fair Grove Elementary and Project Graduation co-president, said, “At one time we didn’t know if we would have a PTO, Project Grad was willing to help with any of the events PTO had sponsored in the past.”
Boatwright continued, “We are so excited to have a PTO board in place now! Project Grad will not be helping with events unless PTO asks us for help.”
The Holiday Shop and School Carnival are two of PTO’s most popular events. Additionally, PTO is also planning more events for the Fair Grove School District. Some new events that PTO will present this year could include a talent show or a 5k race. At the October meeting, regular events like Boo Grams, a fundraising night at Culver’s were discussed, as well as details of the upcoming Holiday Shop.
PTO doesn’t exclusively sponsor popular events in the district, but they also provide for Fair Grove teachers. Boatwright explained, “PTO has always been very supportive to the teachers. PTO has helped purchase extras for our classroom. They have helped me purchase toys that go along with our PreK curriculum.”
By providing for the teachers, in turn, PTO provides for students in the classroom. Boatwright stated, “PTO impacts students in so many ways, they help provide extras for our classrooms, they sponsor fun activities for the students as well as their families. Every child in the elementary looks forward to the school carnival and Christmas shopping just to name a few.”
With the return of PTO and an official PTO board, students, teachers, and parents no longer need to worry about who will sponsor family favorite events and provide extra things for the classroom. Dolan stated, “I am so excited to be a part of PTO, and help continue helping our kids have awesome experiences at school. We have some awesome new ideas for this coming year, and we are hoping to have even more parent involvement this year.”
The next PTO meeting will take place on November 3rd, at 6:00 PM in the Elementary Library. PTO will continue to accept new members at this meeting.
