Upcoming November Meeting

Here's a quick reminder that our next PFC meeting is November 4th.  We meet at 6 PM in room 31 at the middle school.

It is our goal to stick to the agenda to use our time wisely and adjourn in about an hour.  Do you have questions, comments, or suggestions that you would like brought up at our meeting?  You can comment here, leave a message on our Facebook page, or send us an email and we will try to address your topics!

Spread the word!  We appreciate your support.

Minutes from October 2014

PFC Registrations: Updated by Debbie Martinez and given to Arianne Evans. 9 are currently registered with a spreadsheet created by Arianne

Display Cases: Christie Fernquest and Debbie Vaughan will put together a Respect, Quote, Guess Who, Goal Setting, How to Prepare for a test, and/or Before you Facebook or Twitter boards in the display cases. For the Guess Who Board, teachers will send pictures and information about themselves to Leslie Peters. Arianne will copy pictures. PFC will make the board with the DIS leadership club running the competition.

Tax Status: Unlikely that we have been officially registered. Christie Fernquest will begin the 501 C application.

Minutes from last meeting accepted by those in attendance.

Agenda Items

­Fundraiser: Leadership will sort and get out fliers and envelopes by Friday and make a thermometer.

Debbie Martinez will gather money, deposit money, and let leadership know of the amount.

Book Fair Advertising: Put on Facebook advertising the event. PFC to donate $250. Discussion on advertising the event next year at Dayton Valley Days in a booth.

Staff Bingo Game: $100 agreed upon to give for the prizes for staff bingo games.

New Actions Items

Bond: Names and e-mails were taken to send information on the bond. PFC will put the bond issue on the facebook page.

Dance for October 29^th: Lori will get snacks. Christie and Lori will be at the dance. Arianne sent an e-mail on people who would be willing to help at the dance.

DIS yearbook staff is coming to take pictures and do a quick interview of PFC before November’s meeting. Please come 5-10 minutes early.

Fall Book Fair

The middle school fall book fair through Scholastic Book Company runs October 20-24. Students, families, and community members are welcome to visit the book fair during school hours. Additionally, if anyone is interested in purchasing books but unable to physically make a visit, they can order through Scholastic's website by visiting their website.

As part of the book fair, the library is collecting funds to purchase middle-school-age appropriate books for Carson-Tahoe Hospital Pediatrics department. The school is having a contest to see who can raise the most money for donations--boys vs. girls. There are containers in the library to collect the money. Checks are accepted. If checks are sent with students are for donation only, make them out to DIS and make a note in the FOR section: "All for Books" or "CTH donation".
For more details on the book fair, visit their website: http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/daytonintermediateschool1

Support the School Bond Renewal

In the November elections, we will have an opportunity to support our school district.  Every ten years the district needs a yes vote to continue their bond system.  The district uses bonds to fund new capital projects and major improvement projects.

The following information is from fliers supporting the initiative:

School Bonding Information

 A bond is essentially taking out a loan for a SPECIFIC project.  All money that is bonded has to be used on the specified project.

Prior to 2006 all projects that needed bonding money went to the voters to decide before the money was bonded. After 2006 the voters passed that within a 10 year period the school district could issue bonds as needed.

In order for the school district to have enough funds to do any projects requiring large sums of money, it must issue bonds.  There are other ways to fund capital projects but they are limited in their uses and vary in funds available.  For example, Governmental Services Tax Fund (motor vehicle privilege tax) and the Residential Construction Tax (must be used in the area where residential construction is taking place),

Large projects are called Capital Projects.  Capital Projects are the following:

            New construction, expansion, renovation, or replacement projects for and existing facility or facilities.  The project must have a total cost of at least $10,000 over the life of the project.  Project costs can include the cost of land, engineering, architectural planning, and contract services needed to complete the project.

                                                -or-

            It is a purchase of a major equipment (assets) costing $50,000 or more with a useful life of at least 10 years.

                                                -or-

            It is a major maintenance or rehabilitation project for existing facilities with a cost of $10,000 or more and an economic life of more than 10 years.

What is the bond rate in Lyon County?

            It is 58.67 cents per $100 of assessed property value. Voting Yes on the bond question will not increase the 58.67 cents.

Examples of projects that could be funded with bond money are the following, but not limited to:

Roof Replacements     Boiler & heating/air condition unit replacements

Gymnasium & stadium bleacher replacements         new school buses

            Technology infrastructure      Security measures      Fire sprinklers

 and...

Lyon County should be a place where families and businesses aspire to live and thrive.  One of the key aspects for strong communities and businesses are schools where children are taught to compete in today's world - a balance of inspiration, innovation, and responsibility.  Simple, clean well-working schools is the goal of this bond renewal.  It is important that schools reflect our responsible commitment to the youth and families in this county.  Lyon County School District (LCSD) aspires to help lead this county to a place where people and businesses thrive and efficient schools are needed to do this. A YES vote will allow the LCSD to continue the current 10 year rollover bond with a "pay as you go" component. In addition, the existing tax rate of 58.67 cents per $100 of assessed property value will be maintained, as it exists today. With a YES vote, LCSD has the ability to issue additional bonds as current bonds are continually repaid.  Due to current laws, bonding is the only method for LCSD to obtain the funds necessary to complete major capital projects.  Potential bond projects include, but are not limited to:

•    School safety measures such as single point entrance, cameras, intercoms and fire sprinkler systems 

•    New construction to meet the needs of a growing community 

•    Replacement of roofs, boilers, HVAC systems, stadium/gymnasium bleachers, gym floors, parking lots, school buses, etc. 

•    Technology infrastructure improvements  

It should be noted that the LCSD has saved tax payers approximately 3 million dollars by refinancing current bonds, and will continue to exercise fiscal responsibility with the passing of this bond renewal. "Building better schools for thriving communities"

Fall Fundraiser, 2014

We sent home forms for our fall fundraiser on October 10.  We really like the idea of this fundraiser.  It's called "Write-a-Check" and it is a donation fundraiser.  There is no merchandise to sell, pick up, or deliver.  Families of the students in our school are asked to pick an amount to donate.  The entire donation will be used to support Dayton Intermediate School.  If you didn't receive a fundraiser form, you can use the image above.
We have a specific goal with this fundraiser.  The school has requested financial support to purchase a digital sign board.  The current announcement board is outdated and difficult to update.  The new sign board would have wireless capabilities, making it much easier to display information to the students and their families.  Doing a little quick math, if every student was able to donate at least $5, the PFC would be able to fulfill their portion (50%) of the new digital sign board.
We appreciate the support from our DIS families.  We're excited to see the effectiveness of this new type of fundraiser and even more excited to help our school keep improving.
This fundraiser will end the week of parent-teacher conferences, the last day of which is October 24.  Thank you!

Minutes from September 2014

Here are the minutes from our September PFC meeting:

Results of registration campaign: Not all registration forms had been located at the beginning of the meeting.  At that time there were 3 registered and paid and 6 signed up but not paid.  Another stack was found and will be added to the total.  Evans will use the sign-ups to create a contact list

Details for October Fundraiser: There are roughly 360 students.  If all families donate a minimum of $5/student, we will be close to the PFC's portion of the electronic sign for the front of the school.  Will emphasize this goal in our fundraiser.  Will assemble flyers and envelopes at next PFC meeting (October 7) and then have them distributed that week.  Everyone bring a stapler! 

Action items for fundraiser:
1. Donate paper to school for copies of flyer (Kiernan?)
2. Acquire envelopes (Miklich)
3. Design flyer (Evans)
4. Display case (Fernquest)
5. Facebook and blog announcements (Miklich & Evans)

Tax status: We need to apply to the IRS to receive a non-profit ID number.  No one is aware of whether we already have one.  Vaughan will inquire with previous PFC board members and the bank.  Martinez will speak to associates to help us learn what tax responsibilities we may have been unaware of.

Review of DIS progressive discipline policy: General observations and questions.  Voted unanimously to support staff and administration.

Cultural Fair: Will discuss at a later time.

School website: Discussed what we would like on the school's website.  Decision is to update the board members and then add links to blog and Facebook.  Evans will discuss with school webmaster.

Display cases by the back door: 6 cases.  Use to encourage school spirit?  Debbie, Christie & Shelly will decorate with approval from administration.

Schwans fundraiser & restaurant night: There are a number of passive fundraisers available from businesses.  People who frequent the business mention our organization and the establishment will donate a portion of the sale to us.  Schwans, Target, McDonalds are a few that we think may participate.  Further investigation is necessary.

A few local businesses have been willing to host a school night where they donate a percentage of sales that night to PFC.  More discussion at a later time.

Preparedness kits: Each classroom has a bucket with supplies to used in the case of an emergency, including flashlights, first aid kits, etc.  No further action seems necessary.

Announcements to go on blog and Facebook: Agreement to only post calendar items that directly relate to PFC activities.  Include a link on our sites to the school calendar.

Write a Check Fundraiser--10/8 till 10/23
Parent/Teacher Conferences--10/23
Halloween Dance--10/29.  Looking for parents to help prepare snacks and chaperone.

PFC Financial Statement: Vaughan presented our current balance and a report of last year's expenses.  It looks like we will need $5000 this year if we have the same expenses and also order the sign.

September PFC Meeting

Here's a quick reminder that our next PFC meeting is September 2nd.  We meet at 6 PM in room 31 at the middle school.

It is our goal to stick to the agenda to use our time wisely and adjourn in about an hour.  Do you have questions, comments, or suggestions that you would like brought up at our meeting?  You can comment here, leave a message on our Facebook page, or send us an email and we will try to address your topics!

Spread the word!  This will be a great year, especially with lots of support.