Peotone PTO: June 2015

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

School Is Closed For Summer Break

School is closed for summer break.

First day of school is August 19th --- so get the good stuff in!

Monday, June 8, 2015

Dedication At It's Best

I want to tell the behind the scenes story that very few people know about the

PIC Mural in the Multipurpose Room and an insight to an incredibly dedicated woman.

Mrs. Hiller brought the idea of a mural to the PTO for the multipurpose room that would encompass childhood fun and being active - "Healthy Choices". Her thought was to give a newly graduated college art student and the Green Garden Elementary students the opportunity to create a lasting piece of art together that would give joy to the room for generations to come.

The mural is 5 panels that students came together after school to paint as it was laid on the floor - artist Carla Swinke blended the 5 panels so they look seamless when it was positioned on the wall and took care of finishing touches. Over a weekend and into a Monday several parents came out to help Carla and Mrs. Hiller hang the mural, seal it and apply the hand print tiles to frame it.

During the time the mural was being painted, the district was making advances in the grade center decision. The decision had not been made on the grade centers yet, but the push the district was making for it was growing. In the mural, the little girl skipping rope in the middle had a Green Garden Elementary School shirt on. Mrs. Hiller made the decision to have it changed to a district shirt before the mural was hung on the wall because she felt very strongly that if the grade center decision was approved, she wanted those children from other schools to come into what is now PIC and feel welcome. She was already thinking of those new students and did not want them to feel like they were visitors. Even though she understood they would need time to get to know a new building, she was very considerate of their feelings in the smallest touches throughout the school that people don't even realize. Once the mural was sealed, it could not be changed. She could have left the shirt a Green Garden shirt as a tribute to what it used to be, but she chose to make the change as she wanted the children to know this was "their school" if the grade centers were approved. She asked Carla to change the shirt and redesign it to be a different color and to have the logo changed.

The hanging of the mural was a weekend process that went into a Monday. Mrs. Hiller had promised the students she would unveil the finished product on Tuesday morning when they settled in the gym when buses and drop off's were completed. Mrs. Hiller, Carla and parent Jeff Derkacy (yes my husband) were there sealing and hanging the hand print tiles until 4am Tuesday morning. Carla was new to this type of project and she wanted to make sure steps were followed so it was slow going. Carla also did not have the right products to hang the tiles. Jeff gave Mrs. Hiller a list of what products were needed and she ran to the 24 hour Walmart at 1:30am to get his list of items. She was determined that she kept her promise to the students to unveil the mural in the morning. Jeff told me how much his admiration grew for her as Mrs. Hiller ran up and down the scaffolding like a champ to get him the tiles and he insisted she hang the last tile herself.

Jeff left at 4am and Mrs. Hiller was still there getting things ready for the students. Mrs. Hiller was back in the office by 6:30am so she could be ready to welcome the students and unveil the mural as she promised to the children's delight. The students HOWLED and CHEERED when they saw their work come to life.

Mrs. Hiller backed many crazy fun things the PTO came up with to raise funds. She told the Staff she was going to let the kids throw pies at her for a pie fundraiser and most of the staff signed up to do it with her. She egged those kids on to throw those pies right in her face and it was fun to watch the staff and students enjoying the playful side of their leader. These are just a few examples of the joy Mrs. Hiller brought to us.

Mrs. Hiller is one of the smartest, hardest working, most dedicated,

and loving educators I have ever known.

Thank you Mrs. Hiller for ALWAYS putting education first!

Last Day of School

The PTO would like to thank all of the staff and parents who supported us through this school year. As they say, "you can't please everyone", nor did we expect to. We are grateful for those who were supportive of us through the bumps of this year. We could not do it without our volunteers and participators! THANK YOU with our full hearts!!!!

We also want to make it clear that our intention was always to encourage any and all support from volunteers. The PTO Board Members never told any parents we didn't want their help. There were instances we heard of this year where Chairs turned down help from parents or flat out disrespected parents because they didn't like the way they helped or didn't "know them" . These are individuals who did not stand behind our goal as a board and made their own choices with their own personal feelings at play. To be honest, it's disappointing to hear that. Can this district be unified? I guess we'll see.

If you volunteered and didn't like how it things went - suggest changes.

If you complained about something you didn't volunteer for - volunteer.

Thank you and enjoy the summer! Change is in the air...

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Last Day of School - Early Release

Monday (6/8) is the last day of school.

It is also an early release and students will need a lunch.

PIC: 12:45pm

PES: 1:30pm

Friday, June 5, 2015

Last Email of the School Year

I have been asked by several parents if I would post the last PTO email on our public pages.

Here you go:

Hello Families,

We're just a few short days away from the end of the school year! (Flip Flops are Flapping everywhere!!!) This will be my last PTO email of the school year with the last of the reminders and some closing thoughts.

> Capri Sun/Foil Pouches: The last collection will take place on Monday (6/8). Thank you Roschelle for taking in over 40,000 pouches over the years! That's a lot of stinkin' pouches...literally. :-)

> Last Day of School: Monday (6/8) early release. Students WILL need a lunch on this day. PIC: 12:45pm PES: 1:30pm.

> Yearbooks: Yearbooks will be handed out Monday and students will have time for yearbook signings as well. If you missed ordering a yearbook, you can still do so at any time as well as get the 2 free custom pages. The books would be delivered to your home for a fee. For every yearbook ordered, Treering plants a tree! Thank you Dana Lally, Mrs. Feenstra & Mr. Peppmuller for Chairing the Yearbooks!

> Check out our Blog/Facebook page(s) for the update on year end Box Tops results & last PTO meeting minutes.

Thank you to the parents, students and staff that stepped up to help or participated in any of our various fundraisers this year! We truly appreciate it and every bit counts. Not every fundraiser will be for everyone, but our goal was to have a variety of things that families can choose from. In this inaugural year as a district PTO I can say with pride that every fundraiser we held this year made a profit.
Fannie May, KidStuff Books, Market Day, Spaghetti Dinner, Recycle/Capri Sun Collections, Scrip, Box Tops, Little Caesars & Spring Fling Carnival compiled to make a profit of approximately $27,000.

Good luck to the 5th graders who will fly up to the Jr High in the fall! Thank you to Karen O'Brien and Joyce Sears for their unending dedication to our families as they end their terms as PTO board members June 30th. We look forward to working with the great incoming board members, Jaime McCleverty and Cassandra Miller.

My final thoughts: When a district makes changes the impact is felt on school staff, but it will also have a ripple effect on the parents/students that will be more profound. Some decisions we can agree with and some we do not. Change is inevitable, but determining if it is for the betterment of the district and it’s “unification” is in the eye of the beholder. Change is coming people… Don’t believe everything from a squeaky wheel (complaint) because I believe the parents that are happy or don’t have a negative opinion, are content (quiet). Therefore, when all the commentary parents/staff/district members hear are the negatives, they believe that to be the only view. The positive or content people that have been happy with anything, or were willing to give it a fair chance to work, should speak up more often. Decisions should not be exclusively formed by the un-happy, nor should it be the only opinion that counts. Again my optimistic side asks these questions: Is there a decent number of people that are happy, yet they don’t give the positive side a voice because they don’t think they need to? Was the benefit of a fair chance given? Do people feel uncomfortable to speak their true positive voice to oppose the views of the negative voices in fear of retaliation? We’ll see…

Enjoy your summer!!!

KD~

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King Jr.