Brownsville Elementary School PTO

Committee Chair Guidelines

KEEP EVERYONE IN THE LOOP

• Update the PTO membership at PTO meetings. Attend a meeting close to your event’s date to announce your plans, and attend the meeting after your event to summarize the outcome. If you cannot attend, please contact a board member to present on your behalf.
• If your event uses the cafeteria or gymnasium, check with Helen Brite and BASE’s Diane Glime regarding availability. BASE uses both spaces until 6:00 pm, Monday through Friday. Weekend events require special staffing. County forms must be filled out and approved in advance of publicity.
• Check with Charles Key a few weeks before your event for custodial support.
• Plan to put something in the Buzzing (1) before your event to advertise it and, (2) after your event as a way to give thanks to those who helped.
• Please feel free to contact any PTO officer if you have a question or concern.

REMEMBER PUBLICATION DEADLINES If you want to include event or activity information in:

• Brownsville Buzzings (distributed on Monday) provide copy to Marianne Barbour via email by noon the Thursday before distribution. You may also copy Sally Cushing on the email to get your listing eblasted via Brownsville Online.
• The Beeline (distributed with each report card) provide copy to the PTO president via email. Check with Marianne Barbour for deadlines.

PLEASE READ PTO FLYERS AND MAILING INFORMATION DOCUMENT BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION

PTO EVENT FLYERS AND MASS EMAILS NEED:

• to be seen by a PTO officer and the Principal before flyers are copied for distribution.
• to include a “Brownsville PTO” identifier. Our new PTO logo can be emailed to you upon request.
• to be copied at the school. This keeps cost down.
• plenty of paper! We keep our paper in Room 201. PLEASE contact the PTO secretary if our supply is low—especially if you opened the last packet of PTO paper! We have purchased GOLDENROD colored paper from the County (at a greatly reduced price) for all PTO flyers.
• to have an original and 10 extra copies for the front office staff. Marianne keeps a 3-ring binder of every flyer that goes home. Be sure to let Helen Brite and Marianne Barbour know in advance if responses will be collected by the teachers and coming into the front office.
• to be distributed in Monday Envelopes. Copies should be in teachers’ mailboxes by Thursday afternoon to ensure that they will be in the Monday Envelopes.
• to be eblasted via Brownsville Online (brownsvilleonline@listserv.bnsi.net). The flyer must be saved and sent as a PDF. Be sure to add a title in your message’s subject line. The message will appear as if you sent it from your computer.
• to be stapled to your Event End Report to pass on to next year’s committee chair.

PLEASE READ PTO FLYERS AND MAILING INFORMATION DOCUMENT BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE. PLEASE CONTACT ALL VOLUNTEERS LISTED ON THE PRINTOUT PROVIDED TO YOU BY THE PTO VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR.

Call, email, or send a note or flyer to let them know how they can help you. They have asked to be involved, so it is very important that you contact them! A list of volunteers is available through Lori Benedict, the Volunteer Coordinator.

ALL PTO COMMITTEE CHAIRS HAVE A MAILBOX FILE IN THE PTO ROOM 201.

The mailbox is on a table right as you enter Room 201.

PLEASE STICK TO YOUR APPROVED NET FUNDRAISING GOAL OR BUDGET LINE

• The PTO Budget is provided to the membership by the second PTO meeting of the year and lists each program’s goal or budget line as the net of all expenses. If your program is not listed, or you are in doubt, please ask the PTO treasurer.
• Please do not charge or bill the PTO for items or orders without approval from the PTO Executive Board. If you are selling anything on behalf of the PTO, such as yearbooks or t-shirts, please solicit for preorders rather than “buy now, sell later.”
• You are responsible for keeping detailed records for all monies collected, especially when items are promised at a later date, such as t-shirts or yearbooks.
• If you have collected or spent money, you must use one of the attached forms (see explanation below) to document your deposits and reimbursements, as well as all related receipts.
• If your receipt descriptions are not “obvious,” please be sure to note an explanation on the receipt (i.e. receipt reads “30 Rbal52993”and your note translates this to “30 red latex balloons”).
• Please use the school safe to secure deposits. Ask Helen Brite and Marianne Barbour for help.

THE SCHOOL’S MAIN OFFICE HAS PTO CASH BOXES AVAILABLE FOR PTO EVENTS

The committee chair is responsible for checking cash boxes before your event to be sure you have the cash you need. Each cash box should contain $50, a Cash Box Reconciliation Form (see below), and a PTO Deposit Envelope. At the conclusion of your event, $50 needs to remain in each cash box to be stocked for the next event. The committee chair or treasurer is responsible for securing all cash boxes in the main office after an event.