Arrowhead PTA Committee Chair Survival Guide 2017-2018 It takes many hands to make all of our programs possible 1
Table of Contents Executive Board.. 3 Meeting Dates.....4 Committee Chair Quick Points.....5 Membership Form....6 Budget Guidelines..... 7 Communication Guidelines..8 ArrowHeadlines Newsletter Deadlines... 9 Your Toolbox.....10 Google Drive......11 Files in Google Drive.....12 Using the PTA Room......12 Tips for Creating Flyers.....13. End of Year Chairperson Checklist.....14 2
PTA Executive Board 2016-2017 President Poppy D Amico president@arrowheadpta.org 330.608.4099 1 st Vice President Michelle Neuhauser volunteer@arrowheadpta.org 330.241.8585 2 nd Vice President Tammy Buser fundraising@arrowheadpta.org 330.348.9534 Secretary Sarah Marallo secretary@arrowheadpta.org 330.571.4200 Treasurer Christina Whitlam treasurer@arrowheadpta.org 330.671.3157 Council Delegate Alice Woodruff akwoodruff5@gmail.com 330.310.6373 Council Delegate open Alternate Council Delegate Cathy Riedel cathyriedel@hotmail.com 330.668.4748 3
PTA Meeting Dates 2017-2018 Held in PTA room, Arrowhead Primary School Wed. Sept. 13 th 9:30 am Wed. Oct. 11 th 6:00 pm Wed. Nov. 8 th 9:30 am Wed. Jan. 10 th 6:00 pm Wed. March 14 th 9:30 am Wed. April 18 th 6:00 pm Wed. May 9 th 9:30 am 4
Committee Chair Quick Points ü Be a PTA member. o All Committee Chairpersons are required by our by-laws to be paid PTA members. If you have not yet done so, please fill out the membership form and return it to the secretary. ü Sign off on all committee spending. o All Committee Chairpersons must sign all committee check and reimbursement requests. ü Reserve any rooms you are planning to use. o Room Request forms must be completed for PTA events/room use and sent to Mrs. Fleming. Forms are available at: http://www.copley-fairlawn.org/page/4995 (Facility Rental Form). Please also notify the PTA President president@arrowheadpta.org of all meetings and events. ü Get approval for forms/flyers. o Forms/flyers should be emailed to Mr. Capper roman.capper@copley-fairlawn.org and Mrs. Fleming terri.fleming@copley-fairlawn.org for approval prior to school distribution. ü Send monthly committee updates if you are not attending the meeting. o Email a brief update (a few details, if you still need help, etc.) prior to a PTA meeting if you will not be there to give your report in person. After events are over, a quick recap is appreciated. Examples of past meeting minutes: http://copley-fairlawn.org/page/4781. ü Send committee info to the newsletter committee by due dates. o Similar to meeting updates, send a brief update to the newsletter so that all Arrowhead parents can read what s going on with your committee. See list of due dates later in this document. For examples in past newsletters: http://copley-fairlawn.org/page/4782. ü Ask permission for classroom events. o If you anticipate a PTA activity going into a classroom, send your request for approval to the PTA President so that it can be discussed with Mr. Capper. Examples: pizza parties, egg breakfasts, chicken duty, etc. ü Write down how you do what you do. o Please keep notes on what you do this year and save in your Google Drive folder to share with future chairs. You ll find more info on Google Drive later in this document. ü Keep track of volunteer hours. o Please report how many volunteer hours you and your committee members spent making awesome things happen for our school. We are required to report this information to keep our PTA in good standing. Please submit to secretary@arrowheadpta.org. ü Create your volunteer sign-ups online. o Use signup.com or signupgenius.com to organize volunteers for your event. It s quick, easy, keeps everything organized and even sends reminders for you. ü Don t be afraid to ask questions. o If you have any questions or need any help or guidance, please contact: 1 st Vice President Michelle Neuhauser 330.241.8585 volunteer@arrowheadpta.org President Poppy D Amico 330.608.4099 president@arrowheadpta.org 5
Join Our Fin-tastic PTA! Arrowhead Primary PTA Membership Welcome to Arrowhead Primary School! We are proud to have a thriving PTA that offers many exciting programs and events for our students, but we can t do it without you! PTA offers parents, relatives, friends, and members of the entire community a chance to help make Arrowhead the best school for our children. Membership is just $6/person and we have volunteer needs that fit every interest and schedule. You decide when and how you d like to volunteer! Becoming a member also adds you to our email list so you can keep up to date on what s happening at school. This year s theme is Join Our Fin-tastic PTA. To kick off the school year, we will have a competition to see which grade has the highest percentage of PTA memberships by September 22 nd. The winning grade will receive a Goldfish crackers prize! PTA Meetings take place at Arrowhead and are on the following dates and times: September 13 th at 9:30am October 11 th at 6:00pm November 8 th at 9:30am January 10th at 6:00pm March 14th at 9:30am April 18th at 6:00pm May 9th at 9:30 am We look forward to a successful and fun school year! If you have any questions, please don t hesitate to contact Sarah Marallo at Secretary@arrowheadpta.org. ---------------------------------------------------Cut here---------------------------------------------------------------- Please send this completed form along with $6/person via backpack, Attention: PTA Membership! Don t forget memberships for relatives, friends, and community members who wish to help make a difference at Arrowhead! Additional room on the back of this form! 1) Name: Email: Number: Child's Name Teacher: 2) Name: Email: Number: Child's Name Teacher: 3) Name: Email: Number: Child's Name Teacher: 6
Budget Guidelines Before you spend any PTA money.. ü Know the budget for your committee. o We cannot spend more than the budgeted amount on any committee without a vote from to amend the budget. Committee chairs will keep track of all spending for their committee as they will need to sign all reimbursement requests before they are submitted to the PTA Treasurer. ü Save your receipts!! o All reimbursement forms must be accompanied by original receipts to receive reimbursement. ü We are tax-exempt! o Please remember to take tax-exempt forms with you when shopping. Keep copies in your car or purse so that you always have them with you. These forms can be found in the PTA mailbox in the office and online: http://www.copley-fairlawn.org/page/3344. Unfortunately, we cannot reimburse for any tax that you have paid. This is the policy mandated by PTA Council. o The only exceptions to this are Sam s Club, Costco, and Amazon.com. We understand that in these cases items can be purchased at a cheaper price and/or with free shipping and they do not accept our tax-exempt forms. In all other cases, please only request the amount that was spent minus the tax. ü Don t forget the forms. o A deposit form, reimbursement request, or check request must always accompany your request. These forms can be found in the PTA mailbox in the office and online: http://www.copleyfairlawn.org/page/3344. ü Turn in money promptly! o When collecting cash or checks for PTA, please make arrangements with the PTA Treasurer to deposit the money promptly. People have requested that we cash the checks more quickly, and PTA guidelines state that we must deposit any money collected as soon as possible. Multiple deposits for events and fundraisers may be needed. There MUST be at least two people present to count and exchange money. We will not accept any cash through the book bags or left in the PTA mailbox. ü Plan ahead. o If you know that you will need a check made out for your committee, or if you will need cash for a change drawer, please put in your request with the PTA Treasurer a least one week in advance. ü Get reimbursed! o We must insist that all receipts be turned in within 30 days of your event. After that time, you risk not being reimbursed for your receipts. ü Questions? o Please contact: Treasurer, Christina Whitlam 330.671.3157 treasurer@arrowheadpta.org 7
Communication Guidelines An important part of chairing a committee is communicating with the school staff, potential volunteers & PTA members. This can be done in many ways: ü Email Blasts o These can be sent out at any time by emailing your request to the PTA Secretary at secretary@arrowheadpta.org Please allow 48 hours for emails to be sent out. These emails go to our list of paid PTA members only. ü PTA Welcome Page Announcements o The PTA President can add announcements to the PTA welcome page at any time. Please email your request to president@arrowheadpta.org and allow 24 hours for the announcement to be posted. ü PTA Monthly Newsletter o The newsletter deadline page can be found in this document. Chairpersons are encouraged to include updates of upcoming events in the newsletter. ü PTA Monthly Meeting Committee Updates o Contact the PTA President for updates to be put on the agenda for monthly meetings. Chairpersons are encouraged to attend the monthly meetings to give reports on upcoming events. Meetings are also great places to ask for any help still needed. Bring a sign up sheet to the meeting with you and pass it around. If you are not attending a meeting and your committee is active (has an event coming up soon, preparations are in process or the event just finished), please provide an update. ü PTA Facebook Page o To include photos and other posts on the PTA Facebook Page, please contact the Facebook Chairperson, Stephanie Luecke at stephieluecke@yahoo.com. Please send information in advance and allow a reasonable amount of time for posting. ü Flyers/forms sent home in backpacks o All forms going home in backpacks will need to be approved by Mr. Capper and Mrs. Fleming before being distributed. Please allow several days for approval in your timeline just in case. Additionally, please check with Mrs. Fleming to see if she has time to copy and distribute your flyer/form. If she does not, please plan to do your own copying and distributing after approval. You will be provided with the PTA ID and password to use for the copier in the hallway by the library. ü APS Parent Weekly Bulletins o Dates of upcoming PTA events, reminders about forms sent out, etc. may sometimes be included in Mr. Cappers weekly parent emails. Please forward your information for consideration to roman.capper@copley-fairlawn.org. If you are uncertain whether something is appropriate to be included, please contact Michelle Neuhauser volunteer@arrowheadpta.org. 8
Deadlines for Arrow Headlines 2017/2018 DEADLINE PUBLISH DATE SEPTEMBER 15 TH OCTOBER 13 TH NOVEMBER 10 TH DECEMBER 15 TH JANUARY 12 TH FEBUARY 9 TH MARCH 9 TH APRIL 20 ST MAY 11 TH SEPTEMBER 18 TH OCTOBER 16 TH NOVEMBER 13 TH DECEMBER 17 TH JANUARY 15 TH FEBUARY 12 TH MARCH 12 TH APRIL 23 RD MAY 14 TH.. SUBMIT INFORMATION TO INCLUDE IN THE NEWSLETTER TO: AMBER PARANA EMAIL: NEWSLETTER@ARROWHEADPTA.ORG 9
Frequently Used Forms Check Request Form Expense Reimbursement Form Cash or Check Deposit Form Credit Card Deposit Form Tax Exempt Form Dollar General Tax Exempt Form Your Toolbox These forms can be found on the PTA FORMS page of the website: http://www.copley-fairlawn.org/page/3344 Important Documents Arrowhead Primary PTA By-Laws Arrowhead Primary PTA Standing Rules These documents can be found at tbe end of the ABOUT US page of the website: http://www.copley-fairlawn.org/page/4607 District Forms Facility Rental Form This form can be found on the RESOURCES/COMMON FORMS AND FILES page of the District website: http://www.copley-fairlawn.org/domain/49 Volunteer Sign-up Tools SignUp.com (formerly VolunteerSpot.com) SignUpGenius.com These FREE easy tools are available online to help you create web-based sign up sheets to organize volunteers for parties, events, activities, etc. Google Drive Various files & documents The 1 st Vice President will contact you and provide you with access to documents created by past committee chairs to assist you with your planning. 10 10
Google Drive Committee information is available online (no longer in binders). You will be given access to these files to assist with your planning this year. A few important points: ü Please do not delete or remove any files or folders. ü Please leave all current files and folders in the drive unchanged. You may revise documents, but please first download to your computer and resave them to Google Drive with a revision date or different name. ü Please be sure to upload any newly created or revised files by the end of the year to help future committee chairs. Save in the folder for the correct year. How To s ü To access your committee folder (once you have been given access) 1) Log into your Google account. (If you don t have a Google account, you will need to set one up. You do not need to have a gmail email address to create an account.) 2) Click on the "Google Apps" icon - 3 x 3 squares/cube shape (upper right corner) 3) Click on the "Drive" icon (colorful triangle - 2nd one down on the right) 4) If you don't see your committee folder automatically in "My Drive", then click on "Shared with me" in the left side menu and you should see it there. 5) For quick access when you log into Google Drive, you can add your committee folder from "Shared with Me" to "My Drive". Just right click on the folder you want to add and select "Add to My Drive". IMPORTANT: Please only add the top-level committee folder to My Drive do not move subfolders by themselves out of your committee folder. ü To download files or folders from Google Drive to your computer 1) Right click on the folder/file you want to save and select "Download". 2) File will be saved to your "Downloads" folder on your computer and you can move it from there to wherever you need to and revise as needed. ü To add new files or folders to Google Drive 1) Open the folder that you want the file to reside in. 2) Select the "NEW" button (upper left corner). 3) Select "File Upload" from the menu. Your computer file menu will open. 4) Select the file you want added. 11 11
Files in Google Drive ü Documents from Previous Years o These were saved in a variety of formats. If the original document was available, it was saved in the original format word, excel, publisher, etc. When the original format was unavailable, pages were scanned as PDF documents Which means just about anyone can view them but you can t edit the file unless you are able to convert the files to a different document type. Regardless, these files can still be helpful for ideas of what s been done in the past. ü To Change Document Format o If you want to edit a PDF in order to use what someone else created previously, you can often change the format using a free converter on the Internet (doesn t require downloading any special software). o Here are a few I have used successfully: pdftodoc.com, freepdfconvert.com, zamzar.com. A quick Google search will uncover other options for you too. Note: While this works most of the time, if a file was scanned at an angle, the background was too colorful or it s hard for the converter to recognize text, you ll have to retype the document instead if you want to use it. Additionally, sometimes the formatting is a little weird, but it s usually much easier than creating from scratch. ü Documents that You Create o I think most people are able to view, open and edit Word and Excel files. You may want to stick to those programs to create flyers, organize your committee and save your information. Of course, you are welcome to use whatever program is best for you! If it s not a commonly used program (like Publisher or Photoshop, for example), please upload PDF files as well so that future chairs can at least view what you ve created. Using the PTA Room ü Meetings o Because we have one room for over 30 committees, we all share the best we can. Some major committees may need the room for lengthy time periods close to or during their event (Holiday Shop during week before and week of event, Father Daughter Dance several weeks leading up to the event, etc.), so adjustments may have to be made at times. You may also schedule committee meetings off school grounds at a place convenient to you (your home, a coffee shop, etc.). ü Storage o Our storage is very limited in the PTA Room. At the end of the school year, we can only leave items that fit in the closet, on the shelving, in the lockers, etc. Please make arrangements to remove items promptly after events. Contact the PTA President or 1 st Vice President if you have questions about storage. 12 12
Tips for Creating Flyers Nearly all committee chairs have the need to send out flyers at school for one reason or another to ask for volunteer help, save the dates, order forms, etc. If this isn t in your comfort zone, here are some tips to help: ü Break through the backpack clutter o Use a large font for your headline and be clear about what you need parents to know Volunteers Needed for XYZ Committee, Save the Date for ABC Event, etc. o Use bullet points and brief information when possible to make your flyer easy to read. o Use images when possible to add visual interest. Need some help? Visit https://images.google.com. Type in what you re looking for (save the date graphic, calendar image, money bag photo, children clipart, etc.) Left click on the image you like make sure the size is appropriate so that it can be enlarged or reduced to fit the space you have for it. Left click View Image; then Right click to Save as or Copy Image ; then Insert or Paste image into your document. To be able to move your image anywhere in the document that you want, you ll need to change its formatting. Hover over image with mouse, Right click and select Format Picture. Select Layout and then choose either Behind Text or In Front of Text to be able to drag the image anywhere you want it. To change the size of an image, Left click to highlight it, then drag from a corner to make larger or smaller. Never drag from the sides unless you want to distort the image. ü What is your call to action? o What do you want parents to do once they see your flyer? Attend an event? Order something? Volunteer? Whatever it is, make sure it s clear and that they know what to do or how to respond after reading your flyer. ü Don t forget major details o What do parents need to know? o Date, Time, Place, Cost, Who to contact if they have questions, Why they should want to participate or help. ü Save paper when possible o When you don t need a full sheet of paper to communicate, use a half sheet instead. Design your flyer to have the same information twice on the same page so papers may be cut in half before they are distributed. Leave plenty of room in the middle to make it easy to cut. ü Don t forget to get approval o As mentioned previously, if you are sending any forms/flyers through book bags, please send a copy to Mr. Capper roman.capper@copley-fairlawn.org and Mrs. Fleming terri.fleming@copleyfairlawn.org for approval prior to distribution. 13 13
End of Year Chairperson Checklist ü Upload documents created by your committee to your Google Drive folder. o Please keep detailed notes on what you do this year for your committee, as well as how you did it, and any timeline information that would be helpful. Don t forget to also mention what you would do differently. Save the information in your Google Drive folder to share with future chairpersons. No matter how easy you think your committee might be, step-by-step information and timelines will undoubtedly be appreciated. Please share your expertise and experience, as well as what you learned along the way! ü Send final volunteer hours for all committee members to PTA Secretary. o Each month we ll need information on how many volunteer hours you and your committee members spent making awesome things happen for our school. We are required to report this information to keep our PTA in good standing. Don t forget to finish reporting hours for the year. ü Submit information for the year-end newsletter. o Please submit a small blurb for your committee to newsletter@arrowheadpta.org. This is a great way to end the year remembering all that we have accomplished. A simple 2 or 3 sentence summary would be great - unless you have more to say! We d like to see all committees represented. ü Get reimbursed for your expenses. o Don t forget to turn in receipts and expense reports to PTA Treasurer by the due date given near the end of the school year. You don t want to risk not getting reimbursed for the money you ve already spent. ü Say thank you to your committee members. o They re the people who had your back this year and helped you successfully get through the to-do list and make wonderful things happen at our school. Don t forget to let them know how much you appreciated their time, effort and enthusiasm. A kind email goes a long way to recognize their help for the year. You couldn t do it without them or at least you wouldn t want to! 14 14