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November 2026 - Meeting Notes

November 2, 2026 - Baldwin Elementary School Intermediate School Library

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Attendees:  Brenna Hawley-Craig, Kayla Curry, Tara Burnham, Elizabeth Langham, Lyndsey Perry, Debbie Shaffer, Cait Sidener, Haley Trober, Rebekah Zweydoff, Shelby Herrington, Shanaye McBride, Rachel Moore, Megan Perry (observing), Jessica Payne, Jaci Walker, Nicole King, Dan Wallsmith, Gina Dearing

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  • Action Items

    • Brenna

      • Bylaws: Update with today's changes; post to GroupMe for an approval vote

      • Website: Link the bylaws once approved

      • Food Drive: Message counters to fill the open Primary Center days

      • Food Drive: Set up the display Thursday, November 5

      • Food Drive: Post the daily categories and display photos

      • Winter Workshop: Set up a donation box at each school

      • Restaurant Nights: Follow up with IHOP on pancakes for teacher appreciation

      • Website: Send the link to members for review and feedback – completed

      • Food Drive: Send the flyer to Dan and Nicole to send home – completed

      • T-Shirts: Send the order list to Rebekah – completed

      • Classroom Grants: Follow up with Megan DeLaTorre on the soccer goals – completed

      • Snack Cart: Add no peanuts to the SignUpGenius – completed

      • Website: Launch www.baldwinelementarypto.com – completed

    • Tara

      • Fill the Bullpup Paw: Deposit the remaining cash

    • Kayla

      • Bank Accounts: Bring the certificate of deposit proposal to the next meeting for a vote

    • Shelby

      • Food Drive: Cut out and laminate the cans and turkeys

    • Rachel

      • November Snack Cart: Check work schedule for the Intermediate Center cart

    • Rebekah

      • T-Shirts: Arrange pickup or drop-off with each buyer

    • Lyndsey

      • Food Drive: Confirm the November 20 drop-off with the pantry

    • Dan

      • Food Drive: Coordinate with the Chamber of Commerce on its food drive pickup

    • Dan and Nicole

      • Food Drive: Send the flyer home with each student

      • Winter Workshop: Add donation drop-off at either office to the bulletins

    • Members

      • Website: Review the site; send corrections or feedback to Brenna

      • Bylaws: Vote on the updated bylaws in GroupMe

      • Food Drive: Share the daily posts and count on assigned days

    • Open — No Owner Assigned

      • Penny Wars: Decide whether to accept Zeffy donations

  • Membership changes

    • Elizabeth granted voting rights on 10/9/26

    • Shelby granted voting rights on 11/2

  • Site Council

    • PAT - Parents as Teachers Site council report

      • First quarter report shared; met every essential grant requirement last year

      • Nearly full; a few family spots left

      • Now under the Kansas Office of Early Childhood; no change to funding or program

      • Fairy Godmother grant: about $200 left; runs through December

      • All three staff received BEF grants for literacy — family events, books, a classroom post office

      • Kansas Reads to Preschoolers this month; holiday music family event in December

      • Playgroups Tuesdays at 9:30; family events open to all

    • PC - BESPC Site council report

      • Enrollment up slightly since fall; still below past years

      • Kindergarten kept at five sections — smaller classes

      • Standards alignment: learning intentions and success criteria; first state check-in this week

      • Book fair Wednesday, November 4: 7:30–9:45 a.m. and 3:15–7:30 p.m.; IC welcome

      • First grade Veterans Day program November 11

      • Board of Education tours and classroom observations November 12

    • IC - BESIC site council report

      • Same standards alignment work

      • Building and district enrollment declining; building budgets reduced

      • Added fifth grade section — better classroom climate and instructional time

      • No open enrollment seats; space is limited

      • Shared special education space divided into four rooms over the summer

      • Friday, November 6: 277 students to a KU women's basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse

      • December 11: Baldwin Creative Arts Nutcracker

      • Annual spelling bee the day before winter break

  • Recaps

    • Fill the Bullpup Paw

      • $20 more in cash to deposit

      • Tara - complete the most recent deposit from last time

    • Classroom Grants

      • $1400 budget

        • Came in 92 cents under

        • Were able to get one more cube chair for the special education group (Autumn Blakesley and Kaylyn Stout)

      • 13 teachers/staff

        • 12 grants fully or partially funded

      • All delivered by 10/20, EXCEPT for one missing piano for Mr. Lemonds

        • Dan has already contacted Amazon about this

        • 15 days between vote and everything being ordered AND delivered

    • October Snack Cart

      • Again, great turnout and appreciation!

      • Got some peanuts in the snack mixes; put an update to the Signup Genius to confirm they cannot bring that

      • Facebook post

    • Website

      • Is live! www.baldwinelementarypto.com

      • Will link the bylaws when we finalize them

      • Brenna funding for this year but will ask to budget them later

        • Domain (Wix): $20.80 for the year

        • Hosting (Wix): $24/month

      • Members to review and send feedback

      • Minutes posted without links; members see them first

  • Future Events

    • Food Drive

      • November 6-19

      • Volunteers

        • Prep of visuals

          • Cut out cans and turkeys - Shelby

          • Laminate and cut those out - Shelby

        • Initial Setup: Thursday, November 5 - Brenna, ??

          • Tables up front in entryway

          • Bulletin board paper up behind it

          • Column label for each grade

          • Turkeys up

          • Cans ready

          • Can scale written out

        • Daily count & update to visuals - Count in afternoon at PC, whenever at IC

        • Friday to food pantries

          • Lyndsey

          • Elizabeth

          • Tara

          • Brenna

          • Later corrected via GroupMe to Thursday delivery

      • Counting PC

        • Shanaye

        • Lyndsey

        • Jaci - 10th & 12th

        • Count at bell ring

      • Counting IC

        • Debbie

      • One paper can = 25 items; partial cans allowed

      • Daily categories posted on Facebook; daily photo of each display

      • Chamber of Commerce drive overlaps; items before Nov 6 held, not counted

      • Flyer going home with each student

    • November Food Cart (last before break) (Wednesday, Nov. 18)

      • Signup is ready

      • Some items already taken

      • Decorations ready

        • PC cart

          • Jess Payne

        • IC cart

          • Rachel - Checking work schedule

        • We're Thankful for Our Golden Staff — gold and yellow

      • Winter Workshop

        • Donations?

          • Ask for wrapping paper, bows and high-quality (not obviously used and abused) gift bags? Tissue paper?

          • Other help needed?

        • Donation box at each school; drop off at either office

  • By-Laws Review - Brenna​​

    • Rationale for updates - Brenna has prepared

      • Define voting and non-voting members (Article VI, Section 1)

      • "Active" becomes "voting" throughout (Articles V–X)

      • Who can be a voting member (Article VI, Section 1b): includes Parents as Teachers families (open for discussion)

        • No objections; reword: parent, grandparent or guardian of a student in either building, in Parents as Teachers, or staff in either building

      • Voting status requirements (Article VI, Section 2): 2 meetings and 2 events in the same school year

      • Removal of members (Article VI, Section 4): majority vote at a meeting after 7 days' written notice

        • Add: at least half of voting members present

        • Special meeting allowed; never done online

      • Returning after removal (Article VI, Section 4d): after 12 months, by majority vote

        • No objections; a no vote stands

      • Officer removal vote (Article V, Section 4): majority instead of 2/3 (open for discussion)

      • Meeting dates set each year (Article III)

        • Minimum of four in-person meetings per year

      • Clearer wording (Articles V, VII and VIII)

    • GroupMe votes now recorded in the minutes — three so far this year

    • No other concerns; Brenna to post the final version to GroupMe for a vote

  • 2nd Semester Events - quick recap

    • Gambino's night - Rebekah

      • January was original goal

      • BEF does first Tuesday Gambino’s fundraiser

    • IHOP night - Brenna

      • Reached out asking if we wanted to

      • Lawrence IHOP will donate 20% of the total guest check for every customer who visits our restaurant and mentions they are supporting your school.

      • Asked IHOP about free pancakes for teacher appreciation

    • Read-a-thon

      • First Friday of school, January 8

      • Pjs

      • Stuffies

      • Blankets?

      • Same hour all around school

      • Should we offer anything? Popcorn?

      • Low-key; no prizes

    • January Snack Cart

    • Penny Wars

      • Should we consider a prize for halfway through to prevent it from all coming in at the end?

      • Should we allow Zeffy? - I think yes, just publicize it. Will have to be up to date on zeffy reporting; require the grade to be put in when putting in a donation.

      • https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/2026-penny-wars-2

      • Mario theme unless anyone objects; Zeffy decision still open

  • Other Items

    • T-shirts - Brenna/Rebekah

      • Rebekah is making them and should be ready to go shortly

      • Done; Rebekah arranging pickup or drop-off; late orders welcome

    • CD vs. second checking account - Kayla

      • Recommend changing to Money Market from Checking

      • Second checking earns 0.3% — about $51 last year

      • Certificate of deposit: 3.87% for three months, 3.67% for twelve

      • Vote next meeting with the treasurer transition to Kayla

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