Toki Middle School

2007-2008 PTO Board

PTO-Supported Activities

Fundraising Activities

Volunteer Opportunties for Toki Family Members

APRIL PTO NEWS

It was great to see so many parents and staff at the March 5 PTO meeting and forum!  There were 43 parents and 38 staff members along with several school board members and district employees.  With a standing room only crowd in the library, this was a clear indication that safety and behavior issues at Toki are of concern to so many.

There were some very emotional moments during the course of the three-hour meeting.  Parents and staff shared their experience and concern of bullying, harassment, excessive use of profanity, and general disregard for authority.

As a result of this meeting several changes are being made at Toki to address the issues of safety, discipline, behavior, and the learning environment.  In less than a week after the forum, the district added a second security guard and an administrative intern to assist with safety, discipline problems, and behavior issues.  This direct, initial response by the district is a good start to appropriately addressing the issues at Toki.  In a follow-up e-mail to the school board and district officials, I asked them to stay tuned in to the issues as well as the short and long-term results.

Parents also need to stay tuned into these issues.  It was the courage of parents and staff at the meeting that brought these initial changes to Toki.  As a PTO organization we can continue to encourage open communication and advocate for effective change at Toki.

In other PTO news, several grants were approved at the March 5 meeting.  The balance of $1200 from a previously approved request by the Band, $400 to cover expenses of fieldtrips, and $4000 to Physical Education as seed money to purchase new lockers for the gym locker rooms.  This grant also carries an additional $3000 in matching funds from a school-wide fundraising campaign to help raise a total of $8000 needed. 

The Plant Sale orders are due by April 7. There are a variety of plants and sizes to choose from and they will arrive for pick-up at Toki on May 8 – just before Mother’s Day!  Payment needs to accompany your order and can be sent to school with your student to be placed in the PTO mailbox.  See Plant Sale information elsewhere in this newsletter.

Other dates of PTO sponsored events are:
April 11 – Dance 7:00pm-9:00pm
April 16 – Staff Appreciation Lunch
May 7 – PTO Meeting 6:30pm
June 11 – 8th Grade Completion Ceremony

Thank you for supporting PTO. The organization is focused on enhancing the educational environment for all students and staff.  Together we can make things happen!

Best regards,

Betsy Reck
President, Toki PTO

Eileen Hamele, Secretary
Nancy Lutz, Treasurer
Diana Jost, Volunteer Coordinator

SPRING PLANTING COMES EARLY TO TOKI

Don’t let those winter blues get you down…plan your garden early. Toki PTO is sponsoring its third annual Plant Sale starting March 26th. Choose from a variety of bedding flowers, foliage plants or hanging baskets. Our beautiful and healthy plants come directly from Irish Lane Greenhouse. You won’t be disappointed, and it’s easy. Fill out the order form below and return it with your check, cash or money order by Monday, April 7th. Make checks out to Toki PTO and attach to your order.

Choose from a variety of plants in several different colors and sizes, or choose a gift certificate to Irish Lane instead. You can buy the plants as full or half flats. We also have hanging baskets and 4.5-inch pots that include ferns, ivy, spikes and vines.

Our school benefits from every plant and gift certificate we sell, so please help us raise funds for PTO. Your plants will be delivered on Thursday, May 8th for pick up at Toki from 2:30-6:30. We’ll send reminders as we get closer to the date.

Your plants will arrive the week before Mother’s Day—how convenient!

If you have any questions, please e-mail Marcy Braun: brauntown30@yahoo.com or call 274-5012.

Link to Plant Sale Order Form

2007-2008 PTO Board

President	Betsy Reck	betsy.reck@charter.net	277-1541
Secretary	Eileen Hamele	bean21@tds.net	273-4362
Treasurer	Nancy Lutz
Volunteer Coordinator	Diana Jost	pdjoster@charter.net	845-8232

PTO-Supported Toki Events & Activities

• "Conversations with the Principal" evenings (4 times per year)
• Magazine Sale
• Adopt-A-Book at "Go to School Night"
• Staff Appreciation Luncheons (1st and 2nd Semester)
• Scholastic Book Fairs (Fall and Spring)
• Talent Show
• PTO Dances
• 8th Grade Completion Activities

FUNDRAISING ACTIVITIES

Support Toki with the "Simplified SCRIP Dragon Dollars" Program

With every gift card purchase made through the Simplified SCRIP Dragon Dollars program, the card-issuing merchant makes a donation to our school. A portion of the merchant donation (70%) is rewarded to you as Dragon Dollars. Dragon Dollars are tracked and checks for the amount you earn are distributed back to you quarterly.

There is a link to the order form below. You can mail this order form or you can also place online orders at www.simplifiedscrip.com. The gift cards will be delivered to your home. To receive your cash back, simply enter your Toki Middle School students name where indicated.

Through Dragon Dollars, 70% of the merchant donations from the cards you purchase will come back to you. However, if you would prefer that Toki PTO receives 100% of the merchant donations, just leave the “student name” information blank but still designate Toki Middle School.

It is our hope that the benefits you will receive from this program will encourage participation and result in a very strong fundraising program for our school that will benefit all.

Dragon Dollars - Simplified SCRIP Order Form

DO NOT SEND ORDER FORMS TO SCHOOL!

MAKE SURE YOU DESIGNATE TOKI MIDDLE SCHOOL ON THE ORDER FORM

LINK TO SIMPLIFIED SCRIP HOME PAGE

NOW - there is also an "Auto-Order" Subscription Program for Dragon Dollars!

Over the past few months Simplified SCRIP has been working to come up with additional program choices to help with fundraising goals. They have surveyed many participants and poured over all the data to find clues to what will make the program as easy as possible to participate in. Simply put, the easier the program is for participating families and supporters, the more families will make purchases. They heard two very common things in their research:

• “I just forget to order and it is to late once I am at the store”
• “I don’t like the shipping charge”

Simplified Scrip’s new “Auto-Order” Subscription program will help with these issues. This subscription allows your family to decide which gift cards they would like to receive each month, when they would like to receive them and may even make shipping completely free. This subscription is available now and many families have signed up at other schools.

For Parents:
• There is no need to remember to place an order
• There is no need to take the time to place an order
• You can plan on having the gift cards arrive on the days you go grocery shopping
• There are no checks to write
• Shipping costs are reduced or even eliminated. (Min. monthly orders to qualify for Set & Forget are $100.00. Orders of $300.00 or more receive FREE Shipping)
• Parents can cancel the service at anytime.
• Parents can alter their choice of cards at any time.
• Parents can still order extra cards at any time.

Link to "Auto-Order" Form and Subscription Agreement

This is also a nice fundraiser that grandparents can participate in even if they don’t live in Wisconsin. Check out the website for the states that have order forms for this program. www.simplifiedscrip.com

NO-COST FUNDRAISER FUNDRAISERS

Tired of Regular Fundraisers,but still want to support your school?
Try some of these “No-Cost Fundraisers” to see if they might work for you!

Link to "No-Cost Fundraisers" information sheet

TOKI MIDDLE SCHOOL ENDOWMENT FUND

About the Foundation for Madison's Public Schools and its Individual School Endowment Initiative

We Met the Match! Watch Our School Endowment Grow!

We are pleased that Toki has met a challenge grant through the Foundation for Madison's Public Schools to match 50 cents for each $1 raised up to $3,750 for our individual school endowment. The Madison Community Foundation provided the matching funds and with that $5,625, our individual school endowment total is $18,135 as of September 30th.

Thank you to everyone who helped us in this and other efforts to make sure that our endowment continues to grow. The endowment enables us to fund educational activities and programs that might not otherwise be possible. Exciting programs like artists in residence, family math night, new playground equipment and science software were just a few of the grants made in 2006 from interest generated by the Foundation for Madison's Public Schools Individual School Endowment Initiative (ISEI).

Our teachers and administrators work hard to maintain a well-rounded curriculum, despite having to make tough decisions at budget time. The Foundation for Madison's Public Schools does its part to help by:

* Providing grants for staff-initiated creative and innovative projects outside the core school budget. Many of these projects would not be possible without this funding due to the tight budget constraints. Over $600,000 has been given back to the schools in
unrestricted, field of interest, donor designated and ISEI grants since 2001.

* Creating partnerships between schools and businesses that solidify and enhance civic, employee and community relations. On October 16th, the annual Principal for a Day event will be held with business and community leaders spending time in our schools to get a
better understanding of the day to day joys and challenges our staff face every day.

* Raising funds to make a true difference in the lives of our students and teachers.

Please join us as we continue to build our endowment which will help create a better future for our students. For more information, and to track our endowment progress online, please contact Mary Bartzen at mbartzen@mailbag.com or 232-7820, or visit www.fmps.org

FORM FOR MAKING AN ENDOWMENT FUND CONTRIBUTION (pdf)

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES FOR TOKI FAMILY MEMBERS

The Toki PTO is looking forward to a very fun school year! Use the volunteer form to sign up for the 2007-08 year, or contact one of the PTO board members above!

Magazine Sale - September/Early October

• Help with this fundraiser by checking orders after they are turned in by students.

TAG Activities

• Help with different events..

Adopt-A-Book Event

• Volunteers work different shifts at this evening event.
• Set up and clean up of the event, help with book selections, and take payments for the books purchased.
• Takes place the same evening as "Go To School Night."

Vision & Hearing Screening

• 5-6 volunteers help during school hours one day in the fall.
• Involves ushering students from classrooms to the area designated for this screening.

Staff Appreciation Luncheon - November

• Bring a treat or a salad for the one-day event. Treats are delivered to the teachers lounge the day of the event.
• Other volunteers help with set up or clean up.

Fall & Spring Scholastic Book Fairs

• Work during the day at this event, set up and clean up the event, help with book selections, and take payments for the books purchased.

Talent Show - April

• Work during the day the evening of this event, helping with set up and clean up of the event and managing student participants during the two afternoon rehearsals the week prior to the event.

Staff Appreciation Week - May

• Bring a food item for the event. Items are delivered to the teachers lounge the day of the event.
• Volunteers also help with set up or clean up.

8th Grade Completion Activities

• Help plan and organize this event on the Wednesday of the last week of school..
• Involves set up and clean up of the event.

End-of-Year Staff Appreciation Luncheon - Last Day of School

• Bring a treat or a salad for the event. Treats are delivered to the teachers lounge the day of the event.
• Volunteers also help with set up or clean up.

PTO Dances

• Help supervise these events from 7-9 PM four Fridays a year.

REC Dances

• Help supervise these events immediately following school from 3-5 PM.

Library Media Center Help

• Help clean up the library during the day.

School Office Assistance

• Help in the office during the day.

Fundraiser Coordinator

• One or two volunteers needed to help coordinate all fundraising activities.

Toki ISE

• Help create awareness of the Toki ISE.

Toki Middle School
5606 Russett Road, Madison, WI 53711
School Phone: 608/ 204-4740
Safe Arrival: 608/ 204-4743
Nurse: 608/ 204-4760