Halloween Carnival Fundraiser Update

Our Halloween Carnival was a ton of fun, and a fundraising success! We raised $2071 to fund the awesome field trips our school takes. We want to thank everyone that helped run games, secured donations, and baked treats. We're thankful to everyone who joined us for the fun and donated to our school.

THANK YOU!!!!

New school year!

We are so excited to be back to school! The officers of the PTO look forward to serving as a bridge between the parents and staff of Laramie Montessori School for another school year. We hope you'll join us after Back to School Night on October 4th, and learn how you can get involved with our school. Anyone is welcome at that meeting, and our organization does not charge dues.

See you then!

PTO Officer Elections 2018

It's time to elect new officers for Laramie Montessori School's Parent-Teacher Organization!

The positions of Vice-President and Secretary are up for election this year. Officers are elected for a two-year term. They are responsible for attending all Executive Board and Regular meetings. Executive Board meetings are held monthly; Regular meetings are held 3-5 times a year.

Specific duties (from the PTO bylaws):

Vice-President:

Serve as an ex­ officio member of their respective committees and fully participate in all meetings of the Executive Board and all meetings of the membership;
Coordinate the work of their respective committees in order that the purposes may be promoted.
Keep the official copy of the organization’s Bylaws in PTO files;
Conduct delegated correspondence. (this includes attending monthly school board meetings to give a PTO update)

Secretary:

Keep the minutes of the proceedings of the membership and the Executive Board and post these minutes and referenced attachments to the PTO Facebook page and website;
Maintain the Montessori PTO newsletter and other PTO social media accounts;
Establish style guide and approve flyers (virtual and print) that will be disseminated to Voting Members;
Prepare agendas for upcoming Regular meetings and Executive Board meetings.

If you'd like to serve as an officer in one of these positions, please send an e-mail to laramiemontessoripto@gmail.com and indicate which position you'd like to run for. Include a short bio that can be displayed for parents and teachers as they consider who they'll be voting for.

Voting will take place at our next regular meeting, May 17th at 5:30pm. This will be part of the school end-of-year potluck and talent show. If you are unable to attend that meeting, and would like to vote, a vote may be submitted in writing to the LMS front office staff no earlier than May 10th, and no later than 5pm on May 17th.

Decision reached on fundraiser money

We would like to thank everyone who gave us their feedback about what we should do with the money from the fundraiser carnival. Many excellent suggestions were given. Based on the feedback received, the executive board has decided to give the money raised to the Hapi-ness 5K Run fundraiser held annually by Laramie Junior High School.

The money raised at our carnival was given to help a local family with their medical bills. As that family has decided not to accept the money, we believe the next best solution is to give the money to another local family to help with their medical bills. That is the aim of the Hapi-ness 5K Run fundraiser every year, and we're proud to be able to support them.

Again, we're thankful for the generosity of the Laramie Montessori community. We're sorry that our fundraiser didn't have the outcome we hoped for, but all the same we're proud of what we accomplished with your help and donations. Thank you all so much.

We Care About Our Mayor Fundraiser Update

This fall, our PTO learned that one of our fellow Laramie Montessori School families was going through a rough time: mounting medical bills, and the possible loss of their home because of them. Our hearts went out to them, and we wanted to help. We thought that because the mother of this family is also the mayor of Laramie that perhaps others in our community would also want to help. So we put on the We Care About Our Mayor fundraiser carnival. Thanks to the help of so many of you, the carnival was a wild success, and we raised about $5,000 to help the Summerville family.

However, for a variety of reasons, the Summerville family has decided that they cannot accept the money that was raised for them. We respect their decision and are not going to try to pressure them otherwise. Because of the nature of the way donations were made at the carnival, it's impossible to get money back to the people that donated it, so that $5,000 is coming back to the PTO.

Before we make a decision about what to do with the money, we would like to get the input of those who attended the carnival and made donations. If you would like to weigh in on what the PTO does with the money raised, please fill out the form below. All answers are anonymous. A decision will be made by the PTO executive board at our meeting on February 14th.

We are considering several options. One, of course, is just to keep all the money at the school to benefit our students and teachers. The money would be used for field trips, teacher trainings, and classroom supplies. We're also considering giving the money to the school district to help with programs that benefit students district-wide, such as the program that sends backpacks with food home over the weekends. We could give the money to a community non-profit organization, such as the Interfaith food pantry. Finally, because the money raised was given to help with medical bills, we are considering giving it to Laramie Junior High's Hapi-ness 5K fundraiser, which raises money every year for a local family dealing with expensive medical issues.

Next regular meeting

Our next regular meeting for all PTO members will be held at 7:00pm on January 31st in the north conference room at LMS. Children are welcome! We will begin making plans for our Night On the Town fundraiser, to be held on April 20th. This fundraiser was a huge success last year, and with your help we hope to have even more fun this year!