Pictured at Family Game Night above are Lilly Bandfield (daughter of Lisa Bandfield) and Landry Blackburn (daughter of Brad and Kerry Blackburn), both of whom are in the second grade. Check out next week’s issue for lots more info and photos from Family Game Night!

The Dysart-Geneseo Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) was officially formed in November 2014. A group of interested parents met and discussed how organization as an official group could provide a consistent way to foster parental engagement with the school.

As a parent-teacher organization, “Our goal is to help parents become active and connected to the school. We want to solidify that partnership between students, teachers, and parents. We feel children of involved and engaged parents do better in school.”

Members of the PTO include all parents of DG Elementary students and the teachers of DG Elementary. For this reason, every parent who has children in DG Elementary and every teacher who works at DG elementary are automatically part of the PTO. Many parents are surprised to learn that they are already PTO members. We would love to see every parent/family become “active” by attending the monthly PTO meetings and volunteering to help with PTO sponsored activities.

We meet in the school library the 2nd Monday of each month from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. Parents should feel free to just show up and be part of the discussion and planning. Some of our activities so far have included:

– Operation Warm – which was a coat, hat, mitten, cold weather clothing drive. We did this in the Fall of 2014 so students who didn’t have or who forgot their cold weather gear wouldn’t go without.

– We provided a meal for our teachers during the week of Parent Teacher conferences. We will also do something for the teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week in May.

– We sponsored a Craft and Vendor Fair at DG Elementary. Many DG parents donated baked goods that were sold at the PTO table.

– We hosted a Family Game Night at the school which attracted a lot of our school families. The cafeteria was full of parents and children connecting through activities and games.

– We are currently taking orders for DG Elementary School T-shirts.

– We will be putting together “Welcome Baskets” for new students who enroll throughout the school year so that they feel welcome

– We implemented the 2-Hour Power program. Parents can sign up to commit to 2 hours of their time each school year to help with classroom projects or PTO sponsored activities.

The PTO is just getting started, we have a lot of energy, and many more projects planned for the future. It is never too late to get involved and we welcome every parent and teacher. You can be a part of the PTO on your terms as much or as little as works for your schedule. It is important for children to see their parents inside the walls of the school, engaged and supportive of the programs and activities that are happening.

If any parents have questions about the PTO, please call or email PTO President Melissa Bradfield. Missybradfield@yahoo.com or 319-290-0567. Like us on Facebook DG Elementary School PTO.

PTO Board Members are:

Melissa Bradfield President

Sherry Reifenstahl Vice President

Cathy Niebergall Secretary

Kelli Knoop Treasurer

Fundraising Chair Courtney Petersen

Volunteer Chair – Shawn Grimm

Teacher Representative Angela Petersen