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Writer's pictureLindsay Semph
Oct 21, 20204 min read

October 2020 FOGS Meeting Notes


FOGS MEETING AGENDAS


Wednesday, October 14, 2020

7:30pm


Meeting start time: 7:35pm


Board Attendees:

Joanna Miner

Jamie Militello

Hillary Scharmann

Derek Becker

Andy Distel

Mary Nisi

Lindsay Semph

Angie Yarusso

Genevra Knight

Amanda Bull - 7:51pm


Goethe Celebration Dates

  • Principal Appreciation Week

  • Teacher Appreciation Week

  • What else do we need to have on our radar? Omari will talk to some of the teachers to see what other things might come up

Finance - Genevra

  • Finance overview Nothing new to update since the last LSC meeting update from September

  • Cash on-hand at this point: ~$157k -- this is probably ~2 years worth of accumulated donations

  • earmarked items: ~$5k left for STEAM initiatives; garden last year ~$7k -- Angie will talk to Huu about continuing the garden programming

  • Giving Tree last year: $18,800 with one larger gift making up about half of that amount

  • Latin Beats last year: ~$21k even though we didn’t hold the event because we were able to retain all sponsorship money and most folks didn’t ask for refunds

  • Total spent last year ~$23k; gross raised: $62,106.83

  • Nov 15 is the due date for our tax filing -- Genevra is working on that

  • Current FOGS funds allocations - How does this impact how we allocate fundraising this year?

Committee Confirmation & Updates these are the committees from last year -- are these still accurate? And are there any that would like to start up again?

  • Recruitment/Open Houses Committee- Amanda & Joanna This is still accurate -- Joanna and Amanda will still head this; Hillary will join

  • Any updates? Joanna did some snooping, looks like other schools have started doing virtual open houses, Barb seems good with this, so Joanna is trying to work with Barb to do our own virtual open house

  • Let’s not include the Kindergarten video during the virtual open house but rather in another communication -- Joanna will talk directly to Kindergarten teachers, will create an agenda to share with Barb and offer her dates, but committee will take care of this

  • PreK open house separately or all in one? All in one gives people the opportunity to see the school more holistically

  • Joanna wants to reach out to any new parents to get feedback on their process for choosing Goethe, try to get some feedback on the open houses

  • Annex - Jamie, Amanda, Rick, Lindsay, and Theo This committee is continuing

  • Amanda, Jamie, and Theo talked to Admin about next steps, putting together an informational piece about things we’ve gotten that we’ve asked for (safe, warm, and dry) for the community to put on social media, thanking elected officials that have helped us and sharing what comes next (new permanent structure)

  • Jamie will have a more formal report next month with any asks

  • STEAM - Angie, Nicole, does anyone else want to be involved This committee is continuing

  • Next Wave STEM Program PD & curriculum for STEM, but doesn’t include the arts piece, but Yearbook Committee can count toward the arts piece. The goal will be to train teachers to be able to incorporate STEAM into everything. This could be something we prioritize this year -- $44k would be for the first year to train everyone in the school -- 4 courses and 10 weeks of course work, plus teaching programs for 3 teachers/course. Very plug-and-play, but we need to make sure coursework and PD are solid before going down this road so teachers are currently reviewing program if this is worthwhile. Subsequent years will be a $5k/year cost for licensing. Goal = have something by the end of year

  • Oktoberfest - Who has the relationship with Revolution Brewing? Lindsay does -- OKT is no longer but maybe we can share the 3-5 things we’re looking to do and see if Rev can help us in some way

  • Giving Tree - Not appropriate based on CPS guidance We need to be more careful about how we ask for funds/where fundraising is coming from for this year. Let’s table this for this year.

  • Latin Beats - ? It’s too soon at this point to be planning a large scale event, especially given all circumstances, so let’s brainstorm

2020 Auction Items


FOGS Funding Requests:

Remote learning requests from teachers - Jamie

  • Jamie to present teacher gift card idea $250 Amazon gift card per classroom so every educator serving students would get it including case workers, etc; fill out form to share their receipts to ensure financial accountability

  • 76 staff x $250 = $19k

  • https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dg1m9--E4b2vY0pLOogoEYexRNmmYMAz/view?usp=sharing

  • Vote

  • Angie moves to purchase gift cards for educators

  • Genevra seconded

  • 11-0 vote passes

  • Next steps -- Angie will share the email with the educators; Jamie will tee Angie up; goal is to have gift certificates out by Wednesday 10/21

Community Needs Survey or Outreach - Andy

Website and Email Upgrade - Angie

  • https://drive.google.com/file/d/1riEp3CuMp9WczE6uYT85I7FkMj11O_Yq/view?usp=sharing

  • Our website needs a massive revamp, including setting up to be both English and Spanish, in order to be more functional.

  • Lori Hammer’s offer with a 25% discount: $4500

  • Overwhelmingly, Board members and others on the call say this is incredibly cheap; Rick suggests including website maintenance and number of revisions clearly in writing

  • Initial design call -- Angie, Mary, Rick

  • Vote

  • Genevra motions to approve proposal for website improvement

  • Mary seconds

  • 11-0 vote passes

Knowing that Covid-19 has changed everything including how FOGS will support Goethe. How Might We (HMW) bring the Goethe community together and/or raise funds for Goethe during the 2020/2021 school year?

  • https://jamboard.google.com/d/1GY8I2ni7qEfBqBbamYHEiVWY0V0l9AEOZ7A6TTuZnNI/edit?usp=sharing

  • #3 - virtual talent show; #12 - Goethe apparel; #10 - drive-in movie; #4 - Goethe Fest; #16 - cookbook; movement-related (walk/bike/jump-a-thon)

  • People will start investigating what it’ll take to do these things -- take a first shot at next steps, more detail (what does this look like, what’s the timeline to accomplish things, basic fees)

  • Virtual talent show: Angie

  • Apparel: Hillary

  • Drive-in movie: Joanna

  • Goethe Fest: Rick & Derek

  • Cookbook: Mary

  • walk/bike/jump-a-thon: Omari & Genevra








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