Motion to approve previous minutes made by Oriana Barnett, seconded by Corentin Cras-Meneur. Motion approved with no objections and one abstention.

Fifth grade is offering alternate seating (cushions, beach chairs, etc) to improve the learning experience. Mr Fisher requests 4 pillow chairs and 2 beach chairs for this purpose. Motion to fund the full amount up to $150.00 made by Elizabeth Morehead and seconded by Kelly Delp. Motion approved with no objections.

Anne Traicoff will follow up on whether there are any left-over scrip cards that can be utilized for these type of purchases. (Update: all the cards have been sold or used and there is no outstanding inventory)

Thanks to the teachers who attended the Fall Carnival. Students enjoyed seeing them participate.

Fun Run raised $33,623.00 this year. Everyone worked really hard and did a great job.   Motion to hold the all-school event despite coming up just short of our fundraising goal made by Julie Koehn and seconded by Kelly Delp. Motion passes with no objections. A note was made that all parents on the ice at the Ice Cube must sign a waiver. Last year’s event had many “drop-in” parents who were a liability concern for the building.

Motion to give the teachers who made their class Fun Run goals an extra $50.00 per teacher made by Maisha Ostergren and seconded by Amy Sonntag. Motion passes with no objections.

The company that runs the Fun Run will only provide the webpage next year but may be willing to sell the outside equipment to PTO. Kelly Delp will follow up with the company about the equipment and will continue to lead fundraising and promotions next year. Jamie Tomasello has volunteered to be the contact person for an event committee. Look for more info in the newsletter.

The Book Fair made $6300.00 this year for the Thurston Library. The partnership with Scholastic was very successful, and it was suggested that we request a second cash register for future fairs.

The Fall Carnival raffle raised $196.00 on 784 tickets. We possibly underpriced the raffle tickets and pricing might change next year. Thanks to our sponsors who donated over $1100.00 worth of prizes.   They included Anytime Fitness, Books Abound, Chuck E Cheese, Espresso Royale, Great Plains Burgers, Holiday Inn, Kumon, Massage Envy, Moosejaw, No Thai!, Orange Theory, Quality 16, Zap Zone, and Zoey and Joey.

Tori Melendez mentioned the success of the Science Room and the Community Service Club during the Carnival.

Turkey Trot will be seeking volunteers for the route soon. It occurs the Tuesday before Thanksgiving at midday. Alisa will contact a potential Mascot for the day. Spray chalk arrows were suggested to help the kids find their way on the route.

PTO Thrift Shop raffle will give us 100% of proceeds, but no one has volunteered to sell tickets. The raffle period ends on Friday.

Fitness Feet and other charms were discussed for future active events like walk to school days, mileage club, and turkey trot. Turkey Trot charms will be around $60.00 for 500.

Motion for $60.00 for Turkey charms made by Elizabeth Morehead. Motion seconded by Kelly Delp and passes with no objections.

The courtyard project has completed the initial phase and will move forward in the Spring. It has been sprayed twice to eliminate the Japanese Knotwood. The “Turtle” Rain Garden has been worked on by both the Green Team and parent volunteers, but has many needs (including setting the boundary.) Look for upcoming requests for gardening help in the newsletter. The front “Pit” rain garden will also need maintenance in the future from the PTO and community.

The community service club is starting a candy drive for our troops, with donated candy due on November 10^th. Each classroom will be collecting for this.

Teacher grant updates will be sent out monthly through Ms. York.

There will be a “Missing You” card box available soon in the office for Mrs. Stewart.

Bagel Friday will now be occurring every other Friday instead of one time per month.

M-Step results for 4^th and 5^th grade will be coming home soon.

Advertising: we will allow advertising in the newsletter in the future.

Box Tops have earned over $1000.00 so far and the Little Caesars Pizza fundraising day is election day.

Send in Campbell’s soup points as well as box tops. The Campbell’s Labels for Education program ends after this year.

The AAPAC Meeting for parents of children with IEP’s or 504 plans will take place at Slauson Middle School on Monday, November 7 at 7:00. The SISS Assistant Director in charge of Thurston, Concetta Lewis will be available an hour beforehand for one-on-one meetings. The Ann Arbor Police Department will speak about child safety and will have a dog from their K-9 unit available to meet.