Motion to approve last month’s minutes made by Julie Koehn. Motion approved with no objections.

Kiwanis Run: The last couple years, Kiwanis has held a community 5k run in our area with proceeds going to groups at Thurston and Clague. It will be on September 24^th, the same day as the Fall Festival.   It will once again be supported by the Orchard Hills/Maplewood Homeowners Association. The publisher of the Kiwanis Morning Edition expressed a desire to increase publicity and get assistance from a Thurston parent in helping organize and promote the run. Tori Melendez voiced her appreciation for the donations made to the Thurston Pantry and offered her assistance as a contact person.

Teacher Updates: Request to update the sound system in the MPR. We may need new microphones and are looking into options.

WISE (Women in Science and Engineering): They are looking for a parent volunteer to coordinate coming into the school and working with the 4^th and 5^th grades. Ms. York will be sending out info to the room parents in those grades to see if there is interest.

Principal’s update: May 2^nd is an election day and the Sinking Fund Millage is on the ballot. Updating plumbing and electrical problems in the schools is a goal. Another focus is preparing for expansion of schools in our area, including Thurston, due to new construction bringing in more students. We may also see upgrades to playgrounds and security systems. We are still waiting on more information on the modular classrooms planned for Thurston. There will be an informational meeting at Clague Middle School on April 25^th at 6:30 to discuss the millage.

Store Fundraising: Remember to renew your Kroger Plus Cards starting May 1^st. The website is often busy at this time, so if you can’t get in right away, keep trying.

It was clarified that the 5^th grade trips involve donations from families in addition to PTO funding because of the large entry fees. Parents have raised additional money for the end-of-the-year party from movie nights/bake sales etc. There is a binder that gets passed down each year with suggestions. Perhaps it should be a google doc in the future instead of a binder.

It was suggested that the line item “5^th Grade Parties” be changed to “5^th Grade Activities” to be a more accurate description.

We expect the Thurston Players to give a smaller donation to the PTO than in years past. Ms. York is hoping to get clarification from someone in the Players about this difference.

Future field trip funding was discussed and whether PTO can continue to pay for them. Any requests for donations would need to be mindful of parents who may not be able to afford them.  

Without the Fun Run next year we will most likely make less money and will have to make budget cuts.

Budget Meeting: Tuesday April 25^th at 6:00 will be the budget-only meeting. There will most likely not be childcare at this meeting. We will check availability of the Media Center for the location.

General Discussion: We are currently scouting locations for three new picnic tables, and will solicit teacher input. One will most likely be in the courtyard area.

We are still looking for candidates for many PTO positions for next year and are gathering job descriptions.