Where Do We Spend Your PTO Dollars?

We had an awesome first PTO Live! meeting on Tuesday - more than 60 people attended. Including some watching our very first Facebook Live broadcast!

At our meeting, we shared how some of your PTO dollars have been spent so far this year and what other plans we have for the budget. Here's a quick rundown:

• "Mindfulness kits" were purchased as requested by our school counselor Mrs. Hoge. These kits are available in every classroom in a "Peace Corner" and contain items that students can use to help calm themselves down when necessary.
• We are working on plans to put in a half basketball court in the front lawn (if approved by MNPS). Yeah!
• The back playground will be getting mats to place under the swings. These will keep the mulch from being pushed out of the way and help the younger students be able to reach the swings.
• We are working on a plan to update and "bedazzle" the school library.
• Picnic tables are also planned to be added to the front lawn. The idea is that teachers can use them for outdoor picnics if wanted, especially during end-of-year picnics, AND parents can have a place to sit during after-school playground time. A nice added bonus would be if anyone wants to start a coffee cart! <wink, wink>
• Curriculum used by various grade levels was purchased for the school year - IXL, Star Math, Study Island, phonics curriculum, Accelerated Reader and more!
• We will continue to fund the House field trips - these trips are awarded to the winning house per semester.
• As always, we continue to fill teacher funding requests for various items and teaching tools that help our amazing teachers educate our students.

Thank you to all our awesome parents that care so much about our school and help to make it great.

If you missed it and want to watch, you can find our Facebook Live broadcast here.

For all our PTO Live! meetings we will raffle off two days of NO SSA for your student(s). Two names will be drawn for anyone in attendance - either in person or online. Hope to see you at our next meeting on Tuesday, September 11, 5:30 pm at the Berkley Hill Apartments playground.

Thank You For An Awesome 2017-18 School Year!

Now that the dust has settled after end-of-school madness, we at the Dan Mills Elementary PTO want to say a big THANK YOU to the parents and community who have supported our school this past year. It has been an amazing one!

With your help and support we achieved every goal we had in fundraising this year, and then some! We hosted four fundraisers this year - Songwriters in the Round, Dragon Dash, Dragon Jubilee and Spring Auction - raising a net of more than $50,000!! Wow.

This is because of YOU, and your school thanks you.

If you wonder what we did with some of that money, take a look below and see the things YOU helped fund.

Item	Amount
Student Achievement Incentives Includes House field trips to Sky High	~$1,500
Capital Improvements Includes Closed Circuit TV System, Security door	~$4,500
Curriculum Includes IXL, Study Island and Southern Word	~$7,300
Dragon Dash Teacher Funds Money given to all teachers to use for their classroom	~$3,600
Literacy Includes literacy kits and books for library	~$20,500
Philanthropy Includes donation to Inglewood Elementary	~$1,000
Professional Development By teacher request	~$1,500
Supplies/Equipment Includes P.E. equipment and copy paper for school	~$3,500
Teacher Appreciation Because we love our teachers!	~$4,200

Ways To Help Our School Amidst Budget Cuts and Spending Freezes

As most of you have probably already heard, MNPS has proposed an adjustment in the budget and allocation of funds to individual schools for the 2018-19 school year. The district has also immediately instituted a hiring, travel and purchasing freeze at schools in light of a $7.5 million shortfall for the year.

I'm not here to discuss the ins and outs of MNPS budgeting, though you may read about it on The Tennessean here: "How the upcoming Nashville public schools budget proposal will impact your child's school" and "Nashville school board members call for a review of expenditures in light of $7.5 million shortfall."

Dan Mills' PTO is dedicated to supporting our school in whatever way possible so that our students, teachers and administration can thrive. So here are some things you, the parents of Dan Mills, can do to help our school.

• Reach out to your child's teacher and ask if there's anything they need in the classroom to get through to the end of the year.
• Attend our Spring Auction fundraiser on April 19. And bring your wallet! ;)
• Volunteer in the classroom. Talk to your child's teacher and see if they have tasks they need help completing.
• Get involved with the PTO.
• Gift your child's teacher with an Amazon gift card or another gift card to a school supply store.
• Attend our PTO Live! meetings to see where else you can plug in.
• Tell your teachers "thank you."
• Donate to the PTO - contact us if you'd like to. The funds collected by the PTO directly go back to the school to fund such things as increased security measures, computers, teacher supplies, literacy kits, teacher requests, and all kinds of other things.

Have more ideas? Share them in the comments!