2023-2024 Sunset Hills Education Foundation Year-End Summary

 
 

May 31, 2024


Hello Seagull Supporters!

The end of the school year is here!  It is the perfect time to reflect upon our accomplishments and look forward to the coming year.  By reading this, I hope you will feel more connected to Sunset Hills and the Foundation.

This school year we raised approximately $115,000 through our Blue Envelope Campaign, Auction and Raffle, Read-A-Thon, Seagull Supper Fundraisers, Friends of the Foundation Sponsorships, corporate matching donations, and individual donations.  As fundraised dollars slowly rolled in, the Foundation sought savings by taking advantage of nonprofit discounts for software, switching payment processors to allow donors to cover fees, partnering with Ms. Sousa and the school to win a Cal Coast Credit Union grant, using 3rd party vendors that donate their services or a portion of sales at events, and opening an interest-earning money market account.  Our expenses for the school year totalled $115,276.  We paid for our Art and STEM programs and salaries, our 2 IMPACT teacher salaries, online teaching resources, spirit supplies, traffic signage, the Sunset Hills PTA (programs/events, staff appreciation, and small grants for teachers), CAASPP testing snacks, and a small amount to support our administration.   Only 6% of our expenses went toward operating costs (fundraising, marketing, and processing fees).

In May, our voting board of 11 directors approved $116,348 to support Mrs. Pineda’s 2024-2025 Sunset Hills funding proposal.  Compared to this school year, the major difference is that cuts were made across the board and the Music program will be funded (The district will no longer be funding our music program; they are reallocating the funds).   We also elected new directors and officers.  We look forward to having Laura Hampton and John Paul Mitchell join us with their young, actively involved families.  Our Foundation officers for the coming year will be: President-Brian Gibbs, Vice President-Phil Gaeta, Secretary-John Paul Mitchell, and Treasurer-Cathy Honda.  They will do great!

It is my hope, in the coming school year, that all families take part in supporting Sunset Hills at whatever amount they are able to.  Every dollar makes a difference.  The state budget crisis and PUSD budget limitations are real - the Sunset Hills community makes a significant difference in the education and wellness of our children with their contributions.  

Thank you so much to our supportive community, students, parents, teachers, and staff, who make Foundation-funded programs work for all of our Seagulls.  Thank you for the amazing partnership between the PTA, Foundation, and the administration.  Thank you to all our volunteers.  It cannot be taken for granted. 

Wishing you a wonderful summer,  

 

Casey Chan-Ruthenbeck

President

Sunset Hills Education Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit



2020-2021 School Year Adaptations for COVID-19

This year we are making adaptations to our activities due to COVID-19. We are staying busy and supporting our school and PTA, just in a different way.

We are just wrapping up our Blue Envelope Campaign on 12/18/2020. This is our largest direct ask from families for the year. The request is $150 per student. We know that these times are tough. We want to maintain the education standards our kids deserve. If $150 is too much, please donate what you can. Our goal is to raise $36,000.

We are also holding many dinner fundraisers at local restaurants. Mention our school on the designated day for dine-in or take-out, and the restaurant will donate a portion of the sale back to our school. Stay tuned to school announcements and the various Facebook pages related to our school.

In November, we held our first ever Drive-In Movie Night with proceeds benefitting Sunset Hills Education Foundation. Families from the community were welcome to come. All were asked to keep their masks on and socially distance if outside their vehicle. Snack packs were available for sale. We plan on holding another Drive-In Movie Night in the Spring.

In the Spring we will also be holding a Read-a-Thon and our annual Silent Auction fundraiser virtually. We are excited about both of these fundraisers as we expect them to be fun for families and help us reach our fundraising goals.

Thank you so much for supporting Sunset Hills Elementary. Your donations today are so important for our next school year.

Staying Safe And Healthy

Hello all,

I hope you are all staying safe during the covid-19 pandemic happening right now. I wanted to provide a brief update of where we are at Sunset Hills Foundation wise.

When the California shelter in place happened a few weeks ago, we decided to cancel the spring auction. It didn’t feel right to reach out to companies asking for donations given their hardships. About half of the items we have in the auction are also school based items, things made by classes or donated by teachers. Given that, and the transition to distance learning the teachers and children are going through, the cancellation seemed appropriate.

Thanks to your kind donations last year, we are able to continue funding our personnel at the school, and the PTA. We will see about how the fall goes donation wise in donating anything else this year.

Thank you for all your donations last year. Stay safe, stay healthy, and let’s hope for a smooth exit from our shelter in place order back towards some sort of normalcy in the fall.

Lucien

President, Sunset Hills Foundation

October 22, 2018 Meeting Minutes

Location: Sunset Hills Elementary – Conference Room

Called to order at 6:02pm

Attendes:

Lucien Dupont - President P
Lisa Wilken Principal (NV) P
Eric Wall - Vice President P
Joey Elwell - Secretary P
Missy Lathram - Treasurer    P    
Annette Feldman - Director P    
Seth Camhi - Director
Krisha Benevides - Director P            
Bridgette Padilla (NV)    P    
Jennifer Crumrine - PTA President P

Attendees not on chart:

Guest: Dailean

Location: Sunset Hills Elementary – Conference Room

Called to order at 6:09pm

Attendees not on chart:

Guest: Marci Holden, Melinda Renken

Minutes:

Missy made a motion to approve the September minutes with correction.

Krisha seconded

Unanimous approval.

Treasurer’s report: Missy presenting

Soar Campaign:

Raised just over 25k

20k less than last year.

Matching last year was 5 – 7k matching. This year about 4k.

Might trickle in and get us closer to 30k.

Teachers submitted grant forms.

4K went out to teachers.

Next month there will be upwards of 25 checks.

September 2018 Checks:

3$ bank charge

Missy motioned to approve bank fee

Joey Seconds

Unanimous approval

Questions:

Percentage of SOAR participation? 137 students out of the 473. (29%) Last year was about (35%). Highest was maybe 37%

Lisa thinks our goal should be 50%

How can we do this differently? Canyon View raises a lot more money than we do with Red envelopes.

Is there a way to check if how many families vs per student?

Canyon View is 100$ / student

This year (first) several classrooms had 100% participation.

Contest prize included raffle tickets for bringing in red envelopes.

Tickets could be used for projects during recess/lunches.

Teachers did a flash mob.

Odessey parents could be pulled in.

Maybe Foundation brings in iPads that the kids can win.

Everyone gets a ticket for free, and you can get more for bringing in your envelope.

Question: parents or sponsors?

Canyon View got their money from parents.

Design 39 gets sponsors from community.

$500 - $600 – sponsors get their name on an assembly.

Parent volunteer needed to put the time and effort into getting sponsors and donations.

Innovation lab needs a volunteer that is passionate.

Maybe parents can be sponsors?

(Lisa) Are we allowed to do that? – Lisa to ask

Oak Valley middle school – their representative has a flyer with all the companies in their area that match and give. Everything done for employees of a given company that match.

No changes from last year.

Next year we will change up the SOAR campaign.

PTA Update: Jennifer presenting

Halloween carnival – thank you Krisha

Positive feedback from Jennifer.

Krisha got mixed feedback.

Less participation than normal.

Highland Ranch does theirs in the middle of the day.

Character Counts / Red Ribbon week currently

Tomorrow Ambassadors

Group picture with colors on Thursday

Lucien would like a copy of the photo

Lisa to send to Lucien

Adopt a Family Nov 9th.

Giving Tree for families within our own community.

PTA can not accept CASH – so it needs to go through the Foundation.

Has never been an issue.

Book Sale happening in a few weeks out front.

Thursday Lisa is getting silly stringed.

Missy bought silly string.

Principal’s Report: Lisa presenting

We’re moving into Parent Teacher conferences.

Great start to the year.

After school math club for 4th and 5th grade students.

Some money used on ELL kids (that has to go to disadvantages youth or ELL)

100 students have Lexia. Plus 65 licneses for Kinder.

NEU funding : Lisa presenting

No Excuses University system.

Broaden from College, to trade schools.

6 exceptional systems.

Tina (prior principal) brought it on. 5 principals in 6 years. NEU provided a focus.

Lisa is learning it.

It costs money. We only get so much from the community. And we are not Title 1. Donut school. We only get 12k from the district.

Karate guy gets us 2k/year – which goes to the donation fund.

District can take lottery funds and other funds.

NEU has an bi-annual conference with a team of 4. That costs 6k.

Superintendant paid for all 5 schools to go.

However every year there is a conference in San Diego. $495/person to take 5 people.

Lisa would like the Foundation to fund the $2500/year for the San Diego conference. Starting in the 2018/2019 school year budget.

School will pay for subs. $180/day * 4

$130/year to be a part of NEU.

Missy to add the NEU costs to the line items that we evaluate and rank in April.

Krisha’s 15 minutes: Lisa presenting

Joey made a motion to approve $1,320/year for the extra 1 hour impact

Missy seconded.

Discussion:

This is only for this year. Lisa will adjust the schedule so we don’t need that extra time.

Unanimous approval

Foundation/PTA membership: Annette presenting

Annette went to the Foundation summit.

Schools with a lot of members have a big presence on campus.

Someone on campus constantly talking about SOAR, Foundation and PTA.

Innovation lab – getting our vision together

We need a team.

Annette asking for money for an off campus event.

Presentation to showcase our efforts

Presence:

PTA tshirts

Foundation tshirts

Terrific Thursday – PTA/Foundation with matching shirts.

PTA shows something off.

Some touts

Personal flyers to kinder/First grade that are personalized to get people to our event.

Comment : seems like a great idea. Untapped resource for parents that can’t do things during the week.

Question: Parents with younger kids. What do you do with your kids (childcare)?

Night before the Feb 1st program.

When if we couple it with the pajama jam?

No – that’s date night.

Question about off site vs on site presence.

Schools that were successful had off site events.

When Annette started Around the World night she was physically out there – a presence.

Extending personal invitations is powerful.

Might reach people that aren’t overworked.

Annette likely asking for 500$ - 700$ for food.

plus a gift card raffle.

Pitchers might work.

Westroot is owned by a Sunset Hills parent and they would be available.

Likely we will be fine giving that money.

Annette to do leg work and figure out money.

Lisa to talk to Jenna and Jim from Westroot.

PTA/Foundation meeting combo: Lisa presenting

1 meeting a month

Would be longer

Question on minutes.

Other people are “guests”

Foundation is about money, PTA is about time you have available.

Keep it as is.

Fall Pajama Jam : Lucien presenting

Lucien reached out to DJ ESS co-leader.

He doesn’t want to help because it didn’t go well last year.

Lucien would like to keep it simple.

Teachers can’t do 3 hours – they need a break.

Maybe a movie night?

Maybe kids play game, dinner and movies in the classrooms.

If the teacher wants to do a dance party dismissal they can do it in their rooms.

Checkout will be on a phone or runners.

Or parents sign out at the classroom.

Last year we did pizza, carrots, oranges.

Buy the popcorn from Costco – no popping.

Costs – 50$ for family or 35$ kid.

5:30-8:30pm. 9pm was too long for some kids.

Teacher feedback, cutoff signups before that day.

Answer is NO. We need the money for the fundraising.

New Intuit money– Lucien presenting

Kindergaerten want new iPads and headphones.

We gave them 200$ from grants and they used that for headphones.

They would like 15. (2 to 1 ratio)

Currently 65 kindergartners.

Announcement was made about cutting IA for kindergarten for next year.

$4485 ($299 each) for 15 iPads.

Joey mentioning numbers about down 20k, but no 15k expense for Innovation lab twice.

Everyone in the school has more modern needs.

Kelly has 8, Room 1& 2 have 14. All older minis.

Would be great to get them up to date on their tech.

Needs to bought through the district.

Missy to present a scope of our budget for next month.

Lucien Adjourned at 7:25 pm