Message From the President

August 1, 2011

Dear CCE Families and CCE Community,

On behalf of the Coyote Creek Elementary Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) Board, I would like to let you know that we are very excited about this school year. It is wonderful to have Gigi Whalen as our new principal. She is a great addition to our school and we look forward to working with her throughout the year.

The PTO has many great family activities and events planned. In addition to traditional CCE events like the Carnival and Turkey Bingo, the PTO is introducing a few new events like Muffins with Mom, and a Father/Daughter Dance. And of course there will be Movie Nights, Restaurant Nights, Missoula Theatre, and much more!

In addition to presenting great community events, the PTO is also responsible for raising funds for the school. Our goal for the 2011/2012 school year is to raise $63,000, which is about $161 per student, based upon 392 students registered. This money will provide an aide for sixth grade, new and updated technology for the classrooms, events and activities throughout the year and staffing for Art and the RTI program for the 2012/2013 school year. 

In addition to this goal, at the beginning of this school year the PTO has been tasked with an additional fundraising goal.  In order to offset the large student counts for Kindergarten, the PTO has offered to use almost all of our current available funds to fund an additional Kindergarten classroom teacher, and commit to raise additional funds for the total cost of the additional class. The PTO found this to be a necessity as the alternative would have been to reassign another teacher from a different grade and the effect would have been school wide.  The PTO board is very proud to have been able to help the school in this way.  However, the offset is that we have used most of our available funds and we will need to work hard to build up our balance again so we can continue to offer our PTO events and grants as planned.  While we know this will be a challenge, we know that our school community is up for it and as a community we can make this happen.  We know our school and our children are worth it! I am greatly looking forward to this year, and excited to work with the parents, staff and community of Coyote Creek. Please join us at our monthly PTO meetings. All are welcome, and membership is free. It is a great opportunity to discover more about the CCE PTO and school. We love to hear new ideas and suggestions. I hope to see you there!

Sharon Toler
PTO President