Committee Chair and Booster Club Handbook
We appreciate you assisting to make our school one of excellence by accepting to chair your committee,
or be an officer of your Booster Club.
Once you have read the handbook, please print this page, sign it, and return it to the PTO mailbox in the school office.
________________________________________________________________
Name
________________________________________________________________
Signature and Date
________________________________________________________________
PTO Committee name or Booster Club name
GENERAL INFORMATION AND PROCEDURES:
Welcome to Arcadia PTO! Thank you for volunteering to be a committee chair or Booster Club Executive. Hopefully, you will find it to be a most rewarding and self-satisfying experience.
COMMUNICATION is the most important key to our success. Please keep the PTO Executive Board informed of your important dates, budgets, and events.
All committee chairs and Booster Executives MUST BE PTO Members.
All committees have budgets. Upon approval by the General Membership, a copy of the annual budget for your committee will be forwarded to you from the President or Volunteer Vice President. PLEASE DO NOT GO OVER BUDGET. These budgets have been set and voted on for the year by the PTO General Membership.
The following procedures have been set up to help AHS PTO run smoothly:
SIGNING IN:
1.Everyone must sign in the visitor’s log book at the front desk, so that the school administrators know who is in the building at all times for safety purposes.
2.You must always wear a visitor’s name tag or a PTO personalized volunteer tag. PTO name tags are given to regular on campus volunteers. If you need a PTO name tag, please go the bookstore and ask for one to be made for you.
COMMITTEE CHAIR MEETINGS:
1.All chairs are requested to attend and give a brief update of their respective committee at the monthly PTO general meetings. In the event that you cannot attend, please send an update to the President to be included for the meeting.
2.These meetings are open to ALL PTO members. Encourage your committee volunteers and all others to attend. If anyone other than the chair wants to be placed on the agenda, please advise the President at least two days prior to the meeting.
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETINGS:
1.The PTO executive Board and the principal will meet once a month. Check the calendar on the website for dates and times.
2.The Executive Board will review plans, budgets, programs, and results, assess the needs of the school, and discuss opportunities.
3.Please contact the PTO President with any items you wish to have presented.
COMMITTEE MEETINGS:
1.Most Important: Contact ALL the people who have signed up to help with your committee. We want to include everyone who has expressed a desire to help!
2.A committee’s objective is to have everyone participate and help to complete its task.
3.Notify the PTO President when your meetings will be so that s/he can attend. S/he can provide you with information and answers to questions you may have.
COMMITTEE NOTEBOOKS:
1.A notebook will be given to one chairperson per committee. The guidelines are provided to assist you and familiarize you with procedures and history of your committee.
2.The notebooks must be kept up-to-date with your activities, and should include plans, results, money spent, and dateline for activities, flyers, and suggestions for improvement. The chairperson will utilize these notebooks for subsequent years, and the information you provide will be invaluable.
3.All chairs receiving notebooks MUST return them at the end of the school year unless you will be continuing in your position.
PUBLICITY:
1.We would like to inform the community about the great things that are happening at Arcadia!
2.If your committee produces an event or activity, or makes a significant monetary contribution to enhance our school, appoint a person on the committee or in your Booster to report to the Community Relations VP.
3.Contact the Community relations VP to submit an article or picture for release to the local newspapers. Include the Who, What, When, and Where of the event. Submit 2 - 3 weeks prior to the event or immediately afterwards.
4.Include a digital picture along with a caption to appear underneath the picture. Newspapers really like pictures! You must list the names of all people in photograph from left to right. The Community Relations VP will verify that every child shown in the picture has a signed publicity release on file with the school.
5.The Community Relations VP and the President will advise the Principal of the publicity request from committees. The committee will try to get all requests published in local newspapers.
COMMUNICATIONS & NEWSLETTERS:
1. Most committees have an itemized budget. You must stay within these limits when spending PTO money. In the extreme case that you may need to increase or change your budget, you must submit your revised estimate with a detailed explanation as to the need for change to the President. The Executive Board will review it at its next meeting and determine the appropriate action to be taken.
2. Complete an Expense Voucher for reimbursement of any budgeted expenses that you have incurred. Attach original receipts supporting your expenditures. Itemize each expense by budget area.
3. The Committee Chair’s approval is required for all expense vouchers. The Committee Chair will review the expense to ensure that it is within budget.
4. Upon the Committee Chair’s approval, the Expense Voucher and receipts will be forwarded to the Treasurer and approval.
5. The Treasurer will process it for reimbursement. The treasurer will issue a check to you in 7 – 10 days.
6. Please retain a copy of your voucher and receipt for your committee chair notebook.
7. Expenses incurred should be submitted on a timely basis. Please do not let your expenditures accumulate over a long period of time. Your budget should be maintained on a monthly basis.
8. If an invoice needs to be paid directly to a vendor, please do not delay in submitting for payment. Alert the Treasurer when you submit an invoice so that it gets paid in a timely manner.
9. Please remember that our PTO members trust us to be good stewards of these funds. Be mindful of this, especially in our current economy, and make sure all spending is necessary. Please refrain from spending just because the funds are there.
CONTRACTS:
Arcadia PTO by-laws state that only the President/Co-President may sign a contract concerning PTO business. PTO is liable when signing a legal document. Advise the President when a contract is involved that will require a signature.
This applies to both Booster Clubs and Committees.
COMMITTEE INCOME:
1.If your committee earns income, you must submit a Deposit Form (green).
2.Complete the form, sign and date it, noting if there are any restrictions on the funds.
3.After counting the money and completing the form, let the treasurer know that there is money to be deposited.
4.All money received should not be held and accumulated. Process the forms and submit the money immediately.
THANK YOU NOTES:
1.Your committee will use the assistance, contributions, donations, and support from numerous people. It is very important that we as PTO appreciate and express our gratitude to the appropriate people.
2.The Secretary will send a note of thanks to a person or business that has contributed to the PTO or the school. E-mail your request to the Secretary. As a committee chair, you should personally send a thank you note to your volunteers and let them know that you appreciate them, their time, and help.
MAILBOXES:
1.Each teacher and staff member has a mailbox in the office. You can use these for correspondence. Give your correspondence to the front desk personnel and they will place it in the teacher’s box, or ask for permission to go back to the mail room to make the delivery.
2.You can use interoffice mail for any correspondence to any SUSD Administration.
REQUEST FOR USAGE OF BUILDING:
1.If you will need to use the school building beyond the normal school hours or require a special room during the day (e.g. events, before school yearbook sales), you will need to fill out a rental agreement that can be obtained from Georgia French. Please allow adequate time for this to be processed.
2.If a group is holding a "game of chance" (Silent Auction, Bingo, 50/50), a separate rental contract for that must be written and attached to the group's insurance certificate. The utility surcharge will be assessed on the rental contract during these events. If a group needs to purchase insurance, you can apply on-line and get a quote at: https://www.ebi-ins.com/tulip/. If you have questions about using the website, please call Pam Witzel, 602-200-2447.
3.If a group is holding an event that includes vendors staying on campus, again a separate rental contract must be written for that the vendor/s' insurance certificate/s must be attached. The insurance certificate must name SUSD as "additional insured" and have general liability limits of $1,000,000 and property damage of $100,000.
4.Please remember that groups are only allowed to use the sinks and counters in the kitchen during their events. If you want to use any kitchen equipment, you must call Nutritional Services to schedule and pay for a food service worker to be there.
JUST FOR BOOSTERS:
- To use the PTO 501c3 status, Booster Clubs must comply with the following rules:
1. Booster Clubs must have their own bylaws, purpose and mission statement, have annually elected officials- including a treasurer- and create budgets annually.
2. All Booster Executive Officers must be members in good standing of the PTO.
3. All Boosters must submit their annual budgets to the PTO Board.
4. For the annual tax preparation, all boosters must submit their 12 months of bank statements (June-May), all information needed to prepare 1099’s (payments to vendors totaling over $600) and their accounting info, preferably on Quick Books, by July 1
5. Failure to comply with these rules will result in the Booster being dropped from the PTO 501c3 umbrella. Reinstatement will be subject to review by the PTO Board, and will not be considered until all mandated Booster criteria have been met.
- As a Booster Club in compliance, the Arcadia PTO provides the following:
1. Annual tax return preparation
2. Annual Arizona Corporation Commission filing
3. Non-profit/501c3 status
4. Insurance & liability coverage for officers/events, guaranteed by a Fidelity Bond
5. Access to credit card machine & Pay pal account for processing credit card transactions
- Booster Clubs have their own, independent budgets. Unlike committee budgets, Booster Club budgets are not managed by the PTO Treasurer and the Booster Club funds are not a part of the PTO budget. It is important that each Booster Club elect a Treasurer every year to manage the budget. Booster Clubs are not required to obtain any prior approval for budgeted expenditures from the PTO; however, an annual Booster budget must be submitted to the PTO Board for records keeping purposes no later than the first day of school for the coming year to insure that we are all compliant with our shared 501c3 status. Budgets are due no later than the first day of school for the coming year.
- Booster Clubs are responsible for their own off campus publicity; the PTO will always partner with Boosters in promoting on campus publicity for all Booster events, including posting articles in the weekly PTO newsletter.
- Fundraising rules:
1. All fundraising activities associated with any group of Arcadia students, whether held on or off campus, must be submitted in writing to the Assistant Principal in charge of Student Activities.
a. Submissions must be made at least 7 days before the event.
b. Submission must be made in writing or sent via e-mail
2. All fundraising activities must be compatible with the fundraising calendar
a. PTO/Booster fundraising activities do not need administrative approval; but it is requested that parent leaders cross-reference the fundraising calendar before scheduling an event, and it is required that they submit their event for inclusion on the Fundraising Calendar at least 7 days prior to the event.
3. All approved fundraisers can be advertised through the PTO using the e-blast.
a. PTO/ Booster fundraising event information can be sent directly to the VP Communications for advertisement via the PTO e-blasts ahsnewsblast@gmail.com
b. Submission for inclusion in the Friday NEWSblast must be received by noon on the prior Wednesday.
c. Additional non-Friday e-blasts for approved events will be sent out at the discretion of the PTO VP Communications and the PTO President.
4. Any time any merchandise is sold with "Arcadia", "AHS" or the Arcadia "A" on it at school functions, the logo/design MUST be approved by the Student Activities Assistant Principal.
a. Send in a picture of the design or mock up to Assistant Principal, Kevin Mooney
b. Include your name, the name of your group and what the proceeds from the sale will be used for.
- Arcadia PTO by-laws state that only the President/Co-President may sign a contract concerning PTO business. PTO is liable when signing a legal document. Advise the President when a contract is involved that will require a signature. This applies to both Booster Clubs and Committees.
- Booster Clubs are not required to submit funds through the PTO Treasurer, but should consider having a similar protocol within their Club with their own Treasurer. All Booster Club income must be included on the annual financial report submitted to PTO. If your annual income is over $20,000, Booster Clubs are encouraged to have another person review the bank statements monthly.
or be an officer of your Booster Club.
Once you have read the handbook, please print this page, sign it, and return it to the PTO mailbox in the school office.
________________________________________________________________
Name
________________________________________________________________
Signature and Date
________________________________________________________________
PTO Committee name or Booster Club name
GENERAL INFORMATION AND PROCEDURES:
Welcome to Arcadia PTO! Thank you for volunteering to be a committee chair or Booster Club Executive. Hopefully, you will find it to be a most rewarding and self-satisfying experience.
COMMUNICATION is the most important key to our success. Please keep the PTO Executive Board informed of your important dates, budgets, and events.
All committee chairs and Booster Executives MUST BE PTO Members.
All committees have budgets. Upon approval by the General Membership, a copy of the annual budget for your committee will be forwarded to you from the President or Volunteer Vice President. PLEASE DO NOT GO OVER BUDGET. These budgets have been set and voted on for the year by the PTO General Membership.
The following procedures have been set up to help AHS PTO run smoothly:
SIGNING IN:
1.Everyone must sign in the visitor’s log book at the front desk, so that the school administrators know who is in the building at all times for safety purposes.
2.You must always wear a visitor’s name tag or a PTO personalized volunteer tag. PTO name tags are given to regular on campus volunteers. If you need a PTO name tag, please go the bookstore and ask for one to be made for you.
COMMITTEE CHAIR MEETINGS:
1.All chairs are requested to attend and give a brief update of their respective committee at the monthly PTO general meetings. In the event that you cannot attend, please send an update to the President to be included for the meeting.
2.These meetings are open to ALL PTO members. Encourage your committee volunteers and all others to attend. If anyone other than the chair wants to be placed on the agenda, please advise the President at least two days prior to the meeting.
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETINGS:
1.The PTO executive Board and the principal will meet once a month. Check the calendar on the website for dates and times.
2.The Executive Board will review plans, budgets, programs, and results, assess the needs of the school, and discuss opportunities.
3.Please contact the PTO President with any items you wish to have presented.
COMMITTEE MEETINGS:
1.Most Important: Contact ALL the people who have signed up to help with your committee. We want to include everyone who has expressed a desire to help!
2.A committee’s objective is to have everyone participate and help to complete its task.
3.Notify the PTO President when your meetings will be so that s/he can attend. S/he can provide you with information and answers to questions you may have.
COMMITTEE NOTEBOOKS:
1.A notebook will be given to one chairperson per committee. The guidelines are provided to assist you and familiarize you with procedures and history of your committee.
2.The notebooks must be kept up-to-date with your activities, and should include plans, results, money spent, and dateline for activities, flyers, and suggestions for improvement. The chairperson will utilize these notebooks for subsequent years, and the information you provide will be invaluable.
3.All chairs receiving notebooks MUST return them at the end of the school year unless you will be continuing in your position.
PUBLICITY:
1.We would like to inform the community about the great things that are happening at Arcadia!
2.If your committee produces an event or activity, or makes a significant monetary contribution to enhance our school, appoint a person on the committee or in your Booster to report to the Community Relations VP.
3.Contact the Community relations VP to submit an article or picture for release to the local newspapers. Include the Who, What, When, and Where of the event. Submit 2 - 3 weeks prior to the event or immediately afterwards.
4.Include a digital picture along with a caption to appear underneath the picture. Newspapers really like pictures! You must list the names of all people in photograph from left to right. The Community Relations VP will verify that every child shown in the picture has a signed publicity release on file with the school.
5.The Community Relations VP and the President will advise the Principal of the publicity request from committees. The committee will try to get all requests published in local newspapers.
COMMUNICATIONS & NEWSLETTERS:
1. Most committees have an itemized budget. You must stay within these limits when spending PTO money. In the extreme case that you may need to increase or change your budget, you must submit your revised estimate with a detailed explanation as to the need for change to the President. The Executive Board will review it at its next meeting and determine the appropriate action to be taken.
2. Complete an Expense Voucher for reimbursement of any budgeted expenses that you have incurred. Attach original receipts supporting your expenditures. Itemize each expense by budget area.
3. The Committee Chair’s approval is required for all expense vouchers. The Committee Chair will review the expense to ensure that it is within budget.
4. Upon the Committee Chair’s approval, the Expense Voucher and receipts will be forwarded to the Treasurer and approval.
5. The Treasurer will process it for reimbursement. The treasurer will issue a check to you in 7 – 10 days.
6. Please retain a copy of your voucher and receipt for your committee chair notebook.
7. Expenses incurred should be submitted on a timely basis. Please do not let your expenditures accumulate over a long period of time. Your budget should be maintained on a monthly basis.
8. If an invoice needs to be paid directly to a vendor, please do not delay in submitting for payment. Alert the Treasurer when you submit an invoice so that it gets paid in a timely manner.
9. Please remember that our PTO members trust us to be good stewards of these funds. Be mindful of this, especially in our current economy, and make sure all spending is necessary. Please refrain from spending just because the funds are there.
CONTRACTS:
Arcadia PTO by-laws state that only the President/Co-President may sign a contract concerning PTO business. PTO is liable when signing a legal document. Advise the President when a contract is involved that will require a signature.
This applies to both Booster Clubs and Committees.
COMMITTEE INCOME:
1.If your committee earns income, you must submit a Deposit Form (green).
2.Complete the form, sign and date it, noting if there are any restrictions on the funds.
3.After counting the money and completing the form, let the treasurer know that there is money to be deposited.
4.All money received should not be held and accumulated. Process the forms and submit the money immediately.
THANK YOU NOTES:
1.Your committee will use the assistance, contributions, donations, and support from numerous people. It is very important that we as PTO appreciate and express our gratitude to the appropriate people.
2.The Secretary will send a note of thanks to a person or business that has contributed to the PTO or the school. E-mail your request to the Secretary. As a committee chair, you should personally send a thank you note to your volunteers and let them know that you appreciate them, their time, and help.
MAILBOXES:
1.Each teacher and staff member has a mailbox in the office. You can use these for correspondence. Give your correspondence to the front desk personnel and they will place it in the teacher’s box, or ask for permission to go back to the mail room to make the delivery.
2.You can use interoffice mail for any correspondence to any SUSD Administration.
REQUEST FOR USAGE OF BUILDING:
1.If you will need to use the school building beyond the normal school hours or require a special room during the day (e.g. events, before school yearbook sales), you will need to fill out a rental agreement that can be obtained from Georgia French. Please allow adequate time for this to be processed.
2.If a group is holding a "game of chance" (Silent Auction, Bingo, 50/50), a separate rental contract for that must be written and attached to the group's insurance certificate. The utility surcharge will be assessed on the rental contract during these events. If a group needs to purchase insurance, you can apply on-line and get a quote at: https://www.ebi-ins.com/tulip/. If you have questions about using the website, please call Pam Witzel, 602-200-2447.
3.If a group is holding an event that includes vendors staying on campus, again a separate rental contract must be written for that the vendor/s' insurance certificate/s must be attached. The insurance certificate must name SUSD as "additional insured" and have general liability limits of $1,000,000 and property damage of $100,000.
4.Please remember that groups are only allowed to use the sinks and counters in the kitchen during their events. If you want to use any kitchen equipment, you must call Nutritional Services to schedule and pay for a food service worker to be there.
JUST FOR BOOSTERS:
- To use the PTO 501c3 status, Booster Clubs must comply with the following rules:
1. Booster Clubs must have their own bylaws, purpose and mission statement, have annually elected officials- including a treasurer- and create budgets annually.
2. All Booster Executive Officers must be members in good standing of the PTO.
3. All Boosters must submit their annual budgets to the PTO Board.
4. For the annual tax preparation, all boosters must submit their 12 months of bank statements (June-May), all information needed to prepare 1099’s (payments to vendors totaling over $600) and their accounting info, preferably on Quick Books, by July 1
5. Failure to comply with these rules will result in the Booster being dropped from the PTO 501c3 umbrella. Reinstatement will be subject to review by the PTO Board, and will not be considered until all mandated Booster criteria have been met.
- As a Booster Club in compliance, the Arcadia PTO provides the following:
1. Annual tax return preparation
2. Annual Arizona Corporation Commission filing
3. Non-profit/501c3 status
4. Insurance & liability coverage for officers/events, guaranteed by a Fidelity Bond
5. Access to credit card machine & Pay pal account for processing credit card transactions
- Booster Clubs have their own, independent budgets. Unlike committee budgets, Booster Club budgets are not managed by the PTO Treasurer and the Booster Club funds are not a part of the PTO budget. It is important that each Booster Club elect a Treasurer every year to manage the budget. Booster Clubs are not required to obtain any prior approval for budgeted expenditures from the PTO; however, an annual Booster budget must be submitted to the PTO Board for records keeping purposes no later than the first day of school for the coming year to insure that we are all compliant with our shared 501c3 status. Budgets are due no later than the first day of school for the coming year.
- Booster Clubs are responsible for their own off campus publicity; the PTO will always partner with Boosters in promoting on campus publicity for all Booster events, including posting articles in the weekly PTO newsletter.
- Fundraising rules:
1. All fundraising activities associated with any group of Arcadia students, whether held on or off campus, must be submitted in writing to the Assistant Principal in charge of Student Activities.
a. Submissions must be made at least 7 days before the event.
b. Submission must be made in writing or sent via e-mail
2. All fundraising activities must be compatible with the fundraising calendar
a. PTO/Booster fundraising activities do not need administrative approval; but it is requested that parent leaders cross-reference the fundraising calendar before scheduling an event, and it is required that they submit their event for inclusion on the Fundraising Calendar at least 7 days prior to the event.
3. All approved fundraisers can be advertised through the PTO using the e-blast.
a. PTO/ Booster fundraising event information can be sent directly to the VP Communications for advertisement via the PTO e-blasts ahsnewsblast@gmail.com
b. Submission for inclusion in the Friday NEWSblast must be received by noon on the prior Wednesday.
c. Additional non-Friday e-blasts for approved events will be sent out at the discretion of the PTO VP Communications and the PTO President.
4. Any time any merchandise is sold with "Arcadia", "AHS" or the Arcadia "A" on it at school functions, the logo/design MUST be approved by the Student Activities Assistant Principal.
a. Send in a picture of the design or mock up to Assistant Principal, Kevin Mooney
b. Include your name, the name of your group and what the proceeds from the sale will be used for.
- Arcadia PTO by-laws state that only the President/Co-President may sign a contract concerning PTO business. PTO is liable when signing a legal document. Advise the President when a contract is involved that will require a signature. This applies to both Booster Clubs and Committees.
- Booster Clubs are not required to submit funds through the PTO Treasurer, but should consider having a similar protocol within their Club with their own Treasurer. All Booster Club income must be included on the annual financial report submitted to PTO. If your annual income is over $20,000, Booster Clubs are encouraged to have another person review the bank statements monthly.
