Internet Safety Night

UPDATE!!! DATE CHANGE!!

We are pleased to have Detective Houston from the Utah County Special Victims Unit discuss internet safety and the nature of “grooming”, how to protect our children,  and how to properly deal with it should it occur.

Please join us WEDNESDAY, October 26th at 7:00pm at Maeser Prep as we discuss what our children are doing online and how to teach them to be smart, safe, and respectful digital citizens. You’ll learn about:

• The importance of learning about the sites and applications your child uses.
• Smart phones and how kids are using them.
• Social networking sites and how to help your child use them wisely.
• What to do if your child is the victim of online bullying.
• Objectionable content, how to block it, and what to do if your child views it.
• Online gaming.

We will provide FAQs handouts for parents on Internet Safety, Cell phone use, Cyberbullying, and “grooming.”

Internet safety resources as well as an internet safety contract designed for families will be given out that night as well.

For those in attendance, we will also have a drawing for a FREE copy of Trend Micro’s Online Guardian software (retail value $49.95).  This parental control software lets you monitor your kids’ internet activity 24/7 from anywhere and allows you to take action to keep them safe.

This presentation is open to all parents, students, and faculty members.  We look forward to seeing you WEDNESDAY, October 26th and discussing this important topic.

Annual Back to School BBQ

September 9th

6:00PM – 8:00PM

Lindon City Park

Please register  online if  you are planning on attending this fun family event.  This is a great opportunity to get to know other parents and teachers.  We will have pulled pork sandwiches provided by the PTO as well as music and group games.

The PTO will provide the main dish, beverages, and paper goods.  We are asking families with last names beginning with:

A-I to contribute chips w/ dip(if needed)

J-R to bring fruit/veggie salad

S-Z to bring desserts

The cost is $5 per person or $20 per family 

Reserve the number of spots needed for your family today! 

We look forward to seeing everyone there!

PTO Membership

The Karl G Maeser PTO Membership is quickly changing.  A family membership lasts for one school year and will afford certain privileges to members.  We still want all parents and teachers to attend every event we sponsor.  However, members will attend specific events at no cost or a steeply discounted rate.

As a paid member, you are first and foremost, helping the PTO cover basic annual operating expenses.  We wouldn’t be here without your support.  Secondly, we will offer workshop/lectures, events, etc. that are specifically designed to give you tools to better yourselves, your families, your relationships with others, and so much more.  You’ll love who is on the list for this school year too, so please stay tuned.  To further the understanding of why we are adding these workshop/lectures, let me ask you to think about this question.

Who is the MOST important person in your life?

This isn’t a trick question but I do want you to think about it.  I will discuss this in a later post.

The third, and probably the most important membership privilege, is the RIGHT to vote at PTO meetings.  This is critical to our overall success.  This is where the biggest changes happen and where YOUR voice is needed.  You are at this school because of a deliberate decision you made to MAKE it your school.  How is this school better off by having you here?  Did you ever think about yourself from that perspective?  You have a lot to offer!

Why Dog Poop?!

Several years ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to hear Kirk Weisler, the best-smelling author of “The Dog Poop Initiative” speak about his book.  He is such a fun guy and his enthusiasm is quite contagious.  He talked about the experience he had that inspired this oddly named book.   This is a children’s book and like many children’s books, the lessons shared are easy to understand.  Kirk explained that three kinds of people live in this world.  There are poopers, pointers and scoopers.  The poopers create the mess in the first place(whatever it may be), the pointers point out the mess to everyone else, and the scoopers are the people who pick it all up.  Such a simple way to teach us to really think about who we want to be and to CHOOSE to take action whenever we notice something that needs to be done.

This had enough of an impact that I see things in a slightly different light.  Although it may take a few extra seconds or minutes, I’ll do those little things that I know someone would appreciate.  What would the world be like if everyone took the initiative when they saw something that needed to be done?  What would our school be like?! Instead of being the pointer and telling everybody to be careful where they step, take some initiative and clean up the poop!!!

I’m watching and listening for those Maeser families exemplifying this habit 🙂

~Michelle

Message from the President

Welcome to a new school year!!  I am so excited to have this opportunity to serve your amazing students, as well as teachers, faculty, and parents.  I look forward to getting to know each of you this year.

The 2011-2012 PTO board members are:

Michelle Collier   President

Tracey Bjarnson  Vice-President over the High School

Natalie Waggoner  Vice-President over the Jr. High School

Lisa Nelson  Treasurer

Sheri Thorn  Secretary

I’m starting from behind but I am so eager to move forward.  If you could be patient with us as we define our roles, create a better platform for communication, and continue preparing for scheduled events and activities, it would definitely make this transition a bit easier.

For the moment, I’m more focused on the functionality of what we can accomplish with this web page.  I know that we’ll be able to provide the content needed and requested, over the coming months.  I welcome suggestions in this endeavor.  There are many needs, some easily met with a little creativity and talent.

We have an option to sign up for our newsletter and email blasts.  I am highly recommending this!  I’m feeling a little like it’s 1980 with the amount of paper I have.  Plus, there is that wonderful trick of deciphering handwriting.  I apologize  in advance for those whom I have unintentionally given new names.  I will correct it immediately if you let me know.

We will be updating this quite a bit over the new few weeks.  There are so many events scheduled and some great opportunities to participate in fun volunteer projects.

~Michelle