Please take time to read our November Beaver Bulletin located on the home page of the Briarlake PTA Website.

Friday, November 20th is School Crossing Guard Appreciation Day! This day is designed to recognize the work crossing guards do each day to keep our school children safe when crossing busy streets. We dedicate this day to the group of professionals who are committed to helping children safely across our busy streets. It is a tough job, as School Crossing Guards must stand out in all kinds of weather; manage aggressive drivers, or drivers who won't stop for them. We are extremely proud of our School Crossing Guards, and highly commend them for their continued dedication and commitment to the safety and well-being of our school children.
Ms. Addie Hayes is our crossing guard on LaVista and Ms. Celeste Johnson is our guard on Silvastone. Take a moment to thank them this week!

Staff Concerns

Mrs. Foege and Ms. Jenks have both lost loved ones recently. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

PTA Budget and update

We wanted to inform you of some of the changes we will be making based on the review of the bylaws and policies and procedures.

If you are working within a committee, your committee chair is the one who is fiscally responsible for the committee's expenses. If the committee has a line item, you MUST remain within the limits of your budget. Those of you who do not have a line item need to request funding BEFORE you spend money. If you do have a line item, your budgets are pre-determined and expenses that exceed your budget will not be reimbursed.
We are no longer going to be able to accept handwritten receipts for reimbursement.
Please allow at least 2 weeks for a reimbursement check once you have turned in your request. Remember that we are all volunteers and we all have other responsibilities.
Each request for funding must be accompanied by a check request form.
Thank you for your help in keeping within the budget. The budget is very tight and we are not going to be able to cover expenses if we do not hold everyone responsible for their spending.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to come to the very productive PTA meeting Tuesday night. We enjoyed a lively discussion about our budget which brought clarity and opportunities for positive change. We look forward to working more closely with our Committee Chairs to create budgets for the Fall Festival, Sally Foster and The Spring Gala. Micki Gulley, treasurer, gave us all a lesson in basic accounting principles, which was very informative. Thank you Micki, for all your hard work "accounting" for every penny!
Planning Committee to lead us on an effective and straight path. We all engaged in an open discussion of improving attendance at the meetings. One suggestion was to split the PTA meetings and our Family Events, to facilitate effective and succinct PTA business meetings. Another suggestion was to offer FOOD...we are working on this! Jessica White, secretary, will have our minutes ready for posting after the Thanksgiving holiday.

We will not have a PTA meeting in December. A special thank you to Mrs. Aaron, Mrs. Elliott, Mrs.Rodriguez, and Mrs. Norris-Brown for staying until 7:30 and supporting our school. We very much appreciate your time.

Sarah and Laurie

BOOK FAIR

Make sure to visit the book fair - it is set up on the stage in the cafeteria and will be open during Thanksgiving lunch.

CULTURAL ARTS PROGRAM

Grades 3-5 will enjoy the FIG Newton program with Ron Anglin on Thursday, December 17th at 8:30 am.