Q: Who is the PTO?

A: You! The staff and parents of Bierbaum students make up the PTO.

Any parent or guardian of a current student at Bierbaum, or any current staff member at Bierbaum is eligible to be a PTO member. There is no membership fee. The PTO includes a group of parent and staff volunteers that make up the executive board, its various committees, and of course, room parents that plan classroom parties, help work booths at the school picnic, and coordinate classroom basket(s) for Chili Night Out.

Q: Where does the money raised from all those fundraisers go?

A: Activities, supplies, & events throughout the school year and occasional special equipment purchases for the school make up the expenses of the PTO's budget.

Our annual recurring expenses include 3 classroom parties (at Halloween, the Holidays, and Valentine's Day), personal gifts of books for each student at the holidays and during their birthday month, field trips, cultural events, DARE & 5th grade graduation parties, as well as supplies for the classroom that include daily agendas, magazine subscriptions, games for indoor recess, rugs and other furniture items, and startup funding at the beginning of the school year for each teacher to spend however they wish on their classroom. In addition, we provide maintenance and supplies for the school laminator, healthy snacks for students during MAP testing weeks, as well as for everyone attending Kindergarten Orientaion. We supply dinner for the staff the final evening of Spring and Fall semester conference weeks. and provide flowers for the winter and spring concerts.

We also make occasional special purchases to improve our school. In recent years, we have funded updated playground equipment, audio-visual and computer equipment including televisions in each classroom, We purchase software for school computers that the district budget does not cover. Last year we purchased copies of Adobe Acrobat, a new laminating machine, and a maintenance cart for the custodial staff.

Every 3-5 years, we make a major purchase to improve our school. This year we will be discussing our next big project. One idea that has been initially discussed involves installing "smartboards" in each classroom, a multi-year project.

Q: Who has a say in how the PTO spends money?

A: You!

While the executive board and multi-committee position volunteers have voting authority and final say regarding the budget, as a parent of a student or a member of the staff at Bierbaum, you are always invited to attend monthly PTO meetings to express any issues, concerns, or ideas you may have. We are a very informal group, and all our meetings are open to the entire school community. PTO meetings are held in the school library on the second Wednesday of each month, beginning at 7 PM. Check the PTO information page or the calendar for the dates of this year's meetings. WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Q: What ever happened to the Mothers' Club?

A: The PTO & Mothers' Club merged at the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year.

The couple years prior to the merger of the Mothers' Club and the former PTO in the Fall of 2007, both organizations helped each other out financially as well as with providing manpower for various events. We appreciate all our wonderful room parent volunteers, as well as the many people who help out at various events, but with the amount, type, and scope of the events both former organizations were providing for the school each year, we needed several volunteers to coordinate and plan these activities. With continued crossover of resources due to both a steady decline in fundraising income for both organizations and decreases in parent involvement on the board and planning committees, and since both organizations had always had a common goal to improve the Bierbaum experience for both students and families, merging seemed like a natural step to address these issues. We were proud to be able to support all the events and activities both organizations had provided in the recent years since the merger, and will continue to do as long as we have the necessary volunteer support.

Q: I want to help out...what can I do and who should I contact?

A: There are several areas we need volunteers to help out with. Contact us if you are interested!

There are several volunteer opportunities available, many of which are outlined on our Volunteer Opportunities page with email contacts if you are interested. In addition, we are always looking for people that want to help us plan events and activities by serving on one of our committees. Please contact any of the board members or leave a message for us in the office and we will be sure to get back with you.

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!