MIMS PTO Board Elections are coming in April for the 2023-2024 school year.
The nominating committee has been actively recruiting nominees and potential committee chairs since February. If you are interested in running for a role, we WELCOME your interest! You can review the bylaws and these posts from the past to learn more about the roles available. We’d love to see multiple nominees for each role and a full slate of potential committee chairs.
Two positions are appointed based on previous roles:
Immediate Past President: Libby Ingrassia
Treasurer: Hattie Meng
SDMC Parent Representatives
In addition, PTO selects our parent representatives via election run concurrently with the PTO Board election. The two SDMC Parent Representatives each serve two years, with one being eligible for election each year.
SDMC Parent Representative: Frank Lin, Matthew Yang
Elections
We will be sharing candidate bios and their statements about what they hope to accomplish over the next week. At the April 6th PTO meeting (12 noon, via zoom), the candidates will introduce themselves. The nominating committee will accept any additional nominations from the floor – any PTO member may nominate themselves or another PTO member for any role at the meeting and for 24 hours thereafter (nominations will be accepted through 2 pm on 7 April).
Elections will be held the week of April 10th, online. Look for the ballot to be sent to all PTO members via Bloomz
Meet the MIMS Clubs, including Robotics Club, Garden Club, and more…
Communications
LivingTree is gone, but we’re working to get Bloomz up as soon as we can. In the meantime, look for announcements here on the MIMS PTO website, on the MIMS website, and in emails from Mr. Ying.
What can you do? Make sure your info with HISD and the school is accurate and up to date.
You’ll be able to BUY those sociables and bid on those auction items at our Fall Fundraising Festival on 30 September at King’s Bierhaus. We’ll gather from 7-11 pm to celebrate Oktoberfest and have some fun. The event is intended for adults, but the location is a restaurant, so kids can come if necessary.
If you have requests for topics or speakers for our next PTO meetings, let us know.
Drop-off, Pick-up, and You
So many of you have been doing a GREAT job at drop-off and pick-up. Thank you. And thanks for the volunteers who have supported the school and parents by helping with drop-off and pick-up procedures. For those who might need a little reminder, here are some key points.
School hours are 8:30 to 4 pm. The doors open at 8:15 in the morning.
Do not pull into or park in the teachers’ parking lot. It is reserved until after 5 pm.
If you drive through the line, make sure your kids have everything they need and can get in or out of the car seats on their own. If this ISN’T the case, park and walk up to the Dragon Door.
If you drive through the line, please don’t be distracted – pay attention, stay close to the car in front of you, stay to the right in first part of the line so those who want to park can drive to the left.
Do NOT drop off until you get to the drop off point in the map above. Don’t drop on Alabama or in the first or second part of the lot. It’s not safe.
If you need to park, use Yorktown, McCullough, or the spots in the middle of the main lot. Don’t park in the first section of the lot. Park close to the other cars so more folks can fit.
And most vitally: Be kind, please. One of our parents got screamed and yelled at for reminding someone they were dropping off in the wrong place. That’s not cool and it’s not how you’d want your kids to be treated or to treat others. We’re all running late, feeling stressed, and worried about getting where we need to be – don’t be the one hurting other people.
Grandparents Lunch
Grandparents lunch is this week – September 9 – read on for details!
We LOVE our volunteers. Already this year, you’ve made folks very happy by helping direct traffic before and after school, by helping with spirit wear, and supporting Tuesday folders.
Help with community fundraising or Spark Park fundraising or corporate fundraising
Sign up to help with Mid Autumn Festival
Diversity & Heritage committee needs a chair
Help with the boosterthon fun run
And many more opportunities
MIMS Directory
I still have my MIMS Directory from my first year at MIMS. We haven’t done one in recent years, but lots of folks have requested one. We’re working on it! If you want to be in the MIMS directory, please submit your info ASAP. We’d like to have this ready for October, but only if you submit your info! We won’t do the work if we don’t have a minimum of 200 families in the directory.
Spirit Wear
The spirit wear items you pre-ordered have been delivered. If you didn’t pick them up on 2 September, you can get them on 9 September, before or after school or at the Mid Autumn Festival. Contact Middle School VP Emily Shaffer if you have questions about spirit wear.
If you have uniform items (shirts, pants, shorts, skirts) that no longer fit but are in GOOD condition, you can bring those and drop them in the used uniform bin near the front office. These items will be available for trade! You can also trade qi pao (Chinese dress). Contact Caroline Long if you have questions about used uniforms or want to volunteer to help with the swap table at Mid Autumn Festival.
China Trip 2024
Join Ms. Xia in the meeting on 13 September at 6 pm on Zoom. See meeting details and register for the meeting here: https://bit.ly/3QXKx1W. Registration is mandatory, so don’t wait!
Ms. Xia will provide you more information regarding the trip details, itinerary, pricing, and scholarship opportunities! (your child can actually go to China with us for FREE!!!) Please register!
Just a quick update for you on our communications options.
Right now, both PTO and MIMS Admin use LivingTree to do “push” communications (meaning those that email or text you). Unfortunately, LivingTree is no longer going to sell the product we use, so we have to move off this platform. Our new platform is called Bloomz. PTO has signed the contract and are working actively with the MIMS Admin team to get it rolled out and get us and you all trained on it.
Some of you are still getting posts from LivingTree, but I know not all are. Both MIMS Admin and MIMS PTO are doing our best to share the information other places. Please try to be patient while we continue to work on this issue. Here are some spots you can try – if you know something others don’t, SHARE!
If it comes from MIMS PTO, we’ll post the info here on our site. Always.
Most grade levels have their own Facebook pages or WhatsApp groups – just ask around!
I know there’s an active WeChat group and we ask any parents who are part of that to share the information we share here or on LT or Fb to that as well.
We promise that as soon as possible, we’ll get Bloomz rolled out to you! Email info@mimspto.org if you have ongoing questions or comments.
Please join your PTO, MIMS families, and friends for a happy hour on Marcfh 25 at 5:30 pm at Axelrad. Your kids are welcome until 8 pm.
Interested in supporting the PTO and your school next year? We’re recruiting for PTO Board for 2022-2023 and hope you will come get your questions answered about running for the board or parent SDMC representative.
One of the major items for the agenda is the review of the bylaws update undertaken by the Bylaws Committee. You may want to review the proposed updates before Friday’s meeting: MIMS PTO BYLAWS – 11_7_21 update for review
Hi all – Especially until we have our new platform, I’ll try to put everything I can up here on the PTO website. Please share with your MIMS friends!
Hi families –
Join the MIMS PTO Board for our first general PTO meeting of the year, immediately following your Teacher Meet & Greet event on August 17.
