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
PTO will be at school on Feb 1-3 to distribute wristbands, tickets, and t-shirts that were pre-sold and sell additional. You can also pick these items up at CNY Festival.
Read more for parking, volunteering, sponsorships, and ongoing details.
Celebrate Hallowe’en with MIMS with a Trunk or Treat, followed by a MIMS Movie Night (showing Hocus Pocus). Everyone: bring your kids in costume to Trunk or Treat!
Trunk or Treat
Parents, sign up to host a “trunk.” You’ll decorate your trunk, provide candy or treats, and the kids will come walk through!
We’ll have one prize for a best decorated trunk. Please remember this is a family-friendly event. Keep your trunk PG and if it’s scary, please notify us so we can position your car appropriately.
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!
We encourage you to run for any and all roles – most of the current board members are all planning to step down to give new folks a chance. Oh, you’ll see them on committees and supporting our kids and teachers in other ways, but the following roles are all open for you to take a chance.
President
Elementary School Vice President
Middle School Vice President
Secretary
Assistant Treasurer/Treasurer Elect
Community Fundraiser
Corporate Fundraiser
Festivals Director
Parent Outreach Director
Communications Director
SDMC Parent Representative
While we do have a few folks raising their hands for some roles, we want to hear from you. Who has great ideas? Who has experience? Who’s been at the school since it started? Who’s new and energetic?
The nominating committee wants to hear from all of you! The nominating committee includes Jack Hulland, Matthew Yang, Eboni Butler. The new bylaws ask us to present a slate of candidates at the April PTO Meeting. At that time, we will also take nominations from the floor at the meeting. Send your interest, questions, bios, and anything else to the nominating committee.
Want details on these roles? Check the new bylaws for the official details and then stay tuned here and on LivingTree as your current board talks about the roles we are hoping to share with you. See below for my experiences as PTO President – next year, I’ll be around to support the PTO and new board as the Immediate Past President and advisor.
PTO President
The PTO president sets the priorities for their board. By working with the board and administration to create an annual budget and calendar, the president determines what the board spends their time and energy focused on. As part of this primary responsibility, the president coordinates the meetings and activities of the board, and presides over and sets the agenda for both the board and general meetings. Any committee chairs that do not liaise with other board members report to the president – each board member liaises with one or two committees and supports their work directly.
In addition, the president is the primary liaison to the school administration, working with our principal directly to support the needs of the school and teachers. The president leads and supports all activities of the PTO board by taking an active volunteer role at meetings, events, and tasks, and is expected to participate in a volunteer role at PTO-led school activities. Most weeks, I spend between 5-10 hours on PTO work. More when it’s CNY or another busy time; less other weeks.
Is it a big job? Yes, of course. But you are not alone! You will have an entire board and committees to rely on, including the immediate past president to ensure historical knowledge and a good transition.
If you’re good at delegating, listening, asking the right questions, and making a strong plan, you could make a good president. Do you have an idea of what you think the school needs? What you’d like to see happen? Are you good at supporting your team, removing their obstacles, and leading with your work and energy? Then you could be a great president.
The president is a voting member of the PTO board.
Join us for the 
Pre-order CNY t-shirts are available through 27 January.
Celebrate Hallowe’en with MIMS with a Trunk or Treat, followed by a MIMS Movie Night (showing Hocus Pocus). Everyone: bring your kids in costume to Trunk or Treat!
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!
And we need you. 