A caring effort

By DAVID HULSE

GLEN SPEY, NY — If there has been a need, the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) has stepped up to fill it.

Reporting to the Eldred Central School Board of Education last week, MacKenzie Elementary School Principal Kathryn Ryan said the PTA last year raised approximately $58,000 to supplement MacKenzie programs.

Sue Vorstadt, who was elected president of the PTA earlier this year, quickly credited her predecessor Nannette Schipps.

“A lot of it is due to her hard work in the past two years. She opened the group to everyone,” Vorstadt said.

With about 400 kids in school, the PTA has 160 members, and they’re very active, Vorstadt said.

Friends originally wondered at her decision to volunteer as president, but Vorstadt said the cooperation has been flawless.

“I haven’t had any stress so far. It’s been pleasure.”

When a project is envisioned, the executive committee, Vorstadt, vice-president, Joann Boehm, treasurer Shain Fishman, and secretary Jeannette Perugini meet and form a committee to address it.

“We’ve only just started thinking about keeping track of the volunteer hours,” Vorstadt said.

Ryan provided an extensive list of projects including:

• beautification work, including murals inside and outdoor landscaping;

• four new swing sets, two for the smaller kids, two for the older ones;

• sponsoring programs for 10 special assemblies;

• sponsoring a teacher appreciation luncheon;

• a cooperative program with the state police to provide digital photo cards of kids with places for fingerprints;

• plaques, t-shirts for graduating sixth graders and $10 to $50 scholarships;

• creation of a ropes exercise course;

• a state-of-the-art sound system and mixing board; and

• a drum set and xylophone for the band.

In addition, Vorstadt said the PTA sponsors a wish list for unbudgeted teachers supplies. “They can spend up to $200 and we’ll reimburse it,” she said.

Most of what they do comes from volunteer effort, like the dads who came and dug the holes and poured the concrete for the $2,600 swing sets.

Even more special was the PTA effort for the late Stanley Naumovitz, a former longtime fifth grade teacher at MacKenzie.

“We wanted to do a living memorial, a trip to the Liberty Science Center,” Vorstadt said, but the project was costly. Members again extended themselves to help make it happen she said. “We had $1,500 towards the expenses and needed another $300. We made some calls and people said, ‘absolutely’.”

The October 29 trip for 60 fifth graders will have all the bells and whistles.

“They’ll get an IMAX movie, a laser light show and hands-on demonstrations,” Vorstadt said.

The MacKenzie PTA meets at school library on each third Thursday at 7:00 p.m.