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Renner
Mustangs
V OL UM E: XXI
IS SUE: 7
M arch 2015
Round Up
A Letter from the PTA President
In This Issue:

Lisa’s Letter

Important Dates

School Social

Parent Program

PTA Board Members

Box Tops

Book Fair Thank You

Spirit Wear

Volunteer OpportuniSpeaking of the inclement weather, our Winter Social was also affected by the ice. It will now be held
ties
THIS Friday, March 20 with the 6th grade from 5:30–6:45 p.m. and the 7th and 8th grade together from
7:15–8:30 p.m. Dinner will be served. Tickets can be purchased online at www.rennerpta.org. Go to
PTA Online
My Toolkit on the right, log in, and then look for the Winter Social. Last day for ticket sales is Thursday!
Community Partners Finally, we have our BIGGEST event of the year coming up this Monday, March 23 from 7:00–8:30


As you get back in the groove after Spring Break, I want to take a moment to say thank you! Thank you
for the opportunity to serve as your PTA President again next year! It’s been a great year and I’m already looking forward to the next round. Congratulations to the other newly elected 2015-2016 officers including Rita Cunningham, Julie Wax, Rhonda Snyder, Babette Murashige, Clare Hebert and Nancy
Mills. What a great group of talented individuals—and it will be even better when we slate the remainder of the Board at the end of this month! If you have any interest in getting involved, please let me
know! There are so many different areas (and definitely some that don’t require very much time) that
allow you to be in-the-know on what’s going on at Renner. You can find out more about the positions
at http://rennerpta.org/forms/.
I had a couple of other items of interest to share with you. We had a very successful Book Fair this
year, despite the inclement weather we faced on the front end and back end of the Book Fair. It’s always a lot of fun to get the kids excited about books and reading. Thank you Debbie Cheng for all your
hard work chairing the fair, and thank you, parents, for supporting the fair with your purchases!
p.m.! Katie Greer will be here for a presentation on Internet/Phone Safety!! My kids are doing WHAT?
We all need to be aware of what’s going on in the internet/social media world. Katie has been featured on CNN, Time, Fox News and more. We have also arranged for her to do presentations to the 6 th,
7th, and 8th grades separately during the day on Monday. We have waited a year for the opportunity to
host Katie at Renner, and she will finally be here on MONDAY! Please don’t miss it!! I look forward to
seeing you then!!
—Lisa Stokes, Renner PTA President
Important Dates
March 20
School Social
March 23
Parent Education Night: Internet/Cellphone Dangers, 7:00 p.m.
April 3
School holiday
April 6
School in session due to 2/23 ice day
April 17
End of 5th grading period
April 17
Teacher Treats
Winter Social
March 20, 2015
6th Grade 5:30–6:45 pm
7th and 8th Grades 7:15–8:30 pm
An entire Spirit Week of fun and making new friends!
DJ, Pizza & Sodas in the Cafeteria!
Sign up to compete in 3 on 3 Renner Madness Basketball Brackets that will be held in the Gym!
Tickets are $5 and go on sale February 20 during lunch hours.
Sign up your 3 on 3 team (with 1 or 2 sub players) to play basketball!
Interested in helping with basketball, food, decorations, tickets?
Email socials@rennerpta.org.
LAST DAY TO PURCHASE TICKETS: Thursday, March 19
Parent Program
My Kids Are Doing What!?! Monday, March 23, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.
Renner Middle School PTA is hosting a Parent Program featuring Katie Greer, an internet safety
expert. This is a program you will not want to miss! Katie has been featured on CNN, Fox News
and many other media outlets. There will also be programs for each grade level during the day, so
be sure not to schedule appointments for your child on March 23.
The Parent Program is only for adults (no one younger than 18 years will be allowed to attend).
Already in 2015, kids have been buzzing about new apps including Streetchat, After School and
Tinder; many students are misusing these latest apps and sites, which inevitably spills into our
schools, causing major issues and often legal implications.
Access more information at: http://www.klgreer.com/index.php/programs.
Questions about this program? Contact Holly Castora, 1st VP of Programs, at programs@rennerpta.org.
PTA Board Members 2015-2016
Congratulations to the following board members that were elected in the General PTA meeting held on Monday, March
2, 2015:
President: Lisa Stokes
First Vice President - Programs: Rita Cunningham
Second Vice President - Volunteers: Julie Wax
Third Vice President - Ways and Means: Rhonda Snyder
Fourth Vice President - Membership: Babette Murashige
Secretary: Clare Hebert
Treasurer: Nancy Mills
Box Tops for Education
Please continue to send in your box tops to school with your children. We continue to turn them in for
money that funds school programs for the students. The collection box is always by the front office. If you
have any questions, please email Mrs. Segler at cindy.segler@pisd.edu. Thank you!
Thank You for a Successful Book Fair!
A huge shout out to all the awesome PTA moms who came and made the book fair a success! Honestly, it REALLY couldn’t
have happened without you! I am so very grateful to: Andrea Solik (who set everything up when I was too overwhelmed), Babette
Murashige (who offered up her store of ocean décor), Elizabeth Minchew (who brought fruit snacks and came in whenever she was at
the school), Jenny Weber (who also dropped in whenever she could), Poormina Poondi (who shared all her invaluable book fair
knowledge), Alicia Kow (who helped SO many times), Melanie Glickler (who provided me with the best book fair binder), Julie Wax
(who took care of the money and running back and forth to the bank), Lisa Stokes (who was there every step of the way), and to
Nora Chase, Carolyn Coggan, Shelley Lowe, Jane Chopin, Rita Cunningham, Rose Taper, Stacey Crawford, Rebecca Gutierrez, JoAnn
Compton, Sandra Mcguire, and Clare Hebert (who all made time in their schedules to volunteer and generously offer their help whenever it was needed)! If you came to help without signing up on Toolkit, you are owed a huge thanks too! I hope everyone enjoyed
interacting with the students and getting to know one another. Just so you know, we did well enough with the sales, and students
were generous enough with their spare change, that we were able to give away 16 books to deserving kids and Mrs. Nowlin is getting
some great books for our library! We have a wonderful PTA! Thank you, Debbie Cheng
Renner Winter Spirit Wear!
We have a few winter styles available in our traditional Renner school colors. They can be purchased at the school
store between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Renner “Vineyard Vines”–style long-sleeve t-shirts are $20, and our Renner red Mustang Sport-tek hoodies are $35.
Warm up in style while supporting Renner and your PTA!
Questions? Contact Karen Ricketts, Renner Spirit Wear Chair, spiritwear@rennerpta.org, or (972) 904-7355 cell.
Volunteer Opportunities
Please go online and update your PISD Volunteer Application if you have not done so already:
http://www.pisd.edu/about.us/partners.volunteers/volunteer.application.shtml
Casseroles: Wouldn’t it be nice to have a home-cooked meal at the end of a long day? Don’t
miss the opportunity to prepare or order a Central Market casserole for your child’s teachers! We
present each teacher/staff member a casserole of their choice during Teacher Appreciation Week,
May 4–8. Sign-up will be available on Membership Toolkit beginning March 30. Help show our
Renner faculty/staff how appreciated they are! If you have any questions, please contact Alison
Grzyb at casserole@rennerpta.org. To volunteer, go to www.rennerpta.org.
Library Volunteers: Library volunteers are needed Monday–Friday throughout the school year.
Shifts are 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., but they can be adjusted to fit your schedule. A library volunteer assists with a variety of tasks including working the circulation desk, creating/following up on overdue lists, helping students find books, shelving books, book repair, etc.
If you have any questions, please contact Felicia Giambalvo at library@rennerpta.org. To volunteer, go to www.rennerpta.org. Open slots are available. Please check https://
rennerpta.membershiptoolkit.com/ or email Felicia at library@rennerpta.org
Copy Center: Open slots are available March 19; April 2, 8, 9, 16, 23, 30; May 6, 13, 14, 21, 27.
Sign up at https://rennerpta.membershiptoolkit.com/ or email JoAnn at office@rennerpta.org.
Renner PTA Online
Renner PTA is now on social media! Be sure to “like” and “follow” us to stay up-to-date on all the latest happenings in our Renner
community!
Search for Renner Middle School PTA or go to:
https://www.facebook.com/RennerMiddleSchoolPTA
Don’t have Twitter or Facebook? Send a text message to 404-04 with the message Follow @RennerPTA and receive updates via
text message (standard text messaging rates apply).
You can also find Renner Middle School on Twitter by searching for @RMS_Mustangs or send a text to 404-04 with the message
Follow @RMS_Mustangs and receive updates via text message (standard text messaging rates apply).
Membership Toolkit App is now available through the iTunes Store!
Download the Membership Toolkit app and have instant access to our Renner PTA family directory listings from your iPhone or
iPad, as well as any other PTAs or organizations in which you have MTK accounts. The cost is $1.99. An Android version will be released soon!
Renner PTA Community Partners
Earn money to support Renner Programs EVERY time you shop with our Partners!
The following is a way you can help support Renner Middle School while you shop for your family:
Kroger: Kroger's Community Rewards program links your Kroger Plus card to Renner Middle School. To link your Kroger Plus card
visit www.krogercommunityrewards.com. Click on Edit Kroger Community Rewards and enter Renner's number, 81943. NOTE:
You must go online to link your Kroger Plus card to Renner Middle School and it must be done annually—yes, every year! This can
not be done in store.
Target: Apply for a Target Visa card and designate Renner Middle School to receive the donation credit. To get a card, or if you already have a card, stop by Customer Service and add Renner's number, which is 100524.
Tom Thumb: Tom Thumb's Good Neighbor program links your Reward Card to Renner Middle School. Stop by the Customer Service
desk and pick up a registration form. Renner's number is 6266.
By joining together to support our Community Partners, each of us can raise $$$ for Renner on our shopping trips. These rebated
dollars help pay for carpool police officers, agendas for students, parent programs and numerous other valuable PTA programs. Let's
go shopping with our Community Partners! Please contact Ann McKeown at partnerships@rennerpta.org with any questions.