With Parent-Teacher conferences coming up this week, including book fair and all the associated fun, the March PTO meeting was held today - in February. It was packed full of great info to know about the school.

And side note - on the way into the school be sure to check out the very cool and huge blue ribbon display made of post-it notes from students detailing what makes Dundee so great. It's pictured at right but the real-deal is much cooler in person.

So here are a few important notes about what's happening at Dundee:
- Science Fair has been moved to March 22nd (it was rescheduled due to weather)
- Dundee's PTO needs a few new committee chairs and members for next year. Especially the Dundee Direct, Garden, and Parent Teacher Conference Dinner chairs and a Treasurer. Nominate yourself or someone else here.
- The entire school celebrated Kindness at their quarterly celebration today. The older grades watched the movie Wonder (after reading the book) and the younger grades read and watched the BFG. Then, they talked about kindness.
- And speaking of kindness... a huge shout-out to Union Pacific who had a group of employees donate $540 to pay off past-due lunch accounts at Dundee. They called out of the blue and offered to do it. How great is that!
- Enrichment clubs are starting again after spring break. Forms need to be turned in by this Friday (March 2) and a new policy is that all enrichment clubs will dismiss at the front doors instead of at the classrooms. This will allow the school to keep the doors locked when there are still students inside.
- Surveys will go home at Parent Teacher conferences about the school atmosphere and your overall satisfaction with the school. These surveys are done every year and Principal Kennedy says they really value your honest feedback.
- And a reminder to use TAGG - a super easy-to-use app that allows you to "TAGG" your receipts from area businesses and send 5% of the purchase back to Dundee. It's easy and there are a ton of participating businesses. Check out the list here.

April's PTO Meeting will be held Thursday, April 5th. We will be electing new officers and learning about what the last few months of school will look like. Hope to see you there!

Due to the forecasted wintry mix of weather tonight,
the PTO Science Fair is being postponed. 
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Please share the news with anyone else you know of that had registered and was planning to attend.

Contact the PTO at DundeePTO@gmail.com or Science Fair Committee Chair, Matt Martin, with any other questions.

Want to know why you should go to PTO meetings? It's the place to get the inside scoop about what's happening at school!

At last night's meeting, we learned all sorts of details that are so helpful. We talked summer camps, Blue Ribbon Week, the health of OPS's budget, and more. Here are a few highlights:

• Hummel Park day camp is being run differently this year, with bus pickups at local community centers instead of at schools. That means no designated "Dundee Elementary" week.
• We talked about some of our other favorite camps. There are a lot of great options in the Omaha area!
• Blue Ribbon Week at Dundee (to celebrate our awesome repeat win!) will be the week of February 12th. We'll have kids make a giant blue ribbon out of paper, eat a lot of blue food, have a door decorating contest, and give every student, teacher, and staff member a t-shirt - paid for by the PTO!
• OPS Board Member Ben Perlman gave us the scoop on the new superintendent. He says she's incredible. We can't wait to get to work with her!
• Mr. Perlman also updated us about the budget problems facing the district, which will likely mean some pretty big cuts to the district. Things on the table - transportation, programs, and projects. We'll need to keep an eye on it.
• And there's a bond issue for OPS coming in May. It will include the money for 2 new elementary schools in South Omaha, two new high schools (one with a pool!), and one new middle school. It's a big bond issue for Omaha, but small compared to bonds in similar school districts across the nation. 

There was more, too! But you'll have to come to the meetings to get the full scoop. Join us for our next meeting - moved to Tuesday, February 27th at 6:30 in the library due to parent teacher conferences later that week.