Party Planning – Party planning committee decides the game, craft and snack for the fall, winter, and valentines class parties. Supplies are ordered and sorted by class. Using an Amazon wishlist has successfully helped offset the PTO cost and enabled us to come up with more complex games or crafts. We also have a packet for each student that includes a coloring page, and 2 game-ish pages (word search, crossword, math game etc).
2026-2027 Lead(s): Becca Yunk
Yearbook – Yearbook committee takes pictures at all school events and assemblies. Committee members help design, write and organize the school’s yearbook as well as check spelling, photo placement and page details before the final print. Volunteers can help with one or more parts of the yearbook process. All of the design and editing takes place from home and does not require clearances.
2026-2027 Lead(s): Valerie Ewing
Summer Send off – Summer Send Off Committee plans, coordinates and implements summer send off, which is a full day during the last week of school to celebrate the hard work of the school year and provide a fun “send off” to summer. Committee members would be responsible for planning all activities and events that occur during the day and working with the committee chairs to coordinate the schedule with the school. We usually break the committee up into the different types of activities we have but are always looking for new and fresh ideas from new volunteers.
2026-2027 Lead(s): Courtney Cerniglia
ASK – After school at Kerr committee is responsible for coordination and implementation of the after school program. Planning begins at the beginning of November, with recruiting instructors and creating a robust class offering for the students. The committee then must coordinate the schedule of classes with instructors as well as the school in order to create registration which begins early Dec. Once registration is complete, the committee must coordinate volunteers for each day classes run as well as ordering snacks for the duration of the program. Classes run from the last week of January through February for five weeks.
2026-2027 Lead(s): NEEDS A LEAD
Used book sale – The committee organizes a used book sale for students. Volunteers are recruited via SignUpGenius for collection, setup, and sale shifts. Collection happens over 4 mornings, with donated books recorded in a binder using printed, alphabetized class lists. Books are stored (usually in the conference room) and later sorted during setup after school. For the sale, a schedule is created and shared with teachers, allowing students to select free books based on their donations. Volunteers help manage sales, track books given, and handle the cash box. After the sale, remaining books are donated or stored for future use, and funds are returned to the PTO treasurer.
2026-2027 Lead(s): Beth Rochman
Readathon – The Read-A-Thon involves student tracking minutes-read and money fundraised for the PTO. Students may track minutes on a paper or an electronic form.
2026-2027 Lead(s): NEEDS A LEAD
Math Pentathlon – It is a non-competitive, fun, stimulating, and educational after school program where students play games that reinforce math concepts. The program culminates with a Game Day held at Dorseyville Middle School where participants will play the games against students from the other elementary schools in the Fox Chapel Area School District. Each participant will receive a Math Pentathlon t-shirt and a medal for participating. Students are dismissed by division for a snack (included in the fee) before learning and playing their respective games. Each division learns and plays three different games. The students play each game for two weeks. Parent volunteers are needed in all three divisions to learn the games and help the children play them as well as for Game Day. This program is entirely volunteer-run and parental support is vital to its success. As per Fox Chapel Area School District policy, clearances are required for all parent volunteers.
2026-2027 Lead(s):Gwen Harcar and Christy Bushnell
Spirit Wear – Release 2-3 spirit wear sales per school year (beginning of school year,
holidays, spring). Choose items for each sale that are available on the website of
company we use. Contact sales rep to discuss start and end dates of the sale. Have 2
people review the proof, including the PTO president. Send flyers to office staff and board members to be printed and used for social media.
2026-2027 Lead(s): Katie Searight
Teacher Appreciation – Plan an event every day of the week. Create sign-up genius with items needed for donations. Create a volunteer sign-up sheet. Organize donations as they come in. Make sure each day is set up in the morning and broken down in the afternoon.
2026-2027 Lead(s): Kristi Burry and Koren Jackson
5th grade committee – Organize a new committee by April for rising 5th grade parents. Email 4th grade teachers to gauge interest. 1-2 committee chairs with 6-8 committee members. Organize camp Allegheny snack donations, Penny wars fundraiser, Graduation events/gifts.
2026-2027 Lead(s): Valerie Ewing, Gwen Harcar, Fernanda Crosby, Rick Soria, Kiran Kaur
Grown Up and Me Dance– Dance committee plans the school dance including deciding on and ordering decorations and food, securing donations from the community for general use or for raffle baskets and tracking ticket sales. Coordinate with local groups to get volunteers to work any stations or sale areas during the event. Organize supplies that come in. Set up before and clean up after the event.
2026-2027 Lead(s): Eileen Reece, Ana West, Megan Haggerty Murphy
Square 1 Art– Point of contact for this fall fundraiser. Works with art teacher to coordinate.
2026-2027 Lead(s): Courtney Cerniglia
Board Nominations– 2 people to coordinate and track nominations and then voting for board positions that are up for election each year.
2026-2027 Lead(s): NEEDS A LEAD
Dine and Donates– Set up dine and donate events with local restaurants or shops.
2026-2027 Lead(s): NEEDS A LEAD
Bake Sale at Spring Showcase– Create sign-up genius for needed donations. Create volunteer sign-up sheet for shifts during the event. Coordinate with treasurer to get money for change before the sale and then to secure funds raised after the bake sale ends.
2026-2027 Lead(s): NEEDS A LEAD