On Tuesday, all students received a fundraising packet from school. The program, School Mall, asks students to fill out postcards to send to family and friends. Recipients of these postcards will be directed to the School Mall website, where they can order items they might typically purchase at a variety of retailers through this organization. A part of the purchase comes back to the school. This works similar to Scrip (which Mineral Point Elementary School also facilitates) except that Scrip is for local, in-store purchases.
Funds raised through this program will go to help families in need and for classroom/student resources. The school received 147 packets back, the majority completed fully. This is a return rate of almost 50%, which is impressive. This level of support that the Mineral Point community has for our schools affirms my own positive impression. I can speak for my family in saying we are happy to be living here and attending this school.
There were a few concerns express to me from families via email and phone:
- The prizes ran out and some students did not receive one (more were ordered and are on their way).
- There was not a lot of time provided to complete the postcards and get them back to school.
- For bigger families, it was a challenge to complete all of the postcards.
- For split families, it might have been hard in communicating this program between parents.
- For families new to the area, they may not have known enough people to complete the postcard packets.
- The competitive nature of this program, i.e. prizes, may have not been in line with the mission and vision of the school district.
This feedback, both in the high participation rate and in the comments, is very helpful. I relayed this feedback to the fundraising company this morning. I will also share this information at our PEP meeting this afternoon at 2:15 P.M. in the Mineral Point Elementary School LMC (all families are welcome to join us, as mentioned in my previous post). We will use this feedback to guide future fundraising efforts and make the process even better for Mineral Point families and the community.
Best,
Mr. Renwick