Meet your new 2018-19 PTO presidents
As the school year kicks off, get to know the women who will be leading Homewood schools’ parent-teacher organizations for 2018-19.
Erin Donohoo
► Shades Cahaba Elementary
► Family: Husband Pete; Children Sarah Margaret (fourth grade) and William (third grade)
► Previous PTO experience: I have worked with the communications for PTO, Write On Shades Cahaba and corporate fundraising for our Winter Festival.
► What would you like parents to know about you? Parent involvement makes our school even stronger. We want each family to feel that their volunteer time is valued. PTO welcomes any parent who is wanting to help us improve our school and support the teachers at Shades Cahaba.
► Goals for this year: This year, Shades Cahaba will begin construction and renovations for our nearly 100-year-old school. I look forward to the new changes and improvements for Shades Cahaba to meet the needs of a growing student population. I hope to help assure parents of a smooth construction period while supporting our teachers and faculty in their daily work.
► Get in touch: erin.donohoo@gmail.com
Hannah Johnson
► Edgewood Elementary
► Family: Husband Herbie; Children Avery (16) and Claire (10)
► Previous PTO experience: EES corresponding secretary, art show chair, room parent, hospitality and social media communicator; HMS FEST fundraising chair; HHS spirit gear committee
► What would you like parents to know about you? I want to know that I’ve used my talents, resources and education to encourage and serve the next generation. I care about where kids are coming from and where they are going in life, both socially and academically. I care about educators and what they deal with daily in our schools. I care about the Homewood community, which has graciously partnered with my own family, as we raise our children together.
► Goals for this school year: My goal is to set a positive example as we expand our circles and extend our tables cultivating a stronger parent-teacher partnership … It truly takes a village to be our best.
► Get in touch: ptoedgewood@gmail.com
Betsy McLean
► Homewood Middle
► Family: Husband Chris; Children Emma Catherine (11th grade) and Graham (eighth grade)
► Previous PTO experience: President-elect this past year at HMS, but this was my first PTO experience since being back from Australia, where we lived for about five years (we have just finished our second school year back). While there, I was very active in the kids’ school, St. Leonard’s College.
► What would you like parents to know about you? I look forward to getting to know our families and working together to ensure our HMS community of students, teachers and staff has the best year yet. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if I can be of any help to you. Don’t forget to order school supplies and stay up-to-date on everything HMS — visit our website, hms-pto.org, for more information.
► Goals for this year: We will continue to improve communication with our families through timely newsletters and social media posts. With the support of our school community through our annual fundraiser, we will help to ensure our teachers and staff are well-equipped to maximize our students’ unique potentials through academic enhancement grants, and we will make sure our students have the opportunity to show school spirit along the way with some super, fun socials.
► Get in touch: president@hms-pto.org, or our Facebook page, @HomewoodMiddlePTO.
Suzanne Mills
► Hall-Kent Elementary
► Family: Husband Kirk; Children Luke (fifth grade), Paul (fifth grade) and Sam (kindergarten)
► Previous PTO experience: I’ve served as PTO secretary, Fall Festival co-chair for two years and most recently as the president-elect.
► What would you like parents to know about you? I want parents to know that I’m always approachable. I hope to get to know as many families as possible. I also can’t say enough about how much I love our board this year — it’s a fun, but dependable group of parents. All of us welcome anyone who’d like to learn more about how they can help out Hall-Kent.
► Goals for this school year: We’ve made a big push this year to make all of our PTO registrations, events and supply orders accessible online, so I want to help make that process as easy as possible for parents. Our Fall Festival should be incredible. We have an awesome team that is tweaking the event as needed to ensure that this year’s festival is as successful as ever.
Finally, I can’t wait for our second annual Fun Run this spring. Thanks to great volunteers, last year’s run raised more money than expected. I hope to build on that.
► Get in touch: hkptopresident@gmail.com
Allison Nanni
► Homewood High
► Family: Husband Chris; Children Marcello (11th grade), Louie (ninth grade) and Maria (seventh grade)
► Previous PTO experience: One of the best ways we’ve been able to get to know other parents since we moved here has been through volunteering and attending our children’s activities. As a mom who works full time outside the home, I have to admit most of my PTO experience has been sending in food, chaperoning and decorating and selling spirit gear at evening and weekend school events. Like most busy families, we’ve tried to squeeze it in and just plug in where wecan.
► What would you like parents to know about you? I remember my family’s first months in Homewood four years ago after moving here. It seems like yesterday that we were worrying about new jobs, housing, teachers and friends and wondering if our neighborhood schools were going to be agood experience for our children. All of my concern quickly washed away as we were immediately welcomed from day one intoone of the best communities of families, teachers and staff that we have ever been a part of.
I look forward to finding ways to welcome new and “seasoned” families to the high school to jump in wherever and whenever they are able.
► Goals for this school year: I certainly understand just how busy parents are — both those who work outside and inside the home. I hope to build on the great work done of past groups to promote different ways for parents to get involved — during the day, evenings or weekends.
What motivates me most about partnering with parents through the PTO is that our work is not only about volunteering — it’s about developing students and building community. It’s about how parents can help schools, how schools can help parents and teaching parents to build on what happens at school.
► Get in touch: Register on the PTO website (homewoodhighpto.com) so you can receive communications both about school and PTO events and updates. Email: hhsptopresident@gmail.com.