Let it Snow...

Hi all,

Hope the long weekend treated everyone well. Most students are either just finishing fall expeditions or are starting spring expeditions; please ask your child about it. There is some very exciting learning planned.

Some topics to cover:

• Snow is predicted this week; granted, not much, but Snow Day procedure is as follows: we follow the same process as TTUSD. If they close, we close; if they are open, we are open. Options to find out if we have a snow day and no school: we send out a robo-call at approximately 6:30 am; you can call TTUSD's snow line: 582-2510 or 581-7020; or you can check the TTUSD website: www.ttusd.org. If we have more than 2 snow days, we will have Independent Study set up for every student; this allows us to have a fixed last day of school (June 15) instead of having to make up those days at the end of the year.

• The McMains Crew documentary, “Earthquakes and Volcanoes: 4.5 billion years in the making” has secured approximately $1500 in sponsorship funds. These will help with the March premier costs and entrance into film festivals. Many thanks to those sponsors. If anyone is interested in sponsoring the film, please see the info at McMains Crew page on the website: http://www.truckeecharterschool.org/mcmains-crew

• The SELS Board of Director's is currently recruiting one Board member. They are looking for someone outside of the SELS parent group as a means of diversifying Board make-up. If you know someone who might be interested, please contact Kim Bradley at: truckeekim@gmail.com

• Please make sure your child has a water bottle at school. We do not have access to drinking fountains and cannot provide cups for all. The past two weeks have seen a significant increase in forgotten bottles. This generally means your child goes without water for the day since they tend not to let us know until they are parched.

• Please check lost and found this week (just inside the library/office door). We will be donating what is left after Friday.

• We continue to have numerous students arriving late. While there are some consistent tardies, there also seems a general lack of concern by many (often, nearly 10% of the students are late). Besides being a disruption to student learning (both the tardy child and the crew), there are legal obligations to have your child at school on time. The high school has expressed concern to other principals that tardiness is none of the biggest student problems, and they believe the patterns are established before they even arrive. Please help students establish the routines needed to ensure their prompt arrival.

• Chorus has started and is going beautifully. Please make sure you have communicated to your teacher whether your child stays or not; this is important for busing and/or pick up.

** Highlight: the Kinders did a wonderful job of 1) building a balance beam system in the Wild West and 2) presenting it to the school at Community Meeting on Friday. Way to go Kinders!

PTC minutes

SELS PTC meeting: January 11, 2012 @ 1:00pm

Present:  Carolyn Gallagher, Melissa Williams, Araceli Alvarez, Marcy Thompson, Monique Long

• Bylaw as written passed unanimously

• Jenna S. can have check signing capability, passed unanimously

• need a chair for Original Artwork...Marcy will ask Lisa and if not, Melissa will take the lead

• start thinking about Teacher Appreciation Week May 7-11.

• Signature Event:  has been put off until Fall.  The committee is rethinking the idea of Mardi Gras and leaning towards a music festival type event...more to come

• Crab and Pasta Feed:  March 24, SELS has been awarded the live auction  proceeds of the event.  We will needs lots of help for the event but more importantly getting donations for the auction.  This will be the start of our capital campaign. More information to come after a meeting of the “chairs” Erica Stein, Arthur Raeder and Marcy Thompson, next Thursday

• Melissa will chair the yearbook committee.  Melissa will talk to David and the teachers about starting something...student driven...using the enrichment time to help work on it.

• Amber D fundraising idea...donating $20 per massage to SELS.  get promo write up from Amber and talk to David about sending it out.

• Celebration of Learning BBQ 6/7

• Wine Walk Shop application due 2/15; Monique will do the application gearing it towards Capital Campaign...Marcy will forward the copy I did last year and Monique will talk to David and Cristina regarding wording for Capital Expenditures

• Gratitude Night: wrap up from this year, so we know what to do better for next year. Kids performance was great…they will have more practice time for next year!   stage the food so we don't run out...desserts....slide show...maybe shorten it a bit....otherwise, all was great. Where will we have it next year to accommodate everyone?

• eScrip:  Marcy and Cindy are working on getting all the forms we rec'd input.  
  20% of our eScrip money needs to be spent on Nutrition and Fitness.  Cindy will get me the monthly amount. Use it for HOM next year!

• update on board meeting....configuration/lottery attend the Feb. board meeting if you want to have input on the configuration. Board will take a recommendation from staff and vote at the Feb. meeting. Public input will be heard first! Also, lottery is on the agenda for Feb.

• Measure A funds:  Carolyn and David went to a meeting...more money in the pot for the next cycle, which starts next year.  Some areas where we have money…
  music, PE, technology, library, science, academic enrichment supplies.
  There will be a reserve after all the money is delegated for this cycle.  There will be a one time grant done this year...we will need to submit our presentation for the grant money...every school will be getting the one time grant; we could potentially have several thousand. David is soliciting input on what to get before writing our grant proposal; note: must be a Measure A allowable expense (think curriculum, tech, playground, materials). This is very exciting!

• Next meeting, Wed. 2/8 at 5:30pm (min. day of school but evening meeting)

Remember, it’s YOUR school for YOUR children…we need YOUR participation!

Important events / dates

• Thurs, Jan 26 from 6-7:30 pm we will be holding a workshop on Expeditionary Learning (EL); the workshop will provide more insights/information on EL in general and more specifically on the implementation of EL in our program.

• Monday, Feb 6 is the next Board Meeting from 5:30-8:30 pm in M-4.

• March will begin the Admissions process for next year. We will hold informational meetings again for new families to pick up applications for the lottery. The dates have yet to be set, but please point community questions to our website for forthcoming information (mid-Feb). Our lottery will be in early April.

** Reminder: every Friday from 9:15-9:45 am is Community Meeting, with Coffee House starting at 8:45 am.