PTA/ACCOUNTABILITY REPORT SUMMARY FOR OCT. 9TH MEETING Speaker, Jon DeStefano, from the Jeffco School Board, spoke with members on how public policies, impacting our children, are made. Mr. DeStefano stressed that public schools are about every child's success. Our community needs to help make the decisions of where to cut the $20 million out of the budget for next year. Your comments and suggestions are encouraged. Our Red Rocks Elementary website is coming together thanks to Sylvia Marston. Caroline Avey, Kathi Frymier and Kathy Namura reviewed the preliminary design. The website will be a "must see" with parent information, photos and an interactive calendar of events. Bang, Bang, You're Dead, a program starting on Oct. 13th on Showtime, dealing with school violence. Should you choose to review this program with children, PTA recommends you first preview the show. The following websites have information and discussion guides dealing with this program: www.kidsnet.org/pdf/bangbangyourdead.pdf and www.jcea-cea.org/ Sherri Murphy, Accountability Chairperson, listed the 5 ways Red Rocks plans to improve our "welcoming environment." 1. Display a welcome sign directing visitors to the office to sign in. 2. Providing a welcome kit to all new incoming families. 3. Add to or improve our lobby bulletin. 4. Add more greenery in the lobby. (PTA approved up to $200 for purchasing plants for the lobby.) 5. Investigate window coverings for the lobby in the event of a lock down. Thank you to the dozen families and community members who participated in this district effort for our school. Sherri Murphy encourages anyone who is interested in joining a discussion with the Jeffco School Board, to attend their annual meeting on Thurs., Oct. 17th from 7-8:30 at Alameda H.S. As part of our Kindness Campaign, Elsa Wolff shared a video clip and information on a recent study entitled "Children Speak Out About Violence". A packet will be sent home to families as a parenting resource for our community. Remember to call the office to recognize your child in the Raccoon for achievements and celebrations outside of school. Ms. Namura reviewed the school's Pride Award program that recognizes random act of kindness & other exemplary behavior. This program is PTA supported. In support of our school's goal to create a "continuous learning environment," a motion was passed for an educational grant of $1000 for staff and parents to participate in appropriate activities supporting the development, unification, and diversification of curriculum across grades. Thank you to Jeff and Kim Sherrard for researching and compiling information for this grant. Thank you to Joanna Braun for a great membership drive! We have close to 125 members as well as almost 100% teaching staff participation. Remember to save your membership card. If you have not received your card, please contact Ms. Braun. If you're buying items for the school through PTA, consider using our Tax id number. Contact Treasurer Lisa Miller for a copy. Remember to come to school for the 2nd Cup of Coffee Club on Wed., Nov. 6th, 8:50 a.m. 640 Entertainment books have been sold so far. THANK YOU! We still have a few left for sale. A huge thank you to Lisa Miller for all her hard work on this successful fundraiser! Thank you also to Susan Hall for the beautiful new school directory. More copies available at the office. PTA plans to purchase Quickbooks to be used by the PTA treasurer. This will help keep our accounts in order and enable us to easily pass on records from year to year. Our first school service project Trick or Treat for UNICEF will soon start. Look for information to come home soon. Suggest to your neighbors that they have a "bowl of change" to support this UNICEF drive when the "Trick or treaters" come to call. We will be participating in the Adopt a Family program again this year as the other school wide service project. Plans are to acquire donations before Thanksgiving. Contact Nancy Benioff if you are interested in being a classroom coordinator. In honor of Jeannie Chapman, for her former, passionate involvement in our school community, the PTA is donating a book to the Red Rocks library in her name. Ms. Chapman is critically ill. Thanks a million to the Hansen family and Todd Wingert for their generous donations of Subway sandwiches and Dairy Queen ice cream bars for Soccer Night. With their contributions, Soccer Night inadvertently became both a community event AND a small fundraiser. Proceeds from this event will now be applied towards the school's educational grant. Please join us for the Nov. 13th meeting at 9:00 a.m. Rachael Lambden will begin the meeting with a short presentation on "How to speak to your child about Nutrition and Tobacco Awareness." This website created by: