Red Rocks Elementary School proudly submits our application for the National Parental Involvement Award. Here is a brief description of how our PTA unit has met and exceeded the six National PTA Standards for Parental Involvement. When you read our list of achievements, please keep in mind that we have only 165 families who support our school on a daily basis!

This year, we were excited to launch our new website www.Red RocksPTA.org. We are running a promotion to encourage site visits and we are tracking usage. It is a very comprehensive site that includes information about our PTA, volunteer opportunities, a listing of our programs and sponsored events, an interactive calendar, a discussion bulletin board, links to resources and more! PTA holds monthly meetings with a summary posted on our bulletin board, in the newsletter and on our website. Each meeting has a guest speaker, officer reports, committee reports, feedback opportunity on school and PTA sponsored events, reports from the principal and an opportunity for open discussion. The monthly Second Cup of Coffee Club is an ad hoc and informal opportunity for feedback, information dissemination and socialization between staff and parents. Our weekly newsletter is the most important communication tool. This year, we provided all families with a refrigerator "Chip Clip" to "post" the newsletter for easy access. This Spring, we initiated an email group to forward important news from county and state educational public policy issues. All event dates are posted in the school's calendar, on posters, the Parent Handbook, the weekly newsletter, the website, a sandwich board in front of the school, the bulletin board and occasional flyers. A telephone chain is used for reminders or last-minute notification and we keep the school secretarial staff informed so they may assist callers. To encourage two-way, open communication, we use surveys (both formal and informal), written ballot for sensitive issues, request feedback at each meeting on prior events, host an electronic bulletin board and provide Open Forum discussion time our meeting's end.

We regularly communicate the statistics supporting parent involvement and the school's Student Handbook describes "requirements" for parent involvement in the children's education. Each month, PTA sponsors parenting information opportunities, ranging from guest speakers at each meeting to formal workshops. Our topics include school board members and the superintendent discussing district issues, children television viewing, and how to help children succeed. So far, the best topic was a physician talking with parents about How to talk to children about nutrition and tobacco awareness. (The tobacco awareness launched our Tar Wars antismoking program.) Other parenting resources such as local workshops, community service organizations, Colorado PTA parenting events, and websites are promoted both in PTA meetings and the newsletter. PTA meetings are held in conjunction with Accountability (a parent group for school academic performance), so all PTA members are aware of our school objectives and progress towards those objectives, as formalized in our School Improvement Plan. PTA leadership works very closely with Accountability to support these objectives. At each PTA meeting, the Principal reports on school academic issues and progress. Our school's media center houses parenting resources that are made available to the community. This year, we sent out a notice listing available titles and resources. Additionally, our school's media center was recently selected as home to one of the school district's Multicultural Resource Centers and our faculty and parents make use of this new resource of over $20,000 in books and other materials. We have over 75% attendance at major school events. Our PTA goal is to have 100% participation in the school in some form, from all families this year and we are on target for achieving the goal. We have parents, grandparents and community members volunteering in classrooms and also out of the classroom in small groups with students. Most of the professional aids employed by the school are also parents.

Last year, 100% of all families signed a commitment with the school to read the weekly newsletter and read nightly to their children. For the past two year's our school has been recognized by the State of Colorado and Jefferson County for Excellence in Academic Performance. The teachers regularly assign homework and students are accountable to work with their families to complete the activities. Teachers provide regular (weekly to bi-weekly) progress reports and weekly samples of work to parents. Students in 4-6 grades use a Student Planner, provided by PTA, to track progress and parents are required to sign each day. This year, our PTA sponsored the school's staff to attend workshops on building a "learning community." Our PTA/Accountability meetings include information from both the middle and high school. This year, we plan to have the two principals come and speak to PTA about articulation from Red Rocks to their schools.

Our PTA supports a variety of learning events such as the PTA programs of Arts Around, Reflections, Bus Safety (new this year) the Science Fair and the PTA Spanish and French foreign language programs. In addition we also add funds to the Reading is Fundamental, federally sponsored free book program for our students. We support learning events on Earth Day and several educational assemblies for the school. Our "Kindness Campaign" provides in-classroom learning experiences to encourage respect and diversity amongst the students. This year, a major initiative is our Healthy Lifestyles Initiative. This is a complex set of programs that focuses on Nutrition, Antismoking, and Physical Exercise. A key educational element is our version of Tar Wars (an antismoking program that includes a parent workshop, lung demonstrations in the classroom, the Tar Wars presentation - a version for each grade, a poster contest and the "Breath Better Bus" for all grades, all supported by parent volunteers. Other parts of the program include partnering with the local bike shop for bike safety course and bike races, parent and kids information on nutrition, Field day, a jump rope club that performs locally, the running club where parents helped kids track their "laps" for prizes, Fitness testing and Soccer Night where parents and kids "compete". A highlight is the Fun Run where the entire school runs through our town of Morrison. The whole community supports this 9-year old event with prizes, water, ribbons, traffic direction and shouts of encouragement. It is held on Red Rocks Fun Run day, as designated by the town of Morrison.

Before school started this year, our Officers met with all the Committee Chairs to decide goals, projects and set a tone for the 2002-03 year. Our theme is Respecting, Responding and Giving. We planned to establish a community of respect, being responsive to the school's needs and have an objective of 100% family participation. In 2002, we achieved that objective and are on target to repeat the performance. Parents are involved in just about all aspects of the school from volunteer staffing in the classroom to our major school events such as the School Carnival and Silent Auction that brings close to 100% attendance from families, manning the booths, donation of prizes, decorations, etc. Dozens of school parenting opportunities range from design/building sets for school plays, sponsoring the pumpkin contest, staffing our athletic days, to volunteering on the hearing check day, hosting holiday parties, special events for the staff, decorating the school, and volunteering with landscape beautification. This year, the PTA Officers met with returning families to discuss the new volunteer opportunities for the year at a Back-to-School Brunch, held the first day of school. The Officers held a Welcome Reception for new Red Rocks families to help introduce them to the school and to PTA. We provided a complete description of all volunteer opportunities (to help from school, home or work) and a checklist for ease of decision-making. We create a spreadsheet of volunteers and forward those names to the various chairpersons. This year, we are piloting a system of keeping track of volunteer hours on forms. Next year, we hope to make the system available electronically.

The individual classroom goals and curriculum are discussed at the beginning of each year when families are invited to Curriculum Night. Parent input is often sought by the staff in that PTA Officers, Accountability Chairs and other parents participate in discussions regarding curriculum, staffing and even participate in staffing interviews. Parents are selected each year to participate in the Cooperative Decision Making (CDM) Process. This process, outlined in detail in the Student Handbook, is used to resolve issues and make recommendations (when appropriate) to the administration. In addition, parents make recommendations and review the School Improvement Plan with our school objectives. The faculty and administration are continually seeking feedback and information from parents. Our principal attends EVERY PTA meeting and holds a new vice president position as School Liaison. At each meeting, we include time for the Principal's report and discussion about school staffing, changes, etc. In addition, we give updates on the Jeffco strategies and policies that impact our school. Our unit truly believes and supports the PTA objective of "Every Child, One Voice". This year, we initiated two new programs focusing on child advocacy. We have a parent volunteer heading up our "Kindness Campaign". She goes into each classroom teaching songs and telling stories promoting a respectful environment. Pride Awards are given to students by the Staff, for good behavior and other non-academic excellence. Random Acts of Kindness Awards recognize parents and community members who contribute to the school. We also have another parent volunteer whose focus is on recognizing student achievement, both at school and out of school for academic as well as other pursuits such as hobbies, sports or the arts. Our members often attend local area accountability meetings, school board meetings and also the high school and middle school meetings. A very detailed report card is sent home three times a year, complete with a folder of explanation and signature from teachers and principal. Parents are asked to sign and return the folder. Conferences are held twice a year, and more often if necessary. Parents receive weekly feedback on students' progress. We are holding two parenting workshops this Spring, One called How to help your child succeed and the other entitled Learning through love and logic. All of the staff are PTA members. We participate in both the PTA State legislative conference and the Annual Conference.

The Morrison community supports our school in a variety of ways. Community members support, volunteer and cheer on the Fun Run. They volunteer and donate for the Carnival and Silent Auction. The local country club partners with us to host the Silent Auction. The town merchants provide refreshments when our families holiday carol through the streets. The police and firemen are student advocates and have come to have lunch with the students and participate in our Carnival. The VFW celebrates with our students on Veteran's Day and this year, a special celebration honoring the anniversary of 9/11. Our children create special projects for the local nursing home and participate in their Autumn Days. This year, we have started a partnership with the local bike shop to build a Nature Trail on the back of the school property. The trail can be used by kids for athletic events or for nature hikes. The bike shop will maintain the trail and hold world class biking events on the weekends. Our Student Council sells refreshments at these events and the whole school is invited to participate in the races for kids. Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Tae Kwon Do and 4H all have active programs with the school. This year, we created a "Warm and Welcoming Committee" to assess our school's environment. The committee was a diverse group of people, both active and not active at the school AND included members of the outside community. PTA is taking the results from the assessment and working to enhance the accessibility and environment of our school. For the second year in a row, our kids have participated in two community service projects, Trick or Treat for UNICEF and also each class "adopted" a family (outside our school) in need during the holidays.