PTA-Sponsored Events & Announcements

EVENTS
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Pledge sheets due 6/10 to qualify for prizes!
All pledge sheets due 6/12.

Support the Back to School Consortium...
June 12th & August 7th
Jersey's Restaurant
1306 N 175th Street in Shoreline
Mention that you are supporting the Back to School Consortium and Jersey’s will donate 20% of the profits in support of the Back to School Consortium. The Back to School Consortium* is a community effort that provides school supplies, clothing assistance, haircuts and hygiene packs to students in the Shoreline School District whose families are living with a low-income and/or experiencing circumstances in their life that make it challenging to prepare their children for going back to school in the fall. Members of the Back to School Consortium:
City of Lake Forest Park; City of Shoreline; Embrace Shoreline Schools; Hopelink; Shoreline Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services; Shoreline School District and the Readiness to Learn Program; The Center for Human Services; The Vineyard; The Works of Shoreline PTA Council

Help Others To Start the New School Year Right
August 29, 2009  1-3pm
Ridgecrest Elementary
The Back to School event provides school supplies, haircuts, and clothing assistance for families who are living with a low income and/or experiencing circumstances in their life that make it challenging to prepare their children for going back to school.

Registration begins on May 18th. Register before June 24th and get a surprise gift at the event!
Register online at www.btsconsortium.org or download a registration form to mail in.
If you have questions, please call 206-393-4916 BTS Info Line and leave a message and someone will return your call within 2-3 days to register you.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Shoreline School District News
Help us plan a new Shorecrest High School at our third Community Outreach Meeting
Thursday, June 4, 2009, 7 to 9 p.m.
Shorecrest High School Library
15343 25th Ave. N.E.
The community is invited to a third high school design community outreach meeting on Thursday, June 4 at 7 p.m. in the libraries at
Shorecrest and Shorewood High Schools. The architects will present further refined schematic plans for each school.
For more information, visit the Shorecrest and Shorewood design team pages on the District Web site, www.shorelineschools.org.

How You Can Help With the Back to School Event
Donations of gently used children’s clothing, can be dropped off Wednesday evenings or by appointment at The WORKS,  North City Portables, 816 NE 190th, till school ends.  Go to www.shorelinepta.com for August donation information.
Donations of school supplies, new socks, underwear and hygiene products can be dropped off  at the Center for Human Services,
17018 15th Ave NE, Shoreline.
Contact Tanya Schaeffer at (206) 631-8836 for more information.
Sponsored by The Back To School Consortium.
For more information go to www.btsconsortium.org.

School Councilor, Monica Best, would like you to know about some available counceling
The UW is offering free academic, behavioral, and cognitive testing, as well as counseling next school year. This will be conducted by school psychology doctorate and graduate students, while under supervision by licensed psychologists.

Recruiting dates:
Children and Adolescent Counseling: January-June 2010 (Register
November)

Academic/Cognitive Testing for School Age Children: January-March 2010 (Register August)

Academic/Cognitive Testing for Preschool Age Children: April-June 2010 (Register October)

Psychological Testing (personality/mood/stress/thought disorders) Register November 2010.

Shoreline School District Budget Info
The final State budget for K-12 has been released and the operational impact to the Shoreline School District is a reduction of more than $3.2 million in State funding for 2009-2010. This number represents a decrease in State funding of about 6 percent. The reduction in 2010-2011 is anticipated to be even greater. The majority of the funding reduced was in Student Achievement (I-728), which is specifically provided to reduce class size, support professional development and help struggling students.

This reduction will potentially be offset by some of the federal stimulus money, but the amount and the restrictions on spending this money are not completely clear at this time. There is also potential relief from a levy lid lift in 2010, but that too is unclear.

Since Spring 2006, the Shoreline School District has made difficult budget reductions in order to balance the budget, restore the ending fund balance and regain fiscal stability. By underspending revenues for the past two years, the District has restored the unreserved ending fund balance to the 4-5 percent required level and the District is now on stable financial ground.

Despite Shoreline’s strong financial position at this time, budget reductions will be needed to adjust for the unprecedented decrease in State funding. The recent budget survey results support our belief that everything we do is valued by our community.

Below are links to information on both the District budget survey and the State budget impact summary. The links are also available on the District Web site, www.shorelineschools.org. The District will provide updates as more information becomes available and we work to create a balanced budget.

09-10 Budget Priorities Survey Results

State Budget Impacts on Shoreline

Important 2008-2009 School Calendar Information
A Message From the Shoreline Calendar Committee
As you may be aware, when the 2008-09 school calendar was finalized, certain dates for the 2009-10 school year were also included, so that staff and families could plan for these in advance. The dates already established for next year are:
The first student day of school on September 2, 2009 Winter Break from December 21, 2009 through January 1, 2010 Mid-winter Break from February 15, 2010 through February 19, 2010 Spring Break from March 29, 2010 through April 2, 2010

The timing of Spring Break for the week of March 29 was largely chosen due to the WASL testing schedule that was published last year; the testing window was anticipated to be from April 12 through April 30. Spring Break was scheduled to allow for a week’s return to school prior to testing. However, a side effect of that schedule was that only five weeks of school were scheduled to elapse between Mid-winter Break and Spring Break, leaving 11 weeks between Spring Break and the end of the school year.

Earlier this week, Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn announced a new statewide assessment testing schedule for next year, which has high school testing taking place during the weeks of March 15 and April 12 and the testing window for grades 3-8 taking place between May 10 and June 4.

As a result, the Shoreline Calendar Committee is asking the Shoreline community whether they would like the SEA and District Bargaining Teams to consider negotiating a change to the Spring Break schedule for next year to allow for even stretches of time between Mid-winter Break, Spring Break, and the end of the school year.

We would very much appreciate it if you would click on the link below to take a brief survey about the timing of Spring Break for the 2009-10 school year. The survey will be open for one week (April 9-16). Please click here.

IMPORTANT Fundraiser Info:
You must re-link your Albertsons Card to keep our fundraiser successful!!
.....As many of you know, we have been earning much needed funding through the Albertsons Community Partners Program.
.....We need your help to continue earning funds.
.....Even if you have linked your Preferred Savings Card to our organization in the past, you need to re-link your card number in order for us to continue earning funds.
.....Link (or re-link) your Albertsons Preferred Savings card to our organization now at: www.albertsonscp.com.
.....All you need is your Preferred Savings Card Number and our Organization ID, which is 49000100343. It will only take a minute and will help us greatly.
.....If you do not know your Preferred Savings Card Number, just look at the top of a register receipt or call customer service at (877) 932-7948.

Raffle Baskets and Judges Sought for Financial Grant Program
.....One of the highlights of the PTA State Convention each year is the raffle of elaborate baskets of goodies donated by individuals, local units, councils, and others. The raffle supports the Financial Grant Program, WSPTA’s scholarship program for college students. We would like to encourage all local units, councils, regions and individuals to consider contributing to the future of our youth by donating a basket for the WSPTA Financial Grant Program Basket Raffle. See the flyer and find additional information on the WSPTA web site under “Programs” or click here.
.....A good way to learn more about the Financial Grant Program is to help judge the applications. The Washington State PTA Financial Grant Program will be awarding $60,000 in financial grants to graduates of Washington State public high schools beginning their freshmen year of post-secondary education. The Financial Grant Committee will be judging applications on March 7th in Richland, Washington and will need a large number of volunteers. This opportunity is open to all PTA members—please spread the word. Anyone interested in participating should contact the committee chairs Cheryl Baker and Judy Morgan.

YUMMY FUNDRAISER!!
Dine out at Canyons 3/26!
THE NEXT OPPORTUNTY TO SUPPORT LFP PTA AND EAT GREAT FOOD is Wednesday, March 26th!
As we look forward to winter turning to spring, we also see our children stretching taller before our eyes. How do they do that? Good food, good exercise and wonderful family and friends. You can be a great friend and supporter of our children by eating dinner out on Wednesday, February 25th. What a deal! Canyons will donate 20% of your tab back to our PTA and you can eat great food and enjoy a night off from cooking. Bring the whole gang. Reservations are encouraged, but not required. Don’t forget to take your “Dine out at Canyon’s” flyer that comes home in kid-mail. In case you loose your hard copy, no worries, you may download it here (upcoming months included).
Upcoming “Dine out at Canyons” dates:
May 26th - Tuesday
June 15th - Monday

Doing “R” Part
Support LFP and Go Green!
Reusable grocery totes, insulated grocery totes and aluminum water bottles are available for order at any time!
Our reusable bags can hold the equivalent of 3-4 plastic bags, the handles are long enough to hang on your shoulder but short enough to swing at your sides!  Our insulated extra large grocery totes keeps your cold and frozen items separate and have a fully length Velcro closure to keep things cold. We also have a limited supply of wrap-n-mat reusable sandwich wraps left. $7.00 each or 5 for $28.  Contact us for pattern availability.  Orders may be placed via kid mail, just send a note with what you want and checks made out to LFP PTA and we will get them right to you!  All items are in stock.  Contact us with any questions.  gogreen@lfppta.org
Aluminum Water Bottle $11.00
Navy Grocery Tote $3.00
Blue Insulated Grocery Tote $6.00
Five-pack Grocery Totes $14.00
Combo:
Grocery Totes 5-pack & 2 Insulated Totes $26.00

Make-up school days
The make-up school days for the entire district will be scheduled at the end of the school year on June 22, 23 and 24, 2009.

Nominations Open for 2008-09 Shoreline Schools Teacher of the Year
.....Please consider nominating a teacher for Shoreline Teacher of the Year. Nominations may be made by staff, students, parents, and other community members. The nomination form is attached. Nomination forms are also available on the district web site. Nominations for Teacher of the Year are due in the Public Information Office by March 6, 2009. The recipient will be recognized at a reception on April 27, during Teacher Appreciation Week, May 4-8, receives a $1,000 award from the Shoreline Public Schools Foundation, and is forwarded for State Teacher of the Year consideration.
..... Contact the Public Information Office at 206-361-4412 if you have any questions about the form and process.

Message from Washington State PTA
Are you concerned about education funding in our state? Here’s a way you can get involved today! It’s as easy as a few keystrokes. Important work is being done right now by our elected officials to prepare for the next legislative session. We urge you to take action today by sending an important message to the Governor and your legislators using our Legislative Action center. Follow the link below to our action center. Then scroll over and click on the title “Support Education Funding and Finance Reform”. This is the link to the alert - http://capwiz.com/npta2/wa/home/. A preprinted message has been included. You are encouraged to add a personal story as well.

Cheer Throughout the Year
Beginning in January, we assist the Student Council with the monthly selection & collection of a food or household item for donation. At the end of the month we deliver the donations to The Works.

The Works
The Works is a clothing room maintained by the Shoreline PTA Council. Gently used clothes and shoes in all sizes from Head Start to High School are available. New underwear, socks, and personal hygiene products are also available. The Works is located at the North City Elementary portables, 816 NE 190th ST, Shoreline. Hours of operation are 6:30-8:30pm Wednesdays, except during Shoreline School District Holidays. Donation drop-off hours are 5:30-8:00pm. Please contact the school nurse, Sue Hoverson, at 206-368-4135 to access this service.

Kellogg Student Resource!
Two 8th grade students at Kellogg Middle School are in need of 30 hours of community service, by the end of the year, to be inducted into the Honor Society Program. If you have any PTA committees that need help in whatever capacity (babysitting at PTA meetings, folding and stuffing, cleaning up, tutoring after school etc.) contact Barbara Hartley at 206-930-0207. This service is only available for PTA purposes.