Hello Freshparents:
You can take the girl out of the Northeast but you can’t take the Northeast out of the girl. I have amused and mystified my neighbors with all of the snow shoveling these past few days. I could hear them saying from the warmth of their living rooms, “Why doesn’t she wait and let it melt on its own?” and “Why does she even bother, it’s just going to snow again tonight.” I guess I kept hoping that, if I did my part to clean my driveway and sidewalks, the city’s plow trucks would eventually show up and clean the streets. Hope springs eternal! There is no amount of rain that could make me miss East Coast winters.
Tomorrow will be our 5th snow day to make up at school. While it seems there will never be an end to the grocery store runs to replenish milk and bread and the constantly running dryer filled with hats, gloves, and snow pants, an end will come. Our kids WILL go back to school on January 5. The end of January marks the end of the first semester – our kids will be half way through their freshman year. Yes, it goes that fast. There are a few items I’d like to place on your radar screen with more reminders to come.
Finals Schedule
Parent Information Night
Bellevue Schools Foundation
Letter from the Principal
PTSA Notices
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Finals Schedule
For the most part, this will be the first time that our freshmen will experience final exams. I still remember the look on my junior’s face when I asked him if he had a study schedule a few weeks before his first set of finals two years ago. “A study schedule? Do I NEED a study schedule?” Mercifully, he allowed me to help him set one up and he has used this tool every semester since then. Each student will differ in the amount of time leading up to finals that he will need or tolerate for studying, but having a road map is a good place to start.
Please take a close look at this test schedule. Note that school hours are a bit different on Wednesday and Friday.
2008-2009 FIRST SEMESTER FINALS SCHEDULE
PERIODS DAY DATE TIME
Tutorial Wednesday January 28 7:30 – 8:10
2 Wednesday January 28 8:15 – 10:15
Break Wednesday January 28 10:15 – 10:25
6 Wednesday January 28 10:30 – 12:30
1 Thursday January 29 7:30 – 9:30
Break Thursday January 29 9:30 – 9:35
3 Thursday January 29 9:40 – 11:40
LUNCH Thursday January 29 11:40 – 12:25
5a & 5b Thursday January 29 12:30 – 2:30
Tutorial Thursday January 29 2:30 – 3:00
4 Friday January 30 7:30-9:30
Break Friday January 30 9:30-9:35
7 Friday January 30 9:40-11:40
LUNCH Friday January 30 11:40-12:25
0 and make-ups Friday January 30 12:30-2:30
Tutorial Friday January 30 2:30-3:00
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Parent Information Night
On February 12, 2009, at 7:00 pm, Newport’s guidance counselors will present grade-level information for parents about registration for the 2009-2010 school year. That evening, we’ll be listening to the sophomore presentation and our students will register for sophomore classes shortly thereafter. I told you it was going fast!
Parents of current 8th grade students will attend an information night at Newport on February 5, 2009, at 7:00 pm in the theater. Please pass this along to your friends and neighbors who have children attending 8th grade at Tyee, Tillicum, and private schools and who live in our attendance area.
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Bellevue Schools Foundation
Looking for a meaningful way to honor a teacher this holiday season?
Thank your favorite teacher with a gift to Bellevue Schools Foundation in their honor. We'll send your teacher a holiday card notifying them of your support and appreciation. Meanwhile, your gift will join with others to support great teaching across the District!
It's quick, it's green, and it helps Bellevue students while thanking excellent teachers!
Honor your teacher with a gift to BSF
Click here to give
Simply click here to make a secure online donation on behalf of a teacher - and honor your favorite teacher while making a difference in Bellevue schools.
Teachers Matter: Why BSF Funds National Board Certification
Congratulations to the 79 Bellevue teachers who just achieved National Board Certification (NBC), a rigorous benchmark of teaching excellence! See the list of newly-certified teachers here.
Why does National Board Certification matter? Studies show that NBC teachers are more effective and their students learn more. Read about National Board Certification in Bellevue here.
With 5 years of funding from BSF, Bellevue now has 208 Board-certified teachers, more than any other district in Washington State! With extra support and mentoring funded by BSF and the district, Bellevue teachers achieve certification at a rate over twice the national average.
BSF is proud to continue supporting Bellevue teachers with a $190,000 grant to provide mentors and cover fees for 77 more teachers pursuing National Board Certification this year.
Thank you for supporting Bellevue students!
Bellevue Schools Foundation raises funds to promote and help fund the best possible learning opportunities for all students in the Bellevue School District.
Learn more about the programs BSF is funding this year here.
PO Box 40644 • Bellevue, WA 98015-4644Tel: 425.456.4199 • Fax: 425.456.4176 • Web: www.bsfdn.org • Email: info@bsfdn.org
Learn more about the programs BSF is funding this year at www.bsfdn.org. Sign up to receive BSF updates here!
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Letter from the Principal
This is a reprint of a letter from the Newport Principal to staff reminding them about the gift-giving policy established in the school district.
Newport Staff,
Every year when the holidays approach, we see grateful and thoughtful parents and community members want to find ways to express their appreciation to our teachers and other employees for their work by giving gifts to the individuals they know. Gifts that are of a nominal value or which are a token remembrance or appreciation are fine, but the acceptance of gifts of significant value or monetary benefit is not allowed. Often parents, especially if their work experience has been in the private sector, are not aware that gifts to publicly-paid employees are not permitted or appropriate.
For our employees, gifts that are beyond a nominal value raise serious questions about equity between and among schools/programs, about why some employees in some roles get gifts and others do not, about a violation of board policy that disallows gifts, and about the propriety of substantial gifts being given for public service. Therefore, the giving of expensive gifts to individuals must be strongly discouraged. When the value of a gift to a person gets beyond $25.00 it is can well be considered to be more than a token gift or expression of appreciation – but even gifts of that size are not to be encouraged.
If parents or others wish to provide more than a token of gratitude to an individual employee, they can make donations to a specific classroom (but not something that could be considered the teacher’s personal property), they can donate to a school or program, they can make a contribution to the Bellevue Schools Foundation, the PTSA, or other charity in recognition of an employee’s work, and/or they can do something for the entire school’s or program’s benefit. Sometimes vendors will want to give a school, office, or program a box of candy or fruit that can be jointly shared with everyone, and that is acceptable (assuming not something unusually expensive) and so long as no particular individual is singled out as the sole recipient or benefit.
Bethany Spinlar
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PTSA Notices
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. A preprinted message has been included. You are encouraged to add a personal story as well.
We also strongly encourage you to forward this message with the link to your member and non-member email lists (anyone who supports our message is encouraged to respond)...taking care not to include any government email addresses.
We have set a goal of sending 40,000 emails! That’s right we want 10,000 of you and your friends from every legislative district in the state to send messages to their three legislators and the Governor. The system has already been set up to generate all four, so all you need to do is add just a bit to the one prewritten message. It’s so easy! Try it yourself, then pass it on to a friend. Let’s see what kind of an impact we can make in one week. http://capwiz.com/npta2/wa/home/
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PTSA FOCUS DAY
On February 26, 2009, Washington State PTA is sponsoring its annual Focus Day activities. This is the day that PTA members across the state gather in Olympia to "focus" on the child advocacy issues that were selected at Legislative Assembly. This is an unusually important year for parents to participate. Our Legislative representatives have been given the task of revamping our educational system -- primarily the way in which it is funded. It has been obvious for years that the funding amount has been inadequate (districts have to raise levy money to provide basics) but even more obvious that the funds are unfairly distributed. Combine the ever-growing needs of our underfunded educational system with the current budget crisis and one simply cannot deny the need to keep our legislators FOCUSED on our kids. Focus Day this year will take on a different form than in years past. This year, the main activity will be a massive rally on the Capital steps at noon. We need everybody possible to attend for this easy, fun, and effective advocating party.
Organize car pools -- we need at least four cars of four people from every school. Drive to Olympia, rally on the steps, drive back home. How easy can it get? Bellevue PTSA Council also has rented two busses for the day. The trip is free to Bellevue PTA members and almost free to other Council members. We will leave at about 9:30 on February 26 from the old K Mart parking lot on 148th and return there by 3 or 3:30. Reservations are required for the bus. Contact me with your name and e-mail address if you want to ride the bus. I need to have these names by the first part of February.
Connie Gerlitz (dgerlitz2@comcast.net),
Bellevue Council and Region 2Legislative Chair
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