Our October PTC Board meeting had a huge amount of useful info, including upcoming school news, plus fundraising and event updates.
Read on to hear all the latest & greatest, brought to you in easy-to-read bullet points.
Principal’s Report, Shannon Anderson
Dr. A is already soliciting high schools for 8th grade info in spring. This year both Dr. A & the PTC will be more proactive in trying to get info earlier from both Beaverton & Sunset. The 2/24 PTC community meeting will hopefully (fingers crossed) include both Sunset & Beaverton reps.
The PTC-funded whiteboard tables are in & the kids/teachers are loving them. With 38 tables here & assembled, the 6th and 8th grades are complete. 7th grade math classrooms should be done by December. One extra bonus has been how much room the new tables have created in the classroom.
The remaining budget from the New Student Welcome line item (spent on our event last August) will be used by counselors for lunch with students who come to CPMS mid-year. These types of outreach touches are part of the counselors focus on welcoming and acclimating our new students who move in throughout the year.
Eight apple tvs were recently ordered. These classroom upgrades are going in waves, with about half of them already completed. The goal is to have Apple TVs in every classroom by next year. All CPMS teachers will be receiving new computers in 2020-21 and Dr. Anderson wants to be sure everything is compatible and ready for that upgrade next fall
Additional balls have been purchased for recess. This is an ongoing need as balls are constantly being lost, popped, or worn to death.
The grade-level PTC-funded experiences are already being planned. Dr. A met with each grade level to brainstorm new ideas for these experiences, which typically take place in the spring. Ideas tossed about included the beach, a theater, OMSI, and new science vendors.
Outdoor School for 6th grade will be this spring. No official dates yet, but it will be March or later.
8th grade has a new team: Atlantis. In order to limit the 40+ class sizes in 8th grade science, Cedar Park has been granted a new science teacher, Ms. Howell-Kubler. This meant that a large portion of 8th graders had a schedule change and the creation of a new team.
Cedar Park’s sign rebuild (funded by the PTC) has finally been given a project manager through the District. Dr. Anderson submitted some ideas, but they will come back with options within the next month. Dr. A is hoping to have a brick and mortar sign outside the school, with four lines of marquee that can be easily changed, as opposed to using the gigantic ladder needed to change the sign on Cedar Hill Blvd. Side note: Our previous wooden sign outside the school had a decades long life before it rotted away & was removed over a year ago.
All of the middle school students will get new chromebooks next school year. If students are having trouble with their chromebooks, they should see the library staff.
Cedar Park was recently awarded a community grant which will be used to fund recess games that will inspire more collaboration with students, such as life size jenga & connect four, cornhole etc. This was made possible through PIzza Schmizza’s H.E.L.P. outreach program.
The staff’s main focus year is socio/emotional learning. The teachers are gaining professional development in this area and the students are learning emotional regulation, mindfulness, and breathing exercises.
The mIddle school boundary process begins next week. Two reps from each middle school will be chosen. Some meetings will be open to the public. You can learn more about the process here.
Family Fun Night was a success. Stations included slime, a cupcake walk, buttons, an escape room with over 150 attendees. The switch to the fall last year has made a huge difference and the admins are hoping to expand next year.
Cedar Park’s fifth grade open house will be Wednesday, 11/20 at 6pm. They plan on having a presentation to students and parents, followed by a scavenger hunt/find-your-own adventure type event for families to explore the school.
The District is in need of parent feedback for their Student Success Act Survey. This is a crucial step that is needed in order for BSD to apply for the state funds from the recently passed Student Success Act. Read more about this bill and find a link to the survey here.
The BEF phone-a-thon is going on this week. The Beaverton Educational Foundation does a lot of great work for all our district’s schools, including several grants and projects at Cedar Park in recent years. So if you get the call, consider donating!
Next week (beginning the 21s) is an anti-bullying event promoting kindness & courage. On Wed, 10/23, students are encouraged to wear orange. Jessie Lebau will also be performing at an all-school assembly with a message of taking action and changing your life for the better.
Science teachers are up for a broader, better publicized Science Festival this January. Various ideas were tossed around and parent involvement may be necessary to create a more community-minded event. Possibly holding a parent-child portion before school was discussed, or possibly having a dedicated time during the day for each grade.
President’s Report, Bettina Jeszenszky
5K updates: While we have not reached our $55k goal, we are quickly closing in on the amount raised last year. Historically, we are still knocking it out of the park, as this 5K is only in its 4th year and continues to grow and pull in a healthy amount for Cedar Park.
5K notes: Things to consider for next year include reusing athletic.net timing as their service was excellent, attempting to better work with THPRD about their cross country schedule, possibly stapling 5K envelopes to the student schedules at Wolf Day, and seeing about adding ourselves to PayPal’s direct charity list.
Treasurer’s Report, Skye Kutansky
Year to Date Numbers: 5K expenses are looking right on target (prior to pledgestar fees), art lit has been spending money in prep for their first project, and staff appreciation will be catering a meal for the staff over conferences. Our expenses are around $11k this fiscal year (the white boards being the largest expense). Check out our YTD spending here.
Directors of Volunteers Report, Jenna Dornblaser
We have 20+ more volunteers added to our system this month
We are still in need of an 8th grade social coordinator
The PACK store co-chairs have been filled
Clothes Closet needs more volunteers for the late afternoon shift
And that’s all she wrote! Join us for our October PTC Community Meeting on Monday, 10/28 at 6:30pm. This meeting will begin with a Canvas/Parentvue tutorial for parents to better learn these platforms. Plus… cookies. See you then!