Please join us on Wednesday, October 18th from 6:30-8pm as we discuss some general PTSA business, plans for fundraising this year, our school's renovation and plans for next year, hear from Principal Roy and more! It's the best way to get connected with what's going on at Queen Anne Elementary and learn more about how you can get involved.
The PTSA has dozens of volunteer opportunities for parents of all skill sets and time availability. As an all-volunteer organization, it is the effort of our community that translates to the support the PTSA can provide to QAE! Come join us. If you have any questions prior to the meeting, write the president@qaeptsa.org. Childcare is available for a suggested donation of $5! Reserve a spot here... See you at the school on Wednesday! Our PTSA is looking for parents who are interested in helping QAE shine! If you're interested in any of these positions, please contact the PTSA at president@qaeptsa.org
Fundraising Director - are you good with numbers? Help assist, connect and participate in the 3 major fundraisers we do each year. Do you have a background in fundraising that you can help reimagine what our QAE fundraisers should look like? Time Commitment - Monthly PTSA Board meeting and will assist based on your strength during each of the 3 fundraising campaigns. Fund Drive Coordinator - Each Fall we do a direct ask campaign of our parent community. Are you good at coordinating the message? Follow up on the messaging? You don't have to knock or call but you need to be able to coordinate and hit send. Time Commitment - Approx. 5 hours of thinking through the details beforehand. And then 3-5 hours a week during the 2 week open campaign period. Note that Fund Drive actual dates will be set with Coordinator. Auction Village - The annual auction truly takes a VILLAGE. We can slice and dice this in a number of different ways to make it work for you. Please join us a one or a group of friends in helping support during the months or days leading up to the auction. Auction Coordinator (Event) - Do you enjoy event planning? Do you enjoy being part of a team of parents in helping put together our biggest fundraiser of the year? We need your planning and checklist expertise. If you enjoy a clipboard, check lists and coordination this is for you. Time Commitment - Slow and Steady is the game with a lot of focus in February and March. Note Auction is on Friday, March 16. Auction Coordinator (Procurement) - Are you good at asking people for donations? Are you good at following up with a team of procurement individuals that will be out emailing, calling or knocking on businesses for donations? Are you an organized individual that can keep track of the 100's of donations we receive from our community businesses, families and students? This will be for you. Time Commitment - Slow and Steady is the game with a lot of focus in February and March. Note Auction is on Friday, March 16. If you're interested in any of these positions, please contact the PTSA at president@qaeptsa.org The PTSA is looking for some wonderful parents to help support our amazing QAE community. Would you like to get involved? We can guarantee it'll be a fun and rewarding experience!
Safety Coordinator -- Help Our Explorers Travel Safely! As we have been discussing the expansion of QAE next year, the subject of what we can do to get everyone to and from school as safely as possible has come up. The PTSA is looking for a volunteer interested in taking charge of safety plans and programs for QAE. If planning, coordination, and safety is your passion, we'd love to hear from you! Treasurer -- Do You Know QuickBooks? The PTSA is looking to fill a very important role on the board, Treasurer. Ideally we're looking for someone who knows QuickBooks. We've streamlined the position in the last year to have fewer responsibilities and tasks, but it still remains a critical position for us to fill. If you know of someone (or many someones, or you are that someone!) that's right for the role we'd love to hear from you. Fundraising Chair Not a position to fear! Rather, someone to lead the fall fund drive and to check-in with Auction chair and Jog-A-Thon chairs. Videographer We’d love to do a project where we video key teachers/staff/students answering FAQs about QAE that would then be posted to the website. If you're interested in any of these positions, please contact Ian Stewart and Jenna Free at president@qaeptsa.org. Flip flops, friends and fun! We'd love to see you at the Queen Anne Elementary "Summer Nights" Pool Party Saturday, August 5th at Pop Mounger Pool in Magnolia hosted by us, your friendly QAE PTSA crew! We've reserved the entire pool specifically for QAE families! Both pools will be open along with the water slide. The PTSA will also provides snacks and drinks. Have a great evening with great friends as we build memories to take into the Fall. When: Saturday, August 5th, 7-8:30pm Where: Pop Mounger Pool, 2535 32nd Ave W, Seattle 98199 We are renting out the pool exclusive to the QAE community only 250 total spots available. We have reached capacity for the Pool Party! Our apologies if you weren't able to RSVP in time. Look for more fun events in the near future! To help us defray the cost of the pool rental, food and drinks, the PTSA is suggesting a donation of $5 per attendee. Please note -- this is completely optional, all families are welcome!
The final general PTSA meeting is on Tuesday, June 13th at 6:30pm at the QAE Cafeteria.
Hear the latest on the boundaries discussion, building remodel and much more. Plus we’ll be voting on officers for next year. There will be time for questions from the community. Please join us! Dear QAE families,
Seattle Public Schools sent out an email survey to all families in the Queen Anne/Magnolia area regarding various scenarios for boundary changes that will happen as part of the opening of Magnolia Elementary in 2018-19. The QAE PTSA believes that our status as an Option School is central to our learning culture and benefits all families by giving them an alternative to their attendance area school which also relieves overcrowding. We had planned to share the scenarios that best support our school’s mission and are least impactful all kids in the area. The survey includes 5 new boundary scenarios that had not been previously shared with the community, so our group of parents focused on this issue need some time to dig into their impact. We need some time to do this research. So as a PTSA, we suggest:
If you’ll already responded to the survey, no problem, thanks for taking the time to advocate for our community! Have a wonderful, safe holiday weekend. More from the PTSA soon! In service, Queen Anne Elementary PTSA boundaries@qaeptsa.org We want to show our amazing staff appreciation for all they do! Your classroom coordinator should be in touch about thanking your teacher. In addition to the class-specific thanks, the PTSA is planning something each day for our teachers. All Week: Sweet and Savory Snacks in Staff Lounges in both buildings. Sign up here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e45ada92dabfc1-qaeteacher Monday: Coffee Cart and Parent Social Teacher Appreciation Week Kick-off Teacher Appreciation Week begins with Monday morning after drop-off for our 1st Annual QAE Cafe Coffee Social. Enjoy your favorite coffee drink and write notes of encouragement for our wonderful staff and teachers that make QAE the amazing place it is. Coffee and barista skills donated by Caffè Fiorè and the Maclise Family. Cash donations will be accepted, all proceeds going towards QAE! Tuesday: Spa Day We have reserved two massage chairs for the teachers to enjoy during the morning. They will offer 10-15 minute relations hand, neck or foot massages to all staff who sign up. We will have a little table of spa samples for teachers/staff to pick from donated by QAE Parent and Mary Kay Consultant Laura Jackson. Wednesday: Flowers in the Staff Lounges Buckets of tulips will be delivered for staff to make small bouquets to take home. Thursday: All-Staff Lunch Generously donated by Metropolitan Market! Friday: All-Staff Pre-Paid Happy Hour An excursion to 5 Spot for our staff! Thanks to those who helped organize Teacher Appreciation Week. And special thanks to all the QAE staff for the amazing job they do with our kids! Principal Roy passed on the message below about an important meeting regarding QAE's option status and boundaries. Not familiar with the issues? See the PTSA's info page on Boundaries and Option Status for more details. The two actions you can take as an advocate for our school:
Invitation to Community Meeting on May 1st, 2017
Please join Seattle Public Schools at a community meeting on May 1 about the opening of Magnolia School. The district’s Enrollment Planning team will share an overview of responses received about possible boundaries for Magnolia School, share data related to various scenarios requested by the community and the School Board, and learn more from community feedback. No decisions have been made on Magnolia boundaries, or on boundary or program changes for other schools. The goal of this meeting is to share information and hear additional community feedback. Date: Monday, May 1, 2016 Time: 6:30 to 8 p.m. Location: McClure Middle School Gym, 1915 1st Avenue West Background: Magnolia School is undergoing renovations and will open in fall 2018. The district is currently exploring scenarios for setting boundaries for the new school to help relieve current and future crowding at Catharine Blaine K-8, Coe Elementary, and Lawton Elementary. A community meeting held in March was primarily attended by families from those three schools. Based on community feedback and requests from the School Board to include all Queen Anne elementary schools in the discussions, additional meetings were held with the Queen Anne Elementary and the Hay Elementary communities. For a summary of what we heard at these meetings and more information on the Magnolia boundaries, please visit http://seattleschools.org/cms/one.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=20911803. (For information on the renovation project, please visit http://bta.seattleschools.org. You may also share your input by emailing: growthboundaries@seattleschools.org. Principal Roy sent the below message to the Queen Anne Elementary community today. Please read below. We hope to see you on Wednesday, March 29th at 6:30 p.m. at the QAE Cafeteria. If you can't attend or want to share comments in other ways, you can write Janine directly at jbroy@seattleschools.org or contact the QAE PTSA at communications@qaeptsa.org. Dear QAE Families/Guardians:
On March 13th, a Community Meeting was held at Catherine Blaine with families from Coe, Catherine Blaine, and Lawton to discuss boundary changes regarding Magnolia Elementary, which will open in the Fall of 2018. (Information can be found on the Magnolia Elementary Boundary Planning Page). This page will continue to be updated throughout the process. All questions and feedback can be sent to: growthboundaries@seattleschools.org.) Queen Anne Elementary and John Hay Elementary communities were not part of this Community Meeting as the potential Magnolia boundaries were not anticipated to impact our schools. I was invited to attend the meeting as a neighboring principal. At the meeting, some participants made suggestions about easing the overcrowding at our neighborhood schools that would affect Queen Anne Elementary. These suggestions were unanticipated, and they need to be discussed within our community and with our neighboring communities. Following the Community Meeting, I met with Director of Enrollment Planning, Ashley Davies, and Enrollment Planning Project Specialist, E.R. Alvarez to work together to look at how Magnolia Elementary’s opening in 2018 will impact schools in our neighborhood. I invited Ashley Davies and E.R. Alvarez to come to a Queen Anne Elementary Community Meeting to be held on Wednesday, March 29th @ 6:30 PM in the QAE cafeteria to answer community questions from QAE families, share boundary procedures and gather our parent community feedback on how we can help overcrowding in our neighboring schools. Many thanks to our QAE community for working together on this. As QAE PTSA President Heath Dixon says, "This is a perfect time for us to model what we're teaching our children about how to handle challenges. Let’s help to share the facts calmly within and outside of our community and help our neighbors solve this problem collaboratively. We need to contribute to the district's process of making decisions about boundaries in our neighborhoods. That starts by encouraging communication and understanding." I am gathering all of the information I can to compile questions, comments, or suggestions from you before the meeting so that the format for the meeting can be set according to our community’s needs. Please email me at jbroy@seattleschools.org to share your input. Janine Janine Roy Principal Queen Anne Elementary 411 Boston Street Seattle, WA 98109 206-252-2480 All are welcome at our Winter QAE PTSA general meeting. It's at the cafeteria on Wednesday, Feb. 8th from 6:30-8 p.m. Childcare will be available in the library. We'll be covering some important topics, with a focus on the future of the Enrichment program at QAE and school funding.
Help Us Brainstorm on Enrichment Classes at QAE As our Enrichment registrations have significantly increased this year, this creates challenges for running a fulfilling, safe, and fair program on a daily basis. Please join us to discuss our Enrichment successes, hopes, concerns, obstacles, and possibilities for the program. We know enrichment classes are an important part of many families' QAE experience and want to hear your thoughts on how we can have a sustainable program as we plan for next year and beyond. Legislative Update - School Funding There's lots going on in the legislative arena, including the QAE PTSA Board of Directors endorsing full funding of education, the "levy cliff", creative approach status, and option school status. Come join us to learn more about these topics and continue the discussion of what we can do about them. The PTSA Legislative Team issued the QAE Bell Time Survey to poll our community on the existing and potential upcoming changes to the Seattle Public Schools Bell Times. There were 121 responses, thank you QAE! We hear you and your contributions to the ongoing discussion of Bell Times is valued! SPS has received our Survey and it has been sent to our School Board and to Pegi McEvoy (Assistant Superintendent of Operations) who are working on the Bell Times for next year.
View the results from the survey here. Some details on the complexity of the Bell Time Issue and where it currently stands: Pegi McEvoy has been diligently working on the Bell Time issue for families and the District is working on a goal to move from the current three Tier system down to a two Tier system. The current three Tier system has three different bell times with 50 minutes between each start and end time so that transportation works across the 98 schools of the District. In order to switch from three Tiers down to two Tiers there was originally a one time 3.7 million dollar cost. By making transportation changes and cost reductions, Pegi McEvoy has gotten this number down to a one time cost of 2.3 million. This current one time cost of 2.3 million to achieve the switch to two Tiers and potentially be able to offer better bell times as a result must be completed with outside funds. (Due to a current tough budget year and the potential for the Levy Cliff next year.) Pegi McEvoy is working very hard at trying to secure this outside funding, with a deadline of May 1st. Two Tiers across the District has the potential to have great positive change for families, kiddos and schools. (and also may avert the necessity for an earlier Tier 1 bell time) If you have any leads on helping the funding issue or want to offer any other help toward this issue, please contact: Pegi McEvoy Assistant Superintendent of Operations pmcevoy@seattleschools.org 206-252-0707 The PTSA Legislative Team would like to thank QAE parent, Christina Thibault for her wonderful help in crafting this Survey and for the PTSA Board and Ms. Roy for being in collaboration on this effort to have our voice heard. The Levy Cliff: SPS and School Districts statewide are approaching a "levy cliff", an upcoming reduction in how much money school districts can collect through local property tax levies. You may have seen Superintendent Nyland’s letter about it. In SPS the levy cliff is projected to mean a budget shortfall of $74 million dollars and has the potential to translate to 440 staff positions cut across our District and 98 schools. If the levy cliff happens, QAE would face a big reduction to next year's school budget. What can we do? 1. Call our Legislators of the 36th District and Governor Inslee: Did you know our Legislators do not get calls and emails in volume over the issue of fully funding public education in Washington State? We must send a respectful message that we care about the issue of fully funding public education and request a levy cliff extension for the 2017-2018 school year. Put it on your calendar to call once a week if possible. Speak from the heart. Pass this information along on FB, Twitter, and to other friends you know in the 36th District. 36th District Contact info:
2. Attend SCPTSA Community Budget Gap Meeting: Seattle Schools staff will explain the budget numbers. PTA members and the community will have a chance to collaborate on actions we can take together to motivate the Legislature to act. Meeting Dates:
3. Attend Focus Day in Olympia: Washington’s Paramount Duty, NAACP, and WEA are co-sponsoring a rally to demand that our state fully fund public education now! Event Details: Dr. Martin Luther King Day: Monday January 16, 2017 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Washington State Capital 416 Sid Snyder Ave SW, Olympia, Washington 98504 If you're interested in learning more about the levy cliff situation, check out these articles:
Our annual Explorer Fund Drive kicked off yesterday and will run through Wednesday, November 16.
The PTSA holds fundraising events just three times during the school year:
Our goal for the Explorer Fund Drive is to raise $80,000 directly from our QAE Parent Community. Donate to the Explorer Fund Drive! Your PTSA works with staff and teachers at the beginning of the year to determine what can most benefit our students that the school district is unable to provide. Through this process, the PTSA said YES to:
The PTSA has an ambitious goal to spend $799 per student during the 2016-17 school year. Please say YES to help support all the above items and many, many more. Help us say YES when our students have a need, our teachers voice a request, or our parents are passionate about something that will support our 419 students. Donate to the Explorer Fund Drive now! Thank you in advance for supporting the students, staff, and community at Queen Anne Elementary! QAE PTSA All QAE parents are invited to attend the first PTSA general membership meeting of the year on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the school cafeteria. Topics to be covered include:
Come learn more about what's going on at QAE and share your thoughts. Childcare will be available for a suggested donation of $5. In order to plan our childcare staffing, you MUST reserve a spot in advance. Reserve your spots here: https://qaeptsa.wufoo.com/forms/s1hfemfl02qh9vn/ See the agenda for Wednesday's meeting:
A big thank you to all of those cooks, volunteers and guests that made the Chili Cook-Off such a fun event!
And now, the winners! Traditional Chili Winner - The Dixons' "Queso Chili" for Ms Brown's Class Nontraditional Chili Winner - Katti Nest's "Black Bean Chicken Chili" for Ms Smith's Class First Runner Up - Annie Young's "Pork and White Beans Chili" for Ms Tucci Webert's Class It was a stiff competition with all of the submitted chilis receiving votes! Honorable mentions include Annlee Hoy’s “Turkey Taco Chili”, Lee Scott’s “Smoked Chicken Pumpkin Chili” and Jenny Winstrom’s “Ali’s Chili with Beans”! Thanks to all of you chili cooks out there! |
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