Courreges PTA is planning its first ever Membership Appreciation Night at the Greenbrook Clubhouse.  We will be celebrating parents that get involved at their school.  Please mark your calendars and plan to attend.  We will be serving pizza, drinks, and cookies.  We will also be selecting our officers for next year.  Other topics to be discussed (subject to change and time restrictions) include an important ballot initiative that the PTA is supporting, technology updates, and 2nd half events.  See you there.

When:    Monday, April 2, 2012
Time:      6:00pm
Where:  Greenbrook Clubhouse (18222 Santa Joanana Circle)

In recent days, all the teachers at Courreges have received brand new iPad II’s to enhance the classroom experience for our kids.  The teachers are all very excited.  Training will follow, as well as the installation of wireless capability, so that teachers can display dynamic content in the front of the room from anywhere.  Thanks to all our members for their support on the project.

Courreges has set a goal of collecting one million pennies and we still need LOTS of pennies!  When we achieve that goal, the public will be invited to view what a million looks like.  Pennies can be dropped into the water bottle outside the school office or at First Class Pizza, 18671 Brookhurst Street.

A giant thank you to all the parents, helpers, and special guests who came out to read to our kids!! The FV mayor and librarian; a number of past Courreges teachers; several police officers, firefighters, nurses; and fantastic Courreges parents all read to our kids. Thank you to our amazing teachers who wore their pajamas or dressed as the Cat in the Hat, too. Even Mr Christensen joined in on the fun as he read The Lorax to several classes.

We have a See’s candy fundraiser going on just for you!  We are selling See’s candy to help send this year’s 4th graders to outdoor science camp in 2013.  Please turn in your candy orders no later than Friday, March 16th.  All of the profits that your child earns will be credited towards their individual donation fund that will pay for outdoor science camp.   Want to learn more?  Join us at Open House on Thursday, March 15th at 5:30 PM in the MPR to learn about camp and other exciting activities your child will participate in next year.

Science Day at Courreges will be Thursday March 22.  We’ll bring in some special presentors and have some hands-on fun with science. More details coming soon.

Did you see the new SpiritWear at Courreges?  Did you choose not to order the first time since you weren’t sure what it would look like?  Did you miss the chance to order SpiritWear in the Fall?  Well, now’s your second chance!  We have a small batch of SpiritWear t-shirts and sweatshirts in all sizes ready for immediate purchase!   T-shirts are $10 each and Sweatshirts are $20.  We have a very limited number of SpiritWear items, so once they’re gone, they’re gone!

Upon confirmation that we have the items in stock and the amount due for your purchase, we will ask that you bring in a check made out to Courreges PTA to your teacher, then your SpiritWear will be delivered to your child.   If you are interested, please email Rachel Stein at ocstein@gmail.com with the following information: your name, your child’s name, your child’s room number and teacher’s name, the size and quantity of what you would like to purchase.

Hello Courreges Parents and Staff,

As you know we have been working hard to find suitable candidates for the 2012-2013 term of the PTA Executive Board.

We are pleased to present to you the following slate of officers for next month’s election meeting.  The meeting will be held at least 30 days from today.   Meeting time and location information will be sent out soon.

Position                    Candidate
President                   Jame Frederisy
VP Hospitality            Julia Wong
Ways and Means       Monica Maytorena
Treasurer                   Sara Svartstrom
Secretary                    Carolyn Wang
Financial Secretary     April Reiff
Auditor                        Mitch Sigal
Membership                Laura Brooks
Historian                      Liz Smilor

Thank you,
PTA Nominating Committee

We need readers for all the classes to read from 9:30-10am that Friday.  Kindergarten will read after recess at 10:20

We are looking for uniformed police officers, firefighters, nurses, pilots, school board members, retired teachers, and special guests to read their favorite picture book(s) or Dr. Seuss book to a class.  Teachers should have additional, age appropirate books available to read, if necessary.

If you can read to one of our classes on March 2nd from 9:30-10am, please RSVP to jfedmonds@verizon.net.

Readers will meet in the Courreges Multipurpose room (MPR) at 9- 9:15 to organize readers for each class. You can read in your child’s classroom.

Kids and staff are invited to wear pajamas for this reading day.

The Cat in the Hat may make a special appearance that day, too!

The PTA Nominating Committee is in the process of identifying candidates to fill open positions on the PTA Executive Board for the 2012-2013 term of office.  We wanted to reach out to all parents to see if there was anyone we may have missed.

In particular, we are looking to fill the following positions:

• President
• Treasurer
• Membership
• Auditor

If you (or someone you know) are interested in taking one of these positions, please contact any committee member immediately.  Our job on the Committee is to try to fill every open position, however, if a position already has a candidate and you would still like to be considered, please let us know.  The Election Meeting will be held at the end of March (date TBD).

Please note: you must be an active and paid member of the Courreges PTA for at least 30 days prior to accepting a Board position.

If you have any questions about a position and/or what the responsibilities are, please do not hesitate to call or email a committee member.  Thanks for your support of this great school!

Your 2012-2013 PTA Nominating Committee:
Erin Volz – erin.volz@hotmail.com – Chairman
Rachel Stein – ocstein@gmail.com
Kim Bees – kmbeez@gmail.com
Betsy Camacho – betsydoodle@aol.com
Dawn Nicewarner – drdanice@gmail.com

Update on the PTA-supported Our Children, Our Future statewide education initiative

The most urgent crisis facing California schools is that they simply don’t have the resources to provide our children with the education they need.  That is why the California State PTA supports the Our Children, Our Future initiative, which will transform our public schools by generating a substantial amount of new revenues for K-12 schools and early childhood education.  Other initiatives have also been proposed for the November 2012 statewide ballot, but we believe Our Children, Our Future is clearly the best for students and public education.

We are moving full-steam ahead and helping to qualify and pass this initiative in November 2012.

All PTA members and leaders are encouraged to join the effort to qualify and pass the Our Children, Our Future initiative.

    For a more complete update on the initiative, please click here
    Click  here  to indicate what types of volunteer actions you’d be willing to take. 

Please don’t hesitate to contact Patty Scripter, Director of Legislation for California State PTA at legislation@capta.org, if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks for all that you do on behalf of all children and families!