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December 7, 2009

Dear Coeur d'Alene Families:

Greetings!  I can’t believe that it’s December already!  Time really does fly when you’re having fun.  We had another great month of school in November, punctuated with Thanksgiving feasts; third grade walking field trips to observe city wildlife along the Venice canals; winning $20,000 from Tom’s of Maine for our campus greening efforts; a second grade Thanksgiving performance and feast; and meetings of the School Site Council, English Learner Advisory Council, Gifted and Talented informational night, and the School Safety Committee.  We started this month with a fun-filled Holiday Shopping Bazaar that hopefully broke records in fundraising for our school.  Thanks as always to all of the families and staff who voted online, attended our meetings, volunteered their time, and showed support by attending and coordinating all of our exciting school events.  Stay tuned for updated office bulletin boards that will chronicle in pictures all of these events that make Coeur d’Alene Avenue School a truly remarkable place.

Even though this is a short school month, we have many events and activities to which we can look forward.  Family conferences are this week, and you will be receiving your child’s first report card.  Please make sure that you make every effort to meet with your child’s teacher to share in the progress your child is making, set goals for him/her, and ask questions and brainstorm ways that you can continue to support your child at home.  You are your child’s first teacher, and we rely on and appreciate the solid foundation that you provide so that we can work toward continued academic growth for all of our children.  Additionally, we have our Holiday Performance at 8:30 AM and 1:00 PM on December 16, 2009.  Our students are practicing with purpose and enthusiasm songs and performances that will surely bring joy to all.  The two performances are identical, so come to the one that best suits your schedule.  We will also be having a bake sale before and after school on this day as we work feverishly to offset budget cuts that the State and District are facing.  Finally, we are excited about Chad Scheppner’s and his actors’ performance of The Wizard of Oz on Friday, December 11, 2009 at 4:00 PM.  Come show your support as we delight in a timeless story loved by all.

As we move into the fourth month of school, here are some updates that I shared at my fourth monthly Coffee/Tea with the Principal on Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 8:30 AM in the auditorium:

• We are busily updating our instructional delivery with the installation of seven whiteboards, the delivery of six document readers and seven LCD projectors, and the impending arrival of 5 SMARTboards.  These instructional enhancements are a result of a parent’s annual giving, your donations, monies from our donations accounts that I recouped from being able to use state and federal monies to multi-fund an instructional aide, and $10,000 of our Scholastic points.  We are excited about these upgrades and know that they will strengthen what is already a great program at our school.
• Please continue to be mindful of parking and traffic laws as you pick up and drop off your child(ren).  Please do not double park, park in red zones, drop students off in front of the school on Coeur d’Alene Avenue (CDA), honk as you arrive to pick up your child(ren), enter the parking lot through the exit gate on CDA, or park in parking spots marked Staff Parking in the CDA lot.  I am still working on a pick up for students for after school that will hopefully begin in January on Garfield Avenue.  We will need family volunteers like Christine and Gary, who coordinate drop off in the morning.  Please let me know if you are available.  I will be sending home a note to recruit volunteers.  Thanks.
• Thank you to all of the families who have donated to our Annual Giving Campaign.  Our goal is 100% participation, no matter the amount donated.  The Booster Club is suggesting $850 per child, but they encourage you to give what you can.  At my last Coffee/Tea with the Principal, I set a goal of $200,000 in order to fund all of the staff and programs that we currently have.  Your donation, of any amount, will help us reach that goal.  Checks can be made out to Friends of Coeur d'Alene, and donations are tax deductible.
• The teachers and I are keeping our focus on ensuring academic success for all students.  We have spent the past month vertically articulating the teaching and learning of mathematical concepts.  This month we will be considering ways to support students with specific learning disabilities, analyzing the results of our periodic mathematics and English language arts assessments in order to plan and implement interventions for struggling students and enhancements for our gifted learners, and making decisions about what and how we teach in mathematics.  Next month, we will be articulating across the grades programs and activities that we can and do use for our gifted and talented students.  Thanks as always to all of our teachers, teachers’ assistants, instructional aides, support staff, and parent volunteers for making Coeur d’Alene a place where children love to learn!
• Flu season is approaching.  Please remind your children to wash their hands frequently and to sneeze and cough into the crook of their arms.  Children should stay home for 24 hours after a fever clears.  For updates and information on Swine Flu (H1N1) you can go to www.aft.org/topics/h1n1, www.pandemicflu.gov/professional/school, and www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/states.htm.  Thanks.
• At my last meeting, I shared some proposed budget cuts that the Superintendent has put forth in order to address a deficit of $258 million.  The cuts and changes will need to be made unless workers agree to a 12% reduction in pay and 4 furlough days.  We were advised at our principals’ meeting that it is likely that the Board and the unions will meet somewhere in the middle, but either way the news is grim.  Some of the cuts and/or changes that are being proposed that will most affect us are listed below.  The School Board is meeting tomorrow, December 8, 2009 at 1:30 PM to make decisions in order to meet their deadline to submit a balanced budget to the Los Angeles County Office of Education.  You can contact Steve Zimmer, our Board member, to voice your concerns by going to http://laschoolboard.org/ and clicking on the link to contact him or you can attend the meeting tomorrow:
• Return to half-day kindergarten by 2011-2012.
• Convert SRLDP classes (our pre-k program) to State Pre-school.  (This is undesirable because it does not require a fully credentialed teacher.  Ms. Elson would have to teach K-5 or retire.)
• Increase class sizes in K-3.  (We are already at 24 students.  This would mean classes in K-3 might be at 28.  This would be a burden on our teachers and students.  We would also lose staff.)
• Raise the norm for school librarians so that we might lose our 3-hour aide, Mary Beth.  (This would mean that we would have to fund her on our own.)
• Reduce Facilities Operations budget by 5%.
• Reduce School Psychologist time by 50%.  (This would risk putting us out of compliance when it comes to assessing and providing services to our students who receive special education services.)
• Reduce by 50% in 2010 arts teachers and programs and 100% by 2011.  (This does not affect PS Arts but would affect our teachers who teach theater and will be teaching dance in the Spring.  This does affect lots of other schools and students as well.)
• Finally, see below for scheduled meetings and locations.  These meetings are open to all stakeholders!  Please plan on attending.

Thanks as always for your continued support.  Enjoy your time with your family over the winter break!  See you back at school on January 11, 2010!  Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

Andrew Jenkins
Principal