Oh my goodness, 6th grade orientation was nothing short of spectacular. Thanks so much to everyone who helped, but a giant round of applause to Mo Blechen, who coordinated the whole darn thing, with help from Jen Ciraldo and myself. She did so much work that, honestly...you guys wouldn't believe me if I told you. Also, special shout-out to to the 7th graders who ran the popular "Ask a 7th Grader" table, fielding parents' questions about schedules. And, as always, huge thanks to Greg Pera, this time for staffing the Athletics table. I hear he signed a bunch of kids up for sports!
I've received very excellent feedback from the event and we're ready to turn around and do it again on Monday! I hope to see some of you there. Come have some coffee and muffins, get your schedule, buy a yearbook, order some White Hill shirts and sweatshirts, get your bus passes, and (I have to assume) meet the new principals if you haven't already. Please Sign Up to help if you'd like, and if you feel like coming early, that would be great. Setting up was a ton of work, turns out.
Speaking of the new principals, we met them last night at the meeting and it was great! I took notes (which I'll type up into official minutes when I figure out what the heck that means), but they are very excited and grateful to have such an enthusiastic parent club this year. Did you know that the teachers haven't gotten any money for classroom supplies in at least a year, maybe two?? We gotta fix this, folks. HUGE thanks to JC Willetts, our talented and hardworking treasurer. She is stepping all the way up. It's such a hard job and we're so lucky to have someone this knowledgeable.
Parent Club Communications: the two ideas I got for communicating in the future were (1) making emails bcc for privacy (that person is bcc'd here), and (2) sending things via text (I'm texting that person this message). A few other people said they like the emails as is. So what I'm thinking I'll try to do is make you all "contacts" on the website and then sending out blog posts,. Then you can determine whether you receive them via email or text. Is that good? Or some other cool thing? Maybe I just focus on getting access to Parent Square? In any case, keep the feedback coming. And welcome to the new 6th grade families who added themselves to the list after orientation yesterday!
I'm attaching the volunteer packet. I talked to Mark Parnow and he says (well, all the staff at the school says) that lunchtime volunteer supervisors are MUCH NEEDED, so fill this out now and then when I figure out how to do an easy sign-up, you'll be down to clown! To save probably no one the same confusion I had when I first filled this out, I'll point out that you ONLY have to fill out the COVID form if you're NOT vaccinated. Doesn't seem to require boosters. If you're vaccinated, you just attach proof of that. Return forms to Cary at the office or cadriatico@rossvalleyschools.org. Have you met her? She's so dedicated to White Hill and has been a total partner in everything we've been doing.
Anyone want to be co-chair or vice-chair of Parent Club? Sue Pierce very graciously agreed to be Secretary in an emergency situation that I'll explain in detail if you ever have 3.5 hours to spare, but I bet she'd be happy to relinquish that coveted post if someone came along who was particularly interested. Andrea Haberlein volunteered to be 6th grade liaison, a position we made up. So, 6th grade parents, you're in luck!! Reach out to Andrea at haberleina@gmail.com (or me) if you have questions!
Well now that's just too long, Rachael.
