Alameda NewsNotes for March 8, 2018

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In This Issue

Class Portraits
Dyslexia Community Meeting
Join us for the Moment of Peace
PTA Meeting: Gun Violence
Auction Results
Celebrating Women's History Month
Equity Tips & Resources

Save the Date

Mar 8: Dyslexia Community Meeting
Mar 9: Classroom Portraits
Mar 13: 4th Grade Concert
Mar 14: Moment of Peace and
PTA Meeting
Mar 21: Late Start
Mar 26-30: Spring Break

For more visit our School Calendar.

A Message from Our Principal

Greetings everyone! I’d like to send out a big thank you to our auction co-chairs, Andrea Hoffelt and Jennifer Bertapelle and all of the countless volunteers who worked exceedingly hard to put the whole thing together! It was a great party! The money raised last Saturday night, will be added to the other funds raised by the Foundation to supplement the staffing budget for Alameda for the 2018-19 school year.

On Thursday March 1^st, I received Alameda’s staffing allocation for the 2018-19 school year. In case you are wondering what a “staffing allocation” is, it is the number of full-time positions we are given by the district to build our program for next year. For the 2018-19 school year we will be status quo, that is, we will not lose any staffing. Thankfully, due to the hard work of the Alameda foundation and your generosity we will be able to keep library at full time and art at full time beyond the state arts tax allocation. Foundation money will also help us maintain our support EAs.

Last week Eryn shared Alameda’s plan for March 14^th, you also received info from the PTA yesterday. Here is the information Eryn shared last week again:

As we as a community process the horrible events in Parkland, Florida, we have been having dialogue with teachers and the PTA about how to move forward as a school. The same movement who put on the Women’s March are holding a National School Walkout on March 14th.

Obviously as an Elementary School, we want to be respectful of the voices as well as cognizant of how our little ones perceive and understand school violence and school shootings. Many families of young children have chosen not to talk to their kids about the shooting and we respect that young children can be easily frightened and anxious by events they cannot comprehend. We also do not want any young children walking off campus and strive to keep our students safe at all times.

As a community, we want to honor the movement and use the day to talk to our students about empathy and understanding and community. We would have teachers use community circles in their classrooms that morning to have students talk about school safety and having empathy for students that may be sad or hurt in our world. We will then walk out to the field at 10:00 AM and hold a moment of peace for all where we will also invite parents to come and join us. This is our effort to both protect and honor all students and give them the opportunity to participate in a thoughtful and healing activity.

Raddy Lurie
Principal, Alameda
(503) 916-6036

Class Portraits Will Be Taken TOMORROW!

Alameda Class Portraits will be taken tomorrow, Friday, March 9. If you are ordering a class portrait, be sure to send in your completed order forms with payment by tomorrow at the latest!

Alameda Dyslexia Community Meeting

The Alameda Dyslexia Community will hold our next meeting on Tonight, March 8 at 7 p.m. in the library where we will be joined by PPS Board member Scott Bailey.

Our meetings and events are open to adults and kids.

In addition to joining us for this or any future meeting, please consider following us on Facebook and contacting Stacey Katz, stacesf1990@yahoo.com, and Marty Stockton, martystockton@comcast.net to be added to the Alameda Dyslexia Community listserv.

Parent Coffee Break & Moment of Peace
with the Alameda Community

As you read in NewsNotes last week and in Raddy's note above, on Wednesday, March 14, the teachers and administrators at Alameda are planning to spend time in the classroom holding community circles to have students talk about school safety and having empathy for students that may be sad or hurt in our world. This will all be handled in a manner that is both respectful of the many voices within our community and cognizant of how our little ones perceive and understand safety in our community.

Then, at 10 a.m. our students will be led by their teachers and administrators out of the school building and onto the playground to hold a moment of peace. This is the point where parents are invited to join in and we hope you will!

In order to participate in the March 14 Moment of Peace at Alameda, you must pre-register and arrive early.

For more details, including everything you need to know in advance and to pre-register, please visit our website.

PTA Meeting: March 14 6-8 p.m.

Gun Violence & Keeping Our Kids Safe

Gun violence is a public-health crisis that affects us all – most of all, our children and youth.

We believe that working together as a community of concerned parents and teachers, we have the power to influence local, state and even federal decisions that affect the education, safety, and well-being of our children. Will you join us?

This special two hour PTA meeting will begin with a community circle where we will discuss how we keep our community safe from gun violence. In addition, your Alameda PTA Board is hard at work planning for an array of opportunities for you to take action on a personal and political level so that you can help keep our community safe from gun violence.

We will provide postcards, stamps, contact information and other writing materials along with suggested requests for you to make of local, state and federal leaders.
Moms Demand Action will join us to provide information about their Be SMART campaign and ways for you to get more involved in their organization.
We will have sign making materials so that you can prepare signs for upcoming marches and rallies, including the March for Our Lives on March 24. We'll have a list of events we know about so you can mark your calendars and plan to participate. This will also be a great opportunity to network and connect with other Alameda families and make plans to march together.
You will have the opportunity to sign-up to join other Alameda parents and community members for a series of neighborhood viewings of PBS' After Newtown followed by discussion.
We will share a round-up of resources you can tap to learn more and continuing taking action.

We hope to see you at the meeting as well as earlier in the day when parents will have the opportunity to participate in Alameda's Moment of Peace.

We will meet in the school library from 6-8 p.m. Free childcare is provided.

Although we do encourage everyone to become a PTA member, membership is not a prerequisite for attending our meetings and events. All are welcome!

Thank you to everyone for our very successful 2018 Alameda Masquerade Auction!

We are overwhelmed by the support that we have received this year and by the outcome of the auction. Through the generosity of our community we grossed roughly $215,000 (some adjustments and sales still in progress) that will go towards both staffing at Alameda and shared with the PPS Equity Fund.

Sign Up Party Spots

Starting on Friday, March 9th at 8:00 a.m. we will be releasing all additional Sign Up Party spaces for purchase. Please visit the online catalog to see the available options and to purchase your tickets to those individually hosted events. Although many parties are already sold out, there are some amazing parties still available! Sign up parties are a great way to keep the fun going all year long!!!

Fifth Grade Posters

The 5th grade posters are still available on the online catalog. The posters are $40.

Auction Survey

And if you haven't already done so, please take a few minutes to provide your feedback on the auction this year. We really do appreciate your feedback and are always striving towards making it better!

Thank you!!!
Jenni Bertapelle and Andrea Hoffelt, Auction Co-Chairs
auction@alamedaschool.org

Celebrating Women's History Through Books

We can enrich the lives of our boys and girls, by sharing the stories of remarkable women and girls! Today we are lucky to have so many amazing children's books to help us share those stories. From politics and activism, to science and the arts, there are many to choose from. Your Alameda PTA has posted a collection on the bulletin board in the school lobby. We'll rotate the featured books each week. Stop in now for inspiration on what to read next with your kids! Some of the titles featured in this week's "Dissent is Patriotic" theme include:

The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist by Cynthia Levinson
I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy
Dolores Huerta, A Hero to Migrant Workers by Sarah Warren
Red Bird Sings: The Story of Zitkala-Sa, Native American Author, Musician, and Activist by Q.L. Pearce

By clicking on the links above, you'll be taken to Amazon and your purchases will support your Alameda PTA!

Equity Resources & Tips

For Justice & Equality

With Black History month having just ended, recent essays call upon us to consider the recent history of youth of color-led protest against gun violence that has created the Movement for Black Lives. As we in our community increase our activism for more sensible gun control, let us keep in mind what PR Lockhart reminds us in his Vox essay, "When Black Lives Matter started in 2012, the oldest students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High were just about to hit their teenage years. With Sanford, Florida, the site of [Trayvon] Martin’s killing, just three hours away from their town and Jacksonville, where a black teenager named Jordan Davis was shot and killed in 2012, just six hours away, it is likely that discussions of Black Lives Matter have been a part of their formative years. “Without the young black protesters who put their bodies on the line for justice and equality, we may not have heard from the women who said #MeToo, and we wouldn’t be hearing from the students who are emphatically saying #NeverAgain,” Khanya Khondlo Mtshali writes in the Guardian."

Follow us on Facebook

When you "like" the official Alameda Elementary Facebook page you'll be sure to get all the postings from our school, our PTA and our Foundation!

You might also like to follow the Alameda Foundation's Facebook page for fun and frequent updates on the 2018 Alameda Auction, including picture previews of live auction items, class projects and sign-up parties.