Personnel
Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to finish out the year in good standing and especially to those families who went above and beyond by coming to work parties and pitching in even when your hours were completed long ago. This school wouldn’t be what it is without you all.

 

Congratulations to all of the graduating families. We will miss you so much next year, but know that there is always a place for you here - come back for Pancake Breakfast in the fall, stay on the Community mail list so you have a place to pass down too small snow gear, join us at Alumni Parent Ed Meetings, come to the Auction - however you choose to stay involved, don’t be a stranger!

 

I hope to see many of you over the summer and in the fall!

Scheduling

In just a few days, the new Board will take over for the school. I am very excited the fantastic Nicole Burke will be joining as the new Scheduling Chair. The Scheduling Chair does a lot of behind the scenes work and really sees the inner strength of this community. One thing that never got old for me was putting out a call for Parental Leave Coverage or a TLC workday shift- certain that I would never be able to fill so many spots- and always always always the calls were answered. Sometimes, it was within minutes. There were times I had to turn people away because we had found coverage so quickly. Always, there were people ready to step up to the plate and take care of our school. It’s what our co-op is about, supporting one another and building community through action and kind attention. Thank you for your Laurel Hill spirit!

Just one last note of business: returning families, please send in your Workday Preference form if you have not done so already. The form will go out to new families in a few days, so get your form in as soon as possible. We ask that returning families submit their responses no later than June 2.  

Parent Ed

As the 2018-19 school year comes to a close, I want to thank every member of the Parent Ed committee for their time, hard work, and commitment to our school. I have loved serving as Parent Ed chair these last two years. I particularly love that my family attends a school that offers so much support to parents. Parenting is humbling. It’s amazing how much more connected to the community I feel after watching our committee pull together and create a meeting to address parenting dilemmas and even explore our own childhoods. Not counting the staff’s deeply thoughtful Philosophy Meetings, Parent Ed led 18 meetings based on the interests and needs moms and dads in our community shared. A special shout-out to our dynamic speakers this year— Aki Raymer, Karen Wolfe, Brett Collins, Alex Locust, Jono and Mike, Sarianne, and Maria Chew. A special “thank you” to Patty Debenham, not only a huge advocate for Parent Ed, but also a Laurel Hill Nursery School cheerleader and idea maker. Patty led the first two meetings of the year— Organizing Your Year at LHNS and a brilliant Alumni Meeting: Kindergarten Check-in. She also made sure our last Business Meeting began with delightful energy, humor, and party horns.  

Lastly, thank YOU for not just showing up to the meetings, but bringing thoughtful questions and comments and stories. We’ve discussed how touched we were when people shared their own struggles and vulnerability at the meetings. Inevitably, those moments were the most powerful because when one parent shares their struggles, many others feel seen and heard too because we can all relate. Thank you for sharing your feedback and particularly your important “take-aways” from the Parent Ed Meetings. As Maria says, we are better together.

Community Fundraising 

It’s been a fantastic year - thank you so much to you, the Laurel Hill community for making all our events awesome by helping and participating! Just a few highlights: 

• Remember when we ate a thousand pancakes and 800 sausages at the Pancake Breakfast?

• Or the time we painted dozens upon dozens of fairy houses and ceramics at Winterfest?

• How about the countless pizzas gobbled up at Giorgio’s Pizza Nights?

• Or the 60 or so kids that did hundreds of laps at the Trike a Thon on a sunny Saturday in April?

 

Special thanks to the community fundraising committee for powering all of these events that helped us as a school build community and raise money while we were at it. A genuine win win! Additional special thanks go out to Sarianne Madsen for being a driving force behind the scenes for so many of these events this year.

 

Final notes for the year:

 

Teacher Books: The 2019 Edition Laurel Hill Nursery School Teacher Books CD will be in your hands at the latest by next Thursday, the last day of school! Thank you to Sunny for the amazing cover design, Jeff Marrs for the recording, Jeff Pinn for the duplication, and Soren (LH Alum) for printing the inserts. Signed physical copies of teacher books will be ready by next Wednesday, stay tuned for pickup location (likely lower purple, but possibly in the hall upstairs). You should have received an email with your full amount due for the books you ordered - please get this payment into the Kuo family mailbox (Hannah K) no later than Wednesday!

 

And if you’re ever looking to buy books, consider purchasing locally at Green Apple, who have generously helped us purchase the teacher books this year!

 

Memory Tiles: The tiles have been glazed and will be fired in the kiln soon! Many thanks go out to Molly Livingston for coordinating the glazing and firing of these tiles. If you have not paid for your memory tiles, same deal - please get this payment into the Kuo family mailbox (Hannah K) no later than Wednesday!

 

That’s all folks. It’s been a pleasure serving this amazing school and all you families this year as the Community Fundraising Chair. Farewell, and see you at the next Pancake Breakfast!

Equipment Committee

I would like to give a heartfelt thank you to my fellow Equipment Committee families (Erin & Brandon Sapsara, Heidi Spanier & Tony Cimo, Kirsten Hawkins & Justin Surber, Natashia Stevenson & Brandon Chaves, Aubrey & Dalton Allen) for their time, contributions, efforts, and ideas! My hope for our lasting legacy is in the Laurel Hill spirit of uninterrupted, never-ending play. A recent poll of our successes at Laurel Hill from one of our dear constituents, Coco (AM Pre-K), “Everything is awesome when you’re part of a team!"

Yard

THANK YOU Yard Committee for going all-in by getting your hands dirty, working up a sweat sweeping, raking and weeding...all in honor of your commitment to keeping the school looking great for the kids.

 

THANK YOU to the Community members who joined our committee at the yard parties - I greatly appreciate the hustle, hard work and great attitude.

 

THANK YOU, Board Members! It’s been a really great and fulfilling 2 years and it’s been a pleasure taking care of this school with you.

 

Finally, I’d like to give a special shout-out to my wife Clarissa who is thrilled to serve on the board next year as Marketing Chair.

 

Have a great summer!!

Building Committee

Many thanks to our Building Committee families. While we were a few families down to start the year, you guys stepped up and shouldered the load like champs. And our new families (both new and new returning) who came in after winter break dove right in ready to do whatever it took to get things done.

 

Special thanks to John and Carin for accepting the nominations to become co-chairs of the new Facilities Committee.

 

Special thanks to Julie for becoming one of next year’s auction chairs and Molly for becoming our next program enrichment chair.

 

After working with you all on the building committee, I am excited to see where you take your respective committees next year.

 

Good luck to all our graduating families and kids and may the transition into Kindergarten be a smooth one.

 

Have a wonderful summer everyone!

Marketing Committee

A huge thank you to our Marketing Crew!! Throughout the year the Laurel Hill Community was well-informed through The Indoor Voice (props to Frances and Elizabeth) and Sunny’s beautifully designed event posters. A special thanks to Tom for mastering the process for submitting and distributing. Melinda and Julie maintained our website and posted on our social accounts to inform potential families and alumni of all the fun events happening at Laurel Hill. Thank you to everyone for your ideas and positive energy. It’s been a pleasure to be part of the Board and I’m excited to see what Clarissa brings to this role next year. Have a great summer everyone!

 

And don’t forget …..

 

Photo Play Date: Saturday June 22, 10 a.m.-noon

Come join us if you’d like to pay your love of Laurel Hill forward or if you’re just missing dome.

 

Featured Family: Kelsey, Benji, Bennett, and Penelope!

Kelsey and Benji met six years ago when they were both working at Whole Foods. Currently, Kelsey is finishing up her Master’s in Humanities at San Francisco State this semester! She earned her BA in Humanities at Sacramento State. When the kids are bigger, she plans to start a career in editing. Benji works at a company called Sprung Structures, where he is the head of his regional sales team. Benji is a very talented musician! He has converted a walk-in closet in the apartment into a studio, where he has a number of synths and other electronic music gear that he uses to make music. Kelsey enjoys writing and baking, and used to be an avid rock climber before kids. (Definitely still hoping to get back into it when they’re older!) This family has a bunch of favorite family traditions, including: Going to our family cabin in Tahoe every year, once in the winter when it’s snowing, and once in the summer around Benji’s birthday. River rafting every summer in Sacramento with Kelsey’s family. Camping on Russian River in July. Annual Disneyland trips. Going to Santa Cruz Boardwalk every summer. Lemon cupcakes for birthdays on the Renard side. Going to Mission Pie for banana cream pie on Easter. Birthday parties in Golden Gate park for the kids. Friday night ice cream at Joe’s on Geary, followed by a family movie at home. Bennett’s favorite kids book is In the City, Benji’s is Go Dog, Go!, and Kelsey’s is We Found a Hat. The top tip they have learned at Laurel Hill is to have them write letters when they are having those big feelings! They use that tip at home often.

 

Bonus Featured Family: Mike, Rhonda, and Benji

These parents are proud SF State Alumni - Go Gators! Mike and Rhonda are professional musicians teaching and gigging in the city. Mike has recently subbed on Hamilton (guitar) and Rhonda has gotten to play on the famous pipe organ at La Madeleine in Paris while on a trip with the choirs from Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory. Rhonda’s hidden talent is that she spent many of her off hours in high school painting large scale murals and backdrops for the musicals, while Mike’s hidden talent is that he can cook a Thanksgiving turkey in under 3 hrs (ask him for his brine recipe). Their favorite family tradition is Friday night movie and sleepover on the couch! Their favorite kids book is The Book With No Pictures, and the top tip they have learned at Laurel Hill is the school’s philosophy on taking turns.