Inside this Issue:
- School News to Know (NEW)
- Upcoming Dates
- Websites to Know
- Monday is Indigenous Peoples’ Day (NEW)
- October Service Learning Opportunities (NEW)
- School Photo Proofs and Make Up Day (NEW)
- Art Supply Community Request (NEW)
- Free/Reduced Meal Eligibility Carryover Ending (NEW)
- New Volunteer & Visitor Sign In System
- News from SESPTSA (NEW)
October 10, 2019
To our SES community,
Thank you for helping us get off to a great school year! I hope your children are coming home happy, challenged, and with wonderful stories to tell. We’re working hard to develop rich learning communities in each class and to build strong relationships. We are grateful for your support.
Attached you will find our annual “Back to School Ask” communication from our PTSA. Although we’re a public school, it’s no secret that all schools in Oregon are significantly under-funded; no exception here at Sunnyside. Everything we do has a financial cost—much of what you see each day would simply not be possible if it weren’t for the help of our generous community via direct donations and fundraising. Generally speaking, there are 3 big “buckets” of money that we work with here at SES:
- The allotted budget for the school from PPS: This includes our consolidated budget for the year, the budget allotted by the district (about 50K at our school), and our student body funds, the separate pot of “donated” money through school fundraisers or optional fees for activities. To clarify, things like our copy machine fees ($12,000+/year), books, paper, supplies, building-needs, substitute costs, and other supplies come out of our consolidated budget. Overnight trips, Trimet tickets, costs for middle school dances, QSA, the students of color group, and other clubs or student activities—things that serve students directly and/or a lot of program enrichments—come out of student body funds and these funds accrue through direct contribution, donations, and fundraisers. There are clearly defined rules about how we raise and spend the money in these different accounts. The PTSA grants us a large percentage of the back to school ask donation(s), and we put these into our student body funds. As of today, the PTSA has raised close to half of a $30,000+ goal and they are hoping for additional contributions to this important fund. Thank you.
- The PTSA annual budget: The PTSA and the school work together to define things that are paid for by student body funds and things that are paid for by the PTSA. The PTSA budget is vast and covers many, many things at Sunnyside. The PTSA pays for our Harvest Fair, the costs for the Run Walk Move, and other community events and fundraisers. For our students, specifically, PTSA covers the cost for things like our sustainability team, music and musicals, and other special art events, and a large portion of our Go Fund scholarships for overnight trips. It’s accurate to say that the PTSA and the school work closely together, and that some of the funds raised through the PTSA are ultimately put into our student body funds account via grant--in this way, these two accounts have some similarities and, sometimes, a shared purpose or goal. Although the PTSA collects the Back to School Ask, they grant a large percentage of the funds raised back to the school. These funds go into our Student Body Funds and can be found in the PTSA detailed budget under “school services grant.”
- The Fund for PPS: This is becoming a more necessary “bucket” of funding for our school. This fund is unique in that it can only pay for staff/staffing, nothing else. The Fund provides a mechanism for schools to directly raise money for staffing, with 30% of funds over $10,000 being put back into a general pot for other schools, ones that may not be able to raise large amounts of money for staffing through direct fundraising. Last spring, thanks to generous donations from our community mainly through our school auction, we raised enough in this fund to cover our half-time administrative secretary, our half-time library assistant, and we still have a small amount leftover in this account. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your continued generosity and support of our robust programming at Sunnyside. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to our front office or our PTSA if you have specific questions about budgeting or any further questions about the information above.
—Amy Kleiner, principal
Upcoming Dates
Check the district online calendar
here.
| Friday, October 11 |
Statewide Professional Development (no school) |
| Sunday, October 13 |
6th Graders Leave for Outdoor School, 2:15 |
| Monday, October 14 |
8th Grade Mandatory Meeting, 6:30 |
| Friday, October 25 |
Run/Walk/Move Fundraiser |
| Saturday, October 26 |
Harvest Fair, 4:00 - 7:00 |
| Tuesday, October 29 |
School Photo Make Up Day |
| Friday, November 1 |
End of Quarter 1 Planning Day (no school)
|
Websites to Know
Monday is Indigenous Peoples’ Day (NEW) Monday, October 14, is Indigenous Peoples Day. We wanted to provide families with a variety of resources about this so you can talk at home with your children. Attached is a link to an Indigenous Peoples Day conference for teachers, published by teachingforchange.org. Within this post there are several, linked resources that everyone can use, educators and non-educators. In addition, we have also included a link to additional resources published through Teaching Tolerance.
October Service Learning Opportunities (NEW) Follow this link to the
Service Blog for information on upcoming service opportunities.
School Photo Proofs and Make Up Day (NEW) A card with the link to photo proofs was sent home this week. Adults can also access the proofs through an email sent by Mugsy Clicks or by visiting our
Mugsy Clicks School Site. Photographers will also return Tuesday, October 29 for individual photo make ups. Students who were absent will be automatically registered to take their photos. If your family is interested in retakes (photo was already taken but you would like to take them again) there is a $10 charge to be paid to Mugsy Clicks.
Art Supply Community Request (NEW) We need your USED plastic water bottles! We need at least 60 plastic water bottles for an awesome reuse plastic project. The ideal water bottle for the project is 24oz or 32oz. The plastic thickness of a Coke bottle is best (versus the more crinkly plastic water bottles). Polar Seltzer bottles are also ideal. Please rinse out the bottles thoroughly before bringing them in to the art class (Room 105). We will be collecting bottles from Oct. 2nd - 17th. Thank you for your participation!
Free/Reduced Meal Eligibility Carryover Ending (NEW) Free or reduced price meal eligibility from last school year ended on October 9. Families on the carryover without an approved application reverted to full price starting October 10. Please note, you can still apply online at
www.pps.net/nutrition or pick up an application from Christina in the cafeteria. Meal benefits will then begin the date the application is approved. Eligibility date cannot be backdated to cover meal charges incurred prior to the approval date.
IMPORTANT: New Volunteer & Visitor Sign In System
We have a new volunteer and visitor sign-in system called Raptor. Anyone who will be in the building or interact with students (chaperone, work with Steph, assist with projects, etc) must have a completed
background check and be registered with the Raptor system in order to participate in their volunteer activity. Note that background checks can take up to two weeks! The first time you attempt to sign into the system you must bring your state issued photo ID. Michelle or Sarah at the front office will then add you as a volunteer to Raptor. In future visits you will be able to sign in on your own.
Due to our wonderfully active and large volunteer network, there may be days where the first time sign-in will be busy (Field Study days!). Therefore, we highly recommend volunteers with completed background checks come in prior to volunteering to be registered with Raptor. Registering with the system can take 5 minutes without a line and up to a half hour with a line.
And check back often for updates!
Run/Walk/Move (NEW)
We are excited to announce the annual SES Run/Walk/Move event on Friday, October 25, 2019. This school-wide fundraising event is organized by the SES PTSA and family volunteers with collaboration and support from school staff. SES Run Walk Move is similar to a traditional jog-a-thon where participants gather pledges from sponsors and run or walk laps around the school. At SES, our participants can also earn “laps” by dancing with a
NW Dance Project instructor. Pledges may be made as lump sums or per lap. The idea is for families and others to support the students in any way they can, be it in dimes, dollars, running along side your student, or cheering. The money raised from this event goes towards funding the SES place-based-learning curriculum and events. Last year this fun-filled event raised over $12,000 for our school!
Little big Mondays with Renata
Little by little we can make big things happen for our schools! Renowned Italian restaurant Renata is donating 5% of all gross sales during Mondays in October to benefit SES. Join us for dinner 5-9pm Oct. 7, 14, 21, 28. Mention Sunnyside and ask for their special kids' menu.
SES's Annual Harvest Fair Needs You!
Harvest Fair is Saturday, October 26th from 4:00-7:00. Check out this detailed
Sign Up Form to volunteer now for your favorite job. We URGENTLY need Community Meal Coordinator(s). We also need baked goods donations.
