We are pleased to introduce the School-Force Education Foundation's first eNewsletter.  Our goals with this newsletter are to provide information about what is happening with the foundation and to create a two-way channel to communicate with the school community. Additionally, we will highlight some of the great things that happen in our district about which many people may not be aware.   The eNewsletter is part of an ongoing communication effort by School-Force volunteers.  We'll send it out every month or two as needed.

 

At this point we know we don't have a complete email list, so please forward this to your spouse, friends, neighbors and anyone else you know who might enjoy this eNewsletter.  Please have them contact us at communications@schoolforce.org if they wish to be added to the mailing list.  We know that this email may have also been sent to people who do not have an ongoing relationship with the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District, so please feel free to unsubscribe below. 

 

 

 

 

President's Update:

 

We've all been bombarded by the headlines about the state of the California budget.  Its impact on education is unprecedented; however, the challenge of providing our kids a quality education is still within our reach. This challenge requires the entire community to come together to bridge the financial gap between what the state provides and what it costs to educate a child. 

 

Even as we send this, during the first week of August, the impact of the state budget crisis is uncertain in our district.  What is clear is that state and federal funding barely provides the basics to our kids.  A quality education is no longer "free" or paid for by our property taxes.  We, as a community, need to continue to create a culture of giving.  Our children deserve more than the basics.   Libraries, instrumental music, athletics, technology, small class sizes and counseling are not "extras" in an educational experience.  These are essential elements that aid in academic achievement and help our kids to compete in the global world in which we live.  The reality is that government financing of our children's public education now needs to be supplemented by us as parents, and as a community.  By supporting the education foundation, you are making an investment in your child's future, not unlike saving for college or paying for preschool.  Without your support, the Belmont-Redwood Shores schools cannot deliver the level of education our community expects and our children deserve. 

 

The good news is that the Belmont-Redwood Shores community has shown that it does value a strong public school system.  We have passed two parcel taxes in the last five years that supplement the dollars going into our schools. Recently, ground was broken on a new school that is desperately needed to accommodate growth in our district.  For the first time ever, the district will be over 3,000 students - that is 2,400 families!  If each family gave on average $1000 (100% participation), we would raise $2,400,000 and if we maintained 64% participation we would raise $1,536,000.

 

With the generous support of individuals and community business partners, School-Force has been able to bridge the gap between what our schools receive and what is required to ensure that our students receive the richest and most complete educational experience available.  Your donations make a real difference and allow you to know that you've done all you can for the remarkable kids of Belmont and Redwood Shores. 

 

Ardythe Andrews

President, School-Force Education Foundation

 

 

 

 

Property tax is a large bill that all homeowners receive.  In California, about 40% of this tax is used to fund the local school district with the balance funding local government, parks, police and fire departments.  For example, if you own a house for which you paid $1,000,000, you would pay just over $10,000 in property taxes, with about $4,000 going to the schools.  In Belmont-Redwood Shores, we also have two parcel taxes in place providing an additional $198 per year to fund the school district.  Redwood Shores homeowners also pay an average of $200 per year for the bond measure being used to build the new school.

 

As a comparison, in counties like Westchester, just outside NYC, property taxes are upwards of $20,000 for a comparably priced home, with just over 60%, or $12,000, going back to the local schools.  Standard services in these schools include full-time librarians, P.E. teachers, instrumental and choral music teachers, gifted and talented programs, school nurses, counselors even at the elementary level, and multiple reading specialists, occupational therapists and speech therapists.

 

When cost of living is taken into account, California was ranked 47th of 51 (including DC) in per pupil spending in 2006-07. According to the 1/9/09 report by Education Week Magazine, "In the average state, per pupil expenditures in 2006-07 were $9,963, after adjusting for regional cost differences.  More than $9,000 separates the top and bottom spending states---Vermont at $15,139 and Utah at $5,964.  Nearly half of the states spent more than $10,000 per pupil."  In this study, California's adjusted amount of per pupil spending was $7,571.

New York is now considered the "gold standard" for public education while many years ago that standard was California.

 

If you have a question for the foundation, please feel free to email Ardythe Andrews.

 

 

Did you know that Ralston Middle School has a history of producing award-winning animated short films? Most recently, this past May, an animated film produced by 200 Ralston Middle School students in 2008 won the Grand Prize in the Multimedia Division of the 43rd Annual California Student Media Festival.  It was awarded in the Secondary School category, meaning it won over work created by high schools as well as other middle schools.  

 

Karen Clancy gave this description of the three videos which were packaged together for the competition: "One video took the mascots of the Beijing Olympics and made the characters move; e.g. shoot a basketball or hit a tennis ball.  Another video animated Chinese paintings in subtle ways so that the leaves fluttered, an animal blinked and so on.  The third video was titled "The Beautiful Yangtze" and combined student poetry with digitized photos of the Three Gorges Dam and the Yangtze River trip taken during the Summer Institute and put to music with the school orchestra led by teacher Jordan Webster." This last segment can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzU2N2Vdf8E.

 

The inspiration for the video was a trip to China by teachers Gary Means (Social Studies) and Steve Pomeroy (Animation), which was sponsored by the Committee of 100, which recently highlighted the award in its newsletter.  

 

Animation is an elective offered in 6th-8th grades at Ralston.  It is a collaborative class which covers history of animation as well as techniques.  Projects resulting from these classes also won awards at the student media festival in 2003, 2005 and 2006.

 

We can all be proud of this amazing collaborative effort by our district's children and teachers.

President:  Ardythe Andrews
Annual Giving:  Nancy Jung and OPEN POSITION
Marketing/Communications: Brad Jung & Martha Simmons
Treasurer:  Diane McCabe
Secretary: Peter Forster
Legal: Kevin Chu
Major Donor/Endowment: Matthew English
Operations: Courtney Carreras
Corporate Outreach: Andrew Young
Community Outreach: Jeff Schnitz
Fox School Liaison: Gail Welter
Cipriani School co-Liaisons:  Marla Becker & Karen Werner
Ralston School Liaison: Janet Leist
Sandpiper School Liaison:  OPEN POSITION
Nesbit School Liaison: Teresa Patel
Central School Liaison: Michelle Kelly

 

There are two open positions on the Board. Nancy Jung is the lead in the Annual Giving role, but she needs someone else to share the tasks organizing the annual fundraising efforts. Ideally, this person would be a parent from Fox, Nesbit, Sandpiper or Ralston schools, since more representation from these schools is needed on the board.   Sandpiper School needs a liaison to represent their school on the board, lead their campus team and build communication on campus.

Additional “under the radar” volunteers needed too!  If you are detailed oriented and meetings are not your thing, consider volunteering for a support position, helping send out thank you notes, supporting our corporate matching volunteer, or helping with follow-up with credit card donation questions.  These jobs can be done from your home at your convenience.

Please contact Ardythe Andrews or your school liaison for more information.

 

From the California Consortium of Education Foundations: