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Dear School Force Supporter,
Welcome to the 4th School-Force Education Foundation
eNewsletter. Please email mailto:communications@schoolforce.orgif
you wish to add or update an email address. If you do not have
an ongoing relationship with the Belmont-Redwood Shores School
District, please feel free to unsubscribe below.
This issue focuses on Ralston Middle School, which
eventually almost all of our children will attend.
Although Kindergarten parents may not be as interested as 4th
and 5th grade parents, the quality of the middle school is
relevant to all parents. Next month the newsletter will
return to a more standard format with additional information
about the district budget and the upcoming Read-a-thon.
In the early days of
the School-Force Education Foundation, Ralston was not high on
the priority list. School-Force was started
in 2001 after a failed parcel tax and the rally cry was
elementary school – libraries, instrumental music for 4th and
5th graders, science specialists and reading
specialists. But as funding issues in recent years
have hit harder, there were increasing needs at the middle
school. So, for the past three years the foundation has
funded programs or positions that benefit our older children
as well. For the 2009/2010 school year at Ralston,
School-Force funded a part-time Dean of Students, half of the
full-time Counselor position, a librarian, professional
training for teachers in math, and donated monies towards the
After-School Sports Program. These are the safety net
staff and programs that provide vital services to guide middle
school kids and their families. Just as we know our kids have
benefited from the programs School-Force has funded at the
elementary school level, it is reassuring to know that the
adventure of middle school will continue to be enriched our
foundation.
The District Budget
Situation:
How you can learn
about and impact upcoming cuts.
Recently, I was asked, "How does
School-Force keep fighting when the news around us is all so
bad?" It is a simple answer. We all remain
positive and continue on for our kids – all of them! The
budget outlook for Califorinia's public schools is bleak.
While you have heard these projections for two years, more
than ever it is important that we all listen and work together
as a community to support the future of our schools and our
kids.
Over the next few weeks, you will be invited to
several meetings to discuss what our district must do to
remain financially solvent. These discussions will be
difficult. There will be talk of deep cuts to programs
we view as vital to our children’s educational
experience. But it is critical that we rally as a
community to make these choices and ensure our voices are
heard.
Stay informed and attend these
meetings. The first one is TONIGHT.
(Although the meeting starts at 7pm, they anticipate getting
to the budget study session at 8pm. See links on sidebar
for more information.)
It
is because of your ongoing support and involvement that BRSSD
has not been hit as hard as neighboring districts. All our
children have brighter futures as a result.
Ardythe Andrews
President, School-Force Education
Foundation, & Parent, Central Elementary
School
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Ask School-Force a
Question
How is the foundation doing with fundraising this
year compared to previous years?
As of February 4th, 2010, School-Force has raised
$450,000, or about $150 per child in the district. This
is the most the foundation has ever raised this early in its
fiscal year (July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010). However, knowing
the incredible need this year, donors are being asked to give
and pledge earlier than previous years. The school PTAs were
very supportive, including School-Force in the back to school
events this year. The phone-a-thon was held in November rather
than January, as it was last year. But yes, there is
still a great distance to go to surpass goal of raising well
over $1 million.
However, to put it simply, School-Force is a second
half team. Last year, over $275,000 was raised between
May 15 and June 30. In March, the 7th Annual Reading
Power read-a-thon takes place; this is the elementary school
program where children reach out to sponsors (aka
grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, mailmen, etc.) and get
pledges for reading. This two-week effort has raised
over $100,000 each of the last two years and is also a
much-loved school event.
In addition, several strategic initiatives have been
developed and implemented this year. A preschool
outreach coordinator was added with the goal of educating
parents before they reach elementary school about what an
education foundation does and why it is necessary. (Some
preschool families choose to donate before their children are
in the district!) A strong presence at the kindergarten
registration day(s) in March is being planned since those
incoming kindergarteners will benefit from THIS year’s
donations. Also, a Business Outreach position was added
to the School-Force board and this program was re-launched
this year with several new businesses partnering with the
foundation.
The teachers of Belmont-Redwood Shores are also
working with the foundation this spring to assist the
School-Force fundraising effort and have already donated funds
as a group. For the first time ever, many teachers
handed out letters describing their support for the
School-Force Education Foundation during elementary school
parent-teacher conferences. Their efforts will be
re-doubled this spring to use conferences to educate parents
about the value of the foundation to their children’s
classrooms.
The foundation’s Operations team has added resources
to the Company Matching Program; these people are mining
our database to ensure parents who work for companies with
matching programs are taking advantage of this “free”
money.
In short, thanks to donations thus far and increased
volunteerism, School-Force is making excellent progress toward
this year’s goal, but there is always much work left to be
done.
If you have a question for the foundation, please feel
free to email Ardythe
Andrews. |
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You and your child will love Ralston Middle
School
by Janet Leist, Ralston Parent and School-Force
Liaison
Your child is in fifth grade and ready or not, he’s
headed to Ralston Middle School. Oh, I’m sure your child
is ready; I’m referring to you, the parent. Are you
ready to leave your comfortable routine at the nice elementary
school you’ve come to know and love? The teachers, the
staff, the principal; they’re like your extended family. You
can find your way around the school easily. You look forward
to the days you volunteer in the classroom. You can count on a
weekly packet to come home and tell you everything that’s
going on at the school and the community. It’s an ideal
place!
But the time has come to head to Ralston. You might
be concerned if your child will find his way around. Will he
remember the locker combination and make it through the day
running from one classroom to the next? Will he be okay
changing into and out of his PE clothes in a locker room full
of dozens of other kids? Will those big eighth graders
be mean to him? If you have a daughter, will she deal
with peer pressure to dress or act a certain way? Are middle
school girls gossipy and form cliques and might exclude your
daughter? There is so much to think about! You are
stressed!
Take a deep breath. I can assure you that the sixth
grade experience is a very positive one for the vast majority
of students. They will adapt to the change much quicker
than you will. Their world will suddenly grow by leaps and
bounds! They will meet many new kids from five different
schools. Some will stick to their tried and true favorites,
and some will thrive with new social opportunities. You
will enjoy hearing about their new friends and action packed
days. Ralston might not be the comfy, cozy place you used to
know, but it’s exciting, challenging, and does an amazing job
getting your kids ready for the really scary place beyond…
High School!
Every spring all Belmont and Redwood-Shores fifth
graders take a field trip to Ralston. This gives them an
opportunity to get familiar with the campus and the
atmosphere, and to experience a typical day at Ralston. In the
fall, usually the day before school commences, there is a
sixth grade orientation for students and parents, where they
are introduced in detail to the programs, policies and
procedures of Ralston Middle School. On this day, they
meet their homeroom teacher and visit their homeroom. Since
the seventh and eighth graders won’t be at school yet, this is
a nice opportunity for sixth graders to get comfortable with
the layout of the campus and learn where all their classrooms
are located in the building.
The Ralston campus is divided roughly into three
areas for the three grades. Every hall has a row of lockers
that belong to the grade level that has classrooms in that
hall. This is one way the sixth graders are separated from the
eighth graders. This grade separation continues during the
lunch break, where the sixth graders dine in the multi-use
room, while the seventh and eighth graders dine outside on the
picnic benches or in the gym if it’s raining. All three
administrators, the Principal, Assistant Principal and Dean of
Students, as well as the counselor and a lunch supervisor
monitor the lunch areas and playing fields while the students
are on their lunch break. Ralston also works closely with the
School Resource Officer from the Belmont Police Department to
provide additional supervision. The administration has put in
place a zero tolerance policy for any behavior that is
considered unacceptable. All expectations and policies are
clearly communicated in a handbook that is sent home every
year.
With a sophomore at Carlmont High School, and a
seventh grader at Ralston, I have now been an involved parent
at Ralston for the past five years. I can assure you that we
are all blessed to have a middle school like Ralston in our
district. Your child will receive an exemplary education in an
award winning school. When your child receives his middle
school diploma, you will wonder how the three years at Ralston
flew by so quickly. So for the short time that you’re
there, I suggest you get involved, go to PTA meetings, serve
lunch, chaperone school dances, and donate generously to the
PTA and to School-Force. If you were an involved parent
in elementary school, you’re still very much needed at
Ralston. Bring your energy and your enthusiasm. The
opportunities to get involved in high school are minimal, and
I can guarantee you that your child will not be thrilled
seeing you anywhere near the high school campus anyway!
Note: You can find out even more about Ralston by
visiting the website
and/or reading Ramtracks,
the Ralston Newsletter. |
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Academics Thriving at Ralston Middle
School
Despite a bleak budget landscape, Ralston
scores high.
by Terri Murai, Ralston
Parent
Imagine a desert. What image comes to mind? 
Most people think of desolate areas of dry,
sun-beaten earth and the lack of resources to sustain an
abundance of life. Not many would equate it to schools
in California. However, many California public schools
are like scorched deserts, thirsting for resources and relief
from the harsh financial conditions.
 However, amidst unfavorable conditions, desert
life adapts and prospers despite the trials and obvious
environmental difficulties. Ralston Middle School,
exemplifies similar survival characteristics and is providing
a high quality education to students in the 6th-8th grades in
spite of the statewide financial drought and hardships.
Ralston was one of four schools in San Mateo County to
receive the California Distinguished School award given by the
California Department of Education in 2007. In addition,
Ralston was in good company, ranking within the top ten middle
schools in San Mateo County with an API score of 900,
during the 2008-09 school year. In a statewide
comparison, Ralston’s academic achievements continue to
outpace the California standards based on the California
Standards Test (CST) administered in that same yea  r.
Of particular note is the marked increase in Math CST
scores at Ralston over the last three years.
School-Force has been helping to support a “Math Coach” during
this time. This coach works with the teachers to further
their math teaching skills and resources. This program
has played a large role in the increase in scores.
Ralston also provides a myriad of electives, such as
computer
animation, industrial technology, art, cooking, drama,
Spanish and space design. These programs help broaden
horizons and engage the students.
Along with academic excellence, Ralston offers
students an award winning music program. Over 33% of the
Ralston students participate in music, such as Honors Band,
Symphonic Band, Orchestra, Jazz Band or Chorus. Last
year, the Ralston Honors and Symphonic Bands took first place
in the “Music in the Park” competition.
In addition, with its excellent P.E. program, Ralston
students have posted phenomenal physical fitness scores over
the last twenty-eight years. The students have been in
the 90% range in fitness and the 80% range for strength and
flexibility, based on the standards set and monitored by the
state of California. The school also partners with the
Belmont Parks and Recreation Department to offer a very
popular After
School Sports Program, including volleyball, basketball,
and track and field.
School-Force is a vital part of funding Ralston’s
achievements. Not only does it fund the librarian, and
help fund the counselor, dean and math program, but Ralston
music excels in part because of the strong start BRSSD kids
receive in elementary school with the program that
School-Force helps fund there. School-Force has
also helped support the after school sports program. In
these economic times, it is good to know that all of our
School-Force donations add to this wonderful school.
Ralston Middle School is like an oasis in the harsh
financial and political landscape. At Ralston, with the
help of our community, our children are fortunate to be able
to receive a high quality, well-rounded academic experience,
in spite of the vast desert like environment of our California
public school system.
1 Other middle schools: Northstar
Academy, La Entrada, Corte Madera, Crocker Middle, Hillview
Middle, Woodside, Tierra Linda, Bowditch, Jordan Middle.
2 In 2008-09, California used the
California Standards Tests (CSTs) to test students in English
in grades 2-11; math in grades 2-7; science in grades 5, 8
&10; and history-social science in grades 8 &11.
Middle & high school students also took subject-specific
CSTs in math and science. The CSTs are standards-based tests,
which means they measure how well students are mastering
specific skills defined for each grade by the state of
California.
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Supporting Kids at
Ralston
School-Force helps fund Counselor and
Dean of Students
by Martha Simmons, Co-chair S-F Communications &
Cipriani Parent
Many of us parents have clear memories of middle school,
and those memories are not necessarily fond
recollections. In retrospect, as adults, we know that
what most of us experienced there was “normal”. Middle
school is a time of transition: the beginning of
puberty, trying on behavior perceived as “grown-up”, pushing
boundaries, and beginning to step away from
parents. On top of that, there is the
increased academic rigor and the shift from having one
consistent teacher to having six teachers a day.
One aspect of this challenging time is that parents
are less able to help. The student may not feel like
they can communicate easily with their parents or, quite
commonly, there is an event at school that seems
all-encompassing to the student in that moment….where parents
simply are not present.
So it is critical to have support systems available
in the middle school to help in those tough moments, ease
transitions, place clear limits and consequences, and
generally maintain a safe environment that promotes
learning.
At Ralston these roles are shared by a team of
Administrators and a Counselor. For the past two
years School-Force has been funding part of that team, paying
half the salary of the full-time Counselor, Maia Kimple, and
for the half-time Dean of Students, Matt Pavao (who teaches
half-time as well). They work together with Principal
Jennifer Kollman and Vice Principal Donna Sims to support 837
transitioning kids every day.
Ms. Kimple’s official duties include (but are not
limited to) social-emotional counseling, academic counseling,
identification of and progress reports for “at-risk” students,
new student intake, and teacher consultation and
support. A large portion of her duties are creating and
coordinating the federally mandated accommodation (504) plans
for students with documented disabilities, as well as setting
up and facilitating the Student Study Team (SST) meeting with
parents, teachers, administrators and students when a student
is struggling and a plan of support is needed. She also
serves as the primary point of contact for Ralston parents who
are concerned about their child’s experience at school.
These facilitating roles are logistically challenging.
In elementary school it is fairly straightforward to contact a
child’s teacher. In middle school, with six teachers, it
helps to have a facilitator to talk to each and bring them
together with the parents and others as necessary to address
an issue.
However, Ms. Kimple says there is sometimes part of
her day which is hard to define in a job description.
She makes time in her schedule to be a friendly face and
provide support to all kids when they need to talk about an
immediate issue…something that happened on the bus, at home
the night before, or (a new issue since we were in school) an
incident of cyberbullying that happened overnight. Even
kids who never may never need see her in person feel safer at
school knowing there is another trusted adult they could go
to.
Mr. Pavao’s official duties are primarily related to
school safety and discipline. Some of his roles have
some overlap with Ms. Kimple’s, such as identifying at-risk
students and providing academic counseling. However, he
is also responsible for much of the conflict resolution on
campus, counseling kids regarding bullying, and other roles
involving student conduct and appropriate
discipline. It’s important to note that issues of
student conduct are almost always treated first with
conversation and education, not punishment. Some kids
simply need to be educated *why* it is hurtful to say
particular things or act a particular way. Sometimes a
conversation is really all it takes to prevent a
recurrence. However, this softened approach takes more
time than simply doling out a consequence.
Mr. Pavao also works with the Community Resource
Officer (of the Belmont Police) and the bus service to ensure
safety while kids arrive at and then leave campus each
day. He does the detective work to figure out exactly
what DID happen in any particular incident. He is also the
person that confiscates the cell phones if they are used
during the school day. (Kids must leave them in their lockers
once they arrive at school.)
Importantly, Mr. Pavao can
counsel those boys who might not feel comfortable going to a
female counselor (or principal) with their
problems. It is very helpful to have adults of
both genders available for those conversations.
Can you imagine how it might be if these dedicated
people were not there for our kids? Ms. Kollmann says
Ms. Kimple and Mr. Pavao are indispensible. She and Ms.
Sims have a lot on their plate already with just day to day
operations of a large school (which will be getting even
larger over the next few years). Although they are part of the
support team even now, they simply could not successfully take
on the full roles of safety, discipline and support that the
Counselor and Dean provide. It is critical that we
continue to fund these positions.
The recommended ratio of counselors to children in
middle school is 1:450. In California overall the ratio
tends to be closer to 1:776, the third lowest in the
nation. At Ralston it is 1:837, and yet Ms. Kimple does
an amazing job. In many states, there is a Dean of
Students for each grade level in middle school.
Ralston has half a position for the entire school, yet he too
is extremely effective. This team is keeping our kids
safe and fostering a positive learning environment for all our
kids, even those who never see this team directly.
Certainly part if this success is that we live a great place,
where, in general, there is a lot of support at home and not a
lot of discipline issues compared to some areas. But as
kids do the *normal* thing of pushing boundaries in middle
school, aren’t you glad we have a team in place to help?
Let’s keep them there. We need ALL middle school
parents, not only ALL elementary parents, to donate to the
foundation and keep these positions funded.
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Can You Help with Public Relations and
Communications?
Volunteer(s)
Needed!
School-Force is seeking an experienced
public relations or communications professional to join the
foundation's Communications team. Help us learn from
your expertise! If interested, please email communications@schoolforce.org.
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by Deanna Bartee, Event Chair
and Ralston Parent
The 2nd Annual Casino Royale!
took place at the Pacific Athletic Club on Friday, November
13th. It was a districtwide fundraiser benefiting
School-Force, our Education Foundation. There were almost 400
attendees from all six of our schools as well as our
Superintendent, the Assistant Superintendent, principals and
several of teachers. Everyone had a great time gambling for
Raffle Prizes at the Casino and there was a Grand Prize Poker
Tournament winner. This year a Live Auction was added,
consisting of amazing items donated by our community. At
the end of the Live Auction, we there was a Fund-a-Need
targeting Technology in our kids’ classrooms. There were
fabulous hors d’ oeuvres and desserts, dancing and quite a few
people found Champagne Gems.
Our community is making great
strides in bringing our School District together for these
types of events. Casino Royale! raised approximately $50,000
this year, $10,000 over the targeted goal and $35,000 more
than last year.
As you know, these events can’t
happen without volunteers who generously give their time.
Thank you so much to the following people, without them Casino
Royale! could not have been possible.
 Ticket Sales Chair - Chris Choye
(Ralston) Donations and Sponsors Co-Chairs - Anne Markle
and Kim Collins (Central) Decorations Chair - Laura Sabahi
(Sandpiper) Check-in Co-chairs - Gail Welter and Paige
Perez (Fox) Cashiering Chair - Angelka Tolu
(Nesbit) Photographer - Jeff Bartee (Ralston) Auctioneer
- Andy Eliopoulos (Sandpiper)
I’d like to thank each one of
the many committee volunteers who contributed their time
before,
during and after the event. I also want to thank
our Sponsors for their invaluable contributions
and our
generous Donors for our live auction items, raffle, poker
tournament and door prizes and their offerings for our
champagne events and of course the attendees who realize the
truly big winners of the evening are our very own
children.
Casino Royale! pictures are
available for viewing and purchasing. All of the proceeds will
benefit School-Force.
The School-Force Board would like
to extend many thanks to Deanna for her incredible effort for
this extremely successful event and second her thanks to all
the other volunteers as well. Deanna has decided to step
down as the chair for next year, so if you love planning
parties/events and would like to take on this rewarding
volunteer job, please contact president@schoolforce.org.
The board would also appreciate hearing any feedback you may
have about the event. |
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This
Issue |
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Quick
Links |
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Upcoming
Events |
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7pm February 4,
2010
Central Elementary
School
The district has invited
the community to attend to learn about the budget situation
and priorities, as well as make public comment.
Reading Power
Read-a-thon
March 5 - 19,
2010
All Elementary School
Sites
More Information in Next
Month's eNews
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Mission |
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The mission of School-Force is to raise
money for teachers and programs to ensure an exceptional
education for the children of the Belmont-Redwood Shores
School District.
School-Force was founded in 2001 by a
group of parents looking to save key educational programs that
were slated to disappear from the district due to budget
shortfalls. Over the past six years, School-Force has raised
over 2.6 million dollars to keep quality education programs
across the six schools of the Belmont-Redwood Shores school
district.
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