|
SCHOOL NEWS
A Letter from Lee Budish
Thank you all so very much for participating in the wonderful celebration of our school garden. Thank you to all the many super volunteers who made it happen! No question: Edna Maguire knows how to throw a Garden Party!
As my daughter graduates, it is time for me to move on from Edna Maguire. We have a wonderful, experienced gardener – kindergarten dad, Saor Stetler – who has graciously agreed to oversee the garden. Saor is also our amazing "green" dad, a compost and worm expert. I know that he will take the garden to another glorious and exciting level. Thank you, Saor for volunteering to keep the garden going in the most amazing Garden School.
The Mill Valley Children's Garden has been a labor of love. I only wanted to share my love of plants and to enhance the education and the love of nature and the earth for the children. If you know me even a little, you know how passionate I am about the garden because I believe so much in the positive impact of this type of hands-on curriculum. I have witnessed this each day with the children.
I want to thank all of the wonderful children, volunteers, parents, teachers, donors, Leslie Fielder, Mari Allen, Katrina Kehl, and Principal Lisa Zimmer, my family, and the community for believing in this project and in me. When I called, you all said “yes” before I ever had the chance to ask. Thank you to all the marvelous, incredible people who I have met along this journey for all their support. I will be forever grateful, knowing that such kindness exists in our wonderful community.
The Mill Valley Children’s garden at Edna Maguire is inspirational to so many because it demonstrates the wonderful possibilities when a school and community bond together. And, in spite of many obstacles, a spectacular children’s learning garden exists today, which is a testament to the volunteer and community efforts of Edna Maguire.
In peace and hope for the future of our children,
Lee Budish
The garden’s past, present, and future leadership
Left: Susan Reynolds, the first teacher coordinator who started the garden and saved it from being bulldozed in 1990;
Middle:
Lee Budish; Right: Saor Stetler
Garden Festival a Great Success
Thank you again to all the wonderful volunteers who helped make our Second Annual Spring Garden Tour and Festival a huge success! The flowers in the garden bloom because of you!
Thank you volunteers Kate Shine, Nandita Morey, Rob Thomure, Christy Herrmann, Saor Stetler, Sterling Somers, Lisa Joss, Catherine Cadloni, Lori Fineman, Heather Miller, Lauren Snell, Stephanie Rico, Laura Figuerinhas, Sheila Brear, Nicole Lamb, Erin Salcuni, Julie Zener, Yoni Cassel, Maite Duran, Janet Young, Lisa Levin, Susan Johnson, Wendy Dahlia, Ken Campbell, Ellen Pichey, Neysa Furey, Bruce and Linda Berlinger, Mari Allen, Katrina Kehl, Anne Fretes, Meera Dolasia, Rich Ross and Kathy Sonderby, and Lisa Gilmore. Apologies to anyone we may have missed.
Many thanks to our bakers who provided the delicious goodies at the garden festival: Erin Salcuni, Janet Fox, Laura Figueirinhas, Nicole Ferguson, Julie McCrady, Lori Fineman, Lucy Hampton, Kerstin Bastion, Paula Settler, and Nuran Akmehmet.
A Letter from Al Gore
After viewing a video about our garden, Al Gore wrote us a wonderful letter about the “green” work we have been doing at Edna Maguire. Thanks to all of you!
Edna Maguire Produce at the Mill Valley Farmers' Market
The Mill Valley Farmer’s Market will be opening again for the summer on Tuesday, June 10 at the Peace Lutheran Church parking lot in Tam Valley and will run for about fifteen weeks. We would like to feature our garden’s produce but we will need parent and student volunteers to pick/clean/package produce and flowers each Tuesday and set up and work the table at the market. It will be a great learning experience for our children and it will be good exposure for our garden in the community but it will be unfeasible unless there are a lot of volunteers to make it work.
Ideally, we need a parent to volunteer to coordinate the farmer’s market effort (this can be done from home/office by email or phone), and four families for each of the fifteen weeks (two to pick/clean/package and two to set up and work the market table). Please contact Saor Stetler (sstetler@earthlink.net) if you are interested in volunteering. You can also contact Saor if you’d like to participate in the summer watering program.
Friday, June 13 is Beach Day
No, we ARE NOT going to the beach! We are coming to school dressed as if we’re going to the beach. Board shorts, flip flops, even Hawaiian themes work on this day. Let’s welcome the summer on the last spirit day of the year!
Terrific Tuesday at Pizza Antica
Don't for get to eat at or take out food from Pizza Antica Tuesday, June 10th. Just mention Edna Maguire and our school will receive 20 percent of your total food bill. It's that easy!
REMINDERS
Garden Summer Watering Volunteers are Needed!
The Edna Children’s Garden is looking for approximately 20 families to help water planted areas that are not irrigated. Fortunately, most of the garden is on automatic drip irrigation so this would involve watering only the fruit trees and areas on the periphery of the garden. Please contact Stirling Somers at ssomers@sveforum.org or call 381-4144.
Mill Valley School District Funding Measure – November 2008
The Mill Valley School District currently faces a difficult financial environment, and projects a funding gap of $850,000 for the 2008/09 school year and up to $2 million annually for each of the next three years. The district will be able to close next year's funding gap through increased PTA and Kiddo! funding and budget cuts to a variety or programs and services, without resorting to the teacher layoffs that many districts across the state are experiencing.
However, without a secure, local source of increased funding the district will be forced to meet its growing financial shortfall with more drastic reductions in the 2009/2010 school year and beyond. The Mill Valley School Board is expected to vote on June 11 to place a measure on the November 2008 ballot to amend the existing school parcel tax. The amendment would increase the current tax by $193 per parcel and extend the tax for an additional eight years. If passed, this measure would raise nearly $2 million of additional guaranteed local school funding annually. We urge school families to become informed about how this upcoming measure will affect our schools and our community.
Wear a Pair, Share a Pair!
Give back your worn-out pair of Crocs™ shoes, and they will be ground up and made into new shoes to be donated to people in need around the world. So when the tread becomes worn and they've reached their end-of-life, take the next step and drop them in the recycling bin located in the front office by Friday, June 13th. (NO knock-off brands, please, as they are not made out of the same recyclable material as Crocs™). For more information, please go to www.solesunited.org.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE SPECIAL EDUCATION PTA
Wow! How can it be the end of the year? Thank you to our nearly 300 members, the District’s teachers and administrators, the PTA Council, and the Board of Trustees for your support. Thank you also to my fellow Executive Board members, Dr. Kerri Mills (Assistant Superintendent), Marianne Shine, Maureen Pardi, Pam Sowerby, Jeanine Ferris, Caron Stapleton, Rauol Wertz, Janet Miller, Ross Buffington, Gillian Reilly, and Deborah Goldman. It Takes a Village would not be the amazing PTA it is without you!
Here is some of what we accomplished this year:
- We held seven speaker events. Thank you to the wonderful members of our community who shared their knowledge about how to help our children maker their way in the world: Dan Phillips – Technological Resources; Pauline Nacamuli and Erin Conklin – Reading Strategies, Dr. Virginia Bassi and Janet Miller – Support for Families and Siblings; Stephanie Madrigal – Social Thinking; Karen Seekamp – Executive Functioning; Dr. Claudia Trinklein-Engman – Social/Emotional Challenges; and Diane Provo – Kids are Great…When You know How They Work.
- Our four parent coffees helped us to meet new members and share our parenting stories with one another.
- Our playgroups helped our children with learning differences connect with other kids and build relationships at playgrounds in Mill Valley. Contact Pam Sowerby (psowerby@comcast.net, 380-9680) if you are interested in meeting informally over the summer.
- We launched our website. Please check it out! It is chock full of information and resources. Thank you Ross Buffington for making this dream a reality!
- We designed and printed ITAV brochures for our members, future members, and the community at large. Thanks to the Mill Valley Rotary Club for funding the brochures and again to Ross Buffington for his design!
- We went high-tech with much of our publicity. Thank you Jonathan Schwartz for forwarding our fliers to our members electronically.
- We placed ITAV membership forms in each school’s Back-to-School packet. Look out for them again next year.
- Our Executive Committee meetings, attended by Dr. Kerri Mills, our officers, and our school representatives, gave us an opportunity to work together to share information and develop ideas and strategies to make our special education community the best it can be.
- We represented ITAV on the Mill Valley Council of PTAs and collaborated with all our District schools and PTAs.
- We were in the March issue of Marin Magazine. This was a wonderful opportunity to get information about ITAV out to the broader community.
- Mill Valley Market offered to donate a portion of its proceeds from your grocery shopping to ITAV. When you shop, give the Market the number 7093. It couldn’t be easier to support our kids!
We have made plans for 2008/09 to be another great year! Our speaker events will include the following: Dr. Kerri Mills – Welcome Back, Overview of MVSD Education Programs; David Flink – Project Eye to Eye; Dr. Claudia Trinklein-Engman, Jason Mountsier and Sheri Yoon –Social Skills Panel/Discussion; Karen Seekamp – Different Kinds of Intelligence and Learning Styles; Christof Bessler – Making Math Real, Adolescence and Learning; Karen Mates –Transitions: The Public School Years Middle School to High School; and Diane Provo – How to Talk So Kids Will Listen; Solutions and More….
|
