Welcome back to school after the winter break! As we enter a new year and a new decade, the Foundation wants to update you on our progress and let you know where we are going for 2010. We will soon celebrate our third anniversary of helping support the school with technology upgrades, teacher grants, and outreach to the community.
First, let us tell you what we’ve been doing during the very busy fall season. We have seen Promethean Boards installed in all classrooms with the remaining boards currently being installed in the kindergarten and auxiliary rooms. The continued upgrade of the school’s technology has been the most fruitful partnership that the Foundation has developed. Once again, we were able to fund every grant submitted to us for special teacher-led projects that have a school-wide impact. These projects include continued development of the PAWS discipline program, a student-led school newspaper, professional development for the Spanish team, and new equipment for the orchestra and band department. We have also further developed our Strategic Plan which should be complete within the next month. This plan will guide the Foundation in its work in the months and years to come. This is a very exciting step in furthering our board development in order to provide continued high-level support to the school.
In the immediate future, we will further support the student and school goals by matching contributions raised by the students for Haiti relief. These efforts, spearheaded by Ms. Munchak’s 4th grade class for the 3rd-5th grades and Ms. Kelley and Ms. Parks’ 2nd grade for the K-2nd grades, will raise much needed funds to be donated to disaster relief in Haiti. This project, developed and carried out by students, provides teachable situations outside of the math, science, reading, and writing in a traditional classroom. It gives the students a chance to broaden their understanding of the world and truly illustrates a global education. The Foundation is happy to match funds up to $1000 raised by the students.
The Foundation’s most important mission is to continue to reach out to the surrounding community to increase the school’s visibility and raise funds for much-needed projects. We will continue that this spring with a fundraising campaign culminating in a special acknowledgement event to be held on Friday, May 7. We are in the planning phases for this event and will keep you up to date on all the details. We welcome anyone from the school community who is interested in helping with the fundraising campaign and the event planning.
Do you own a business or have a business contact who might like to get involved? Let us know. Only through the support of the whole community will we continue our academic successes at Centennial Place Elementary. As funding for schools continues to decrease, the Foundation will play a vital role in creatively supporting continued achievement. The Foundation is proud that we have been able to do this in the past and will continue to do so with the help of you and our community.
