Diane Downend, Diane@edenbridgehomes.com
PTA Council of Palo Alto is looking for a Gunn parent to join its Nominating Committee
It is PTA leadership recruitment time of year. The governing council for the seventeen PTAs in Palo Alto is looking for a Gunn parent to join it's Nominating Committee for the 2010-11 school year. The chairperson estimates a ten hour time commitment for meeting attendance and outreach. By February 18 please contact Diane Downend diane@edenbridgehomes.com if you are ready, willing and able to lend a hand to fill the remaining open positions for next year. Thank you!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Race to Nowhere Film Viewing
Diane Downend, diane@edenbridgehomes.com
RACE TO NOWHERE - Film to air February 23, 2010 at 7pm, Oshman Family Jewish Center, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto, CA 94303
RACE TO NOWHERE is a close-up look at the pressures on today's students, offering an intimate view of lives packed with activities, leaving little room for down-time or family time.
Parents today are expected to raise high-achieving children, who are good at everything: academics, sports, the arts, community-service. The film tackles the tragic side of our often achievement-obsessed culture, with interviews that explore the hidden world of over-burdened schedules, student suicide, academic cheating, young people who have checked out. RACE TO NOWHERE asks the question: Are the young people of today prepared to step fully and productively into their future? More information available at www.racetonowhere.com
Tickets available until sold out online at http://racetonowherepaloalto.eventbrite.com/
RACE TO NOWHERE - Film to air February 23, 2010 at 7pm, Oshman Family Jewish Center, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto, CA 94303
RACE TO NOWHERE is a close-up look at the pressures on today's students, offering an intimate view of lives packed with activities, leaving little room for down-time or family time.
Parents today are expected to raise high-achieving children, who are good at everything: academics, sports, the arts, community-service. The film tackles the tragic side of our often achievement-obsessed culture, with interviews that explore the hidden world of over-burdened schedules, student suicide, academic cheating, young people who have checked out. RACE TO NOWHERE asks the question: Are the young people of today prepared to step fully and productively into their future? More information available at www.racetonowhere.com
Tickets available until sold out online at http://racetonowherepaloalto.eventbrite.com/
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Parcel Tax Campaign for PAUSD is Under Way!
Diane Downend , diane@edenbridgehomes.com
On Tuesday, January 12, the Palo Alto Board of Education voted unanimously to place a measure on the May 4 ballot to renew our expiring school parcel tax for six years and increase the rate by $96 ($8 per month). 66.7% or more of voters must approve the measure for it to pass. The renewal of this parcel tax is critical to our school district. The District is already facing projected deficits of over $5 million arising from state budget cuts. Without the parcel tax renewal, an additional $9.4 million of funding will sunset. The combined effect of these funding losses will be devastating to our schools.
Background: The PAUSD parcel tax was originally approved by over 70% of local voters in 2001 and renewed by over 70% of local voters in 2005. Now this funding is once again set to expire. If the parcel tax expires, our schools will lose $9.4 million in annual funding on top of the other funding reductions arising from the state budget cuts.
How is the parcel tax revenue utilized? It pays for people and programs. It pays for teachers, small class sizes, course offerings and instructional programs.
Didn't we just pass a bond measure in 2008? Yes, but it pays for buildings, not operational costs like teachers and programs. The bond measure allows the District to provide physical facilities to meet growing enrollment needs. It does not provide the staff and resources to deliver instruction out of those facilities.
Who receives the revenue generated by the parcel tax? All of the parcel tax funds flow to the Palo Alto Unified School District. It is not a City of Palo Alto tax. Voters include the whole school district: Palo Alto, Stanford and parts of Los Altos Hills and Portola Valley. All registered voters will receive a mail ballot.
This election will be vote by mail ballot only, with postage provided with the ballot. No polling places will be open on May 4. Voters must mail their ballots by April 30 at the latest because the ballots are due by May 4 and postmarks don’t count. There is an exemption available for senior citizens (age 65 and over) for which they must apply annually.
More information is provided in the attached flyer.
The success of this campaign depends on parent and student volunteers getting the word out. The Gunn PTSA needs a Volunteer Coordinator to lead the charge in recruiting approximately 35 phone bank volunteers and six individuals to deliver campaign signage. With 1,900 students and over 3,000 parents in our school community, this is not a daunting task. Please contact Diane Downend at diane@edenbridgehomes.com if you are willing to lead this effort. Thank you!
On Tuesday, January 12, the Palo Alto Board of Education voted unanimously to place a measure on the May 4 ballot to renew our expiring school parcel tax for six years and increase the rate by $96 ($8 per month). 66.7% or more of voters must approve the measure for it to pass. The renewal of this parcel tax is critical to our school district. The District is already facing projected deficits of over $5 million arising from state budget cuts. Without the parcel tax renewal, an additional $9.4 million of funding will sunset. The combined effect of these funding losses will be devastating to our schools.
Background: The PAUSD parcel tax was originally approved by over 70% of local voters in 2001 and renewed by over 70% of local voters in 2005. Now this funding is once again set to expire. If the parcel tax expires, our schools will lose $9.4 million in annual funding on top of the other funding reductions arising from the state budget cuts.
How is the parcel tax revenue utilized? It pays for people and programs. It pays for teachers, small class sizes, course offerings and instructional programs.
Didn't we just pass a bond measure in 2008? Yes, but it pays for buildings, not operational costs like teachers and programs. The bond measure allows the District to provide physical facilities to meet growing enrollment needs. It does not provide the staff and resources to deliver instruction out of those facilities.
Who receives the revenue generated by the parcel tax? All of the parcel tax funds flow to the Palo Alto Unified School District. It is not a City of Palo Alto tax. Voters include the whole school district: Palo Alto, Stanford and parts of Los Altos Hills and Portola Valley. All registered voters will receive a mail ballot.
This election will be vote by mail ballot only, with postage provided with the ballot. No polling places will be open on May 4. Voters must mail their ballots by April 30 at the latest because the ballots are due by May 4 and postmarks don’t count. There is an exemption available for senior citizens (age 65 and over) for which they must apply annually.
More information is provided in the attached flyer.
The success of this campaign depends on parent and student volunteers getting the word out. The Gunn PTSA needs a Volunteer Coordinator to lead the charge in recruiting approximately 35 phone bank volunteers and six individuals to deliver campaign signage. With 1,900 students and over 3,000 parents in our school community, this is not a daunting task. Please contact Diane Downend at diane@edenbridgehomes.com if you are willing to lead this effort. Thank you!
PTSA Drug and Alcohol Committee: Call for action to parents
Ildiko Ran, ildikoran@gmail.com
Parent’s Night: Tuesday, March 9th at 7PM in the Gunn Library.
Light refreshments will be served.
Dear Parents,
Our children have been participating in the Palo Alto Reality Check survey for the last few years, a tool that gives us insight and understanding of the local teen population's use, attitudes and perceptions of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (ATOD) along with their related risk behaviors. Becky Beacom of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation has been studying the data gathered and has been active in planning adequate response to the students.
Our children have voiced their opinions and showed specific needs for better communication with the adults, both officials and their parents. Our kids did what we asked them: they told us what they think and what they need. Now it is our turn to respond.
In order to be the most effective and helpful parents to our teens we need to understand the major points of the survey results and need to come up with a plan of action in order to remedy the issues that we have influence over. In order to do this we, the PTSA think that a well-attended and interactive parent ed night is needed. We are fortunate in Palo Alto to have a community-wide organization, PADACC (Palo Alto Drug and Alcohol Community Collaborative) dealing with ATOD related issues, lead by school officials, mental health counselors and educators who show their concern for our children. We, the parents think we ought to show as much interest in our own children as they do!
The purpose of this letter is to
Please RSVP at gunnsafechoices@gmail.com regarding your intent to participate in our Tuesday, March 9th, 7PM parent meeting at Gunn High School in the Library.
While we all agree that the results show a positive trend in our children's ATOD related behaviors, we, as parents need to address the following crucial concerns:
The student responses suggest more discussion with students is called for - possibly focus groups - in order to extract the full meaning from their responses and for problem-solving on some of our most serious health risk behaviors. We would like to encourage you to attend our Parent’s Night where Becky Beacom will share her ideas and insights about the survey results and further steps that can be taken in order to respond to our children.
We want to create an environment where we address the issues at hand and where an interactive process among us will create better communication and ultimately a safer environment for our children.
Please RSVP by replying to gunnsafechoices@gmail.com
Parent’s Night: Tuesday, March 9th at 7PM in the Gunn Library.
Light refreshments will be served.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Ildiko Ran,
Parent liaison for Gunn Drug and Alcohol Committee
Parent’s Night: Tuesday, March 9th at 7PM in the Gunn Library.
Light refreshments will be served.
Dear Parents,
Our children have been participating in the Palo Alto Reality Check survey for the last few years, a tool that gives us insight and understanding of the local teen population's use, attitudes and perceptions of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (ATOD) along with their related risk behaviors. Becky Beacom of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation has been studying the data gathered and has been active in planning adequate response to the students.
Our children have voiced their opinions and showed specific needs for better communication with the adults, both officials and their parents. Our kids did what we asked them: they told us what they think and what they need. Now it is our turn to respond.
In order to be the most effective and helpful parents to our teens we need to understand the major points of the survey results and need to come up with a plan of action in order to remedy the issues that we have influence over. In order to do this we, the PTSA think that a well-attended and interactive parent ed night is needed. We are fortunate in Palo Alto to have a community-wide organization, PADACC (Palo Alto Drug and Alcohol Community Collaborative) dealing with ATOD related issues, lead by school officials, mental health counselors and educators who show their concern for our children. We, the parents think we ought to show as much interest in our own children as they do!
The purpose of this letter is to
- Inform you about some major points concluded from the survey, which call for our attention
- Invite you to our parent ed night where Becky Beacom agreed to help us understand the findings of the survey and outline a response plan.
Please RSVP at gunnsafechoices@gmail.com regarding your intent to participate in our Tuesday, March 9th, 7PM parent meeting at Gunn High School in the Library.
While we all agree that the results show a positive trend in our children's ATOD related behaviors, we, as parents need to address the following crucial concerns:
- Our children asked for improved communication with adults around ATOD.
- The findings show that once in a situation where the safest choice would be to call their parents, our children prefer NOT to call us.
- A large majority of students want youth voices to be included in future policy and decision-making.
The student responses suggest more discussion with students is called for - possibly focus groups - in order to extract the full meaning from their responses and for problem-solving on some of our most serious health risk behaviors. We would like to encourage you to attend our Parent’s Night where Becky Beacom will share her ideas and insights about the survey results and further steps that can be taken in order to respond to our children.
We want to create an environment where we address the issues at hand and where an interactive process among us will create better communication and ultimately a safer environment for our children.
Please RSVP by replying to gunnsafechoices@gmail.com
Parent’s Night: Tuesday, March 9th at 7PM in the Gunn Library.
Light refreshments will be served.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Ildiko Ran,
Parent liaison for Gunn Drug and Alcohol Committee
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Choir/Staff Musical Extravaganza February 9 and 10
Marilyn Putney, putneym@gmail.com
'Heavenly Bandstand' rocks Gunn High School!
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with an evening of young love, lots of laughs and the music that continues to fill the best American Pie ever created. Parents and students don’t want to miss this original musical extravaganza ‘Heavenly Bandstand’ at Spangenberg Theatre, presented two nights only, Tuesday, February 9, and Wednesday February 10, starring the Gunn High School Choirs, the JLS and Terman Middle School Choirs, and 50 of your favorite Gunn staff.
The show begins at 8:00 p.m. and tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. You may buy tickets online at www.gunnchoir.org, or purchase them in the Gunn Student Activities Center starting February 1st.
Get out your poodle skirts and hair cream and prepare to stroll, mash potato and doo wop your way down memory lane. Our heroine, high school senior Annette, has fallen asleep in English class. In her dream, she is visited by Johnny Angel, who is desperate to leave his celestial home and return, one more time, to the Top Forty. But in order to make it back to earth, he will have to compete on Heavenly Bandstand. Hosted by none-other-than Dick Clark, the competition features the holiest music of the 50s and Johnny’s rivals include the King Himself, Elvis. Join the fun, as Johnny battles for his place on the charts, Annette searches for true love, and the rest of us once again savor the sweet taste of American Pie.
The show is directed by William Liberatore, Gunn’s own choir director who is also one of the Bay Area’s premier musical directors. His work has been seen at TheaterWorks, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, and Symphony Silicon Valley. The script is written by Nancy Hersage, who is the winner of five national playwriting awards and whose work has been produced in the U.S., Europe and Africa.
'Heavenly Bandstand' rocks Gunn High School!
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with an evening of young love, lots of laughs and the music that continues to fill the best American Pie ever created. Parents and students don’t want to miss this original musical extravaganza ‘Heavenly Bandstand’ at Spangenberg Theatre, presented two nights only, Tuesday, February 9, and Wednesday February 10, starring the Gunn High School Choirs, the JLS and Terman Middle School Choirs, and 50 of your favorite Gunn staff.
The show begins at 8:00 p.m. and tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. You may buy tickets online at www.gunnchoir.org, or purchase them in the Gunn Student Activities Center starting February 1st.
Get out your poodle skirts and hair cream and prepare to stroll, mash potato and doo wop your way down memory lane. Our heroine, high school senior Annette, has fallen asleep in English class. In her dream, she is visited by Johnny Angel, who is desperate to leave his celestial home and return, one more time, to the Top Forty. But in order to make it back to earth, he will have to compete on Heavenly Bandstand. Hosted by none-other-than Dick Clark, the competition features the holiest music of the 50s and Johnny’s rivals include the King Himself, Elvis. Join the fun, as Johnny battles for his place on the charts, Annette searches for true love, and the rest of us once again savor the sweet taste of American Pie.
The show is directed by William Liberatore, Gunn’s own choir director who is also one of the Bay Area’s premier musical directors. His work has been seen at TheaterWorks, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, and Symphony Silicon Valley. The script is written by Nancy Hersage, who is the winner of five national playwriting awards and whose work has been produced in the U.S., Europe and Africa.
Community Service Opportunities
Diane Downend, diane@edenbridgehomes.com
Is your student looking for community service opportunities? A terrific resource is available at Bina's Blog: http://binasblogforgoodworks.blogspot.com/
Is your student looking for community service opportunities? A terrific resource is available at Bina's Blog: http://binasblogforgoodworks.blogspot.com/
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Parent Input on Teacher Performance
Martha Elderon, melderon@pausd.org
Each year at this time, parents and students are asked to provide input on teacher performance. We urge you to respond to this request because it is one of several important sources of information to help teachers and their supervisors improve instruction. Students will be asked to complete input forms in their classes. Parents are required to sign their input, while student input is anonymous.
Please remember that teachers’ assigned supervisors are the sole evaluators of teacher performance and that this input process is not an appropriate or effective means to present complaints. If you have a specific problem or concern about a teacher and you have not been able to resolve it, please contact their Instructional Supervisor.
Download the form from the Gunn PTA website here:
http://gunn.paloaltopta.org/docs/parentinput.pdf
Other forms are available from the Gunn PTA website here:
http://gunn.paloaltopta.org/forms.htm
Your completed form goes directly to the teacher and is not seen by anyone else unless the teacher chooses to share it. Return each form to
(Name of Teacher)
Gunn High School
780 Arastradero Road
Palo Alto, CA 94306.
You may also give your input to the teacher directly by email.
Noreen Likins
Principal, Gunn High School
Each year at this time, parents and students are asked to provide input on teacher performance. We urge you to respond to this request because it is one of several important sources of information to help teachers and their supervisors improve instruction. Students will be asked to complete input forms in their classes. Parents are required to sign their input, while student input is anonymous.
Please remember that teachers’ assigned supervisors are the sole evaluators of teacher performance and that this input process is not an appropriate or effective means to present complaints. If you have a specific problem or concern about a teacher and you have not been able to resolve it, please contact their Instructional Supervisor.
Download the form from the Gunn PTA website here:
http://gunn.paloaltopta.org/docs/parentinput.pdf
Other forms are available from the Gunn PTA website here:
http://gunn.paloaltopta.org/forms.htm
Your completed form goes directly to the teacher and is not seen by anyone else unless the teacher chooses to share it. Return each form to
(Name of Teacher)
Gunn High School
780 Arastradero Road
Palo Alto, CA 94306.
You may also give your input to the teacher directly by email.
Noreen Likins
Principal, Gunn High School
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