We are looking for a parent from each grade to help coordinate the event (support communication with teachers, help count money, make posters, help add reading minutes, etc.)

Please email Carrie Wilson or call her at 510-206-8595 to volunteer.

The rains have finally arrived and we had our first rainy day recess today. Students were able to practice their new Mosaic assertiveness skills with their classmates as they worked out how to play indoors.

We have just finished with a week of Mosaic training here at school. This training included a parent workshop, a staff workshop, an assembly and classes for our students. The topic the trainers focused was how to be assertive without being aggressive. Students learned through skits, role plays and puppet shows how to stand up for themselves and for others.

This Mosaic in-school program was made possible through a grant from the Berkeley Public Education fund (BPEF). BPEF not only supported the work of Mosaic, but also will be supporting a “Critical Conversations about Race” retreat and workshop. 22 staff members will be going on a retreat together to explore the achievement gap and to strategize better ways to reach our African American and Latino students. BPEF has also provided us with funding support for our Restorative Justice Program. This program is already having a big impact here at our school. Last year we had 31 suspensions as a school; this school year we have had two.

When students are in school they can learn, when they are off campus, suspended, they lose valuable opportunities to learn. Through the program we have been able to bring families and students together to work on lasting solutions.

The committee on the consolidation of TWI continues to deliberate. The group is now considering two sites for the consolidated school. The two sites are Rosa Parks and LeConte. By the end of the school year the committee will pass the recommendation of the single site onto the school board and they will deliberate from there. The Consolidation committee DOES NOT make any decisions, we simply recommend a site. The board will make a decision about moving forward or not. I will keep you posted as I get more information.

Best wishes,
Paco Furlan

Parents of 3rd–5th graders will have presentations and discussion around relevant issues, like how and when to talk with your child about sex, internet safety, managing defiance, and more.

Dinner and childcare are available. Please contact Rena at 644-8537 for more details.

Join us for the fabulous Rosa Parks PTA Winter Gala and Silent Auction at Addies Pizza Pie on February 25, 2012. The event is great fun—not to be missed—and is a very important fundraiser for the school. Tickets are on a sliding scale: $30, $40, or $50 per person. We already have some incredible auction items from generous local business, including gift certificates to many restaurants, Cal football tickets, camp for your kids, theater and museum tickets, and much, much more. Please look in your Wednesday envelope for what you too can contribute to the silent auction—services such as babysitting, carpentry, cooking, etc., or handmade items (jewelry, ceramics, etc.) which are always hot items.

We look forward to seeing you all at the gala!

Thursday, January 19, 2012
Rosa Parks Elementary, Berkeley, CA

CALL TO ORDER
The association meeting was called to order in the cafeteria by Maya Karpinski, president, at 6:10 PM. The attendance sheet is attached.

PRESENTATIONS
Maria Rohlsson

• PTA Council, this organization helps to facilitate communications between PTA units, it is also a resource for the units, and a strong political force. Representatives attend city council and board meetings. The website is: berkeleypta.org
• Silent Auction – so far over $5,000 in donations have been taken in. It is 2/25 at Addie’s Pizza Pie. They need donations from teachers and parents. Ticket prices are $30, 40, and 50 sliding scale per person.

Ruth Breech

• Global Community Monitor – she spoke of a study being done through a local hospital and university which is seeking children ages 1-5 for a blood sample to test levels of manganese. On 1/25 there is an informational meeting for interested parents.

Nancy Sabin

• She is recruiting people to hopefully take over jobs she has done at RP for many years – Mingle Coordinator, Bulletin Board postings and maintenance, Sign creator, and Games Coordinator for the annual Carnival

Carrie Wilson

• Read-a-Thon, seeking help from parents at each grade level. On 3/5, pledges begin to be taken, on 3/14, reading begins for the Readathon. By mid-February, volunteers are needed to begin meeting.

Principal Paco Furlan

• Consolidation Task Force update: potential sites have been narrowed down to two, Rosa Parks and LeConte. Further updates through the PTA newsletter will occur.

Meeting the moved to the library for the Mosaic presentation

Mosaic – outdoor school and Youth Leadership program

• They attempt to build community through the mixing of 3 or 4 homogeneous school populations into vastly different groupings that exist throughout the rest of a typical weeklong camp
• Parent training is part of their program, and the past 2 years they have begun in-school training with students.
• Their 3 Keys to Peace: listening, empathy, assertiveness. “Assertive” means to be respectful of yourself and others, and to be “strong” without being mean.
• The leader also presented the differences between passive, aggressive, and assertive, which were also presented to students at a recent assembly.

Role plays, both for children and adults, are used to show clear examples of each of these terms. An activity showing the difference between passive and assertive was used, and a brief role play showing the presence of an ally was used as well.

ADJOURNMENT

Meeting was adjourned at 8:04 PM

Jeff Bruno
Secretary

Rosa Parks will be having the Mosaic program in classes over the week of January 16th. They will also do a staff training, an assembly and a parent training. We will have a parent Mosaic training on Thursday, January 19th from 6-8 pm. Food and childcare will be provided. The training offers parents useful strategies to teach their kids mutual respect, open mindedness, self-respect, attitude, individuality, and community. (MOSAIC) This is part of what we do here at Rosa Parks and the more that you can support us at home the better.

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a great break and is now ready for 2012. It was great to have all of the students back and to catch up on what you were up to over the break.

As we begin to look into next year we have some good news, and some bad news. The good news is that we have gone from 50% free/reduced lunch qualification to 42%, that means that more of our students are coming to school from homes with more resources. The bad news is that we have three programs that rely on us having 50% of our students that qualify for free/reduced lunch.

We have really worked to get every family to fill out a form and we have around 95% of our families that have turned in forms. Unfortunately it does not look like we will make the mark. This means the $$25,000 that we were using to subsidize our PlayWorks program and the $125,000 we were using to fund our Gardening and Cooking program more than likely will not be available to us next year.

We are working as a School Governance Council and a staff to make plans for next year. Many schools in Berkeley that have had these programs have lost them when they no longer qualified based on their Free/reduced numbers. This year Malcolm X, and Thousand Oaks, along with Rosa Parks may lose these programs.

The fund raising efforts of our PTA will be very important as we look into the year ahead. The state budget picture also looks like it may present some challenges for us that we will also need to face. We will keep you updated as we move forward in the process.

Best wishes,

Paco Furlan

This is a fantastic event that celebrates reading and also raises much-needed funds for the school. Last year almost 300 students participated. They raised over $27,000 for Rosa Parks through asking friends and family members to sponsor their reading for 10 days. Over 1,000 neighbors, friends and family members of Rosa Parks students pledged their support.

On March 5th, students start to collect pledges and can continue to collect pledges throughout the event. On March 14th they log their in-class and at-home reading. On March 23rd they begin to collect their pledges. Prizes are awarded in each grade for the most minutes, the most donors, and the most money raised as well as a popsicle party for the classes with the highest rate of participation.

We are looking for a parent from each grade to help coordinate the event (support communication with teachers, help count money, make posters, help add reading minutes, etc.) Please contact Carrie Wilson or 510-206-8595 to volunteer.

Parenting can be both the most rewarding and the most challenging job on earth, and sometimes we can get stuck relating with our kids in ways that are frustrating for everyone. Starting February 22, the Family Resource Center will offer a six-week parenting class on “1-2-3 Magic,” a positive discipline technique that gives tools to stop undesirable behaviors, encourage desirable behaviors, and strengthen relationships with our kids. This class is geared for parents of K-2 students, and will meet on Wednesdays from 6:30-7:45. Childcare and dinner are available.

Please contact Shoshana or call 883-5230 for more information.

Dear Rosa Parks families,

Best wishes during this wonderful holiday season! We just learned from the Berkeley Public Education Fund that Rosa Parks received over $11,000 in grant funding. These funds will help fund field trips to Angel Island, bring the Mosaic program to our school for an all-school assembly, and purchase needed materials and supplies throughout the school. The PTA and the staff are anxiously awaiting the outcome our annual direct drive and we will report shortly on the monies raised and our plans.

We really appreciate all of the support that we continue to get from our parents and outside organizations like BPEF. This support helps make our school the truly special place that it is. Across the country schools are cutting music programs, field trips and art supplies. Because of the strength of our community Rosa Parks continues to shine bright and support a variety of wonderful programs.

I look forward to our Kindergarten tours that will be starting in early December. One of my favorite things to do is to tell people about our amazing school. In collaboration with PTA volunteers we will give tours to over 100 perspective parents this year. Our school is in high demand because of the excellent staff, the engaged parents and of course our wonderful kids!

Please encourage your friends to tour our school if they have incoming kindergarteners. We look forward to recruiting another great class.

Best wishes, and have a restful break

Paco Furlan