8 January @ 2:35: Panther Pride meeting in room 21
19 January: No School due to Martin Luther King Jr Day
26 January: No School due to Staff Development Day
Los Cerros News
Haley Loreen and Jackson Meyer were Caught Being Good this week. Please come by the office to pick up your prize. Who will be caught next?
From the Principal:
Welcome back and Happy 2009. I hope your holidays were restful and filled with time for family and fun.
This will be a challenging year on many fronts for Los Cerros, the San Ramon Valley district, and the state of California. I know you're all aware that the state education budget will be cut upon approval of this year's budget. At this point it's just a matter of how large the cuts will be but given California's dismal ranking of 47th in the United States for per pupil spending, all cuts will hurt. In addition, we have the interesting juxtaposition of budget cuts and the May Parcel Tax renewal vote.
I feel fortunate to work in a school district that is committed to serious planning for these financial changes and not adopting a wait and see position. On Monday, January 5th all managers met to study different budgetary scenarios and to offer our input. The superintendent, Steven Enoch, has scheduled a series of public forums on the district budget. The Los Cerros/Monte Vista parent and community forum will be held on Tuesday, January 20 at the Monte Vista library at 6:30pm. If you are interested in hearing specifics and in offering input please plan on attending. For a complete listing of forum dates please see the district website. In addition to the forum there is a meeting January 14th to consider the upcoming parcel tax. Please see the information from PTA at the end of this issue. I hope to see you there.
Phyllis Roach
Principal
LEADERSHIP CORNER:
--The Semester ends January 23!
--Panther Pride meeting is this Thursday after school in room 21.
WORDS OF WISDOM: If you can dream it, you can acheive it. ~Anonymous
BRAINQUEST:
When does the new season of American Idol start?
a. January 22
b. January 13
c. Febuary 2
d. January 9
LC STUDENT COMPETES IN RUBIK'S CUBE COMPETITION Brian Yu, Los Cerros 6th grader, is preparing to compete in the upcoming competition held Sunday, January 18th at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. The competition includes speed, fewest moves, and blindfolded. Good luck Brian!
Message from the PE Department:
We are having a sale on long sleeve t-shirts. They are regularly $20, but we are lowering the price to $10. The shirts are just like the short sleeve ones that we sell, but are better for warm weather. Grab one before we sell out. We will not be ordering any more once they are gone.
CJSF NEWS:
Meeting Tuesday February 10th at 2:35pm in the MPR- 7th and 8th grade students only. At the meeting the CJSF program will be explained; membership, requirements, volunteer hours. Applications and other handouts will be distributed. CJSF (California Junior Scholarship Federation) is a national organization honoring students with high academic grades and good citizenship. Membership is open to second semester 7th graders and first and second semester 8th graders. Membership is by application only and is affiliated with CSF, the High School level.
LIBRARY VOLUNTEERS
Support our readers and consider helping prep the library for class visits and student use. We especially need extra hands during our lunch periods and morning student drop offs. From prepping new books, checking out books to students and some shelving- you won't be bored! If you are interested please contact Mary Nash at mary.nash@comcast.net
LOST AND STILL LOST
Cell phones, jewelry, and sometimes money have been turned in to the office lost and found drawer. To claim those items please stop by the office and describe the items.
PTA NEWS
The next meeting is Thursday, January 22nd when officer Sally comes to discuss internet safety and online predators with us. Please plan on attending.
Jennifer Walsh, PTA President
Sports at Los Cerros
Girls Basketball sign ups and information will be given out during lunches January 8th-13th. Practices for all grades levels will be in the gym January 13th-15th from 2:30-3:30.
All games will begin the week of January 20th.
All girls are welcome to play, please call Mike Cannon at 552-3464
or e-mail at mcannon@srvusd.net if you have any questions.
Counselor’s
Corner
Academic We have a little less than 3 weeks left of 1st semester. Please spend some time with your student checking their grades and reminding them to check in with their teachers. Summer school recommendations will be made based on semester D’s and F’s. Summer school for 6th & 7th grade will be 6/19-8/17 at Iron Horse Middle School.
Freshman Parent Information/Registration nights Currently the district is not allowing open enrollment transfers to other high schools, unless a sibling is currently enrolled.
Monte Vista: Monday – 3/16, Tuesday – 3/17, Wednesday – 3/18
Personal/social
Today all students will be viewing “Prevent and Protect” in homeroom. This is a short video prepared by the district educating students about treating others with respect and what their role should be. Please ask your student to reflect on what they learned. Fifth annual She’s all That is coming. This special conference is sponsored by Soroptimist International of San Ramon Valley, on Saturday, February 7th from 9am-3pm at Gale Ranch Middle School. The day includes a keynote presentation and workshops on topics such as: Mean Girls, Yoga for Girls and Cyber Bullying. For more information, please visit www.soroptimist-sr.org or 925-355-2442.
Creating Lasting Family Connections – The Discovery Center will be starting an after school group 2/3/09. Students will meet each Wednesday (through 5/5/09) at Los Cerros from 2:30-4pm to talk about stress, making friends, homework and life in middle school. If you would like more information, please contact Michelle Cummings at 837-0505 x. 305 or michelle@discoveryctr.net
Career
“Cool Nights” (College Opportunity; Opportunities for Life”) is coming soon. The evening will give middle school students and their parents information about transition to high school and opportunities for college and careers. Wednesday, March 4th 6:30-8:30pm, Alhambra High School, Martinez. For more information email Liz Rusk erusk@cccoe.k12.ca.us
A new Bibliographic format guide is now available to students. Pick up a copy in the library or download your own Adobe pdf copy now. Go to the Los Cerros Library Web Page find the link under Tools you can use or just click here LCMS Bibliography format.
Parent
Education
San Ramon Valley Council of PTAs
The National PTA 2008 Outstanding Advocacy Award Recipient
A coordinated fundraising effort is underway for our new parcel tax. This plan requires the efforts of parent, staff and community volunteers from every school for the measure to succeed. Without a successful parcel tax, the school district is looking at a loss of at least $22 million in the 2009-10 school year. At the moment, the school district is looking at a deficit of $22 million dollars for the next 18 months, without the renewal of the parcel tax. A successful campaign will ease the pain by $6-7 million, depending on the actual tax amount requested in the measure.
A meeting to organize fundraising efforts for the campaign is scheduled for Wednesday, January 14, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. We realize that this is short notice, but the campaign needs significant monies in place to begin the public awareness efforts as soon as the Board approves the measure for the ballot. This was the only available night next week. It is critical that representatives from every school site attend this fundraising meeting. We will need a representative from each of your leadership organizations to attend this meeting:
• PTA
• Education Fund
• Booster clubs
• SRVEA staff representatives (volunteering on their own time),
• Site Council
• School Principals (on their own time)
Meeting details are:
Date: Wednesday, January 14
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Location: Sycamore Club House. 635 Old Orchard Dr
635 Old Orchard Dr., Danville
(Directions are below.)
The following items will be covered:
• Plans for the local school funding measure
• Campaign strategy (and what will be different this time)
• Overall Fundraising plan
• School part of fundraising plan
• Legal issues/rules
• Breakout sessions to formulate plans
If you have any questions, please contact Peg Kennedy, fundraising chairman, at kennedyem@comcast.net or by phone at 830-9940, or Mark Thornton at Mark@dutyfreegolf.com, school fundraising plan chairman.
Please RSVP your attendance, indicating which school you are representing, to kennedyem@comcast.net by Monday, January 12. Thank you so much!
Directions:
From 680 take the Sycamore Valley Rd exit east toward Blackhawk. Approximately 1 mile from the freeway turn left on Old Orchard Drive. The Clubhouse is on the left right after the School District offices.
If the parking lots are full at the clubhouse, the school district lot can be used.
