Deficit in Montgomery County $200 Million Greater than Thought

For those of you who are deeply interested in Maryland Politics I highly recommend the Maryland Politics Blog. In this latest posting, Adam Pagnucco posts a memo from Ike Leggett to Council Chair Nancy Floreen alerting the County Council to expect an even greater budget deficit than earlier expected.

On going Middle School Debate

There has been a lot written in the press about the proposal by Superintendent Weast to build a new middle school to serve the eastern side of the cluster and relieve future overcrowding at Westland. I encourage all parents to take a look at Washingtonpost.com and Gazette.net for background information and read our blog posts at www.buildanewrcf.blogspot.com for the PTA and Cluster postions.

In a nutshell, we are concerned that we have not had adequate time or information to assess the impact of a new middle school on our community, nor has the Superintendent specifically said that RCF would articulate to the new school. Given that we are sandwiched between North Chevy Chase, Chevy Chase and Rosemary Hills, it is likely that we would go to a new school though.

Welcome coffee a smash!

The school year got off to a caffinated start with the annual welcome coffee. Parents were welcomed into the teachers lounge to enjoy coffee and snacks. It was a time to reconnect with old friends and to meet new people. Mr. Chia stopped by to say hello and to welcome parents back to the school year.

Many thanks to Stacy Gold for organizing this fun event!

Spruced up landscaping

Those of you driving by the school over the last few days must have noticed the hard work going on in the front. Thanks to Charlotte Knepper and Suzanne Krauth for organizing this effort. This is the beginning of an on going effort to reignite a beautification committee. If you are interested in working on this, get in touch with Charlotte.

The front beds were weeded and mulched and flowers were planted below the school sign. It is amazing what a difference it makes. Look for photos soon!

safety improvements to Grubb Road

We have just received word that the county will be making safety improvements to the crossing between Rock Creek Forest ES and the Rock Creek Shopping Center on Grubb Road.

RCF Parent, Ellie Mosch, and the RCFPTA worked together to bring the dangerous situation to the attention of the county and it looks like they agreed with our assessment, because the construction begins immediately!

The County is constructing a "traffic calming measure" which consists of a cross walk with a median concrete strip to slow traffic and allow people, especially children, to cross safely.

I have attached the PDF from the county outlining the exact measures. Many thanks to Ellie for getting the project rolling!

GrubbRdTraffic

Field Day

 

It was one of the loveliest field days in a long time - cool and cloudy, instead of hot and muggy. The kids ran the bases, participated in an obstacle course, had a jump rope contest, did the 50 yard dash and several other fun activities.

As is tradition at Rock Creek Forest, the day ended with the 5th grade engaged in a tug of war to the finish, culminating in popsicles for the entire school.

I know many kids wished every day was field day!

Mr. Conti, as always, did a wonderful job coordinating all the activities and making sure that all the kids had a good time, from the ones who win every race to the ones picking dandelions because they didn't notice there was a race going on around them. Many parents helped out with the water station provided by the PTA, handed out popsicles and watched the fun. Thanks to everyone who participated, especially Charlotte Knepper, who picked up the popsicles and Jane Ward who stored them and got them to school on time!

Muffins for Mom

A few days ago, the Moms of Rock Creek Forest were treated to breakfast with their kids to celebrate everything they do to support their kids education. This marvelous mural had a message from each of the kids about what makes their mom special.

The kids and moms had a great time and we all extend a heartfelt thank you to the teachers and staff who put together our special day.

PTA Meeting Tuesday 5/4 7:15

Come on down! The next PTA meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 4 at 7:15 in the Media Center.

Two exciting things will happen at this meeting:

1) The MCPS planning folks will be coming to tell us about the process for planning a new school building. I attended one of the earlier meetings and it is very interesting and exciting!

2) We will have a vote on the executive committee for the PTA for the 2010-2011 school year. The nominating committee put forth a slate through the listserv on Friday, April 23 and the slate was also sent home via Back Pack Thursday on April 29. Nominations will also be taken from the floor in case there is someone who would like to serve but is not on the slate.

Staff Appreciation Flowers

The Teacher's Lounge was filled to the brim with flowers today as families dropped off bouqets to show their appreciation for RCF's staff. As flowers kept coming in, volunteers filled vases with water, trimmed flowers and added labels and delivered to the grateful staff.

In an RCF tradition, ALL staff get recognized during Appreciation Week, from the principal to the overnight building service workers. The rest of the week kids bring in notes, there is a dessert buffet and short massages.

Slate for EC Announced at May Meeting

The nominating committee is hard at work to make sure that the slate is ready to be announced at the May 4, 2010 PTA meeting. The meeting will be held at 7:15 PM and includes a report from the MCPS planning department about the upcoming feasibility study for a modernized RCF.

If you would like to be considered for a place on the slate, please get in touch with Mindy Hoffman, chair of the nominating committee, immediately. I didn't want to post her email, so check your directories! Nominations will be taken from the floor, as always.

New PTA Wiki

If you are a committee chair or run an event at the school, we have a new tool for you!

The brand new PTA wiki allows chairs to pass along their institutional memory to the next generation of parent leaders. It is open for viewing by anyone, but you have to be approved to edit.

Please consider "paying it forward" by creating a page (it's easy, I swear). To edit, contact Amanda at daniel.cantor@rcn.com.

Help needed at the Spring Fair

Hard to believe, but the the RCF 2010 Spring Fair is just 5 weeks away. It's scheduled for Friday, May 7, 4-7 pm - rain or shine. To make this year's Spring Fair extra fun for students, friends and family members, we urgently need your help. Many thanks to those of you who have already raised your hand to help pull off the Spring Fair, but there are still many jobs left to be filled. Here's the rundown: :
* Parent-Volunteer Coordinators (2 people): Assign volunteer slots for day of fair with help from room parents.
* Pre-Fair Pizza Order Coordinator (1-2 people): Organize pizza orders before fair. Excel know-how helpful.
* Petting Zoo Coordinator: Help ensure our (first-ever!) petting zoo & petting zoo ticket sales go smoothly.
* Cake Walk Coordinator: Run the fair's annual Cake Walk game. Fun!
* Tickets Coordinator: Oversee tickets for inflatables and petting zoo at the fair.
* Face Painting/Hair Painting Coordinator: Organize face painting and (new!) hair painting.
* Marketing: Promote the Spring Fair to the RCF community in new, possibly different ways.
* Water Sales Coordinator: Coordinate water bottle sales at Spring Fair.
* Recyling Coordinator: Work with middle-schoolers to recycle water bottles at the Spring Fair.
* Carnival Games Coordinator: Make sure carnival games run smoothly.
* Raffle Coordinator: Acquire donated iPod (very popular fundraiser) to raffle off at Spring Fair.
* Candy Guess Coordinator: Organize the Candy Guess game. You or your kids can pick the candy!
* Spring Fair Sign Artist: Feeling artsy? Give the highly visible Spring Fair sign that sits outside RCF a fun, 2010 facelift!
* Tables Coordinator: Recruit and organize tables and chairs we'll need to borrow from parents.
* Snowcone/smoothie Chief: Make sure sales go smoothly.
* Middle-Schooler Volunteer Coordinator: Recruit middle school students to work the fair, whether painting faces, painting hair, recycling water bottles or running carnival games. (No need to tell me now that your child can volunteer now. Please wait for the coordinator to put out requests.)
* Balloons Coordinator: Organize sale of helium balloons during the Spring Fair.
If you have any questions at all about the jobs listed above, please do not hesitate to call me. You can reach me (Barbara Contreras) at home 301 495 9178 or cell 240 462 2451. You can also email Barb at bdelolli@usatoday.com.
Thank you for your attention!

Board of Education Meets at Rock Creek Forest

Last night, the board of education came to Rock Creek Forest to hear presentations from the BCC cluster schools. Many members of the Student Government Association with support from Srta. Garcia gave tours to members of the BOE who came early. Then, each school had five minutes to present about their programs, achievements and challenges.

It was interesting to hear many of the common themes: over-crowding and staff reductions, chief among them.

When I had an opportunity to testify, I shared a power point illustrating our challenges and our successes.

BOE Presentation

Many thanks to Craig Brown, Jack Hauser, and Joy White, our cluster coordinators, who organized the event, the many Rock Creek Forest parents, teachers and staff who came out to support their school and, as always, the building service team.

New Format a Sucess for Multicultural Night

Multicultural Night was a huge success with literally hundreds of parents and kids roaming the halls getting their "passports" stamped at different stations, trying new foods and watching performances.

With delicious food scattered throughout the building, there were no lines to eat and mixed in with the food tables were information booths staffed by RCF families representing countries from around the world, including: Japan, Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala and Sweden, among others.

Beautiful traditional dress from Ethiopia, Ghana, Japan and other cultures could be seen on attendees.

After many years in the Gym, this was a new format and we have to thank Natalie Reineke and her committee for reimagining what multicultural night could mean. As always, the support of the teachers, staff, administration and especially building services, was invaluable.

MultiCultural Dinner Next Week

It is that time of year when everyone starts checking their recipies and planning their dress. The RCFPTA Multicultural Dinner is coming up on February 25 from 6:30 to 8.

Bring a dish to share that reflects your families cultural heritage, and yes, for some of us a Snider's Rotisserie Chicken is cultural heritage, we just weren't luck enough to grow up eating empanadas.

Stay to participate in the student sing along, the Chorus and the cultural dance exchange. Tour the school and see cultural displays set up by Rock Creek Forest families, have a great time with your friends and community.

If you have any questions, would like to host a country table to display items/information about a country, perform that night or help, please contact Natalie Reineke at NatalieJoanna@yahoo.com.

Why we all need to be worried: not just immersion

I have heard a lot of discussion around the budget and it is bringing to light again the divisions between our two programs. It is a sad fact of RCF that our two programs are very divided.

When we work at our best, we as parents come together to advocate for our kids and to build a community.

When we are at our worst, we are a very divided place.

So this post is directed to the English Academy side. We have heard a lot about the cuts facing the immersion program specifically such as busing and resource teachers. But these things matter to you as well and if you live in the neighborhood you should be very very concerned.

1) Instructional materials -- perhaps you didn't realize, and I know I never thought about it until this year, my second as PTA president, but, we as a school have fewer books and other materials because they must be bought in two languages. When the fourth grade buys a set of readers, they must buy two, one in each langauge, effectively reducing the number of books available to kids in each program. So, even though our kids don't benefit from learning in Spanish, we are affected by the program. To cut this budget further is insulting.

2) Busing -- yes, I know, I have heard the arguments about equity. If busing is cut only the parents with resources will be able to drive them here. Here's the other argument. I don't want hundreds of additional cars coming through my neighborhood to drop kids at school. It's a mess as is and if this goes through, I think neighbors will wake up in August to a real traffic jam.

These are but two examples of the ways these budget cuts will impact us all. Take some time and sign on to the petition, the link is to the right. Then write a letter, make a phone call and stay informed.