February 2012

Principal's Message

By the time you are reading this, the 100th day of this school year will have passed. Lower grade teachers often recognize this milestone in order to give our younger students a concrete experience of what one hundred actually is. It also serves as a reminder of how quickly the days, weeks and months pass by, and this school year is no exception. With this in mind, I’d like to let you know that registration for the 2012/2013 school year will begin on March 1st (not February 14th as previously stated). If you have a kindergarten student (or any other grade student) who will be entering Main Street School for the 2012-2013 school year, the following items are required in order to complete the registration process:

• Proof of immunization
• A certified birth certificate
• Two original Proofs of residence
• Proof of a Health Exam (required prior to 1st Grade and requested at Kindergarten registration)

There has been a change to the age requirement for kindergarten students beginning school in August 2012. In order to be admitted for Kindergarten in August 2012, students must be five years of age on or before November 1, 2012.

If your child turns five between November 2 and December 2, 2012 your child may be enrolled in a program called Transitional Kindergarten (TK).

If you are interested in your child attending TK, you should call Janet Lindenbaum (464 5639) at the District Office, and ask to be placed on the interest list for the TK program. You need to wait until 3/1/12 to call Ms. Lindenbaum.

The creation of a TK program will be decided when there is clarification regarding Governor Brown’s budget proposal. There is a possibility that the TK program may be suspended due to the financial crisis at our state level.

With regard to new students and families who may be curious about Main Street School, parents are welcome to tour the school on Tuesday, February 21st, or Tuesday, March 13th, from 8:30 – 9:30 AM. These tours are for parents only, please make childcare arrangements for your incoming student if you plan to sign up for one of the tours. To sign up for a tour, please come to the office in advance, or call 464-5650 to register.

The Matsiko World Orphans Choir is coming back to perform at Main Street! They are scheduled to perform on Tuesday, February 14th, from 10:45 – 11:30 AM. This will be an outdoor performance on the playground (at this time the forecast is sunny weather!). They will also be performing at New Brighton Middle School on Thursday, February 16th, at 7:00 PM. Host families are needed for the choir during their stay in our area. Host families will generally have 2-4 children and a chaperone. If you are interested in hosting members of the choir, please contact Cory Montanez at New Brighton Middle School, 464-5660 or via email CMontanez@suesd.org. There is a Host Family Application that needs to be completed by February 10th.

Congratulations to all students who took part in our recent school spelling bee, (Jake Graessle, Trina Daing, Kainoa Fouts, Rose Wickman, Nancy Gomez, Raylene Allen, Elena Curtin, Aaron Fernandes, Rina Rossi, Madison Holden, Julianna Margulies,Emma Eiseman and Sebastian Stubblefield). From this group of classroom representatives, Elena Curtin and Kainoa Fouts will represent our school at the County Spelling Bee, which will be held at UCSC on February 25th. Thanks to all who participated, and parents who helped to proctor the bee, good luck to Elena and Kainoa.

The Fundraising Raffle that was held recently was a great success, and I’d like to thank Lindsey Johnson for spearheading this effort. Thanks to ALL the students who participated in the raffle, every ticket counts, and more than $10,000 was raised for our art & music programs. Thanks also to Maggie Banks, Michelle Buell, Lisa Gray, Carmen Irving, Debby Henn, Tamara Higgins, Carol Owyang, Joan Norvelle, Kate Salter, Tessa Tuttman & Laura Wickman (plus all the ice cream scoopers). And an extra special thanks to Mary Margulies!

Many students are enjoying playing on the playground at the end of the school day, which brings up a couple of issues that are associated with this. Specifically, I would like to remind our parents that students should not be playing unsupervised at this time. During break and lunch, our yard duty personnel supervise students playing in these areas, and ensure that they are following the safety rules e.g. using the equipment in the proper manner. Another concern is that the noise generated can affect the learning environment in the classrooms where students are still in session. Your help in these areas will be greatly appreciated. The window for California Standardized Testing in language arts, math and science (science in 5th grade only) is Tuesday, April 17th through Wednesday, May 10th. Students in second through fifth grade participate in this state testing program (often referred to as STAR testing), and the classroom teachers administer the test. Each student has two language arts tests, and two math tests. Students in fifth grade also have two sections of science. It is important that students participate in the testing program, please make sure that your child is present during the testing window. Last year our overall school score went from 830 to 847, and teachers and students are working hard to improve again this year.

Please mark your calendars for the annual Main Street School Auction, which will be held at Michael’s on Main, on Saturday, 10th of March. You won’t want to miss this great evening of food, fun and fundraising! If you are able to donate items or services for the silent auction please contact Sarah Johnson at: sarahdjohnson77@gmail.com

In closing, if during the school day you need to get a note to a teacher please give it to our school secretary Cindy Boram. She will make sure the teacher gets it, or she will put it in the teacher’s box. Parents should not put notes in boxes, because at times the boxes contain confidential student information. Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Warmly,
Craig Broadhurst