The PTA has many priorities this school year, a few worth noting are supporting the classroom teachers, building our school community, and improving communications.

There are a number of ways you can support our classroom teachers – becoming room parents, participating in adopt-a-class, bringing supplies for the Back To School Supplies Drive, and many other programs the PTA will be sponsoring this year.  I hope you will join us in this important tasks.

We will be building our school community through fun school-wide events like the September car wash, parent socials, and one of my favorites, Books for Dinner. We look forward to welcoming you at one of our exciting events!

You are invited to our monthly PTA meetings, they are the first Wednesday of every month at 5:30pm, in our school cafeteria. Childcare and dinner for the kids is provided.  I look forward to seeing many of you there!

Pierre Barolette

The recently release reports also pointed to the need to adjust how the school teaches English Language Arts. While some students did make gains in this area, the gains were not shared across the whole school. The link below will take you to www.greatschools.org so that you can see additional detail on our academic performance compared to other schools in the region and the State.

http://www.greatschools.org/california/san-francisco/6435-Starr-King-Elementary-School/

We have much work to do! I want to extend a special thanks to the Parent Teacher Association for supporting two additional days of planning time for teachers this year. We put it to good use. In our planning work prior to the start of the 2010-2011 school year, we re-shaped the structure of the instructional day to bring additional focus to the English Language Arts block.

The biggest change was in shifting the scheduling for Unification activities at the 3^rd and 4^th Grades to times outside of this core academic block. This revised instructional schedule will be posted in the 1^st Floor Bulletin Board case this coming week. As a staff, we believe the revised schedule will allow us to achieve both academic and unification goals with greater clarity and increased impact.

We also signed on to participate in an every-nine-week assessment process at grades 2 through 5 called MAP (Measuring Academic Progress). This cycle of assessments will give us frequent updates on the impact of teaching strategies in English Language Arts and Math.

This list of changes is only a partial one. I will be touching on the next steps for our school in greater detail during Back to School Night on September 3rd. At this point I want to restate the obvious: Everything we do as a staff and school community is done so that students learn at progressively higher levels. The most powerful and important thing we can do as a school community is to support a sustained focus on academic achievement. Our strategies and investments in student wellness, school technology, community building, unification, attendance, and school safety are done so that students can learn well.

Learning is both a privilege and a right for our students. Every single child deserves to be challenged and a chance to be in a position to make his or her own choices in the world that is unfolding before us. Starr King is, in many ways, leading the charge in preparing students for the 21st Century.

I invite your continued partnership in supporting children and the school in staying focused on its teaching and learning goals as this exciting year of change picks up speed.

I wanted to introduce myself and welcome you (or welcome you back) to Starr King Elementary School. I’ve already been able to meet a number of families in and around the neighborhood. I am very much looking to getting acquainted with each of you as we engage in a full and productive year of teaching and learning.

As I was hired after the close of the school year, I also wanted to provide a little background about me:

• Eight years of experience as a school administrator, seven years as an elementary school principal and one year as a middle school vice principal.
• Thirteen years of teaching experience
• Twenty-six years of education experience overall
• A belief, based in evidence, of the potential of every child.

This past year, I visited shining examples of schools in cities like Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles and the Bay Area. I witnessed how these schools create the right chemistry atmosphere or environment etc. for excellence. With Starr King’s top notch faculty, engaged parents, and motivated students, our school has all of the right ingredients. I am honored that the school community chose me to be a part of its journey.

I have a couple of updates in response to questions I’ve already received concerning staffing, class assignments, and school uniforms:

• The school uniform policy will remain in place.
• I will post our revised staff list within the next week..
• Class lists will be posted the day before school begins.

This week, I will post (and mail) a calendar that includes important dates, some additional procedural information for new families to our school, a note about openings on the School Site Council, and other tidbits that might help you feel oriented and ready for a great school year. I will be on campus starting Friday of this week and then every day as of next Monday. Please feel free to drop by to say hello.

I’m excited to join the Starr King community and continue to build upon its tradition of innovation and excellence.

Looking forward,
Greg John
Principal

This fun event will have lots of food, childcare and activities for the kids at the event, and a Silent Auction.

To whet your appetites for the great items that will be available at the Silent Auction, please download the Spring Fling Auction Preview here.

Remember that all proceeds go to Starr King Elementary – even if it is purchasing services at face value, these businesses have donated their goods and services to Starr King so when you purchase these items the money supports the school.

We have rounded up many exciting and wonderful items including:

Disneyland tix! (plus Great America, Gilroy Gardens, Giants, SF Symphony, & Opera)
-Museums: Exploratorium, Asian Art, DeYoung, Legion of Honor, Academy
of Sciences, BADM, more!
-Restaurant gift certificates: Pacific Catch, Grandeho, Goat Hill Pizza, and more
-Services: massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, hair and nails
-Kid stuff: camps, classes, Recess, My Gym, kid bike and scooters!
-Travel: Tahoe cabin 4-nite stay, Deluxe Colorado family ski vacation
-bargains: kid (and adult) jewelry

What: Starr King Spring Fling
When: Sunday, May 23rd, from 2pm to 5pm (auction closes at 3:45,
raffle pix about 4:30)
Where: NABE — the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House (953 DeHaro St 94107)
For more information and periodic updates see the Spring Fling page or download a Spring Fling Flyer (Spring Fling Flyer Spanish) to distribute to friends and family. Also available is a post-card sized as seen in the Potrero View.

“short plays by short people”
See Seven Original plays written by Fifth Graders of Starr King Elementary. 2 Performances Only!

Friday May 14th at 6:30pm
Friday May 21st at 11:00am

deYoung Museum
Koret Auditorium
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco

Reserve your FREE tickets here.

For more information about the event download this flyer.