Issue 8
Message from the Principal
Happy New Year to the entire Roland Park Family! As we welcome 2011, I am
happy to announce that Roland Park has been recognized for excellence once
again. Dr. Nancy Grasmick, State Superintendent of Schools, has designated our
school as an Excellence in Gifted and Talented Education (EGATE) candidate.
Last week, we hosted a team of Frostburg State University students and professors. A team of 30 interns and supervisors spent the week observing classroom instruction and meeting with staff to enhance their teacher education experience. It is always wonderful when new teachers and veteran teachers are
able to work together to benefit our students.
We are looking forward to the Elementary play. Please enjoy the production
with us on Friday, January 28 at 7:00 pm.
We all are concerned about a possible 5% budget cut for Baltimore City
Schools. Insufficient budgets could affect our school dramatically. A 5% cut in
Baltimore City Schools funding would translate to a loss of approximately $45
million to the school system. We are fortunate to have a team of parents who
have been actively expressing concerns to the legislature.
We also thank parents who have been participating in our active Green Committee work and in the new creative writing program.
Soon the Roland Park Student Government will sponsor their “Pennies for
Patients” campaign. Watch out for announcements about the campaign, and
remember to send in your pennies.
We are proud that our students always rise to meet any challenges and look
for ways to help others.
A special reminder: School will be closed for students on January 24 and 25.
Report cards will be issued on February 2. Also, please remember, in the case
of inclement weather, to check for closings, delays, and early dismissals. You can
subscribe to receive email alerts in the case of a closing at www.thewbalchannel.
com.
We look forward to your continued participation.
-Carolyn H. Cole
Message from the PTA President
Happy New Year! I know the weather is frigid, and the trees are bare, but
May Mart really is right around the corner; we have lots to do before the early
signs of Spring are here! At this moment, we are in need of volunteers to head
key areas, including a May Mart Chair and Co-Chairs for both the front and back
areas. There is a role for everyone who would like to be involved in this 80-year
tradition at RPEMS.
For those of you new to our school, May Mart is an annual festival of fun for
our families celebrating the beginning of Spring. This year’s festival will be held
on Saturday, May 7 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Held outside on the school
grounds, families from both the school and surrounding neighborhoods enjoy
food, carnival games, and fun. Plants, artwork, and homemade crafts are for
sale, and area businesses have booths with merchandise for sale. May Mart relies
on over 200 volunteers to make the day a success for our school.
Please join us for a “May Mart Kick-Off Gathering” at Zen West on Thursday,
February 3rd at 6:30 pm. We would love to see you there!
Mark your calendars for Thursday, January 20, 6:00 pm. We have scheduled our first PTA General Membership Meeting of the year, and we have a lot to
talk about, including final numbers from our Affordable Auction, corporate giving from Toyota Financial Services, the Baltimore Education Coalition upcoming
activities, PTO vs. PTAs, and, of course, May Mart. An agenda for our meeting
will be emailed through ClassroomParent and posted on our website:
http://www.rolandparkpublic.org/.
As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns:
[email protected].
Lastly, if you have not had the chance, please visit our new online School
Store: http://rolandparkpta.mdbrand.com/. We have started our store website
with winter RPEMS apparel, and, depending on our successes, we may add additional items down the road. We appreciate all feedback, so please keep us
apprised of your experiences.
Cheers!
- JoAnne Huey
January 19, 2011
CALENDAR
Schools Closed for Students
Systemic Professional Development
for Staff
Monday, January 24 and Tuesday,
January 25
Elementary School Play
Mother Goosed
Friday, January 28, 7 pm
Next Deadline for Submission
to the Goldenrod
Friday, January 28
[email protected]
The Next BEC District Planning
Meeting
On Thursday, January 13, I attended a very moving Baltimore Education Coalition (BEC) event at Digital
Harbor High School; I was accompanied by a handful of my colleagues
and students’ parents. We learned
that the anticipated state budget
gap is expected to be between $1.4
and $1.6 billion and that education
funding, according to the Baltimore
Sun, could easily be a target for cuts.
The 5% cuts being proposed by the
Sun would be devastating; if put in
place they would translate to the
loss of approximately three to seven
teachers per school! With school facilities sorely in need of repair and
ever-increasing costs to educate our
children, we can’t allow these cuts
to take place. The BEC needs you to
help us organize to tell our legislators
that we won’t accept cuts to education funding. If you are interested in
getting involved, please plan to attend the next BEC District Planning
Meeting on February 1. We need
to build a coalition of passionate
education supporters and make our
voices heard for an important rally in
Annapolis on February 28, so please
save the date! For more information
on how to get involved in either of
these events, please contact Kimberly Mooney ([email protected].
md.us) or Dan Hellerbach ([email protected]). If you can do
nothing else to support this effort,
please at least consider calling Gov.
O’Malley at (410) 974-3901 to express
to him that we will not stand for cuts
to education. Your support will make
a difference!
-Kimberly Mooney, Middle School Spanish Teacher
Visit www.rolandparkpublic.org for updates, information, phone numbers.
RPPEEF Writing Program Update
Writing is critical to educational excellence. The new
Write Place RPPEEF Writing Program has made great
strides since its launch in September. New writing curricula, developed by RPEMS teachers and reviewed by Dr.
Mariale Hardiman at Johns Hopkins, are being piloted
for all 4th through 8th grades to enrich our Language
Arts education.
Significant progress on other key elements includes:
• Securing Roland Park’s new Writer-in-Residence, Katherine Osborn, a graduate of the Johns Hopkins elite Writing Seminars.
• Supporting a part-time (20 hours/week) Write Place
Program Coordinator, Frankie Sherwood.
• Renovating/ furnishing the new Write Place Writing
Center located in room 305;
• Planning a bigger and better My Word! Writing Festival, scheduled for the week of April 11, 2011.
The total cost in 2010-2011 for developing the Write Place
RPPEEF Writing Program is $70,000. To date, we have
raised over $50,000 from school parents and foundation
grants from the Abell Foundation ($5,000), the Lockhart
Vaughan Foundation ($10,000), and the Roland Park
Community Foundation ($5,000). To reach our fundraising goal this year, we need your support to raise an additional $20,000 by April 2011. These funds will be used
for expanding the My Word! Festival, salary support for
Ms. Sherwood and Ms. Osborn, and portable netbooks
and supplies for the Write Place lab. Here’s how to give
today:
• Please go online to www.bcf.org/RPPEEF, where you can
make a credit or debit card donation. Or, drop a check
made out to “RPPEEF at Baltimore Community Foundation” in our mailbox in the school’s Main Office.
For further information about the RPPEEF Writing Program, please contact Frankie Sherwood, ([email protected]).
Yours sincerely,
The RPPEEF Committee
-Chris Hayes (Kendall, 5th, Grace, 4th), Allison Barlow (Baiz 5th, Penn,
3rd), Jana Carey (Elek, 1st, Max, 7th), Susan English (Sam, 3rd)
From the PTA Treasurer’s Desk
From the Library
We have had a very successful fundraising year so far. The Affordable
Auction was a huge success netting
approximately $41,000 for the PTA!
The Wreath Sale also was very successful making $1,400. Thanks to all
the parents and school community for
making these important fundraisers
such successes.
The PTA has worked closely with Ms.
Cole and the teachers to fund many
initiatives for the school this year. We
have spent $2,500 supporting faculty
and staff. The PTA has funded many
student support activities, including:
agenda books, scholarships for sixth
grade students to attend North Bay in
October, and a Family Fun Night. We
also have spent $6,000 on facilities
support, including painting, window
shade, and gardening projects.
We are looking forward to an exciting 2011 and have many ideas on how
we can work closely with RPEMS to
continue to support our school. We’ll
be sending out a survey via ClassroomParent that will give you the opportunity to weigh in on spending priorities
for the PTA.
Thanks for your continued support!
The Black-Eyed Susan reading program started last month. Students in
grades 4-8 read the nominated books
and answer questions about them. In
April, students who have read four or
more books will be invited to a pizza
party to vote for their favorite books.
Students in grade 2 have been listening to Everybody (picture) books
nominated for the award. They’ll
vote for their favorite book at an ice
cream sundae party in the Spring. So
far, 123 students in grades 4 through 8
have read 279 books. There are four
students who already have read all 10
Black-Eyed Susan books. Congratulations to Ariel Haygood, Claire Wayner,
Juniper King, and Alina Martin.
Many families have donated much
appreciated funds to the library
through our Birthday Book program.
Thanks to the families of Zoe Lunga,
Kylie Taylor, Maxmillian Frueh, Naomi
and Marie Naka, Freddy and Henry
Wolfe, Nate Livingston, Michael and
Katrina Marinelli, William McCloskey,
Cora Parmigiani, Emilia and Serafina
Vizachero, Tom Hornbeck, James and
Jack Stephenson, and Maxwell Palmer.
As always, we appreciate your support! Your children love to see their
names on our Birthday Book Wall of
Fame, as well as in the book we are
able to purchase in their honor.
Many thanks to those who have
donated books and materials to the
library this month: Lexi Bushrod, Nathaniel and Zachary Mamo, Ms. Cuesta, Emilia and Serafina Vizachero, the
Tommy, Maizie, and Jack Fischel, Zachary and Nathaniel Mamo, Astrid Kamali, Emeline Boehringer, volunteer
tutor Caroline Coleman, Ben Fairall,
Briere Allen, Jordan Knox, Evan Hart,
and Grace Gamper. A special thanks
to the Tunis family who scoured the
Internet and found five badly needed
Black-Eyed Susan books.
- Ann Quinn
The Save the Animals Club
The Save the Animals Club visited
BARCS Animal Shelter on December
20 to bring school donations of blankets and towels and $176 we raised
from our pizza sale. They were thankful for the gifts and gave us a great
tour of the facility and let us pet and
oohh and ahhh over some of their
cutest cats and dogs. Thanks to the
whole Roland Park community for all
of the donations!
-Kate Walsh-Little
The Library is a very busy place, and
we can always use help. Volunteers
provide critical support services to help
keep us running smoothly. If you are
interested in helping out, please stop
by or call us at (410) 396-6591.
Roland Park
Elementary School
Presents
Mother Goosed
Friday, January 28,
7 pm
The Goldenrod
A Newsletter presented by
the Roland Park Elementary/
Middle School PTA
[email protected]
5207 Roland Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21210
410-396-6420
www.rolandparkpublic.org
Editor: Karen Homann
Design: Sonia F. Thompson