From auvpto at aol.com Mon Mar 3 11:51:14 2008 From: auvpto at aol.com (auvpto at aol.com) Date: Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:51:14 -0500 Subject: [CabotCommunity] Budget Relalted In-Reply-To: <8CA4B6449C65480-13F0-8EE@mblk-d26.sysops.aol.com> References: <8CA4B5CC1643D31-67C-A13@webmail-de07.sysops.aol.com> <8CA4B6207299A11-9AC-CC6@mblk-d47.sysops.aol.com> <8CA4B6449C65480-13F0-8EE@mblk-d26.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: <8CA4B65ED72D4E1-13F0-9DF@mblk-d26.sysops.aol.com> Thanks to more than 60 parents who came to attend the Cabot Community Conversation meeting last week. We? hope you found the evening informative and helpful in understanding the current situation regarding the three issues - strategic planning regarding the schools of the future, long-range facilities planning, and the most pressing issue of school budget for FY'09. There are three budget being discussed right now - Allocation Budget, Maintenance of Effort budget, and Override budget.? Allocation budget is the one that Mayor has allocated based on the money available currently, Maintenance of Effort is the budget needed to maintain the current programs in the schools, and the Override budget is the one that is needed to to keep all the program where they should be. If an additional funds are not obtained through override, there will be deep cuts and these changes will effect Cabot school and your children. Based on the public comments and concerns, the School Committee and School Superintendent, Dr. Jeffrey Young, is working together to reach a compromise. There is a lot of information out there to understand.? We will make every effort to get this information to you.? For this reason, we will do the following: Attend relevant meetings; Keep you up-to-date, via emails, with all the information that we receive from the City and the School Committee(these emails will have "BUDGET RELATED" as the subject matter; Create a thumbnail on Cabot PTO website for these issues; and Post the letters parent that have been sent to the Alderman, and/or to the press; You may have many questions about the budget and the override. Please stay informed, try to get information to make an informed decision and ask questions. Please feel free to contact Sarah Ecker, Co-chair of Move Newton Forward, and Cabot's Move Newton Forward Cabot School field coordinators, John Kett (johnakett at gmail.com) and Sarah Hemphill (sarahhemphill at rcn.com), as we make our way through this process this spring. As we discussed on February 28th, from some Aldermen have informed us that every Board member needs to hear some communication from the public about the override.? So far, they are just hearing from the folks who are against the override. ? For effective communications and your voice to be heard,? please do take a moment to send a quick e-mail stating that:? q??????You attended a meeting at Cabot School about the override and have serious concerns about next year?s operating budget; q??????You believe Newton needs a realistic, winnable operating override; q??????The amount of funds that need to be raised through override needs to be determined soon; and q??????The plan should address the core needs of our city and schools, including funding to start work on a new Cabot School. Your e-mail message should go to all of the Aldermen.? You can do that by sending your message to the Board's Clerk, David Olson and he will forward it to the full Board. ?His e-mail is:??dolson at newtonma.gov ? Thanks again for your support. ?Archana Vahalia Cabot PTO Co-President auvpto at aol.com 617-244-1435 Supercharge your AIM. Get the AIM toolbar for your browser. Supercharge your AIM. Get the AIM toolbar for your browser. Supercharge your AIM. Get the AIM toolbar for your browser. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://cabotpto.org/pipermail/cabotcommunity_cabotpto.org/attachments/20080303/0578215d/attachment.html From auvpto at aol.com Tue Mar 4 13:52:45 2008 From: auvpto at aol.com (auvpto at aol.com) Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:52:45 -0500 Subject: [CabotCommunity] Jabberlite For March 4, 2008 Message-ID: <8CA4C4011A39053-FAC-1308@MBLK-M36.sysops.aol.com> Hello friends, spring is around the corner and we have much to look forward to.? Hope you will find the attached newsletter informative and helpful. Jabberlite for Tuesday March 4, 2008 This edition contains information about: Early Release Swap PTO Meeting Reminder Cabot Book Fair Invention Invasion Understanding Our Differences March is UNPlugged and Connected Month in Newton Newton Serves and Cabot Clean Up Days Cabot Fair Funtastic Fridays for all Newton 5th Graders and all 4th Graders Mayor?s Message Upcoming Calendar - visit www.Cabotpto.org for?the entire?calendar anytime. March 4, 2008 School Council Meeting 5:00 - 6:45PM March 5, 2008 Kindergarten Assessments (snow date 3/12) March 6, 2008 Creative Arts & Sciences Grade 3 - Brian Lies Author/Illustrator March 6, 2008 5th Grade Parent Night at Bigelow 7:00 - 8:30pm.? Tour of School at 6:30 - 6:45pm March 6, 2008 School Committee Meeting 7:30 PM March 7, 2008 Bigelow and Day Principals visit with 5th graders at 9:00 am March 10, 2008 MEPA-R/W? Massachusetts English Proficiency Assessment ( for English Language Learners, grades 3 - 5) March 10, 2008 Kindergarten Assessments (snow date 3/17) March 10, 2008 School Committee Meeting 7:30 PM March 11, 2008 MEPA-R/W? Massachusetts English Proficiency Assessment ( for English Language Learners, grades 3 - 5) March 13, 2008 Understanding our Differences Grade 4, 1:00 - 2:45 PM March 13, 2008 School Committee Meeting 7:30 PM March 13, 2008 Newton Unplugged - No homework/No meeting night March 12 - 14, 2008 Book Fair, Cabot Library March 13, 2008 Book Fair & Ice Cream Social, 6:30-8:30 PM, Cabot Gym & Library March 14, 2008 MEPA-R/W? Massachusetts English Proficiency Assessment ( for English Language Learners, grades 3 - 5) March 17, 2008 School Committee Meeting 7:30 PM March 18 2008 Invention Invasion March 18, 2008 Jabberwock Publication 2007-08 Issue #8 March 19, 2008 School Committee Meeting 7:30 PM March 20, 2008 Early Release, 12:30 PM Dismissal March 21, 2008 Good Friday, NO SCHOOL March 24, 2008 School Committee Meeting 7:30 PM March 24, 2008 METCO Parents' Council Meeting 7 - 9:00 PM Roxbury (snow date 3/31) March 25, 2008 Affinity Group 12:30 pm March 27, 2008 Understanding our Differences Grade 4 1:00 - 2:45 PM ? ? ? Thank you to all the Cabot Families who have made a generous contribution of time, effort and money this year. This year's Campaign for Cabot alone has received over $33,000 and will help support all of the programs and projects that the PTO has planned for our children at the Cabot Elementary School.?Checks are still coming in and we are so thankful and appreciative of your generosity!? Your contributions make PTO?s job easier and enjoyable. Ariadne PTO Partnership is Paying off! Thanks to families who wrote Cabot PTO on the Ariadne bill, we received a check of $22 in the mail today. ? Please continue to write down Cabot School PTO every time you happen to be in Ariadne!? They will send the PTO a check for 5% of total purchases each month.? Please feel free to forward to your friends and family as well. Thanks! ? Early Release Day Reminder - Swap due to MCAS Testing Due to the MCAS testing across the state, Tuesday March 25th will be a full day of school.? We will have our weekly early dismissal at 12:30 PM on Wednesday March 26th instead.? Please plan ahead and mark your calendars. ? PTO Meeting Reminder Due to the Cabot Community Conversations Meeting on February 28th, the PTO meeting scheduled for Tuesday February 26th was postponed until Tuesday March 25.? We hope to see you on March 25th at 8:40 in the Library. The Cabot Book Fair ? March 12th to the 14th Visit the Cabot School library March 11-13 to browse and buy books. On March 13th, Cabot will again host Bedtime at the Book Fair, a fun night when you and your children can sip hot chocolate, listen to stories read by parents and teachers, and buy your favorite books.? The book fair will again have a used book section. If you have books to donate, please bring them to the library March 3-5. If you are able to volunteer at the book fair or if you?d like to be a guest reader, please contact Kate Johnson at kate at textreviews.com. ? Invention Invasion ? Tuesday March 18 The invention invasion forms have been distributed and the classrooms visited.? Invasion fever has arrived!? Students are busy ?inventing? things like the ?sister seat-belt buckler? to the ?bedtime brusher?, the ?gerbil exercise maze? and the ?stinky sock zapper?.? All students in grades K- 5 are welcome to submit an invention.? Students can work, alone or as part of a group.? Forms are due back on March 10th and the ?invention themselves should be brought to school on Tuesday March 18th.? Interested in helping out?? We could use your help.? We are looking for a parent volunteer to help.? You don?t need to be a scientist; all you need is a desire to help!? Contact Vicki Gartland (vgartland at comcast.net) or Karen Jauregui (kjauregui at repligen.com) if you are interested. ? Understanding Our Differences --March?13 and 27 On March 13th the Grade 4 students will participate in Understanding our Differences program on special medical conditions. Carolyn Eggert will present info on asthma, epilepsy and diabetes. We'll have a speaker who will talk about living with epilepsy. She needs parents to help out when we break the kids up into smaller groups. Please contact Carolyn at begg69 at aol.com. ? On March 27th, if you are able to help with the UOD unit on Deafness and Hard of Hearing, please contact Maureen Mullowney at maureenmullowney at aol.com.? Training is provided by the Understanding Our Differences Program of Newton.? ? March is UNPlugged and Connected Month in Newton Ever wish you could spend more personal time with friends, family and neighbors?? Well, now?s your chance! March is ?UNplugged and Connected? month in Newton, a month-long program that reminds Newton families and residents to unplug electronics and engage in human interaction! ? Sponsored by Newton Community Service Center (NCSC) through its CAP program, Newton City Hall and the Newton School Department, ?Unplugged and Connected? hopes to promote and strengthen personal relationships while avoiding the use of computers, televisions and telephones. ? With the aid of a colorful calendar of suggested activities that do NOT require electronics but do emphasize person-to-person interaction, people are encouraged to approach the days of March a little differently than other times of the year. ? Highlights of the month include ?No Homework Night,? March 20th, a teen talent night, March 27th, a family square dance March 28th, and a variety of cultural, recreational and social activities for adults and children. ? The UNplugged calendar, placed around town, is featured on the websites of the city of Newton (www.ci.newton.ma.us) and Newton Community Service Center (www.ncscweb.org). Participating organizations include the Newton Free Library, History Museum and Park and Recreation Department; Newton?s Schools, John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club, Boston Parks and Recreation, the Arnold Arboretum and JFK Library, and the West Suburban YMCA. For questions or more information, please call Gail Sommer at NCSC, 617-969-5906 x.143. ? Newton Serves and Cabot Clean Up Days ? April 12 and 13 On Newton Serves day, teams of volunteers around the city will take on a variety of OUTDOOR projects for a day of community service, fun, and ultimately ICE CREAM. ? Last year, we added Cabot Clean up day and had very successful time working INDOORS and sprucing up the school from inside.? This year we are hoping to clean and organize the Cabot basement amongst other projects. ? This year again, we invite Cabot Families to join us between 9 AM and 4 PM on Saturday for Cabot Clean Up Day to clean up from inside and between 12:30 and 3:30 PM on April 13th to help shake the remnants of winter from our school grounds as well. Please bring your enthusiasm and skills for a bit of light spring cleaning in preparation for the warm days ahead.? Children 8 years or older may participate with their parents. ? Please tune in for more details. You can sign up by either e-mailing our team leader Mark Geffen at markdgeffen at yahoo.com or by calling him on 617-928-6065. ? Light refreshments will be provided by the PTO.? Newton Serves day ends at 3:30 PM with an ice cream party ?Sundaes on Sunday? celebration. ? Save the Date - Cabot Fair 08' Mark your calendars for the exciting Cabot Fair 2008! ?Saturday May 3, ?10-3 p.m. // Creative games, ?Distinctive foods, Cool amusement rides, Excellent ponies, Awesome baked goods, Super karate, Great yard Sale and more...ALL day fun! ? If you would like to get involved please contact event co-chairs: Deb Klein at deb.klein at approachgroup.com or Laura Dreese at tiggermack at aol.com ? Funtastic Fridays for all Newton 5th Graders and SPECIAL This time Only Calling all 4th Graders As well Funtastic Fridays for all Newton 5th graders, March 7th:? A great way to meet kids from the ?feeder? elementary schools, as our 5th graders get ready to move up to Bigelow.? Here are the monthly dates for the remainder of the school year to put into your calendars: 4/4, 5/2, 6/13.? All are 7-9 pm. at the Hyde Community Center 90 Lincoln Street. $6 admission for Music, games and more. Snacks and drinks available for purchase. Sign up for a ?Fast Pass? card to speed entry by emailing your name, phone number and school to fevercoach at aol.com.? Sponsored in part by Parks and Rec. Questions? Call Judy Dore: 617-796-1525. ? ??Funtastic Fridays? and ?Unplugged and Connected? bring you ?Special Edition?, March 14th 6:30-8:30 pm at Newton Community Service Center 492 Waltham Street, West Newton.? $6.? DJ, Basketball, games and more.? Snacks and drinks available for purchase.? For more info:? 617-796-1500.? ? ?Newton On the Move? Bike-a-Thon: Each of Newton?s individual schools is being asked to start now to plan for next fall?s Bike-a-Thon, coordinated by the former principal of Newton North High School, Jennifer Huntington, who is now a Newton Schools Foundation Board Member.? The event, scheduled for Sunday, October 5th will take bike riders to each of Newton?s 21 schools and ends at City Hall for prizes, refreshments, etc.? The goal is to raise money for the Foundation and for?the individual schools.? Although this event is almost a year away, it takes a lot of planning.? The current aim is to get volunteers from?each of the schools to meet monthly?to work out logistics/finances/safety/rules/publicity, etc.? Here is some of what needs to be done:? Form bike riding team(s) from each school, sponsor the event, get sponsors and donors, help with publicity, cheer riders along the route, help hand out water/ice cream at City Hall, and of course help with the overall planning. Please consider helping out in ways both large and small.? Contact Jennifer Huntington at 617-965-5063 or granx4 at gmail.com. ? ? ? Message from the Mayor ? ??? ?Telephone ? ? Office of the Mayor ? www.ci.newton.ma.us ? 1000 Commonwealth Avenue Newton, Massachusetts 02459 ? City of Newton, Massachusetts ? Mayor ? David B. Cohen ? ??? Dcohen at ci.newton.ma.us? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Memorandum To:????????????????? Board of Aldermen, School Committee, Design Review Committee From: ??????????? Mayor David B. Cohen Date:? ??????????? February 26, 2008 Re:????????????????? Tab Article on Aggregate Industries A recent article by a Tab reporter may have created the erroneous impression that the concrete provided by Aggregate Industries and being used at the Newton North site might be sub-standard or unsafe.? Nothing could be further from the truth.? Aggregate Industries is an international company well-respected in the construction field with an inter-national reputation for competence and high quality work. Some years ago questions arose about Aggregate?s supply of concrete to the Big Dig during the years 1999-2005.? Aggregate Industries employs thousands of people.? The four Aggregate Industries personnel (1 middle-level manager and 3 employees, 0 executives) implicated for their involvement in the Big Dig were terminated in May 2006 at the conclusion of an extensive investigation. During the course of this investigation, Aggregate Industries diligently cooperated with the Government by providing over a million documents, and educating the Government in great detail as to our business practices.? As acknowledged by independent testing, the ready-mixed concrete poured by AI NE on the Big Dig has surpassed all structural integrity and strength tests that have been administered by outside experts, ensuring that the concrete is completely safe. Aggregate Industries took a series of important additional steps to assure the quality of its product and integrity of its process. A strict national policy was developed and implemented that prohibits the use of leftover concrete on any public project.? Any employee in violation of this policy is subject to termination. A fully-staffed Compliance Department was established to assist with the implementation of a rigorous, industry-leading compliance program. An independent on-site auditor was contracted by Aggregate Industries Northeast Region to monitor AI?s business practices and assist with the strengthening of its compliance protocols.? This auditor reports regularly to both outside government agencies and corporate senior management. Mandatory employee compliance training regarding business ethics and industry specific topics has been developed and initiated. A state-of-the-art electronic quality control system that allows management and quality control professionals to carefully monitor all concrete produced was installed. A dedicated testing lab was constructed in Everett, Massachusetts. What is more, Aggregate Industries continues to provide concrete to a tremendous number of important projects throughout the world.? In the past twenty-four months alone Aggregate has successfully provided the concrete for dozens of projects in New England which are of equivalent or greater concrete yardage than Newton North, and which literally tens of thousands of people access daily in complete safety.? They include: ?Project Name Project Location Woburn High School Woburn, MA Melrose Middle School Melrose, MA Swampscott High School Swampscott, MA Windham High School Windham, NH Salem High School Salem, MA Auburn High School Auburn, MA Rutland Elementary School Rutland, MA Brandeis University Residence Waltham, MA Brandeis University Science Center Waltham, MA Boston University Residence Boston, MA Harvard University Housing Cambridge, MA Parking Garage UMASS Lowell Lowell, MA Holy Cross Science Building Worcester, MA MassPort Central Parking Expansion Boston, MA I-290/Route146 Interchange Worcester, MA Upper County Bridge Haverhill, MA MBTA Red Line Boston, MA Worcester Federal Courthouse Worcester, MA MWRA CSO Tunnel Boston, MA Upper Blackstone Sewage Plant Millbury, MA Pease Air National Guard Base Newington, NH Newton-Wellesley Hospital Newton, MA St. Elizabeth's Hospital Brighton, MA Children's Hospital Boston ,MA Dana Farber Cancer Center Boston, MA UMASS Medical Center Worcester, MA ? Aggregate Industries places paramount importance on conducting business with the highest principles of honesty, integrity, and safety.? The City of Newton places safety as the highest priority in the Newton North project.? To imply otherwise does Aggregate Industries, City of Newton and the New Newton North a disservice. ? Compiled for you by the Cabot PTO. More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail! You received this message because you opted in to receive Cabot Community emails. To subscribe, update your email address, or unsubscribe, go to: http://cabotpto.org/mailman/listinfo/cabotcommunity_cabotpto.org ? Cabot School PTO - 229 Cabot Street - Newtonville, Massachusetts 02460 ? ?Archana Vahalia Cabot PTO Co-President auvpto at aol.com 617-244-1435 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://cabotpto.org/pipermail/cabotcommunity_cabotpto.org/attachments/20080304/4db1502a/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Jabberlite for Tuesday March 4.doc Type: application/msword Size: 101888 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://cabotpto.org/pipermail/cabotcommunity_cabotpto.org/attachments/20080304/4db1502a/attachment.doc From auvpto at aol.com Mon Mar 10 22:22:11 2008 From: auvpto at aol.com (auvpto at aol.com) Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:22:11 -0400 Subject: [CabotCommunity] Cabot Book Fair - March 11 - 13, 2008 Message-ID: <8CA5135D900EF74-7B4-200E@webmail-dd11.sysops.aol.com> The Cabot PTO invites all families to join us for 3 days of our annual literary event - Cabot Book Fair.? It opens each day at 8 in the morning to give a head start to early birds. On Thursday March 13th, the "Bedtime at the Book Fair" will begin at 6:30 PM and end at 8:00 PM.? Enjoy milk, cookies, and warm beverages.? Hope to see you in your pajamas to enjoy book readings!!! If you are able to donate your books and/or donate your time, please contact Kate Johnson at kate at textreviews.com. ?Archana Vahalia Cabot PTO Co-President auvpto at aol.com 617-244-1435 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://cabotpto.org/pipermail/cabotcommunity_cabotpto.org/attachments/20080310/513cf0d4/attachment.html From auvpto at aol.com Mon Mar 17 09:47:56 2008 From: auvpto at aol.com (auvpto at aol.com) Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 09:47:56 -0400 Subject: [CabotCommunity] Reminder - Bike-a-thon Meeting Tonite Message-ID: <8CA564CA373F8E8-4A0-1@FWM-M16.sysops.aol.com> This is to remind everyone that there is? a meeting about Bike-A-thon for October 2009 at Ed Center from 7:30 to 9:00PM.? Hopefully, we have good representation from Cabot as this is an important fund raiser for the city and a fun activity to get involved for the whole family.? If you have any questions, please let us know.? Thanks. I am including a message from Jennifer Huntington: "Hi All - this coming Monday - March 17 is our next meeting - 7:30 -? 9:00 in Room 318 at the Ed. Center. I feel that this meeting will be? "make or break" time - we have some tough decisions to make, and don't? yet have representation from all 21 schools. Please make sure that? someone from your school attends this meeting!? Our agenda includes: ? ?Introductions/Welcome ?Updates from Route committee ?Decision time - will this event fly or not - and if not, would a? Walk-a-Thon, as discussed last time, be a substitute?? What needs to be done from here on out - knowing that we are coming? into the busiest season for the schools, but have to have the bulk of? our planning done before school gets out." ?Archana Vahalia Cabot PTO Co-President auvpto at aol.com 617-244-1435 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://cabotpto.org/pipermail/cabotcommunity_cabotpto.org/attachments/20080317/5883811e/attachment.html From auvpto at aol.com Mon Mar 17 10:18:17 2008 From: auvpto at aol.com (auvpto at aol.com) Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:18:17 -0400 Subject: [CabotCommunity] Budget related - IMPORTANT MEETING TONITE In-Reply-To: <8CA564FE2E5DC7A-4A0-1EB@FWM-M16.sysops.aol.com> References: <001801c8854d$68937790$6801a8c0@SUELAPTOP> <8CA564D9B0A6260-4A0-88@FWM-M16.sysops.aol.com> <8CA564FE2E5DC7A-4A0-1EB@FWM-M16.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: <8CA5650E1086355-4A0-263@FWM-M16.sysops.aol.com> The Finance Committee and the Programs & Services Committee of the Board of Aldermen voted last week on a series of override resolutions. The next step is a full debate of all the proposals and a vote by the whole Board of Alderman, tonite Monday, March 17 at 7:45 p.m. at City Hall in the Aldermanic Chamber, which is on the second floor at the top of the stairs. There will be no be opportunity for testimony from the public on Monday, but it is imperative that we fill the seats of the Aldermanic Chamber at City Hall. We need to physically demonstrate that there is public support? and that the community wants to maintain the high quality of our schools and other city services. Please plan to attend this critical meeting and encourage others to join you. More Info on the Budget Override The Newton PTO Council, the umbrella group for all of the PTOs in Newton, has pulled together all sorts of helpful information regarding the proposed override and its effect on the Newton Public Schools. Visit their website at www.newtonptocouncil.org and click on "2008 Override." ?Archana Vahalia Cabot PTO Co-President auvpto at aol.com 617-244-1435 Supercharge your AIM. Get the AIM toolbar for your browser. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://cabotpto.org/pipermail/cabotcommunity_cabotpto.org/attachments/20080317/91c281da/attachment.html From auvpto at aol.com Tue Mar 18 15:08:34 2008 From: auvpto at aol.com (auvpto at aol.com) Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:08:34 -0400 Subject: [CabotCommunity] Jabberwock for March 18, 2008 Message-ID: <8CA574298ABE978-1774-CF6@WEBMAIL-MC05.sysops.aol.com> ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?Respect for self and others??????????? Lifelong learning???????????????? Commitment to school and community ? Cabot School Contact Information ? Main Office: 617-559-9400???????????????????? ?????????????? ? CASP: 617-964-2749 ? Gym: 617-559-9407?????????????????????????????????? ????????????? ? Food Service: 617-559-9021 or 617-559-6315??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ? Inclusion Facilitator: 617-559-9409????? ????????????????? ? Nurse: 617-559-9404 ? Library: 617-559-9406????????????? ????????????????????????????? ? Psychologist & Social Worker: 617-559-9405 ? Call Back/Safe Arrival: 617-559-9390 Call by 8:20 a.m. to report tardiness & absences ? Cabot School website ??????www.newton.k12.ma.us/cabot/? Cabot School PTO ????????????www.cabotpto.org? Newton Public Schools? ???www.newton.k12.ma.us/ ? ?Calendar ? March 18 2008 Invention Invasion ? ? March 18, 2008 Jabberwock Publication 2007-08 Issue #8 ? ? March 19, 2008 School Committee Meeting 7:30 PM ? ? March 20, 2008 Early Release, 12:30 PM Dismissal ? ? March 21, 2008 Good Friday, NO SCHOOL ? ? March 24, 2008 School Committee Meeting 7:30 PM ? ? March 24, 2008 METCO Parents' Council Meeting 7 - 9:00 PM Roxbury (snow date 3/31) ? ? March 25, 2008 Switch Day ? FULL DAY OF SCHOOL ? ? March 26, 2008 Switch Day - Early Release, 12:30 PM Dismissal ? ? March 27, 2008 Understanding our Differences Grade 4 1:00 - 2:45 PM ? ? April 1, 2008 School Council Meeting 5:00 - 6:45PM ? ? April 4, 2008 Science Discovery Museum, Rocks and Minerals, Gr. 4, various times in the Classrooms ? ? April 10, 2008 EARLY RELEASE DAY, 12:30pm ? ? April 14, 2008 School Committee Meeting, 7:30 PM ? ? April 15, 2008 CASP Play ? ? April 15, 2008 Jabberwock Publication 2007-08 Issue #9 ? ? April 15, 2008 5th Grade Parent Night at Day 7:00 pm ? ? April 19, 2008 Passover begins at Sundown ? ? 4/21/08 - 4/25/08 Spring Vacation, NO SCHOOL ? Please check the website www.cabotpto.org for an updated calendar at anytime. ? ? PTO Pen What a month it has been from budget discussions to Dr. Quarcoo's announcement to retire!!!?We are fortunate for Dr. Quarcoo?s leadership, vision, and dedication to Cabot for almost 18 years.? I want to take this opportunity to thank her for her tireless work not only at Cabot but various other school districts and wish her luck in her life beyond Cabot.? We will surely miss her.? ? As many of you already know, Ms. Marcie Mann has announced her desire to retire at the end of this school year.? We hope you will join us in wishing her well after many years of her service to Cabot. Look for more details for celebrations to honor their tenure at Cabot. ? We will soon know if the Superintendent, Dr. Young, will appoint or go through the selection process for a new principal at Cabot.? So please stay tuned in for more news on this front. As we celebrate Dr. Quarcoo?s legacy, we have to help the community prepare to welcome the new principal, as and when that person accepts this position, and to help that person lead us for years to come. ? As we sit through the City meetings regarding the effect of budget on all the schools and then specifically to Cabot, we go through mixed feelings of awe and surprise at how detailed and passionate people are about Newton schools and upset people feel in case some of the programs will be eliminated in case people of Newton do not support the tax override.? Last night?s meeting at the City Hall is a testament to that. After long debate, we seem to have a ballot question, finally. ?The aldermen voted (20-3) to put a $12 million operating override on the ballot for vote on May 20th. ?They voted down putting a Newton North debt exclusion on the ballot, 14-9. ?Brandel/Sangiolo's attempt to lower the override amount to $9.1 million was defeated by a vote of 12-10. ? As we come to a month of various religious holidays that our community is celebrating, I want to take a moment to thank Dr. Quarcoo and her wonderful staff for their services to our children and our community, Mary Kathryn Fallon for her leadership, co-chairs of various committees whose work make our school experience more enriching everyday, and all the volunteers who work tirelessly to make Cabot a better place. Please take a moment to let these people know how you appreciate their contributions. Mary Kathryn Fallon????????????????????????????? Archana Vahalia PTO co-President????????????????????????????? PTO co-President ? ? ??Recent Events at cabot ? Cabot Book Fair? Thanks for the tremendous success of this year?s book fair and your support ?? especially Thursday night's event. A special note of thanks to the following volunteers who helped to make it such a successful event:?? KB Spector, Sandy Connors, Faith Witte, Margaret Wazuka, Julie Lindstrom, Andrea Plotkin, Rachel Boloyan, Emily Hess, Lisa Svennson, Chris Kjellson, Deb Klein, Ilyse Greenberg, Stephanie Seminara, Janet Lin, Joanne Gatnick, Roberta Hing, Ayako Samuels, Liz and Paul O'Gara, Jo Doherty, Laura Dreese, Kelly Weaver, Anya Bassett, Jen Hyde, Amy Abromowitz, JoAnn Speidel, Marya Van't Hul, Daphne Potter, Alice Cunningham, Sarah Ecker, and Suzy Enyeart.? ? We would also like to thank our five wonderful storybook readers:? ?Dr. Quarcoo, Ruy Cardoso, Julie Stonehill, Jennifer Roberts and Ray Madoff.? The PTO would like to send special thanks to Lisa Porter, Kate Johnson and Librarian extraordinaire Lani Gerson.? There effort and enthusiasm made this year?s book fair a great success!?We netted $673 from used book and food salesand we are waiting for the funds raised from the new book sales.? ? ?Upcoming Events at cabot ? ? Invention Invasion is Tonight!! 5:30 ? 7:00pm Cabot Gymnasium? Did you see all the inventions coming through Cabot?s doors this morning?? The Invention Invasion has arrived!!? Stop by the Cabot Gymnasium tonight between 5:30 ? 7:00pm to check out all the fabulous inventions made by Cabot students!? You will be amazed at some of the ideas students come up with!? Thanks to Vicki Gartland and Karen Jauregui for all their hardwork organizing this fun annual event! ? Next PTO Meeting We hope to see you next Tuesday morning, March 25th, at 8:40am in the Library. We will have a financial update, discuss NewtonServes/Cabot Clean-up Day and other upcoming events.? We will have a political update on the override scheduled for May 20, 2008 and address the Superindentant?s policy for finding a successor for Dr. Quarcoo. ? Mark Your Calendar?s for Next Week?s Early Release Day Swap due to MCAS Testing Due to the MCAS testing across the state, Tuesday March 25th will be a full day of school.? We will have our weekly early dismissal on Wednesday March 26th instead. The Affinity Group meeting dates have also switched from the 25th to the 26th. ?Please mark your calendars.? Please visit Cabotpto.org to view all the dates of the exams. ? Understanding Our Differences ? March?13 and 27 On March 27th, if you are able to help with the UOD unit on Deafness and Hard of Hearing, please contact Maureen Mullowney at maureenmullowney at aol.com.? Training is provided by the Understanding Our Differences Program of Newton.? ? ? ? Volunteers Needed ? Newton Serves/Cabot Clean-up Day ? April 12 and 13 On Newton Serves day, April 13th, teams of volunteers around the city will take on a variety of OUTDOOR projects for a day of community service, fun, and ultimately ICE CREAM. ? Last year, we added Cabot Clean up day and had very successful time working INDOORS and sprucing up the school from inside.? This year, on April 12th and 13th, we are hoping to clean and organize the Cabot basement amongst other projects.? Look for more details. ? Tonight there is a meeting of Newton Serves/ Elementary School Equity Cap from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM at Isabelle Thacker?s home, please let her know if you are interested in attending it. ? HOUSEKEEPING ? Lost and Found Please check the lost and found bin in the lobby. The pile is high and overflowing! It will be emptied out at the end of the month.? Last day to check is March 27. ? ? CABOT BROADCAST ? PAC Meeting Wednesday, April 9, 2008 7:30 PM Your Rights Under Special Education Law by Attorney Dan Ahearn.? The Newton Parent Advisory Council for Special Education invites you to our April 9 meeting at 7:30 PM at the Education Center, 100 Walnut St, Newton, MA 02460.? Daniel Ahearn, Esq. will speak on special education law and parent rights.? Dan practices disability, special education, education, and children?s law and is on the faculty at Suffolk University Law School. He directs the Landmark Outreach Program at the Landmark School, which specializes in teaching students with language based learning disabilities. He was the Director of the Massachusetts Bureau of Special Education Appeals and has written many articles on special education law.? Please come to learn about your rights and how to advocate more effectively for your child.? For more information or to join our online discussion group, please email info at newtonpac.org? or visit our website at www.newtonpac.org. We hold monthly meetings during the school year which are open to all who are interested in education. ? Food Service Announces new nutrition information on website The food service is please to announce you can now view our recipes and the nutritional analysis of the meals we serve. Please visit our web-site at http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/foodservices/schools_elementary/nuitrition.html. Submitted by Rob Clickstein, Food Service Director, Newton Public Schools ? Got Old Birthday Certificates?? Don?t toss them - redeem them at the school store!? We gladly accept birthday certificates (worth 50?) from previous years.? The school store is open every Tuesday morning from 8:00 ? 8:20 am, and is located in the new Fine Arts wing.? Students just need to tell the fifth-grade safeties that they want to visit the store to be allowed in the building early.? We carry pencils, erasers, sharpeners, folders, rulers and other school-related items.? Proceeds from the school store go to the fifth graders to offset the cost of their yearbook, t-shirt and community service project.? Contact:? Karen Lumino, 617-630-5073 or family at swain.name. ? New Spanish Language Club to be held at Cabot Look for the flyer from Newton Community Education/IES regarding the new Spanish After School Club beginning on March 13, 2008, 3-4:10.? The class will be held here at Cabot for 12 weeks. ? The Newton School Committee has launched a new bi-weekly Newsletter The newsletter has current?information on the latest?hot topics, as well as quick links to the School Committee and Newton Public Schools?websites.??This is a great way to keep up?with breaking?developments on budget challenges, building projects, the possible Prop. 2 1/2 override?and more.? Go to the newsletter at http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/schoolcommittee/newsletters/SCNewsletter_012208.html.? You are encouraged to subscribe to this newsletter so that updates?can?automatically be sent directly to your computer.? To subscribe, go to http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1101944472847. ? ? FUNDRAISING ? Winter in May?? No way! It must mean the Cabot Fair! The Yard Sale at the Cabot Fair will be featuring gently used winter coats and boots this year.? Spring should be in full swing by then, which makes it the perfect time to sort out all the winter gear you know your kids will never use again and donate it to the Yard Sale.? It's a great way to pass on the winter gear that your child has outgrown and to buy coats, boots or snowpants for next year for far less than they would cost brand new.? It's good for your wallet, good for the planet, and a great way to contribute to the Cabot Fair fundraiser!? For more information, please contact Noelle Huntington at noelle.huntington at childrens.harvard ? Artwork for Education The brochures with examples of the greeting cards made with student?s artwork are coming!? They will arrive home next week for those families who submitted artwork.? More details to follow! ? Yard Sale at the Cabot Fair Wait! ?Don't take that old set of Magic Tree House books to the Newton library - put them aside for the Cabot Fair Yard Sale! ?The yard sale at the Cabot Fair was a great success last year. ?Cabot families donated great merchandise and there were lots of buyers. ?Items for elementary school age kids (books, toys, DVDs), summer outdoor gear (bikes, trikes, sports gear, yard games) and household gadgets all sold especially well. ?So as you clean out your closets this winter, please save those good condition castoffs for the Cabot Fair Yard Sale. For more information contact: Noelle.Huntington at childrens.harvard.edu. ? Box Tops Please remember to start your on-line shopping at: http://cabotpto.org/shop/index.html and the Cabot PTO will receive a percentage of your sale, at no cost to you.? And please keep bringing in the Box Tops and putting them in the bright pink box in the front lobby. Questions: contact Isabelle Thacker, isabelle at thackers.net, 617-795-2332. ? Think Recycle! We have moved the location of the Think Recycle box into the office.? Please keep bringing in your old cell phones and empty ink cartridges and place them in the Think Recycle box over the mailboxes in the main office. Questions:? contact Isabelle Thacker, isabelle at thackers.net, 617-795-2332. ? ? COMMUNITY NEWS ? Strategic Planning Update The Superintendent is pleased to present draft Mission, Core Values and Envisioned Future statements as part of the NPS strategic planning initiative.? Please click? Newton Public Schools to review these statements, as well as the Superintendent's letter.? Feedback is welcome and the public is encouraged to email the Strategic Planning Team at strategicplanning at newton.k12.ma.us. The next phase of the process is perhaps the most critical?the formation of working groups to research strategic areas of focus and recommend priority initiatives for the Newton schools.? Three strategic areas of focus emerged? from the visioning process: Learning in the Global Age, Workforce of Tomorrow and NPS as a ?Permeable? Campus.? These three areas will serve as working group topics.? Click Working Groups to learn more about the working groups and to find out how to get involved.? Applications for participating are due on March 19th so please review these strategic planning materials and contact us as soon as you are able. ? The Strategic Planning Team is asking for your help in identifying people in the community who have the interest and knowledge to be a member of a working group.?? If you know of someone who would be an asset in this process, please contact Claire Sokoloff at clasok at aol.com. ??Feel free to put forward your name, too!? And any publicity you can give the group with your parent community will be very sincerely appreciated.? There is a very simple application process on the NPS website.?? The deadline is March 19th, so there is no time to wait! ? Working groups are now forming to turn the new NPS mission statement, core values and vision into a strategic plan.? The Strategic Planning team is looking for community members who have the interest and knowledge to be a part of this process.? There are three groups planned:? Learning in the Global Age; Workforce of Tomorrow; NPS as a Permeable Campus.? If you are interested or would like more information, please go to NPS Strategic Planning for a recently updated message from the Superintendent along with additional documents that have resulted from the process. ? Budget related The Newton PTO Council, the umbrella group for all of the PTOs in Newton, has pulled together all sorts of helpful information regarding the proposed override and its effect on the Newton Public Schools. Visit their website at www.newtonptocouncil.org and click on "2008 Override." This is a great new resource for parents (and all members of the Newton community) regarding the override on the PTO Council website!? Lisa Mirabile has pulled together links to all the documents we can find regarding the upcoming override and put them on the PTO Council website. This is entirely accessible by the public and will be an easy way to direct people to all sorts of information.? Many, many thanks to Lisa Mirabile and to all those who passed along the links! ? ?Newton on the Move? Bike-A- Thon We are still looking for biking enthusiasts to represent Cabot at Bike-a-Thon meetings.? The third meeting of the Bike-a-Thon committee was held on ?March 17th. The meeting focused on possible routes that would be both attractive to parents and safe. Jorge proposed several different options, and the committee ?agreed that a contained safe space with a circular route would be the best, as opposed to a "round the city" route. ?The group decided not to cancel the Bike-a-Thon - for now! They will meet again April 14 to determine what more needs to be done and if it's feasible ?without more support from all the schools. ? The Newton Student Art and Essay Contest on Conserving Energy As you know there is great effort going on in the city of Newton for energy saving and using solar energy.? Newton energy consumption continues to climb in spite of increased awareness of the harm caused by CO2 emissions and global warming. City encourages students to reflect and speak out in a creative way towards global warming and energy conservation. Mayor David B. Cohen announced the 2008 Student Energy Conservation contest on February 2, which includes the essay contest as well as an art contest so that we can give children new ways to express their feelings and ideas about this important issue affecting us all. The Green Decade Coalition and the Mayor's advisory committees on Renewable Resources and Sustainability envision that the essay and art contests and the related publicity will encourage people to reduce their energy consumption. The contests are open to all students who live or go to school in Newton, grades K-12. Students may enter either or both contests, and the submission deadline is March 30, 2008. Entries will be judged by school level; registration information and other details are available at the Green Decade website at: http://www.greendecade.org/energycontestinfo.html. In addition, the Newton Schools Foundation will also send out an essay and art contest memo to over 2,000 Newton School teachers and administrators.? You can find details in the attached electronic version of the flyer. You will also receive the paper flyers, when available. Submission deadline: March 30, 2008 Announcement of Winners: April 2008 (Week of Earth Day) Judging: Newton Teachers (current and former) The TAB will print the names of the contest winners. ? 10th Annual ?Kidz in Jeopardy? Raffle Date of Drawing: Tuesday, April 8, 2008?? (Winners do not need to be present to win).? Cost of Tickets: 1 ticket for $10; 3 tickets for $25.? How to Pay: Check made payable to: Newton Child Care Fund.?? Further Information: Contact the Newton Child Care Commission & Fund:? Tel: 617-332-6723 or jenny_gamson at newton.k12.ma.us .? 100% of money raised will go toward scholarship for Newton families in need to help pay for child care, after school care and camp.? Here's a list of prizes: ???????? Four tickets to the Red Sox vs. Seattle Mariner?s 6/8/08 game ???????? 1 year Adult Membership to the West Suburban YMCA ? Newton ???????? Boston College summer membership to the pool & athletic club ???????? Two tickets Turtle Lane Playhouse ? Dames at Sea (5/2 ? 6/1/08) ???????? Breakfast buffet for two at the Newton Marriott ???????? Charles River Canoe & Kayak ? 1 day canoe or kayak rental ???????? $32 gift card Scrub a Dub ???????? Create a Cook ? decorate & take home dozen large cupcakes ???????? 1 hour Cosmic Bowling at Needham Bowlaway ???????? MetroWest Subaru ? Interior and exterior car detailing ???????? Two Night Stay for Two w/breakfast at Sheraton Newton Hotel ???????? Two tickets at West Newton Cinema ???????? Two passes Museum of Fine Arts ???????? Round of golf for four at Newton Commonwealth Golf Course ???????? Round of golf for four at The Shattuck Golf Club, Jaffrey, NH ???????? Trader Joe?s ? Bag of ?Goodies? ???????? Restaurant gift cards and more?. ? ? NCSC Summer Camp Program Come join us at Hale Reservation in Westwood where campers enjoy fun-filled days of boating, Red Cross swim lessons and free swim, arts and crafts, fishing, archery, ropes challenge course, nature activities, sports, cookouts, special events, overnights and more.? Camp begins on June 23rd and runs through August 22nd.? Camp begins at 8 a.m. and the bus leaves at 8:30 a.m. for Hale Reservation and returns to the Newton Community Service Center at 4:30 p.m.? Extended Camp is available until 6 p.m.? The cost for a two-week session is $540.? For information or to register, please call Jennifer Capello McAuliffe, NCSC Camp and Recreational Director (617) 969-5906, ext. 224 or visit www.ncscweb.org and go to Summer Camp. ? Hansel and Gretel and the Newton Symphony Orchestra A full length (2 hours including intermission), semi-staged, beautifully sung (in English) performance of Humperdinck's beloved opera about and for children, Hansel and Gretel, will be presented by the Newton? Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, March 30th at 7pm at the Rashi Auditorium. The performance will be directed by guest conductor Beatrice Affron. Principal singers from New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera are Leah Wool as Hansel and Joanna Mongiardo as Gretel. Leah is returning to the Newton Symphony Orchestra following her huge success last year as Rosina in the Barber of Seville. Joanna is a native of Wellesley who has sung with major orchestras and opera houses across the USA and in Germany. The children's chorus is from The Boston City Singers. The gingerbread house and gingerbread figures are being made in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts home-school art class.? Tickets are $45 in the orchestra,$35 in the mezzanine with discounts for seniors, students and groups of 10 or more. Children's tickets are $10.? The performance is suitable for children of all ages, including adults! and will be over by 9pm. ? Newton Community Education April Vacation Program April Vacation offerings from Newton Community Education:? Drama, Fencing, Domino Physics and Soccer are among some of the activities offered, as well as Babysitting Certification Classes for kids over 11.? New offerings include Basic Electronics, Origami, Adult-Child Chocolate Connection and Cupcake Connection.? There are also Saturday sports options including one for soccer moms. For more info and to register, go to www.newtoncommunityed.org or call 617-559-6999.? Also?watch your child?s backpack for the summer catalog.? If you need dates or other advance info about summer programs, contact Lisa at lisa_rucinski at newton.k12.ma.us or 617-559-6999.? ? NCSC April Vacation Spring Skills Program Looking for something fun and exciting for your child to do during their school vacation?? This April the Newton Community Service Center will be heading to Hale Reservation for a Spring Skills Team Challenge.? During April Vacation, children in 3rd through 6th grade will team up and learn essential spring skills in the areas of raft Building, compass, trail signs, archery, and more!? Additional activities include wagon races, Frisbee throw, obstacle courses and more.? For information or to register, please call Jennifer Capello McAuliffe, NCSC Camp and Recreational Director (617) 969-5906, ext. 224 or visit www.ncscweb.org and click on Recreational Programs. ? 2nd Annual Newton Student Art and Essay Contests on Conserving Energy Sponsored by the Green Decade Coalition/Newton, these contests are open to all students who live or go to school in Newton, grades K-12.? Students may enter either or both contests;? the submission deadline is March 30, 2008.? Prizes are sponsored by NSTAR, the Newton Schools Foundation and other organizations.? Registration info and contest details: contact the Green Decade at 617-965-1995 or visit http://www.greendecade.org/energycontestinfo.html. ? Garden City Kindergarten and Pre-K Soccer has a limited number of spots open for Spring Soccer. Register now! Girls and Boys currently in Kindergarten or preschoolers who are between 4-5 years old are invited to join our league. GCKS provides an introduction to the game of soccer; teaching a variety of basic skills in a fun, non-competitive environment. Team sizes are limited to 10 players in each group. In order to optimize on-field practice and game time, the league limits the number of players to 80. The Spring season runs from April 12- June 7th. Practice/games are held Saturdays from 9:30-10:30 am for the Kindergarten league and 10:45-11:45 am for the Pre-K league. Games are played on the field at Burr School, Pine Street in Auburndale. Volunteer parent coaches are needed. No experience is necessary and training will be provided. Cost is $60 per child. GCKS is a joint venture of Lincoln-Eliot & Franklin School's Parent Teacher Organization. Proceeds benefit both schools PTO programs. To register, email gardencitysoccer at gmail.com or call L-E School parent Melanie Varady at 617-244-5773 or Franklin School parent Deb Rooney at (617) 630-8520. Registration deadline is March 28th. ? Girls Ice Hockey Tryouts Open Tryouts for Eastern Commonwealth Girls Hockey, Ages 8-14, on Saturday, March 22nd and Saturday, March 29th.? Fessenden Ice Rink, West Newton. For more information and to register visit www.ecgh.org ? Kindergarten Spring Soccer 2008 - Time to Register!? All children entering Kindergarten or 1st grade in the fall of 2008 are welcome to join the program that has introduced Newton children to soccer since 1993.? This co-ed program is focused on fun and the basics of the game.? Teams are usually organized by elementary school, so this is a great opportunity to meet other families from your school and give your child a chance to make friends before starting kindergarten.? The Saturday morning sessions run April 5th through June 7th at Richardson Field in Waban.? Kindergartners play at 9:15, Pre-Kindergartners play at 10:45. $60 fee includes a team t-shirt as well as an end-of-program medal. Info and registration at www.kindergartensoccer.org.? Questions? email: ksoccer at kindergartensoccer.org or call 617-527-9238. Registrations after March 10 are accepted on a space available basis. ? Summer Speech and Language Program Emerson College, Dept. of Communication Sciences & Disorders, will be offering a 6 week speech and language therapy program to students in the City of Newton with documented need for services. Supervised graduate students in speech-language pathology will provide individual, one-on-one therapy, twice a week from July 8th through August 14th at the Newton Educational Center. The fee is $325.00 for 12, one hour sessions. Spaces are limited. Applications will be available from school speech-language pathologists in March or by contacting Laura Glufling-Tham at Emerson College: (617)824-8318 or laura_glufling_tham at emerson.edu ? City of Newton Tennis Program Kids' Spring and Summer schedules are now posted at www.newtontennis.com.? Adult schedules will be posted this weekend.? Note: Spaces fill quickly.? ? ? CLASSIFIEDS ? Part-Time Administrative Assistant needed at 'Understanding Our Differences'? This non-profit organization provides the elementary school disability awareness program in the Newton Public Schools.? Applicant must be extremely organized, detail oriented and personable.? Excellent computer skills required.? 25 hours per week.? Office is at the Education Center.? Responsibilities include: Materials Coordination, Maintaining Database and Spreadsheets, Communicating with Volunteers and Preparing Financial Reports.? If interested, please contact Program Director Carol Weigert at 617-559-6075 or carol_weigert at newton.k12.ma.us.? ? Bowen Cooperative Nursery School Located in Newtonville, Bowen Cooperative Nursery School has a few openings left in its Transitional Kindergarten program for the 2008-2009 year.? This program is for children who are 5 years old, or who are about to turn 5, but who will not yet be in Kindergarten as of September.? We are a child-centered, play-based school at which children can continue their social, emotional, intellectual and physical development in a creative, safe and exciting environment.? For more information about our Transitional Kindergarten program and to obtain an application, please visit our website, www.bowencoop.org or contact Barbara Cleary, Director, at (617) 332-3923. ? The Sunday School for Jewish Studies Now accepting registrations for grades K-7 for the 2008-2009 school year.? The Sunday School provides a liberal, egalitarian approach to Jewish education in classes held Sunday mornings at Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill.?? The curriculum includes Hebrew, Jewish holidays, traditions, ethics, Bible stories, contemporary history and music.? Bar/Bat Mitzvah preparation is available but not required, and students may enter in any grade.? Interfaith and nontraditional families are welcome.? High Holiday services sponsored by the Sunday School are open to the community and no tickets are required. For additional information about the Sunday School for Jewish Studies, please call 617-264-8855 or visit www.sundayschoolforjewishstudies.org. ?Archana Vahalia Cabot PTO Co-President auvpto at aol.com 617-244-1435 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://cabotpto.org/pipermail/cabotcommunity_cabotpto.org/attachments/20080318/a4f9a728/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: March_2008[1].rtf Type: application/msword Size: 818351 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://cabotpto.org/pipermail/cabotcommunity_cabotpto.org/attachments/20080318/a4f9a728/attachment.dot From marykathf at aol.com Mon Mar 24 16:36:16 2008 From: marykathf at aol.com (marykathf at aol.com) Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:36:16 -0400 Subject: [CabotCommunity] Events this week Message-ID: <8CA5C05D7C6776D-75C-B09@MBLK-M32.sysops.aol.com> Upcoming Events this week: (remember, you can check www.cabotpto.org at anytime for an updated calendar of school events) Switch Days - Please note that as a result of MCAS testing all students will have a?FULL DAY?of school on Tuesday March 25th.? Wednesday March 26th will be a HALF DAY with a 12:30 dismissal.? Please plan accordingly. PTO Meeting - Join us for our PTO Meeting tomorrow morning at 8:40 - 10:00 am in room #110, 'the blue room' on the first floor across from the Teacher's Lounge. Newton Move Forward - On Thursday March 27 at 7:00pm join Move Newton Forward for a forum discussing "The Structural Deficit: An overview of fiscal challenges facing Newton and other Massachusetts cities and towns" at the Senior Center, 345 Walnut Street.? A distinguished panel of state and local experts, featuring Geoff Beckwith, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, Sandy Pooler, Chief Administrative Officer of the City of Newton and Sandy Guryan, Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance of the Newton Public Schools, will discuss and answer questions from the public, such as "What drives the structural deficit?'; 'How does Newton close the gap between revenues and expenses?'; 'What are other municipalities doing to solve their structural deficit problem?'; and 'What is the role of the Commonwealth in creating or solving this problem?'. Artwork for Education -?Look in student's backpacks this week for the?Artwork for Education brochures?and order forms.? The cards look great - what a bunch of artists we have here at Cabot!? Order forms are due back by April 10th. World Earth Hour 2008 - March 29th between 8:00 - 9:00pm? has been designated World Earth Hour by the World Wildlife Fund (www.earthhour.org). The concept, originated last year in Australia, calls for everyone to turn off all lights in their home/ business for one hour, from 8 - 9:00pm on Saturday March 29th.? If every American household turned off the lights for one hour at 8:00pm local time, more than 16,610 tons of carbon dioxide would be prevented from being released! Mary Kathryn Fallon Cabot PTO Co-President marykathf at aol.com 617-244-1821 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://cabotpto.org/pipermail/cabotcommunity_cabotpto.org/attachments/20080324/4aed3f42/attachment.html From marykathf at aol.com Wed Mar 26 21:05:37 2008 From: marykathf at aol.com (marykathf at aol.com) Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:05:37 -0400 Subject: [CabotCommunity] NewtonSERVES & Cabot Clean-up Day - come help us clean up Cabot!! In-Reply-To: <8CA5D8F7AB4A53B-7A4-371@WEBMAIL-MA17.sysops.aol.com> References: <8CA5CECCBE779EF-127C-20B1@webmail-me15.sysops.aol.com> <8CA5D8F7AB4A53B-7A4-371@WEBMAIL-MA17.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: <8CA5DBDCCA7D765-1254-25A1@webmail-dd13.sysops.aol.com> NewtonSERVES?& Cabot Clean-Up Day - Let?s clean up Cabot on?April 12 & 13th! Sign up times are: Saturday April?12th? 9:00am - 12:00 pm?(indoors) Sunday April 13th from?10:00am - 12:30 pm? (indoors) Sunday April 13th from 12:30pm - 3:30 pm.(indoors?& outdoors) Spring cleaning time is here!? In conjunction with the City of Newton's NewtonSERVES Day, we are ready to spruce up the school! NewtonSERVES is an annual day of community service dedicated to cleaning up the Garden City.? The city will provide mulch and pay for a permit for us to clean up the inside of our school as well.? We have been receiving lists of project requests from faculty and staff at Cabot. Our ability to get these valuable and much needed jobs done depends on YOU!! The more volunteers we have the more we can clean up Cabot.? ?- Outdoor projects include spreading mulch, cleaning up trash,?re-painting the 4-square?game on the black top and re-affixing the?painted tiles which fell off the side of the building during the winter.? ?- Indoors we are going to ?paint shelves, fix doors,?organize books, clean and scrub areas and we may even venture into the Cabot basement! We hope as many of you as possible will come out to help spruce up our school!? The more volunteers we have, the more we can make a difference!? Please let us know if you have any handy skills, such as carpentry or painting, or if you are just willing to come and work.? If you and your family are able to come lend a hand,?please contact Mark Geffen at markdgeffen at yahoo.com. Please let us know if you prefer to work indoors, outdoors, or if you have no preference and are willing to jump in and help out anywhere!? If you can't come for a whole sign-up period, please still come by for as long as you are able.? The City of Newton recommends that children be 8 years or older to join in. Thanks in advance for your help!! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://cabotpto.org/pipermail/cabotcommunity_cabotpto.org/attachments/20080326/decde20d/attachment.html From auvpto at aol.com Mon Mar 31 12:32:07 2008 From: auvpto at aol.com (auvpto at aol.com) Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:32:07 -0400 Subject: [CabotCommunity] Budget Related - Meeting Tonight In-Reply-To: <8CA6162A3A8B11B-D78-4BC@WEBMAIL-DG08.sim.aol.com> References: <8CA6162A3A8B11B-D78-4BC@WEBMAIL-DG08.sim.aol.com> Message-ID: <8CA6163E4BC3897-E14-F4F@WEBMAIL-DG01.sim.aol.com> We just got this email from the School Committee about a meeting tonight to continue discussions on revised Allocation and Override budgets.? It is in the Frazier Room at the Education Center, on Walnut Street. Parents who have enrolled to get the emails would have also received this information directly from the School Committee. We encourage all parents and interested community members to take advantage of this opportunity to hear from the School Committee. ? We hope Cabot community will use every opportunity to learn about the two school budgets (Allocation and Override) in order to make an informed decision about the override vote on May 20, 2008.? Please encourage your neighbors as well. FY09 Budget Update The School Committee is in the process of reviewing and passing modified Allocation and Override budgets.? The bottom line of both budgets has changed.? The Allocation budget has increased by slightly more than $1 million due to extra money allocated by the Legislature and a lowered health insurance premium.? The Override budget bottom line was set by the Mayor as $8.5 million of the $12 million placed on the ballot by the Board of Aldermen.? The School Committee has scheduled meetings on Monday, March 31 at 5:00 p.m. and Monday, April 7 at 7:00 p.m. to finish these deliberations.?Public comment is welcome at the April 7th meeting.? Click here to review most recent budget documents. ?Archana Vahalia Cabot PTO Co-President auvpto at aol.com 617-244-1435 Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://cabotpto.org/pipermail/cabotcommunity_cabotpto.org/attachments/20080331/10772d5a/attachment.html