Please note the new school hours:  Classes begin at 8:30 AM

Class Assignments and Parent Information will be mailed on 8/7/2010.

Included in your packet will be:

• Welcome Letter from Peter
• Class Assignment and Lists
• 2010-11 School Calendar
• 2010-11 Family Directory
• Mandatory Forms and Optional Forms
• Family Handbook
• New Teacher and Staff Biographies
• More!

We’ve gone digital! Most of your packet is electronic and included on your The Little School USB drive.  Plug it in, open the Parent Dashboard and get all the info you need at your fingertips!  Use the dashboard throughout the year for a one-stop shop for your information!

The Little School Extended Day program offers families childcare before and after school hours.  Our program is licensed by the Department of Early Learning for the State of Washington and has requirements relating student age and the minimum and maximum enrollment numbers.  We are in the process of hiring extended day staff to meet these requirements, and we need to ensure we have all families properly accounted for.  You are receiving this message because, according to our records, you have NOT signed up for Extended day.

If you wish to sign up for Extended day, it is important that you do so immediately.  Your child’s space in extended day is only guaranteed if you have completed the registration form and signed an annual contract for extended day.  For more information and to register, please complete the registration form online at:

http://www.thelittleschool.org/extendedday

Or you may also print and mail the form to The Little School.   Registration for Extended Day program for the 2010-11  school year must be completed by August 1, 2010.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at margaretf@thelittleschool.org or 425.827.4609 x 105

What a great first day!

The photo gallery is available for parents to view.

We are delighted to announce that the board of trustees has unanimously approved Peter Berner-Hays as our two year Interim Head of School.

Peter Berner-Hays comes to us with a thirty year career in education which has included four independent schools, two public schools and active partnerships with thousands of colleagues, families, and children. Peter has worked in schools with children ranging in age from three to eighteen with a focus on nurturing the development of healthy, happy young people. Peter’s background gives him a keen ability to see the big picture and an understanding about how to work systemically to create a dynamic, evolving learning environment. He comes to us highly recommended by several heads of schools, school board members and colleagues throughout the area.

His education includes a Masters degree in Elementary Education, a Masters in School Counseling/Psychology, and a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art! His local teaching, counseling and administrative experience includes: The Northwest School (his current position where he is school counselor and a member of the Senior Leadership Team, and has been Acting Head of School for the Upper School on numerous occasions), Lakeside School, Annie Wright School, Seattle Public Schools, and The Bush School. He has also been a member of Board of Trustees at The Island School on Bainbridge. Peter is a well-respected facilitator, presenter and trainer for a number of PNAIS programs, workshops and panels.

Peter lives in Seattle with his wife, Amy, a teacher at The Northwest School, his two children, Max, a soon-to-be 6th grader at Salmon Bay and Rachel, a soon-to-be 10th grader at Nathan Hale, his cat, Toby, and dog, Stella. Peter loves to spend time with his friends and family swimming indoors and outdoors – even competitively at times.

Peter will be joining us next Wednesday for a meet and greet coffee after drop off and again Wednesday evening. Childcare will be provided for the evening event. Stay tuned for the exact time and details.

Please join us in welcoming Peter to The Little School community!
Sean Mitchell, Chair, Search Committee

More Information About The Search Process

As a board committee, COT is charged with the orientation of new board members, continuing education for all board members, and assessing the continued needs of the board. We consider the composition of the board from many angles (professional and other skills, demographics, tenure, relationship to the school, etc.) and solicit new members based on the overall needs of the board. Our goal is to build a balanced and diverse board which will effectively lead the school.

When COT learns of openings, we begin the process of considering which prospective members have strengths which might best enhance the board. We then make our recommendations to the board and ask them to vote to approve the nominations of the new members.

If you or someone you know would be interested in serving on the board, or if you have any questions about the selection process, please feel free to contact me.

Best wishes,
Laura Simeon (COT Chair), laura.simeon@alumnae.brynmawr.edu
Margaret Fitzgerald, Kim Haber, Nancy Palmer and Steve Ross

Chris Falskow:

I was a student at the Little School from 2nd through 5th grades, ~1970-1974. The values and principles of Eleanor Siegl and the Little School have always been near and dear to my heart. I took those values all the way to my college experience. I earned a Bachelors of Music from the Berklee College of Music in 1999. Later in life, I know, but you have to follow the path that life brings you. I now work as a realtor at Coldwell Banker Bain in Seattle.

Being in touch with the Little School has been important to me. Several years ago, I found my Little School Lions sweatshirt from when we played flag football with some of the Bellevue elementary schools. This is now on loan to the Little School and hangs in the library. With that, I am honored to be joining the Little School board.

Joanna Goodman:

My daughter attended TLS for 7 years and she remembers it fondly. I worked with other parents and was active in the Parent Association. It was an important community for us and she benefited from her experience there in many ways.

When my daughter was in high school I returned to work as a psychotherapist. My background as a clinical social worker and cultural anthropologist is in maternal infant studies. In 2002, I enrolled in postgraduate psychoanalytic training at the Seattle Psychoanalytic Institute and Society. I have a full time counseling practice in Seattle in Madison Park.

I work with adults, adolescents, and children. I am on the faculty of the Seattle Psychoanalytic Institute and I teach there part-time. My hobby is making visual art and I share a studio in Pioneer Square where I work and show my pieces.

Kate Marshall:

I moved to Bellevue in 1970 at the ripe age of 3 years old. My first school experience was the Little School at the old Seattle campus. I was there two years and then decided I really wanted to go to the local elementary school to be with the local kids. Hence, I went to Medina Elementary for first grade. The rigid structure did not work for me. The next year I went back to TLS at the Bellevue campus, where I stayed through 6th grade. After TLS, I went to an alternative junior high school, a public high school and an Ivy League university where I graduated with honors in Mechanical Engineering. I have become a lifelong learner thanks to TLS, where I discovered that learning is fun! I am now a Senior Manager at Philips, where I also spent five years as a project manager. I hope my skills at driving projects from concept to implementation can contribute to your board. I’m very excited that TLS has made it to a 50 year birthday and would love to help ensure a thriving TLS is here 50 years from now.

Sushma Verma:

My daughter, Meera, is in Steve’s class. This is our third year at TLS. I am honored to be asked to be on the school board. I am also very excited at the opportunity to participate in the positive growth of the school.

Aside from being a mom, I am a speech-language pathologist by profession and have worked for the Seattle Public Schools before taking a break to raise our kids. I have also worked for Hopelink briefly in Development and have a few introductory courses in non-profit management under my belt. At TLS, I have served as a community service co-chair and am on the PAC as secretary this year.

On a personal note, my husband and I hail from India. We came to the U.S. as graduate students in 1992 and have had the pleasure of calling Seattle home since 1996. We hope to raise our kids with an awareness and appreciation of their unique identities (abilities, ethnicity, quirks and all)!

THANK YOU again to all who supported this year’s auction! Whether you procured donations, purchased items, volunteered for set-up, or all of the above, you were a part of every dollar earned for TLS. This year’s auction night brought in nearly $111,000 which represents a tremendous amount of funding for one night. Combined with additional income from Microsoft matching dollars and post-auction purchases and donations, we should reach our projections for $125,000. The final breakdown of numbers will look something like this:

These funds, combined with this year’s Annual Campaign donations, directly and immediately impact the educational resources and experiences being offered to current students. The funding also sets the stage for what we are able to provide future students, particularly in the case of the Campus Stewardship contributions.

This is an amazing legacy that has been created with your generosity and investment in our children and their exceptional learning environment! Laurel announced at the auction that over the course of the past 50 years, The Little School has enrolled nearly 3,500 students and touched many thousands of others connected to those children. Your support has done the same. You have made a BIG difference to The Little School. Thank you!

Reminder: Items Awaiting Pick-up in the Schoolhouse

We hope you received your auction invoice/receipt and found the gift certificates that you purchased included in your packet. If there are tangible items that you won at the auction, please swing by the Schoolhouse to pick them up. All items are being held in Jenna Sytman’s office, and are clearly labeled with the name and number of the winning bidder. If you have any questions, please contact auction@thelittleschool.org.

Your Child’s Photo

A beautiful 5×7 color portrait of your child is available for sale whether or not you attended the auction. Offering glimpses of each student in their work or play at TLS, these photos are the perfect keepsakes (or grandparent gifts). Photos are currently available for viewing/purchase in the Admin Building lobby (suggested donation of $20). Please stop by when you have a chance! Questions? Contact auction@thelittleschool.org.

Own a Copy of This Year’s Multimedia DVD

Now available for sale are copies of this year’s multimedia presentation which touched the hearts of auction attendees and brought tears to the eyes of more than a few. This 7-minute presentation features a glimpse at The Little School campus over the past 50 years, photos of every current TLS student, and a special look at the growth and development of our oldest students. The entire piece is set to the stunning backdrop of original song “A Little School” written by Joe Bergevin especially for the occasion of the school’s milestone anniversary. You won’t find a better momento from the year. Suggested donation for each DVD is $15. To purchase, please contact jennys@thelittleschool.org by May 15. DVDs will be made to order and available for pick up before the school year concludes.

Items Still Available for Purchase

A few of this year’s items were overlooked in the flurry of auction night bidding, and are still available for purchase. We would be happy to sell these items at opening bid price (or best offer!). No need to have attended the auction – these are open to anyone. Please contact Jenny Steen with questions or interest. Full descriptions of each item can be found in the online silent & live auction catalog.

* Descriptions of asterisked items can be found on the Online Auction catalog.

Slots Still Open in Prix Fixe Classes/Parties

Similarly, if you are interested in participating in any of the fixed price classes or parties being offered, there are still slots available! Please contact Jenny Steen with questions or interest. Full descriptions of each item can be found in the online silent & live auction catalog.

Help Fulfill a Teacher’s Wish

We are grateful for the many generous contributions to this year’s Teacher Wish List items at the auction. A few wishes were completely granted thanks to your support, and many received partial funding. Would you like to help fulfill these classroom wishes? To make a contribution of any amount toward one or many wishes, please contact Jenny Steen at jennys@thelittleschool.org. (There will also be a booth with these wish lists available at the Art Festival.)

We anticipate opening two additional classrooms in the Woods Building and one in Meadows. The additional classrooms should give us more opportunities for groupings. It is very likely that we will still need to have a class of boys in the Woods Building. If your son is currently in this class, please comment on your interest in having your son continue in such a single gender class.

We absolutely will read and consider every piece of feedback we receive. Some of the greatest disappointments come, however, when parents get their hearts set on a particular teacher and do not get this teacher. We would hope that you would consider all teachers and their strengths, as we do. In addition to matching teachers with children, we also consider other factors in class composition, such as social relationships between individual children or groups of children, academic strengths and challenges of the children in the group, gender, and chronological ages. We include the input of the child’s current teacher(s) along with the input of the receiving teacher(s). The process requires a lot of thoughtful meetings. I would hope to reassure you that we do consider the feedback; it is just that specific requests for teachers cannot always be honored.

n terms of a timeline for communication, we plan to begin this work as soon as we collect feedback from all parents. It will be important that you return this feedback by Monday, May 3rd so that we can begin our process. We anticipate that the process will take several weeks. The Parents Association plans to host a meeting for parents in the Schoolhouse on the placement process on Monday, May 19th at 9:00 AM. We won’t be in a position to give placement decisions but will be able to announce which teachers will be teaching at which levels. We hope to have made significant progress in the hiring process, as well, by this point. We anticipate sending final placement decisions in late June to families.

As always, if you have any questions or comments about the placement process, please let me know.

Laurel

http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2v8u7fzg8gxebf7/start