Reading Elementary Rockets Report: RES PRINCIPAL'S BLOG - ROCKETS REPORT

Dear Reading Elementary "Rockets" Families & Community Members:

I hope your families had a wonderful break. The memories that students make with their families now last a lifetime! Though we've had unusually warm weather, students will still need to wear the appropriate snow gear to go outside for recess.

Kudos and heartfelt thanks to:

All of the drivers for the Ski Runners.
The parents and community members who came to the 1st Act 46 Info. Night 2/15!

Other Items of Interest:

Message from the PTO - Our annual Mama Mia’s Bistro Pasta Dinner has been is this Sunday, March 5, with our ever popular, Basket Raffle. Hours are 4:00 – 7:00 p.m., and costs are: $8 per adult, $5 per child (children under 5 free), and $20 for families. There will be a sign up sheet for volunteers for Sunday’s dinner. We are looking for servers, kitchen helps, cleaner uppers, and raffle ticket sellers, please sign up, it’s bound to be a great time!

Raffle tickets & invitations were sent home with your children. Please invite friends & family, and sell those RAFFLE TICKETS! More of both are available at the school, and can be downloaded from the links above. This fundraiser has come with many requests from you, and we really, really appreciate all you have done! If you have not yet donated, and want to, here’s what we have asked for:

PreK: Arts & Crafts basket items, as well as, boxes of Penne Pasta.
Kindergarten: Fuzzy Wuzzy basket items, and boxes of spaghetti.
1st & 2nd grade: Family Game & Movie night basket items, and big cans (28 oz) of pureed, or diced tomatoes (no sauce please).
3rd & 4th grade: Games, Games, Games basket items, and dessert items and grated cheese.
5th & 6th grade: Bark Basket items, as well as, loaves of bread or rolls for garlic bread (10T15 loaves total), and 3 pounds of butter.

Thank you again! ~Tots (Tatiana Werner McCarthy, PTO President.)

RES 2017-18 Proposed Budget Highlights - So by now many of you have gotten your town reports, or heard things from around town about the proposed budget. I am highlighting the major changes for this year's budget. The Board and I spent many hours trying to balance a very tight budget, but we did it. We had to reduce the budget by $98,000 in order to avoid hitting the "penalty" phase with higher taxes to local taxpayers due to reduced revenue and the other aspects of our complicated State education finance laws. As it stands now, your education tax rate will actually go down as we reduced the budget the needed amount to make this possible. Sadly, in order to reduce the budget, there had to be two positions reduced this year which affect the least amount of students. Our Pre-K position which was a half-time position will be eliminated and the K teacher will be teaching that. We have small classes for next year in both Pre-K and K, so this will be educationally feasible. The custodial position was full-time, and by with less students and needs, we reduced that position to .60. So the personnel changes total $67,000, and we were able to reduce other areas by $30,000 to create a lower tax rate than last year. By writing grants and other cost cutting strategies, we will still provide the outstanding quality education that Reading has always provided.

Act 46 News - We need your input. As the current Act 46 plan stands, students in Gr. 5/6 (our current 3rd and 4th graders) will be bussed to Woodstock Elementary starting the 2018-19 school year Please complete the attached SURVEY to help the Board get an idea of what your thoughts are regarding this.

Do You Know An RES Alumni? - Our library media/tech classes are conducting a survey and creating a digital living history to represent the past and present of Reading Elementary School and we need your help! Did you attend Reading Elementary School? Do you know someone who did? If you did, then please complete the survey and ask other alumni, to complete the attached SURVEY. Students will be researching their town and school history and preserving it digitally. Check out what we've done so far at RES PAST AND PRESENT.

Special Olympic Help Needed - My name is Cathee Smith and I am reaching out to the local communities for donations. Special Olympics Vermont will be held at Suicide Six Ski Area this year. The local communities host a BBQ on Sunday, March 5, 2017 for the participants. As the local coordinator of this event, I am asking for your help. We need donations of pasta salads, garden salads, ranch or Italian salad dressings or bags of lettuce. If you help with any of these items, it would be greatly appreciated. Please contact me at 484-9117 or by email at cathees05062@yahoo.com. Thank you in advance for your donations.

OTHER WAYS TO HELP READING SCHOOL

Come to a Reading Elementary School Board Meeting!
Come read to the students or volunteer to help in the library!

LUNCH & BREAKFAST MENU FOR THIS WEEK:

Please send in your payment if you have not already done so. Lunch accounts should be paid in full each month. If you need help complete the Free/Reduced Paperwork, we are here to help! ALL APPLICATIONS are kept confidential. Thank you!

Mon., Feb. 27 - Bean & Bacon Soup, Cottage Cheese, Kale, Apple, Carrot Salad, Whole Grain Corn Chips ; Breakfast: Omelet & the Regulars
Tues., Feb. 28 - Beef Stew, Oranges, Mixed Vegetables, Whole Grain Kamut; Breakfast: Hard Boiled Eggs - The Regulars
Wed., Mar. 1 - Tofu Mac'n'Cheese, Pineapple, Broccoli, ; Breakfast: French Toast Bake - The Regulars
Thurs,, Mar. 2 - Denver Omelet Cups, Melon, Mixed Vegetables, Whole Grain English Muffins; Breakfast: Oatmeal & Hard Boiled Egg - The Regulars
Fri., Mar. 3 - Turkey Pastrami Reuben Melts on Whole Grain Pita Bread, Apple, Coleslaw; Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs - The Regulars