Edit your directory info
May 20, 2008
Please see your teacher (or look outside the classroom) to edit your directory information for next year’s book. Alternately, just send me an e-mail with your new info. For returning families, we will use the exact same information as last year unless you tell me otherwise. Want to add your cell number or put a new e-mail address? Please tell me now to beat the end of summer rush.
(This is the last year that we will need to do it this way - the school is getting a new database this summer which will make all our contact activity easier and more accurate.)
- Linda Bonder, Marketing Director, LBonder@intlschool.org, 503-226-2496 x104
TIS Garden Needs Your Hands and Help
May 19, 2008
GARDEN WORK PARTY May 24th!
Great way to get those final volunteer hours.
Have you noticed the flourishing garden on the hill? Thanks to Priscilla Lane-Kappes (a parent of a TIS alumna) the teachers and children of the kindergarten and first grades, we have a beautiful and bountiful garden. But, the weeds are growing and crowding out our fruit trees and berry bushes and we need hands and help.
Once or twice a year many of us pitch in and have a lot of fun working in our TIS garden. We are organizing a work party on Saturday, May 24th starting at 9am. The fruit/berry terraced hill needs tough but careful weeding, especially around each berry bush. Please bring gloves and tools for tough weeds (mostly thistle and grass).
We also need help watering the garden this summer. If you are coming to TIS summer camp consider getting a head start on your volunteer hours by watering our garden. I did it last summer and always enjoyed being amidst the beautiful vegetables and flowers. If you are available at all, please call Priscilla at 503 239-0496 to sign up.
Thank you!!
If you have any further questions please contact Ellen Goldsmith at ellengoldsmith@mac.com
Attend This Meeting
May 19, 2008
TIS Board of Directors Annual Meeting
Thursday, May 22, at 6:30 p.m.
The Board of Directors has drafted an interesting agenda for this meeting. Parents and Teachers, join the board in the gymnasium for this meeting, and you will
- get an update on the school’s recent purchase of the land where the apartment building burned, and potential uses for the site;
- hear about plans to renovate the Main Building;
- get an explanation of the school’s budget;
- learn about plans for the International High School;
- hear about the school’s recent accreditation, and our emerging Strategic Plan;
- and more!
Child care will be provided. See you there!
Parent Survey - thank you!
May 19, 2008
Many thanks to the 183 families who completed the parent survey - that’s about 61 percent of our currently enrolled families!
Since the survey covered so many areas and many people took the time to type in comments (thank you!), it will take awhile to do a complete analysis of the data. We will have an analysis ready for you in September.
Please continue to provide your constructive feedback. You are always welcome to stop in or set up an appointment with Phil, Maria, any other member of the administrative staff, any lead teacher or any classroom teacher. The school will be open and the administrative staff will be working over the summer (with a few vacations thrown in to keep us fresh!), so please stop in or give us a call if you have any questions or concerns.
- Linda Bonder, Marketing Director, LBonder@intlschool.org, 503-226-2496 x104.
PTO notes & thank yous
May 19, 2008
This will be my final ITK article, so I would like to take the opportunity to thank the many folks who have made a significant contribution to make our school a better place.
- All the PTO officers for their hard work. Paula Prince, Vanessa Bailey, Jennifer Farmer and Debbie Rink have done an excellent job which has touched almost everyone in our community in one way or another. Thank You!
- Kate Schweitzer, Mark Jones and the amazing auction committee redefined “success” for us. Never before has the school raised so much money while having so much fun. Thank You!
- Bob Bondaruk and his team of willing volunteers made Pizza Monday run like a well oiled machine and they did it all with a smile. Thank You!
- Joan Francis single handedly ran Scrip and brought new energy and momentum to this project. Since all scrip monies are dedicated to Capstone her efforts will make the 5th grade Capstone Trips Abroad easier for all of us. Just Scrip was not enough for Joan so she also took on “Run for the Arts” and did an excellent job with that too. Thank You!
- The school ambassadors (Amy Kohnstamm, Holly Smithwick and Debbie Richman) did so many big and small things at school this year that it is hard to list them all. The biggest success was the teacher appreciation event organized by them. It was a big event that was run smoothly and was enjoyed and appreciated by all the teachers. Thank you!
- Colette Rabdau owned and ran the ITK again this year. Despite the fact that I probably drove her crazy with late submissions and many changes, she continued to smile and take it all in stride. She and the ITK team deserve a big hand from all of us for a job well done despite many challenges. Thank You!
- Jennifer Cooperman and the Sally Foster team did it again this year! They made it all look so easy and also looked into ideas for improving things some more next year. Thank You!
- The Green committee had many players this year. I would like to thank Jessica Duke for her efforts on this front, Kimmy Simon who smiled all the way through the year as she kept looking for new ways to improve things. Martha Koerner and Ellen Goldsmith - thank you for guiding the green committee and providing mentorship where needed. Many others played a role in this area. Thank you all!
- Shari Martin, for once again taking charge of the BT4E and soup labels. This activity runs quietly in the background with Shari’s guidance. Thank You!
- The staff Holiday Dinner was an amazing event this year. Heidi Fouser, Susan Marcus and many other parents worked hard to put together a fantastic dinner for the staff at the wonderful home of Alan and Victoria O’Kain. Thank you All!
- Community Service day found a new champion in Jamie Anderson. She ran a great event that raised over 900lbs of food for the Oregon Food Bank. Thank you!
- The ongoing Legacy Emmanuel Book drive was made possible due to the efforts of Mary Stevenson, Paula Prince and Renee Cain with guidance from the ever willing Susan Marcus. Thank You!
- The upcoming Wine tasting event which is sure to be a big hit is being brought to you by many people guided by the enthusiasm of Paula Prince and Susan Marcus. Thank You!
- Thanks to Tristan Todd for helping us launch the technology Committee and to Scott Urbatsch and Jim Abeles who stayed with it to help bring TIS up to speed on the technology front. Thank you all!
- Elizabeth Wolf, Chris Higgins, Janet Olson, Junxi Huang, Kim Braun, Akiko Soehl, and Arkady Mak among many others who volunteered to be a part of the library committee thus helping to make the library a reality much sooner. Thank you all!
- The Capstone committee (Patti Ng, Joan Francis, Susan Marcus, Paula Prince, Mark Jones, Maria Lira among many others) have done an amazing job clarifying things, making clear plans and executing them with their eye clearly on the goal of helping every child go on a capstone trip and have an amazing life changing experience. Thank you!
- Molly Stratton deserves a special hand for single handedly running the McMenamins Friends and Family night which turned out to be a fun event that also raised funds for technology. Thank you!
- The CFL fundraiser was Lee Rahr’s baby and she too worked on it by herself. Thank you Lee for running with this!
- Elda Orr has put in countless hours working with Phil and expertly managing building renovation plans. Big thank yous to Elda and to everyone else on the facilities committee.
- Each and everyone of us has benefited from our respective Room Parents’ willingness to do what needed to be done to keep the classroom running smoothly and optimize our children’s learning experience. From organizing field trips to copying educational materials or even bringing in caterpillars for a classroom project, they step up to the plate for everything and anything that needs to be done. Please take the time to stop and personally thank your room parent for his/her hard work. Thank you RPs, you make TIS a great school!
- I would like to thank the TEACHERS on behalf of the entire parent community. Each and every one of them has put our kids first to give the most possible to the children. I strongly believe that honoring teachers and what they do for our children has to be at the center of everything we do. The greatest asset a school has is its teachers, at TIS this is even more true as we are a very unique school and our teachers are the reason for our successes past, present and future. Please take the time to stop and give your teacher a hug and let her/him know what you appreciate about them. Do it as often as you can.
- We all have a special spot in our hearts for Lupe and all she does for our school. A great big thank you to her for continuing to be a part of our community and for teaching me my first 10 words in Spanish. Gracias!
- Thank you to the administrative staff for the many achievements on the accreditation as well as real estate fronts among other things.
Finally I thank all the parents at TIS. You may not all have been a committee chair or a room parent and you may not have seen your name on the list above but each of you should give yourselves a pat on the back for the many little and not so little things you have done this year that have brought a smile to a child’s face or a made a teacher’s job just that little bit easier. The little things you do are just as important as the big things you do!
I would also like to thank all the parents who took the time to come to the PTO meetings this year. I hope you found the agenda relevant and the discussions useful. The PTO officers feel energized by a full room of enthusiastic and motivated parents. Your opinions and inputs define what we do. Please, do let us know how we can do a better job of serving you.
The following PTO officer positions for the 2008-2009 academic year have been filled:
1. PTO VP – Paula Prince
2. New Parent Liason – Debbie Richman and Kimmy Simon
3. PTO Secy – Debbie Rink
4. PTO Treasurer – Peter Sommers
As you may have guessed being a PTO officer is quite a bit of work, but each year motivated parents step forward and sign up for the various positions because they want to make a difference. We all lead busy and full lives so it is quite understandable that we cannot all fit one more thing into our lives each year, but do consider the possibility of serving on the PTO when your schedule allows. Maybe next year or the year after one of these positions will call your name and you will have the time.
As you can see from the above list we do not have a PTO president identified for next year as yet. If you are interested or want to know more about this position, please call or send me an email and I will be happy to give you some more information. One of the great side benefits of being the PTO president is the friendships you develop with the other PTO officers as well as the parent and teacher community. It is an incredibly enriching experience. My day is made when I walk onto campus and the little ones give me a hug or spend time chatting with me. Enthusiastic hugs from Claudia D, and the friendly wave of Sienna F, shy smiles from Hana N, Sinai L and Kylie F. I have been the lucky recipient of many small gifts this year. Next year could be your turn.
The minutes of the last PTO meeting will be posted on campus by next week. PTO Secretary Debbie Rink is putting them together as quickly as she can. To those of you who did come to the last meeting and were confused or lost by some of the discussion I want to tender my apologies. Some issues are not appropriate for a detailed discussion in that forum as they violate confidentiality. The board and the parents who had knowledge of the issues were attempting to respect confidentiality while addressing the underlying issues. It was an emotional and difficult meeting for all involved and I respect everyone’s patience as we tried to navigate the difficult waters.
Finally I would like to end my term as PTO President by saying that I was honored to have been given the opportunity to serve the TIS community. I did my best to live up to your expectations and to meet the needs of the broad TIS community.
Binny Arcot
(Who will be past PTO president in a few more weeks, but still hoping for hugs, waves and smiles)
YMCA Mile Run, This Week
May 19, 2008
Parents,
If you still have not given permission for your child to be driven to the downtown YMCA track Monday, Tuesday, or Friday this week (May 19, 20, or 23), please take a moment now and email me your approval to rbrigliatis@yahoo.com I need to have this for EVERY child in first through fifth grade.
This event is one of the President’s Challenge events. I always strive to bring our students into the 85th percentile nationally. This last week I had all first through fifth grade students run a practice mile so they are very familiar with the distance this year. At school they are challenged by a cracked sidewalk and two hills. I am very happy to report several students are scoring upwards in the 100th percentile and above!
For the mile the 85th percentile is as follows:
6year old: 10:15
7year old: 9:22
8year old: 8:48
9year old: 8:31
10year old: 7:57
11year old: 7:32
Robert A. Briglia
Director/Instructor Physical Education
(503) 226-2496 x257
rbrigliatis@yahoo.com
Lost
May 19, 2008
The following were lost on campus - if you find any of them, please bring them to the office (either Stearns or Main):
- red & silver Samsung cell phone
- hoop earring, white gold with stones
- small key with clear tape around the top of it
Thank you!
Scholastic Book Fair - Thank you!
May 19, 2008
Thank you so much to everyone who made purchases at the Scholastic Book Fair last week. We sold a hair over $3000 in books, which means two things:
1. A lot of children will have new books to read this summer
2. The school is getting $1950 worth of new books! You’ll see these books popping up this week & this fall in many of the Spanish classrooms, the English classrooms, and the library.
- Linda Bonder, Marketing Director, LBonder@intlschool.org, 503-226-2496 x104
Annual Giving - Thank You! (updated numbers)
May 19, 2008
Thank you so much to our 247 current families and 43 other community members who donated to the Annual Giving! Two classes reached 100% and several others came close. We trounced our former participation record with 66% parent participation this year. Annual Giving gifts brought in a total of $34,965, the second highest total ever. These funds that will go directly to support teachers and classroom materials.
Big thank yous to the families in Yafei’s and Constanza’s classes - 100% of those families made Annual Giving gifts this school year. On May 9, those students celebrated their 100% rates with organic ice cream sandwiches from Ruby Jewel (www.rubyjewel.net).
Participation tallies as of May 12, 2008:
| Yafei | 100% |
| Constanza | 100% |
| Sharon | 92% |
| YuYen | 88% |
| Lucy | 87% |
| Pilar | 83% |
| Wenny | 79% |
| Hu Nan | 79% |
| Maria | 78% |
| Yukako | 78% |
| Cynthia | 75% |
| Tina | 73% |
| Hong | 71% |
| Hideko | 71% |
| Qiong | 71% |
| Adela | 71% |
| Ivonne | 65% |
| Mary | 63% |
| Aiyun | 60% |
| Jossie | 59% |
| Mieko | 57% |
| Yuko | 56% |
| Helen | 53% |
| Masami | 50% |
| Ferran | 47% |
| Fernando | 47% |
| Shirleen | 40% |
| Vicky | 39% |
| Jennifer | 38% |
| Akiko | 38% |
Linda Bonder, Acting Development Director
LBonder@intlschool.org, 503-226-2496 x104
Head’s Corner
May 12, 2008
TRAFFIC AND PARKING
Meeting for the first time on Wednesday, May 7, the Traffic and Parking Committee quickly came to the conclusion that everyone knows there are traffic and parking problems, but nobody knows a solution that fits the whole school. The committee is searching for a solution that will bring safety to all children and satisfaction to most, if not all, parents. Want to take part in formulating a great plan? The committee is looking for diverse membership. Potential members should send a message to Lynda Wannamaker lynda@wannamaker-consulting.com and include information about where you usually park, car pool, children’s ages, and the building(s) your family uses this year.
SCHOOL ACCREDITATION
On Wednesday, April 30, The International School was examined by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools. This important event may result in The International School’s first full accreditation certificate.
The 8:30 to 4:30 school evaluation ended with a verbal report from Dr. Richard Darst, Oregon Director of NAAS and leader of the Visiting Team. He spoke to the TIS Head, Principal, and Lead Teachers. When the full report arrives, we will find out whether TIS has been awarded full accreditation status or been given an additional year of provisional status during which to prepare for a second Accreditation Visit.
Tara O’Neill, Pat Maquire, and Kathy Kaiser, school administrators from private, charter, and public schools, made up the rest of the Visiting Team. They toured the school and grounds; spoke with administrators, teachers, students, and parents; reviewed faculty surveys on the effectiveness of the TIS education program; attended classes; reviewed profiles of the student body, graduates, and teachers; sat in on an Administrative Staff Meeting; inquired about school finances and Board Governance; and took a close look at The International School’s plans for improvement.
In the verbal report, Dr. Darst gave The International School eight commendations and six recommendations.
Commendations:
- A very unique, interesting, and challenging program.
- A passionate and hardworking staff.
- All appearances indicate The International School is moving forward in the right direction.
- Students are ready and willing scholars.
- In both the written Self Study and verbally, The International School’s responses are refreshingly honest in describing school strengths and challenges.
- The Head of School is closely in touch, highly supportive of the staff, and aware of school needs.
- The day care programs before and after school are a benefit to parents.
- Great use of limited facilities. Clean, well lit, and inviting classrooms.
Recommendations:
- More and better written policies and procedures
- Provide training and resources to help teachers fill “specialist” roles. TIS classroom teachers fulfill guidance counselor, special education teacher, and remedial teacher roles. These are roles filled by specialists in larger schools.
- Improve Staff Development. Provide more staff development opportunities.
- Use the data generated in the Self Study to further develop specific, targeted, measurable goals.
- Move quickly forward to create facilities that better meet student and instructional needs.
- Improve instructional leadership. This will be challenging because of the unique nature of the school and the diversity of teachers in three tracks.
Prior to the visit, the school prepared a comprehensive Self-Study and sent it to the Visiting Team so they would be familiar with the school’s profile, beliefs, mission, and student learning expectations. TIS teachers participated in eight surveys evaluating TIS’ fulfillment of NAAS standards. Chapter Four of the Self-Study is made up of 13 Actions Plans for School Improvement. If you would like to read the Self-Study, please contact Phil Sylla.
In a follow-up email message this week, Dr. Darst wrote, “The team was clear in their perspective that you have a unique program and one that appears to be serving students overall well. I am currently working on the report and it should be back to you in a couple of weeks.”
Phil Sylla
Head of School
psylla@intlschool.org
