Please join us in the school library on Thurs., March 8 at 7pm for the next meeting of the PTO.
Among other things, we will discuss PTO leadership for the 2012-13 school year.
Luau and Auction: Donate!
Help us make the Clifford Luau and Auction a success by donating an item or services for auction. This is Clifford’s most important fundraiser of the year; the school needs your help!
Please use this form to make your donation. Thank you!
Meeting Notes: New Principal Hiring Process
Dr. John Baker, Deputy Superintendent, came to Clifford tonight to explain the process that the District will go through, before, during and after, hiring a new Principal for our school.
Here is the timeline:
3/12 to 3/20/12 – Advertising will start for Clifford Principal position
4/9 to 4/13/12 – Dr. Baker and Jan Christensen, Superintendent will be reviewing all paperwork for all applicants. Then choose about 8 to 12 of the most qualified applicants for interviewing on 4/20/12
4/20/12 – Interviewing candidates.
Last week of April: Find out who our New Prinicipal will be
First Week of May: Meet our New Prinicipal with a meet and greet at the School!!!
What will be needed to apply for the position:
- Application
- 3 Letters of recommendation from Superintendent, co-workers, parents at current school
- 3-5 yrs experience as a Principal
- 3-9 years experience in the classroom
- Master’s Degree
- Bilingual will be helpful but not required.
Interviewing Panel will consist of:
- Superintendent
- Deputy Superintendent
- 1 Classified representative – Has historically been the Office Manager of the school
- 5 Clifford Teachers
- 4 Clifford Parent representatives as follows:
- 1 – Kindergarten
- 1 – grades 1-3
- 1 – grades 4 & 5
- 1 – grades 6-8
- There will be a total of 12 people on the panel per John Baker. If you are interested in being on the panel, please e-mail him at jbaker@rcsdk8.net
Some other facts:
- If a current district Principal or Assistant Principal would like the job, they will have to interview and apply just like the rest.
- The Applicants will not know the interview questions ahead of time. There will be 12 questions that are constructed by the panel above which are mandated to be the same for all interviews.
- Our Administration is highly paid for this area and is higher than most other districts except Menlo Park. This will help with attracting many applicants.
- The last time the district hired a Principal, there were 88 applicants.
Ideas for what is wanted in our new principal were submitted to Ann Berljafa who will be sending to John Baker. He will be adding this in the description of what we want. Ideas mentioned are below.
Someone who:
- Will be able to handle many situations without taking any of it personal.
- Has understanding of how education has changed over the years.
- Understands the Standards and understands children as individuals
- Good at Public Relations to help boost our reputation as the amazing school we are.
- A fabulous communicator
- Support and endorse the positvie relationship of the PTO.
- High visibility and participation in all aspects of our school.
- Is Consistent with rules and consequences, office procedures, etc.
E-mail Ann Berljafa if you would like to add to the list.
Meeting Notes from Feb. 9 PTO Meeting
- John Baker (RCSD District office) will discuss the process for replacing Mr. Lind at Clifford on February 28th at 7PM.
- Middle School – there have been some new rules enforced for the middle school students (no hats, positive behavior plan with rewards, yard duty will have clip boards to monitor behavior. Detention will be on weekends.) A letter will be sent home to middle school parents with more information.
- Science Faire project winner has gone on to win at the County level.
- Race to Nowhere movie will be shown on March 22nd.
- Maria Stockton – Need more 7th & 8th graders for free cooking classes at Clifford. This in only open to 7th/8th grades. Started February 16 at will have classes through March 16th from 1:45-3:45PM
- Teacher Appreciation (Christen Dilg). Goal is to have one event per month. Teacher Appreciation Week is May 7-11.
- Traffic – need two more volunteers in the morning and 3 in the afternoon.
- Mr. Tashman (2nd grade Teacher) is helping the student council start a store on campus. Need parents to help after school. Goal is to open in March.
- Send yearbook photos to Maria Martin (andrew7121@sbcglobal.net).
Help Select Clifford’s New Principal (Tues. Feb 28, 7pm)
All parents are invited to a meeting with Dr. John Baker, dept. superintendent of HR, for a presentation and conversation on the process of hiring a new principal starting in the next school year.
Date: Tues. Feb. 28
Time: 7pm
Place: Clifford MUB
Spanish-English translators will be provided.
Clifford School in the NY Times
Clifford School’s outsourced PE program (funded by the PTO!) was a topic of coverage in both the New York Times and on the local Channel 5 CBS affiliate today:
- NY Times: “Pushing to Keep Exercise in the School Curriculum”
- CBS Channel 5: “Redwood City School Outsources PE Program”
Read-A-Thon Update
As the last week of the Read-A-Thon is here, we hope that this has been a positive and enjoyable experience. Literacy is such an important aspect of the learning process and your participation has been greatly appreciated.
The last day of the Read-A-Thon is Weds., Feb. 15, and all monies and forms need to be returned no later than Weds, Feb. 22. The class from each grade that has raised the most will be rewarded with a party.
We thank you again for your support and look forward to posting the results soon!!
Wine Donation Drop-off for Luau: Feb. 21-Feb. 24
Wondering what to donate to the auction? How about a bottle of wine?
All you need to do is bring in a bottle of wine or two to donate towards our wine auction cellar! Clear space in your cupboards, or pick up a bottle the next time you head to the store. Donate them to the auction and turn them into a tax deduction!
We will be collecting your wine during morning drop off & afternoon pick up, Tuesday, Feb. 21 to Friday, Feb. 24. Look for us near the school office by the car line. If you would like to write off your donation, we will simply hand you a donation form and that will be your receipt. To help us know the starting bid of your wine, kindly indicate the value and place a note on the bottle. A great way to raise money for our kids! Any questions? Contact Bunnie Morrow (650) 465.4297 or Elaina Pitre (650) 454.4897.
Proposed Parcel Tax – Volunteers Needed!
To provide local and stable funding for our schools, the School Board is considering placing a parcel tax measure on the June 2012 ballot. This critical effort could bring over $5 million dollars to our schools over the next 5 years.
These are dollars can’t be taken by the State. So, every dollar would stay in our schools protecting our academic programs, retaining our quality teachers and keeping our libraries open.
To ensure success on June ballot, each Redwood City school is being asked to recruit at least 100 volunteers to “get the word out” (aka phone bank). Clifford’s Phone Bank nights are scheduled for Tuesday, April 10 and Tuesday, May 8 from 5:30-8:30pm.
To be part of the team that helps bring much needed funds to our schools, contact Joni Reicher, Clifford Parcel Tax Site Captain, at jbreicher@mac.com or sign up here.
To read more about this diverse community effort, go to Redwood City for Better Schools.
PTO Meeting (Jan. 12) Minutes
Thank you to the parents and faculty who joined us last Thursday at a very informative PTO meeting. Many of the items discussed have been written about in detail on this blog.
Keep checking the website weekly for more information on all the great events that the PTO has planned in the coming months. For those of you that weren’t able to attend, please see the minutes below.
- Mr. Lind spoke about the new parking lot. If you have any questions or ideas please direct them to Mr. Lind and he will pass them on to the district. Also, please do not drop off your kids at the stop sign on Scenic Drive. Either come around and park at the curb or go thru the upper parking lot or the drop off in front of the school. Sheriff will continue to patrol Scenic Dr.
- 7th Grade Science Fair is January 26th. Open House is from 6-8pm. All are welcome to attend.
- Movie night was a HUGE success! John Claude would like to have more people help with this fun event. If interested, please let Lisa Chad know and she will get your info to John. He is looking for a minimum of 3 adults.
- Holiday Boutique brought in $1,121 and $137 was last minute bake sale items!! There were 19 vendors and Barbara got positive feedback from both attendees and vendors. If you are interested in helping or selling next year, please let Barbara know.
- January is Literacy Month at Clifford!! Read-A-Thon starts Tuesday, January 17th. Please, let’s make this a success, sponsor your children and encourage friends and family to sponsor as well. The class from each grade that raises the most money will have a party! Check to see if your employer will match your child’s total. 50% of all the money raised for your child’s homeroom goes directly to the teacher to help buy supplies and items that will enhance their experience at school. There will also be a percentage that will go directly to the resource teachers and aides.
- Joni Reicher is our Parcel Tax Coordinator. She is asking for your help in recruiting friends and family to work the Clifford Phone bank nights on Tuesday, April 10 and Tuesday, May 8 from 5:30-8:30pm. She needs at least 100 volunteers and we can’t use school or district resources (email lists or property) to assist in anyway. Pleases encourage your friends and family to sign up directly on the Redwood City Community for Better Schools site at http://betterrwcschools.org/Better-RWC-Schools/GetInvolved-BetterSchools.html or by letting her know via email (jbreicher@mac.com). Redwood City School District is the only district that feeds into Sequoia Union High School District that does not have a parcel tax. This puts our kids at a huge disadvantage as they enter high school. Please do what you can to support this!
- Aoife McEvoy has taken on the HUGE task of the Dolphin Newsletter. This was done in the past by Mrs. Torres and now alleviates her to focus on more pressing issues. If anyone is interested in helping or contributing to the Dolphin, please contact Aoife!
- Clifford Luau and Auction is on March 10 at Sandpiper Community Center in Redwood Shores . Look out for a beautiful flyer with information on how to purchase tickets. $55 per person, or if you reserve a table, then it’s $50 per person. Go to the Clifford Website to sign up to help. Help is needed with set-up, decorations, auction items, baskets, etc. Also, all classes are required to submit either a themed basket or class art item to start bidding at $50. There will be a live and silent auction. Contact Bunnie Morrow and Elaina Pitre if you would like to help or if you need more information.
- Garden is looking for help. If you can take a bed to weed, the kids love it! Coordinate with the teacher and you can take the class for a bit to help and learn about soil and how plants grow. Check the Clifford PTO website for more info.
- Ann Berljafa wants to bring the movie, “Race to Nowhere” to Clifford. She is going to check on liscensing and purchasing info and get back to us.
- Multi-Cultural Day is June 1st from 4-8pm. There will be a meeting for those interested in helping on Thursday, February 2nd from 6-7:30 in the Clifford Library. They are changing the performance to a Clifford Talent Show “Clifford’s got Talent”, there will be new games and activities and Valerie, Suaima and Cecilia are looking for parents to help with events and donations for middle school prizes, baked goods and ethinic dishes to sell. Please come to the meeting! If you can’t attend but would like to help with games, or donations, please contact one of the following Valerie Bioc vbioc@comcast.net, Suaima Figueroa suiama.figueroa@gmail.com, or Cecilia Velasquez jcjjfernandez@sbcglobal.net.
We look forward to seeing you at the next meeting (Feb. 9, 7pm, in the Library).