Back to School Night

Dear Birney families,

Thank you for your help in making the beginning of our new year so smooth. Our office staff and support staff have worked so hard to get our year running, but without your cooperation, we wouldn’t do nearly so well.

I look forward to meeting many of you at our Back-to-School Night. Our evening will go as follows:

5:30-5:45: meet and greet on playground, presentation of staff by auditorium

5:45-6:15: 1st classroom presentation

6:15-6:25: change rooms, stay and ask questions or visit the information tables on the playground

6:25-7:05: 2nd presentation

The two presentations will be the same; it is our way of accommodating families with more than one student in different classrooms. You are certainly not required to attend both if you don’t need to.

There will be several tables set up on the playground with lots of information about our school, please stop by.

Thanks PTA for providing refreshments as always!
Ms. Amanda
_____________________________________

Estimadas familias de Birney,

Gracias por todo su apoyo en el comienzo de nuestro año escolar. El personal de la escuela ha trabajado duro para que funcione bien la escuela, pero sin su apoyo constante no podríamos lograrlo.

Anticipo verlos el 2 de octubre para nuestra ‘Noche de Regreso a la Escuela’ con mucho placer. El horario será así:

5:30-5:45: Conocer al personal de la escuela cerca del auditorio
5:45-6:15: 1era presentación en el salón de clase
6:15-6:25: cambiar salones, conversar con el maestro o visitar las mesas de información en el patio de recreo
6:25-7:05: 2a presentación

Las dos presentaciones sirven para informar a la familia que tiene dos o más estudiantes en la escuela. Si no tiene más de un niño, no es necesario que asista a las dos.

Habrá mucha información sobre la escuela en las mesas en el patio de recreo, pase por ahí si le da tiempo entre presentaciones.

Gracias como siempre al PTA por los refrescos!
Ms. Amanda

Thanks to all who attended the PTA Meeting!

Thank you everyone who was able to attend. Our next meeting is October 9 at 6 pm. Where we will discuss the IB BASH. Please everyone try to attend and encourage your friends to come too.

If you missed the meeting on Sept. 11, and would like a copy of the minutes, please contact Michelle at ptabirney@yahoo.com and I will send you a copy.

Thanks again for the great support.

Family Dinner Night Out!

Please join us for our first Family Dinner Night Out!
Enjoy a nice dinner out and help support the
Birney PTA assembly programs at the same time.
Wednesday, October 15
11:30 a.m. - Closing
3492 Adams Avenue • San Diego, CA
Birney PTA will receive 20% of the proceeds on all sales
of orders accompanied by the flyer that is being sent home in "The Buzz."
Please present flyer to server when ordering or picking up your food.
Also feel free to pick up or make extra copies of the flyer to share with friends and family.

Flyer valid for dine-in or take out only. Not valid on home delivery.

To make reservations or to order take-out items call:
619.283.3153

PLEASE HELP STAND UP FOR CHILDREN NOW!

Children across California are back in school, but we don't yet have a state budget.

Way back in January, PTA and our nearly one-million volunteer members around the state raised their voices in opposition to the initial "cuts only" budget proposal that would have slashed funding for education, health and other services for our state's single most important constituency - our children. We gave that initial budget a grade of "F," and we rallied people across the state to "flunk the budget, not our children"

Throughout the spring and early summer we've continued to call on legislators to do the right thing by preventing deep cuts to our schools and children. In July, a legislative committee with representatives from both houses introduced a "balanced approach" proposal. It would close the state's $15 billion deficit with new, ongoing revenues and some cuts. Even this proposal isn't ideal. It still makes dramatic cuts and merits only a "barely passing" grade. But in this very difficult economic year, we recognized that this conference committee proposal reflects a realistic compromise.

Unfortunately, this proposal has not yet been approved by either the senate or assembly. What's worse, in recent weeks, both houses seem to be straying farther from it. We now have counter-proposals calling for all sorts of short-term fixes and stopgaps. We oppose these short-term approaches and urge you to as well. After a record-setting budget-delay, our state legislators and the governor must not simply pass the buck for another year by approving a budget that relies on additional borrowing, gimmicks, or that cuts even more deeply into education, children's programs and the future of California.

We still need now what we needed in January -- a real budget solution with permanent new revenues to provide our children with the education and services they need to be successful.

We know you share our concern for California's children, because they represent the future of our great state. I urge you to forward this letter along to as many people as you know. Ask them to please do this one thing for all children in California:

Call or email your elected state leaders this week.

Urge them to stand up for children. Ask them to prevent deeper cuts to schools and children's services. Ask them to support additional, ongoing revenues for schools. And call upon them, as our elected representatives, to make the tough decisions that must be made now to ensure a prosperous future.

I appreciate your time and attention to this critical matter. There is no job more important than ensuring that our children are given every opportunity to be successful. If we do that, we all win! If you would like additional information about the state budget, I encourage you to visit our website at www.capta.org
Thank you for taking the time to stand up for our state's children!

Sincerely,

Pam Brady
President
California State PTA

UHArts Event

Thanks to all of those who helped out at the UHArts event. There was beautiful, interesting and thought provoking art for all to enjoy. If you did not get a chance to attend. Take a look at all of the chalk drawings that are still around the school.

Also, thanks to all the parents who came to help with the school clean up. Every little bit helps.

My Fave Teacher Project

The Center on Policy Initiatives is launching a project to involve students in celebrating the value of educators. The MyFaveTeacher project invites students from elementary to high school to make and share short videos about a favorite teacher or other school employee.

Please help us get the word out right away! CPI will begin featuring the videos online later this month and will award prizes (grand prize an iPod Touch!) at CPI's annual Gala on Oct. 16. A San Diego nonprofit, CPI has been a strong advocate for teachers and is honoring all educators as a central theme of the Gala.

To be eligible for the contest, videos must be submitted by Sept. 19. We encourage simple videos made on cell phones or any digital camera -- no longer than 1 minute.

The My Fave Teacher project will continue well beyond this initial contest, as part of CPI’s commitment to highlighting the hard work of teachers and others in our schools. But we have a short timeframe to launch this opening contest! Please consider promoting it as a back-to-school project.

Details and instructions are available at www.onlineCPI.org/MyFave . Send questions to MyFave@onlineCPI.org. Please spread the word about this exciting opportunity and encourage students to participate!

Thank you.

Back to School

The classrooms are ready and the kids are excited. Birney is back in session. The energy was great for the first day, new clothes, new schools and a well rested group. We are excitied for the coming year and we hope you are too. Please take a few minutes every week to look over the "Birney Buzz" that comes home in your child's backpack, mark your calendars for important events and remember to fill out all the necessary forms and permission slips.

We will try to keep you up-to-date on important issues and dates facing the school, as well as information important to your child. Please feel free to send us questions and we will be as helpful as we can be.

Cheers to the Teachers and Staff. Welcome Back.
Birney PTA