Lake Washington Schools Foundation News, June 2010

LWSF Officers for 2010-11

At the June Board of Trustees meeting, the following officers were elected for the 2010-11 school year:

President:  Terri Blier

Vice President, Board Development:  Peg Hunt

Treasurer:  Jack Eaton

Secretary:  Claire Beighle

Lake Washington Schools Foundation Funds Summer School for Academically At-Risk Students

A grant of $63,000 from the Lake Washington Schools Foundation will enable 115 elementary students who are academically at risk and in financial need to attend Core Academic Summer School at no charge. Research shows that students who don’t engage in educational activities over the summer lose some of their learning. They score lower on standardized tests after that break from school. Students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch are at greatest risk, losing an average of over two months of reading achievement during the summer break.   

“For some students, summer school is an important opportunity to catch up,” noted Dr. Chip Kimball, Superintendent. “For others, it’s important to make sure they don’t lose any of what they have learned. In either case, this grant will help make sure that at-risk kids get what they need to start the next school year right.”

“Because of our generous community, the Foundation is able to provide funding to allow the District to expand the opportunity for at risk students to participate in academic summer school,” noted Sherry Wartelle, LWSF Co-President, "at a time when school districts around the country are cutting summer school due to budget issues.”

This program will be offered to students identified as academically at risk in four district schools with the most students who qualify for free- or reduced-price lunch. Those schools are Einstein Elementary, Muir Elementary, Redmond Elementary and Rose Hill Elementary Schools.  For more information, go to www.lwsf.org.

Classroom and School Enrichment Grants for Fall 2010

Lake Washington Schools Foundation is pleased to announce a revised Classroom and School Enrichment Grant (CSEG) program for the 2010-11 school year.

2010 will be the last year to apply for grants in the fall; we are moving to a spring cycle beginning in 2011. This fall, grants will be awarded based upon extended learning programs.   Each school will have the opportunity to submit only one grant, approved by the principal.  The deadline for grant submittal is September 27, 2010 with funds to be used during the 2010-2011 school year.

Details about the grants and the application process will be posted to www.lwsf.org on July 1, 2010.

In the spring, LWSF will announce its new grant process. The grants will be tied to each school’s Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP). CIPs are approved by the School Board each January. We are working to ensure that our grant process is in alignment with the mission and goals of the district.  Schools generally list information on CIP goals in their Annual Reports which are posted to each school’s webpage on www.lwsd.org.

Back to School Flyers  The Lake Washington Schools Foundation is printing District-approved flyers for each family at each school for our back-to-school campaign. These flyers do ask for contributions but also inform our families about the Foundation. We are requesting that the principals and PTSAs include the Foundation’s one page flyer in their back to school packets. We appreciate the help schools and PTSAs have given in the past and recognize the hard work that goes into collating back to school packets. These will be delivered to the schools by the end of July.  Contact the LWSF office info@lwsd.org or Peg Hunt peghunt@comcast.net if you have any questions about these flyers.

LINKS, Looking into the Needs of Kids and Schools is the LWSD volunteer and mentoring program that is funded by the Lake Washington Schools Foundation.  This year, over 100 community volunteers worked as academic and social mentors in our schools.  If you are interested in becoming a LINKS volunteer, please note the following important dates coming up in the fall:

September 8th, 9:30a.m. — New Volunteer Orientation

September 22nd, 6:00p.m. —New Volunteer Orientation

October 5th —Volunteer Training: Topic: Literacy—Helping Students Read

All community members are welcome.  To find out more about LINKS, go to www.lwsd.org/links.

Facebook:  You can become a Fan of the Lake Washington Schools Foundation on Facebook.  Please join and invite your Facebook friends in the district to become Fans.  This is a great way for the Foundation to update our supporters on current news.  If you have any questions, please contact us!

LWSF Contacts

Volunteer Coordinators

Barb Nappen                                                     redmondrose@juno.com

Nancy Hartnell                                                  hartnellhouse@hotmail.com

Board Trustees:

Terri Blier, President elect                            tblier@comcast.net

Claire Beighle, LINKS Liaison Trustee       cmbeighle@hotmail.com

Peg Hunt, Marketing Chair Trustee          peghunt@comcast.net

LINKS:  Nanci Wehr, LWSD LINKS Administrator  links@lwsd.org    

Other questions or suggestions? Please contact the LWSF Office Manager at info@lwsf.org or 425-702-3414.