MONTEREY RIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Message sent - 08/24/2009

Welcome to the 2009-2010 school year. To ensure that we maintain a constant flow of information between home and school I will send out a weekly email to all members of our Monterey Ridge community. The Monarch (e)Mail will highlight upcoming activities, happenings and programs. It will include thumbnail briefings on events and it will be sent on Monday of each week. The subject line will be clearly marked “Monarch (e)Mail” so please look out for the email each week. All Monarch (e)Mails will be archived on our website as well. I hope that it will be a useful tool to keep you connected to our school.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Integrity is what we do, what we say, and what we say we do.
Don Galer

FIRST DAYS OF SCHOOL
The first two days of school were a great success. A big thank you is owed to all the staff and parents for making sure everything proceeded seamlessly. We are off to a great start and we look forward to working with each of you this year.

BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT
Mark your calendars for Thursday, September 3. The schedule is as follows:
5:15 – 5:45 Student Council Meeting
5:45 – 6:30 Grades K,3,4,5
6:30 – 7:00 PTA Meeting
7:00 – 7:45 Grades 1,2

This is one of those truly rare evenings at school that is for ADULTS only. Unfortunately, child care will not be provided.

NEW CALL IN SYSTEM FOR ABSENCES
Please make sure to turn in your permission slip to participate in our new call in system to report absences. We will be working with the UCSD on a grant from the National Institute of Health to pilot an improved way for parents to report school absences and track illnesses. If this pilot program works here, it could then be distributed to many schools and districts across the state and country.

RETURN FORMS TO OFFICE
Please make sure to return the forms that came home in the first day packet. The forms include the signature verification form, enrollment form, trip permit and the permission slip for the new call in system for absences.

CELEBRITY CLUB AWARD WINNERS
We will once again be implementing our Celebrity Club award program. Each day, one Monterey Ridge teacher or staff member will have a special “Caught You Being Good” apple. That individual will look to catch someone being good. The student will be sent to the office where I will give a positive call home and recognize them at Friday Flag with a special certificate. The apple will be added to the tree that once again sprouted in my office.

MRES PTA/INTERNATIONAL FALL FESTIVAL
Please make sure to join the MRES PTA. Our PTA is an integral part of our school and funds a tremendous amount of school programs. I have been so impressed with their dedication and commitment to our school. The cost to join our PTA is only $10.

Mark your calendar for the first big PTA event of the school year - The International Fall Festival on September 25 from 4:30 - 7:30. The Fall Gift Wrap Fundraiser starts on September 9. Please consider volunteering with the PTA. Any time you can spare to help at school has a tremendous impact on our entire school community. PTA members will be available at Back to School Night to answer your questions and help find a volunteer opportunity for you. Visit www.mrespta.org to learn more about PTA and to stay up to date.

MRES FOUNDATION
The Foundation will be concentrating on supporting our needs in REDUCING CLASS SIZES for core instructional areas, enhancing our TECHNOLOGY and increasing the depth of our SCIENCE curriculum this year. We are hoping to raise funds to provide Impact Teachers who are former MRES teachers to reduce our class sizes and provide more opportunities to engage all students, help us maintain and improve our technology and enhance our science instruction. Our success depends entirely on your support.

Dr. Rich Newman.

Monarch (e)mail achived pages