School for the Arts Community Organization (SACO)

Art Walk is Saturday, April 21st from 11am – 3pm

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There’s No Place Like Home,
our very own Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts,
and we are Santa Rosa Strong!
ArtWalk 2017 was originally scheduled for October 13, but as you know, the night of October 8 and the weeks that followed changed everything. Our entire community was affected by the firestorm; so many of us lost so much. And, because we are Santa Rosa, we came together to help each other in countless ways, and we continue to support each other as we all move towards recovery.
The fires ended, the weeks passed, our school reopened, and our community began to adjust to a new normal. In partnership with Principal Vogel, SACO rescheduled the ArtWalk for Saturday, April 21, from 11am to 3pm, at our beautifully renovated school campus.
ArtWalk is our school’s largest fundraiser of the year, and those funds go into the classrooms, into programs that directly benefit and support our kids. This year, those funds are needed more than ever, and we hope that as many of you that can participate in the event will do so. New pledge envelopes will be sent home with students by April 13, and should be returned to school by April 20.
Join us for all or even part of this year’s ArtWalk! Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts students will be walking laps to raise money, but we invite their entire community of friends and family to walk (or dance) alongside and support them. A few laps walked translates to a few more dollars for the school! We’ll have music, donated snacks and drinks for the kids, and many fun activities along the walking course. Bring a picnic lunch and cheer our students on as they walk together to help their school. Add a bit of your own creativity to the community mural project. Help your student use their tickets earned after each walked lap to buy ‘penny’ prizes or to enter a raffle to win an awesome class basket (the Lego baskets are always popular)!

Date: Saturday, April 21, 2018

Time: 11am to 3pm

Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts
PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL SRCSA students must be accompanied by an adult, as this event will be happening outside of normal school hours. No supervision will be provided at the event.
CONSIDER VOLUNTEERING to help set up, help out during the event, and/or clean up afterwards. All day-long volunteers will receive a free T shirt! See the signup genius link here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090e4aacaf23a0f85-artwalk2
COLLECT PLEDGES for your SRCSA student. Any contribution helps our school!
We hope that you will join us!




Into the New Year…

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We’re hoping the “2018” part of the 2017-2018 school year is great for SRCSA students, teachers, and parents. Typically, SRCSA families complete most of their volunteer hours in the fall at the Art Walk and Halloween Carnival and these events create wonderful connections between members of our community. Due to the wildfires, we had to re-plan the year with a focus on preserving the best parts of the fall events.  This includes conducting the fundraising that supports SRCSA students and teachers through the year, while retaining the fun and community-spirited aspects of the Art Walk and the Halloween Carnival. Look out for some great opportunities to volunteer at the school to support our students and teachers!

Youth In Arts – Artist in Residence Hannah Gavagan

Last year, SACO identified a community interest in helping supplement the arts integrated education offered at SRCSA by bringing visiting artists to the school. This has taken shape as an artist “residency” where teaching artist Hannah Gavagan will be working with SRCSA students this spring. The program was anticipated to begin in the fall, but was postponed until now. In the first phase, 4th and 5th grade drama students and all middle school students (grades 6, 7, and 8) will begin working with Ms. Gavagan when school resumes in January.  This special program kicks off with a Family Art Night planned for Thursday, January 11 from 5:30 to 7:00 PM. The event is free, and all 4th through 8th grade families are welcome and encouraged to attend. Pizza and drinks will be offered as an 8th grade fundraiser.

SACO’s goal is to ensure that all SRCSA students benefit from the residencies. We have applied for a grant that would provide significant funding for supplemental arts education and are awaiting final word about the amount and timing of the funds. In the meantime, we are very pleased to move forward with the first phase.

For more information about Ms. Gavagan, please visit Youth in Arts’ web site here: http://www.youthinarts.org/blog/tag/hannah-gavagan

It’s Art Walk Time!!!

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This year’s Art Walk event, our school’s annual walk-a-thon fundraiser, is all about returning to our beautifully renovated home campus, with a theme of ‘There’s No Place Like Home.’  Art Walk will be held on Friday, October 13. The Art Walk is our school’s main fundraiser and fall party—students, teachers, and parent volunteers will spend the day of Art Walk having fun walking laps around the campus earning money for the school. The Wizard of Oz theme will be present in decor, costume, and class banners. The community will enjoy walking laps to the beat of fun music carefully chosen for the festivities.  Of course, the Art Walk is not all business, and the kids are treated to fun activities along the way! Students will earn a ticket for every lap they walk, and can redeem the tickets for basket raffle tickets, penny prizes, face painting by Clementine the Amazing, snacks (donated by Trader Joe’s and Safeway) and other surprises.     

All students should have received their pledge envelopes. This envelope is really important because students are requested to ask parents, family, and friends to pledge money to sponsor their participation in the event.  All of the pledges are donations to the school and will be spent this year making great things happen. People can sponsor your student by donating money for each lap they walk, or by donating a set amount.  Every pledge helps support events and arts activities throughout the 2017-2018 school year.

The School for the Arts Community Organization is able to provide every student, teacher, and 50 volunteers with a free event t-shirt thanks to generous sponsorships from local businesses. Thank you to our wonderful sponsors: Anchor Rose, Beck Law, Clementine the Amazing: Face Painting and Entertainment,  J. Christopher: The Rub, Junior Gym, McCoy Fire Protection,  Pedersen’s, Second Wind, SLR Financial, Silkies Screen Printing, and Theta Wave Float Spa.

Volunteers are key to making this event successful and we are looking for 50 volunteers the day of the event!  Volunteer who can help all day, from 8:30 to 2:30, are the most helpful and this is a great opportunity to earn volunteer hours while seeing our school in action and cheering on students and staff.  Half-day volunteers (9:00 – 12:00, 12:00 – 2:30) are also very welcome. The first 50 volunteers will receive a free Art Walk t-shirt, and a light lunch generously donated by Whole Foods.  The volunteer sign up sheet is online (http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090e4aacaf23a0f85-artwalk) and in the office. Please email Sheri with questions at sheri_emerson@nullyahoo.com.  In addition to more volunteers, we are in need of folding tables and pop-up tents.

Please support Art Walk by donating to your child’s classroom raffle basket. Each classroom is currently working on a themed prize raffle basket. These baskets serve as fun motivation to walk laps, and generate a lot of community excitement for the event. All families are asked to donate an item or cash for their class baskets to ensure fantastic prizes for the kids. If you have yet to donate to your student’s class basket, contact the classroom teacher or classroom parent in charge of the basket to find out how you can help. The basket winners will be identified at the Art Walk assembly following the event.

Every year, the teachers at SRCSA do a fabulous job supporting the Art Walk event. We are looking for donations of prizes for the teachers who compete the most laps. It is a spirited competition each year! If you can donate restaurant gift cards, wine or other treats, please let SACO know.

The friendly competition extends to the student walkers, as well, and medals for the most laps and most money earned will be awarded to individual students. In addition, one classroom will earn the highly coveted Class Spirit prize. Each class earns spirit points by completing a class raffle basket, making a class sign, showing team spirit and BEST behavior the day of the Art Walk, and turning in their pledge envelopes. The Class Spirit winners earn a trophy for their classroom and bragging rights for the year!

Art Walk, coupled with SEED, are the two main ways in which SRCSA families can financially support the school. We ask our families to focus their donations on these two fundraisers instead of multiple product driven sales (e.g. cookie dough and wrapping paper sales) throughout the school year. By having these two events early in the school year, SACO is able to get as much money as possible into the classrooms as early as possible, and create a budget to fund events, activities, and site improvements.

Lastly, please make sure to locate your student’s pledge envelope as soon as possible and get those pledges. More envelopes are available in the school office. We are hoping everyone will participate—no donation is too small.  Please list all the pledges on the envelope and be sure to bring the envelope to school on the day of Art Walk, so that SACO can note the total number of laps completed.

Questions? If you have any questions about this important and fun community event or you would like to help, please contact Art Walk Co-Chairs: Judy O’Donnell (judithkod@nullyahoo.com) and Sheri Emerson (sheri_emerson@nullyahoo.com).

Volunteer Opportunities Abound…

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This is an exciting time to be part of the Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts Community. While we all worked together to make the best of things over the past two years, arrival back at the renovated Humboldt Street campus has felt like a fresh start and the current of enthusiasm and hope is infectious. It was palpable at SACO’s playground build day event in June, and the school was positively crackling with renewed energy over the first two weeks on the new campus.

As we begin using the Humboldt campus, we are learning about how it works. Simple stuff like remembering to sign in at the office before proceeding onto the campus to volunteer, or knowing where the bathrooms are located. Getting our kids safely to and from campus. Because the school administration’s communication system (autodialers, emails, etc) is not up and working yet after the district upgraded it, SACO is including key information from Principal Vogel in the SACO weekly email. If you are not yet receiving the SACO weekly email, please sign up!

This year, the school sent out a form requiring families to acknowledge SRCSA’s 20 hour per family volunteer requirement. It is important to know that volunteer opportunities are abundant, and especially so during the months of September and October. One of the important roles SACO plays is communicating these opportunities and helping recruit volunteers for key school events. We would love to make sure everyone is aware of the options, and we hope you’ll consider attending the September SACO meeting planned for Tuesday, September 12 at 6:30 PM in the MPR. This is the best place to get information, meet SRCSA families and teachers, and to contribute positively to school life.

Here is an overview of the key volunteer opportunities for September/October:

September SACO Meeting – Tuesday, September 12

Earn one volunteer hour by attending SACO’s first meeting of the year on Tuesday, September 12 at 6:30 PM in the MPR.

Campus Beautification – Saturday, September 30 (revised date!)

We are re-starting weekend campus beautification opportunities this year! These provide a great opportunity for families who can’t volunteer during the school week to earn volunteer hours on a Saturday morning. Planning is underway for the first event and an online sign up sheet will be available soon.

Art Walk – Friday, October 13

Art Walk is SRCSA’s annual walkathon and party planned for Friday, October 13! We need 50+ adult volunteers to assist with organizing, setting up, staffing, and cleaning up the event. Teachers will also look for volunteers to help lead the younger kids around the course. The Art Walk kick-off meeting was held on Friday, August 25 and we welcome everyone to get involved.

At this time of the year, SACO is actively recruiting a parent or two from each classroom to work with the other class parents to create the prize basket for each class. These prize baskets are primarily used to motivate students to get a ton of exercise, since they earn a raffle ticket for each completed lap and the baskets are very inspiring. Once we have a class basket captain for each class, outreach to families typically begins in mid-September. The sign up sheet is online. More information at the September SACO meeting!

Halloween Carnival – Tuesday, October 31

Each year, SACO hosts a free after-school carnival for SRCSA students. This fun, low-key event brings families together for wholesome-yet-spooky fun. We’re planning to hold the event on Halloween this year. Just like last year, the carnival will begin immediately after school beginning at 1:20 for kindergartners, 2:20 for grades 1-5, and 2:50 for grades 6-8. We need volunteers to staff the carnival but more importantly we are looking for parents to help plan this year’s event. Join our group of Halloween loving SRCSA parents if you can. Are you able to build cool things? Evening and weekend volunteer hours can be earned building new games for the event. Love to bake? We’ll have a cake walk and will need cakes. The Halloween planning kick off meeting is scheduled for Friday, September 1 at 8:15 AM.

Ongoing – Stop.Drop.Go.

The school is looking for volunteers to assist with the drop off system in the morning before school.

School starts August 15! But first, let’s have ice cream…

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On Friday, August 11, the School for the Arts Community Organization Board is pleased to present the annual ice cream social from 6:00 – 7:00 PM at our renovated campus. It is a great time to see the campus*, meet students, families, and teachers, and get pumped up for the new year, plus check out the class lists. Our new principal will be there, too! Students and younger children are welcome to check out the new playground equipment. The ice cream social will be held from 6:00 – 7:00PM at 756 Humboldt Street. All current students and their families are welcome!

This is the first of many volunteer opportunities this school year. Helping at the event is a great way to get started earning volunteer hours, to meet new people, and to have a fun evening. Volunteer shifts are deliberately 30 minutes (1/2 the event) in duration so people can volunteer AND participate in the festivities. We are hoping that returning families will help out so that the newest families feel especially welcome.

If you can volunteer, please sign up here.

* Please note: Classrooms and school buildings, other than the MPR, will not be open for tours or viewing during this event.

Annual Calendar

We are working on the annual calendar of events and hope to have it available on this web site by end of July. The version that you can access on the left has key dates to get you started.

First Day of School

The first day of school is Tuesday, August 15. School begins at 8:00 a.m. It will be hectic around the school due to the small parking lot that is mostly dedicated to staff parking. We recommend arriving early to reduce first day stress.

The school schedule varies by grade and day but school always starts at 8:00 a.m. On Monday, Tuesday (including the first day of school!), Thursday, and Friday, it is a regular schedule meaning that kindergartners are released at 1:20 p.m., grades 1-5 are released at 2:20 p.m., and grades 6-8 are released at 2:50 p.m. Every Wednesday, including the second day of school, is early release day meaning that all students are dismissed at 1:20 p.m. If you have questions about the schedule and/or after care options, please contact the school office at 522-3170 on or after August 1!

Fresh Start, Lots to Do

As we approach the start of the school year, expect to receive a lot of communication from the school and SACO. In the meantime, SACO suggests you consider the following items during the months of August and September:

Donate to SEED: The Student Education Enhancement Drive begins August 15 and runs through September 15.  The purpose of SEED is to raise money for all of the classrooms. Every single dollar donated to SEED flows directly into the regular classrooms plus Music, Dance, Theater, Visual/Digital Art, and RSP. We encourage families to contribute $100 per student but all donations are welcome.  If you have any questions, please contact SEED Coordinators Kristin Hendricks and Pam Roth at srcsavolunteer@nullgmail.com.

Complete Your Family’s Campus Directory Form.  By providing your name, email address, and other optional information to SACO, we will be able to make sure that you receive email notifications about volunteer opportunities, events, and other school news. We encourage you to complete the form electronically because it saves a lot of data entry work. If you provide your information, it will be included in the 2017-2018 Campus Directory so that members of our school community can arrange study groups, play dates, parties, carpooling, etc. Contact Kristin Hendricks if you have questions about the Campus Directory at klhendricks517 @ gmail.com.

Attend the September SACO meeting. This year, SACO meetings will be held on Tuesday evenings at 6:30 PM in the MPR, the second Tuesday of every month.  SACO meetings are a great opportunity to earn a volunteer hour while meeting other school families and learning how we can work together to support the success of the school.

Attend Back to School Night.  Back to School Night, held on Thursday, August 31, is an opportunity for parents/guardians to hear from our principal and your student’s teacher, and to learn more about the year ahead in your student’s classroom and how you can help. The event is usually at 6:00 PM– more details TBD.

Volunteer. Each family is required to volunteer 20 hours per year at SRCSA.  Attending SACO meetings, helping organize events, working in the classroom, driving for field trips, and helping run events are all great ways of earning volunteer hours. Need help making a volunteer plan?  Contact SACO’s Volunteer Coordinators at srcsavolunteer@nullgmail.com. Every family is asked to log 20 volunteer hours either in the office binders or online at www.srsaco.org.

SRCSA Playground Build Day! June 10, 2017

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The School for the Arts Community Organization is delighted to invite members of the Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts community to participate in SRCSA’s Playground Build event on Saturday, June 10.  This is the first community event on the Humboldt campus since our school closed for renovation in summer 2015. What a wonderful chance to check out the improved campus, meet other SRCSA families, and to pitch in to make the outdoor areas even better!

We will be installing Global Motion, a rotating two-level play object that will surely delight SRCSA students, large musical instruments, and friendship benches. Once these tasks are accomplished, we will be filling the “Big Toy” and “Global Motion” play areas with wood fiber and then celebrating with ice cream.

If you have time to volunteer, even for part of the day, there are still some open slots and we still need your help. Because the event is only a week away, we can’t promise custom-fit event t-shirts but we will have various sizes on hand for those who sign up soon.

Sign up to help here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0d48a4ac29a2f58-srcsa

Join Us on Saturday, June 10 for Fun

We really need helpers but we’ll also accept spectators. We’re delighted to welcome children to play on the existing playground equipment, participate in low-key activities, and have fun. All children must be supervised by parents/guardians. Plan on arriving after noon or you may be put to work! At 12:15, we will have a small group of volunteers on hand to facilitate fun in the “Little Toy” playground area. Children and their parents can play, peer into the windows of the new classrooms, and generally take in the beautiful campus. Older children are welcome to pitch in if we are still moving wood chips in the afternoon!

Ice Cream at 2:00 PM

We’ll do a “ribbon cutting” ceremony and serve donated Three Twins ice cream starting at around 2:00 PM. We would love to have a feel for how many people might arrive seeking ice cream, so please RSVP to SACO if you’re not volunteering but plan to stop by for the fun part. Our email address is srcsavolunteer@nullgmail.com.

Campus is Still Under Construction

Most of the work is complete! We’ve heard from the district that Phase 2 (renovation of the older classrooms) will be completed by end of June 2017. The central area and the parking lot will be paved and re-striped, and the walking path will be installed, in July and August. Sod will be installed in the field area after the path is completed. It seems that everything will be sparkling when the new school year starts on August 15, 2017!

Because the campus is still under construction, it will remain fenced off throughout the summer. If you plan on joining us during the Build Day, please plan on parking off-site and walking in. While our kiddos will have to wait until August to return to the playground, hopefully they will be even more enthusiastic about the year ahead after seeing it all in person!  If you require any special parking or other accommodations, please contact SACO at srcsavolunteer@nullgmail.com.

Acknowledgements

The playground project has been made possible by the following people and companies:

School for the Arts Community Organization (2015-2016 & 2016-2017 Board members): Vanessa Bailey, Malia Bernal, Mark Jenkins, Mahrya Mirante, Erin Morris, Kim Norts, Judy O’Donnell, Lissa Provost, Tara Renner, Pam Roth, and Tiffany Seder.

KaBOOM! “Play Matters for All Kids” KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to ensuring that all kids get a childhood filled with the balanced and active play needed to thrive. Their $15,000 grant, funded by their partners Dr Pepper Snapple Group, and technical training helped make this project happen.

Kirby Construction: Kirby donated critical equipment, labor, and expertise and this project would not have been possible without their help. Thank you, SRCSA parent Jared Johnson, and Kirby Construction!

Three Twins Ice Cream: We are also grateful to Petaluma-based Three Twins ice cream, who is donating their delicious ice cream for our event. Three cheers for Three Twins, and for Madagascar Vanilla and Lemon Cookie deliciousness.

Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts Community: This project was funded by proceeds from the 2016 Spring Event at Lagunitas and from funds raised at Art Walk 2016. SACO is only effective because of parent and community support for our school. SRCSA community members who played a key role in the project include Bronwen Bryson, Kristi Harris, Kristin Hendricks, Carl Servais, Susan Surmick, Susan Thompson, and Hank Trione. Thanks to the other parents who joined us for early visioning of this project, too.

Santa Rosa City Schools: Our project could not happen without support from the Santa Rosa City Schools district staff, in particular Rick Edson and his team. SRCS’s construction manager Scott Baer and others are helping us get through the home stretch. Thank you SRCS team!!

Ross Recreation: Ross is SACO’s playground vendor and they were amazing at helping support all of SACO’s efforts in this project. Thank you Astrid, Susan, and Diego for your expertise and dependable good cheer!

2016/2017 Budget Adopted

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At the November School for the Arts Community Organization meeting, we adopted the 2016-2017 budget. The spending plan, which consists of $56,000+ of funding for school projects, will greatly benefit our school community. Since we began the year with some extra carryover money, we plan to spend $41,000 while still retaining $15,000 to start up the new year.
Highlights of the approved budget include:
Classroom Enrichment and Arts Integrated Education
 
* $21,150 for SRCSA’s 21 classrooms including RSP, dance, music, art, and theater.
* $4,400 for an after school choir class for 6th graders, after school band classes for 5th through 8th graders, instrument maintenance to keep our school’s instruments in good shape, and extra money for art supplies for our visual arts classroom.
* $3,000 for school assemblies (Youth in Arts or similar: http://www.youthinarts.org)
* $1,500 for playground equipment (balls, games, etc) to add to the school’s collection to ensure that our kids have something to do during recess.
* $1,000 to rent a performance space such as Steele Lane Community Center so our school can come together and enjoy the assemblies, since the MPR is unavailable and too small.
* $1,000 for Literacy Week, our annual book fair and celebration of reading and storytelling.
Other diverse items
* $1,150 for the Family Directory.
* $800 to improve classrooms that do not have water. Portable water urns and refillable water jugs will move with us to the Humboldt campus and be redeployed into existing classrooms (portables) that lack a water source.
* $700 to support teacher training in Arts Integrated Education techniques.
* $750 for the Spring Talent Show.
* $500 for a Theater project.
* $500 for library improvements.
* $250 for Odyssey of the Mind Regional and State memberships.
* $300 for the Student Leadership Team.
* Funding for the science fair, the Canned Food Drive, the Rose Parade, Safe Routes to School, Constant Contact, and volunteer tracking software.
SACO won a $15,000 playground grant from KaBOOM!, and raised almost $7,000 at last year’s spring event at Lagunitas Brewing Company. With an additional $7,000 of this year’s budget allocated toward the playground project, we are ready to choose our favorite items and plan our community build day in April/May 2017 on the Humboldt campus.
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October SACO Meetings – What Will We Accomplish This Year?

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The morning October SACO meeting was held last week, and was well attended. In October, SACO focuses on identifying potential projects to fund with parent donations, with a special focus on identifying new projects or materials that can be researched and a cost estimate developed for consideration at the November budget adoption. In addition to reaching out to parents and other family members who attend SACO meeting, we also invite teachers and the school administration to contribute ideas.

Each year, SACO has spent $50K+ supporting the school, and this year will be no different. SACO’s budget is comprised almost entirely of donations to the SEED campaign, and Art Walk donations, so while we don’t have a final figure on these two fundraisers, we can make an initial plan, prioritize projects, then fund as much as possible once Art Walk is complete. This year’s SEED goal is $21,000, which would allow SACO to provide $1000 to each classroom.

We will hold the evening October SACO meeting on Thursday, October 6 at 6:00 PM in the MPR. You can check out the meeting agenda here: saco-october-meeting-agenda-9-30-16.

6th grade fundraiser: Screenagers Movie at SRCSA

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Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts sixth graders are fundraising for an outdoor education experience in late October 2016, and you can help. SRCSA families past and present, and friends of SRCSA families, are welcome to purchase tickets to see Screenagers – Growing Up in the Digital Age in the SRCSA multipurpose room on Tuesday, October 4 at 7:00 PM. There may be a dine and donate ahead of show time. If you’re interested in seeing this movie, please purchase your tickets soon because we expect this event to sell out. This is a good movie to view with your middle school or high school student. Tickets may be purchased here.