Public Law 81-874 - Federal Impact Law

Perhaps you noticed the flyer in your recent kid mail, a half-page yellow sheet titled North Thurston Public Schools #3 from NTPS Superintendent Raj Manhas... if you're like me, you may not have known what this is for or why you should fill the form out and return it to Mt. View.

Below is what I have gleaned from some web searches. I am no expert in the matter but hope that this is helpful. Essentially, the form is for those of you who are active duty military because the school district receives federal funding because of the proximity of military installations (McChord and Lewis, primarily).

Public Laws 81-815 and 81-874 were approved by the U.S. Congress in 1950 to assist local school districts with the construction and cost of public educational activities impacted by federal defense efforts. The so-called impact laws were an extension of a 1941 federal emergency measure, the Lanham Act. The precedence of the Lanham Act, the rising educational burden placed on local school districts near military bases, and the advent of the Korean War (1950–1953) contributed to the subsequent passage of the impact laws. A House Committee on Education and Labor studied the strain on local districts and concluded that unless federal assistance were provided, "more than 1.8 million children in these federally impacted areas would not receive normal school services" (National Association of Federally Impacted Schools, p. 9).

To ameliorate the loss of local taxes from personnel residing on federal lands, the authorizing committees of both the House and the Senate passed legislation (H.R. 7940 and S. 2317) to provide federal aid for the construction and maintenance of new schools in defense areas.

Read more: http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2079/Impact-Aid-Public-Laws-815-874.html#ixzz0TfVXS5CX

Early Release Wednesdays @ Lacey Timberland Library

School's out early! Looking for something fun to do? Visit the library meeting room for a variety of activities that may include crafts, board games, Wii gaming, , along with reading programs with puppets, pooches and more. Start time is 1 p.m. To learn more go to www.trlib.org and click on events.

Office Max honors teachers: Margie Yelenich

It was hard to tell who was more excited when Office Max staff (Olympia), recently surprised Mountain View teacher Margie Yelenich with over $1200 of school supplies - the teacher or her first grade students!? Yelenich, who has taught kindergarten for 27 years until this year, kept her cool as a huge box, office chair and a crowd entered her room Wednesday to honor her as "A Day Made better" recipient.

"She has the perfect blend of kind, caring, nurturing teacher coupled with just the right amount of structure and academic focus," said her Principal Randy Weeks. "She rarely asks for things herself with her focus so directed to the needs of her students."

Across town, the Hawks Prairie Office Max also surprised teachers Todd Ostling, Pam Blume and Lynn Creasey at Evergreen Forest Elementary. Office Max awarded a pizza party for each teacher's class and the teachers received gift certificates.

NTPS Star Staffer: Karen Steen

From NTPS Success Weekly:

During the week she's a fabulous P.E. teacher at Mountain View. But in the summer and personal time, Karen Steen is a running star on many tracks. This summer she broke the World W45 record in the 2000 meter steeplechase at the 2009 USATF Masters Outdoor National Track and Field Championship in OshKosh Wisconsin. She had the fastest time for ALL the women in her event - even the 30-year-olds. More recently, Steen won the Bellingham half-marathon! Congrats Karen!

Read here an Ezine article about Karen's recent success:

Karen Steen Shatters World Steeplechase Record at the 2009 National Masters Meet

Levy renewal heads to 2010 ballot

The NTPS Board unanimously passed Resolution #797 which puts a 2-year replacement Educational Program levy on the Feb. 9, 2010 ballot. The levy amounts would be $27.5 million in 2011 and $28.875 million in 2012, making up about 19 percent of the district's total budget. Levy co-chairs from the North Thurston Citizens for Schools group, Jon Halvorson and Ruth Weigelt, spoke briefly asking the board for their support before the vote. "Both our children and now grandchildren have benefited from the excellent educational programs of NTPS and we strongly urge you to ask the public to continue to support these programs for the next two years," Halvorson said.

September PTA meeting minutes

Here are the minutes from our first PTA meeting of the year, so you know what business was discussed.

As always, if you have questions about PTA business, please ask! Contact Brian Morgan (360-970-9513).

Our October meeting is on the 13th but is a Board meeting. Does that mean you cannot attend? No, you're welcome to attend and see what the Board has on the agenda. We'll try to take care of as much perfunctory business as possible, in order to free up time during the November meeting to take care of important business that requires a vote by the entire membership.

See you at the next general membership meeting:

Tuesday, November 10th
6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Mt. View Elementary library

Mt. View shirt order form

Has your child been asking you to purchase a Mt. View t-shirt or sweatshirt? Here is the order form for these short-sleeved t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts. Expect to see them come home soon via kid mail, as well!

What better way for your child to show their spirit for Mt. View Elementary?!

If you have any questions, please contact PTA President Brian Morgan (360-970-9513).

Volunteer opportunities – Can you chip in some time?

There are so many opportunities, large and small, for volunteers this year. Please take a look at this list and think about if your time, interests and skills might match these needs. Contact President Brian Morgan (360-970-9513) if you have questions or want to sign up! The pay isn’t great but I promise you’ll get plenty of genuine thanks and a great feeling inside.

• Adopt-a-road coordinator – we have signed up with the City of Lacey for a 0.5-mile stretch of roadway to keep clear of debris and trash. We need someone to coordinate volunteers for this program throughout the year, at monthly intervals.
• Halloween fun night general volunteers!! (Friday, October 30^th)
• Fun Run volunteers (course monitors, for the most part – Date TBD
• Bazaar volunteers (set-up, breakdown) – Saturday, November 21^st
• Newsletter – articles and editing (these are normally published monthly)
• Yearbook – we need photographers who are willing to snap pictures at school and PTA events, as well as people to help coordinate the yearbook itself with our publisher.
• Fundraising – we need some additional input and ideas, not only with the upcoming spring fundraiser but to provide suggestions for next year’s fundraising!
• Business partner volunteers – soliciting local businesses for donations, informing them of the benefits of partnering with us
• Website development – we use the user-friendly Google blogspot to manage our web presence. No software needed!
• Book fair volunteers – these will probably coincide with the fall conferences in late October and we’ll need volunteers to staff the book fair during its hours of operation. No experience necessary!
• Coordinators for simple programs that we would like to implement, including “Donuts for Dads” and/or “Muffins for Moms”. These two would include arranging for food (perhaps through donations by businesses), volunteers and advertising the event to Mt. View parents. These programs can only be instituted if we have someone to coordinate them!
• Coordinators for a proposed military appreciation dinner or event.

If you have a program you would like PTA to consider, please give us your idea by sending it in, dropping it in our PTA suggestion box at the front of the school or in person at a PTA meeting! If you have a great idea, please come prepared to help implement it, if at all possible!

Yearbook photographers needed!

We need some people throughout the year to take candid pictures of Mt. View and PTA events for the 2009-2010 yearbook! Are you up for the challenge? You don't need to be a professional - we just want to have a large selection of fun pictures so the kids can look back, laugh and remember their friends over the summer next year... please contact Jodi Boutin if you want more information or want to volunteer.

Thanks!

Voter registration drives target parents, seniors

Did you know only an estimated 50 percent of NTPS parents are registered to vote? Or that even at age 17 ½ you can still register to vote? As part of Voter Education Month, the district is encouraging citizens to register to vote at schools or online. For more information and ideas on voter registration, go to www.nthurston.k12.wa.us/vote. Remember: Your Vote Counts! To register online visit http://wei.secstate.wa.gov/osos/en/voterinformation/Pages/RegistertoVote.aspx.
Upcoming election dates: November 3, 2009 and February 9, 2010.