WELCOME TO OUR NEW STAFF MEMBERS

Richmond Street School is pleased to welcome Mrs. Marian Chiara this year. Ms. Chiara comes to us as an experienced educator. She has most recently moved from the position as ESMS Principal and has returned to her elementary education roots. Mrs. Chiara taught K-5 classes, GATE, ESL, and SPED inclusion for nine years. She moved to El Segundo Schools as an administrator at the K-8 schools for eleven years. She is excited to be teaching elementary students again especially on a team with the other 4th grade teachers. When not at school, Mrs. Chiara will be on the field as Assistant Coach for AYSO. Her three sons are ages 5, 12, and 15. They will be running with her on and off the field. Mrs. Chiara is looking forward to an exciting year!

Ms. Deborah Martin joins us this year to enrich our students’ physical education program. She comes to us with a Master’s degree and teaching credential in physical education. Though Ms. Martin also teaches high school PE at the California Academy of Math and Sciences, her true love is elementary school. Ms. Martin will work with all grade levels (TEDDE – 5^th) weekly. Given her diverse background in subjects such as dance, gymnastics, soccer and fitness, our students are sure to have a fulfilling PE experience.

Mr. Jack Plotkin is Richmond Street School’s new assistant principal. He will also be the coordinator for the district GATE and Alcohol, Drug and Tobacco Programs. Mr. Plotkin has a wide array of experience, from high school to elementary. He joins us from Palos Verdes, where he previously taught RSP subjects and Spanish. He holds a Master’s degree in Special Education from National University and a Master’s in Educational Leadership from Pepperdine. Mr. Plotkin is eager to help our students achieve their best and support Richmond Street teachers in this task.

Richmond Street School Choir

Choir will be forming this week. Information goes home with all 3rd, 4th, 5th grade students in their Monday packs on Sept 10. If you are interested in joining the school choir, please fill out the registration form and turn it in to the box in the office by 3 PM Thursday, September 13. There will be a drawing to see who will be new members of the choir this year. Due to large amount of returning members, only about 40 new spots are available. Choir uniform is the Richmond Street School T shirt this year (the option with simply the words, not the one with the picture of saxophone and boy). Questions? Email Kara Baldino at kbaldino@esusd.k12.ca.us. Thank You!

SILENT AUCTION IS COMING THIS FALL!!!!

We are currently taking donations for the silent action held at the fall festival. Donations are tax deductible and all proceeds go to Richmond Street School. If you have any questions please contact Shannon Magid at 310-200-7865 or teamsquid5@aol.com

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Back to School Night: Thursday, September 20 is for parents only.

Kindergarten 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Grades 1 & 2 6:30 – 7:15 p.m.

Grade 3 7:00 – 7:45 p.m.

Grades 4 & 5 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Arrival Time: Students are not to arrive on campus before 8:05. We require this for the safety of your child. We do not provide supervision before 8:05.

Loading Zone: The loading zones are for pick-up and drop-off only. For the safety of all students please drive carefully and slowly. The El Segundo Police Department may ticket individuals who are double-parked. Crossing guards will be on site to help students and to monitor traffic.

Thank you Educational Foundation: We are grateful to the Ed. Foundation for funding a half-time PE teacher this year. After receiving input from parent surveys, staff and recognizing a trend in childhood obesity ESUSD decided to replace art with PE. Ms. Parrish, our art teacher, was eager to return to the classroom and is now a kindergarten teacher at CSS. Students in TEDDE – 5^th grade will receive weekly physical education instruction.

Visitors and Volunteers: per Education Code and for the safety of students, all visitors and volunteers must first check in at the school office.

School Site Council Nominations: We are in the process of School Site Council (SSC) elections and we are looking for nominees. The SSC is the organization that meets throughout the year to assess the educational needs of the school and to develop a School Improvement Plan. Decisions concerning how to spend School Block Grant money are made by the SSC, comprised of the principal, teachers, staff and parents. Please look for the School Site Council nomination form in your student’s First Day Packet.

Receive Preferred Mailing: (If you would like to be on an email list we will send you notices and announcements)

1. Log onto the school website at http://elsegundousd.com/richmond_school

2. Click on the button “sign-up for our mailing list” below the home page graphic

3. Type your email address

Skateboards, Skates, Roller Blades, Roller Shoes, and Scooters are not allowed at school! This is school board policy. Helmets must be worn when riding a bike to school.

PTA Membership: Join the PTA and help our school be the best it can be. Please send in your membership envelope given out in the first day packets by September 21^st. The money raised by our PTA fundraisers and programs is gifted to the school to provide everything from new computers to the buses that take our children on their classroom fieldtrips.

Congratulations on State API Scores!

RSS scored 904 out of 1,000

We continue to be one of the top performing schools statewide!

MESSAGE FROM PTA

Welcome and Welcome Back to Richmond Street School!

PTA is very involved in our school and I would like to invite you all to join! It is a great way to keep up with what is going on at our school and what our children are doing. Our children get a great education here and I like to think that working closely with the teachers by volunteering is part of that reason. Last year parent volunteers logged over 18,000 volunteer hours!

There are many ways to volunteer at Richmond. A volunteer card will be coming home with your student in a few days. We have a work room where the teachers leave projects such as copying, cutting, collating, etc. that need to be done and we do it! Many teachers will send projects home that you can do in the evenings. We collect Box Tops for Education, recycle ink jet cartridges and sell Innisbrook Wrapping Paper. Our Fall Festival and Book Fair are now in the planning stages. Look for the flyers and e-mails going home to let you know of the meeting times and dates.

The National Council of PTA's is urging parents this year to sit down and have dinner with your children. Their studies have found that families who eat dinner together have children that are much less likely to try drugs and alcohol and also do better in school. In our daily lives with soccer, baseball, dance, music lessons, etc., dinner is usually on the run and rushed. PTA is supporting Monday, September 24th as A Day to Eat Dinner with your Children.

Our first PTA meeting is Monday, September 10th at 7:15 in our cafeteria. PTA is fired up and ready to go this year and we need your help! Things are only impossible until you do them and we have much to accomplish this year!

See you Monday night!

Tammy Long

PTA President

FALL FESTIVAL

Welcome back Richmond Families! Fall Festival, the schools largest and most fun fundraiser is just around the corner, October 26th to be exact! This is the main fundraising event for the year and we need you!! If you would like to be a part of the planning committee please email me at cathy@esfoursquare.net and let me know. There are all kinds of positions available, from games, to food, publicity just to name a few. The ever popular silent auction is already gearing up to be the best one yet! We are already working on a few surprises for this year’s event. Join us as we work to provide our kids with the best Fall Festival yet!

Cathy McKenna

Fall Festival Chairman

SEpTEmber Calendar

9/10 Monday	Minimum Day Grades 3 – 5 attend 8:20 – 1:30 Grades 1 & 2 attend 8:20 – 12:50 Kinder remains 8:20 – 12:45
9/10 Monday	PTA Meeting 7:15 p.m. Richmond Auditorium
9/18 Monday	Minimum Day Grades 3 – 5 attend 8:20 – 1:30 Grades 1 & 2 attend 8:20 – 12:50 Kinder remains 8:20 – 12:45
9/20 Thursday	Minimum Day Schedule Back to School Night: see schedule on opposite page
9/24 Monday	School Picture Day EARLY BIRD/LATER GATOR SCHEDULE BEGINS Monday Minimum Day Schedule Grades 3 – 5 attend 8:20 – 1:30 Grades 1 & 2 Early Birds attend 8:20 – 12:50 Later Gators attend 9:00 – 1:30 Kindergarten (Regular Schedule) Early Birds attend 8:20 – 12:45 Later Gators attend 9:20 – 1:45
9/25 Tuesday	EARLY BIRD/LATER GATOR SCHEUDLE BEGINS Kindergarten (Regular Schedule) Early Birds attend 8:20 – 12:45 Later Gators attend 9:20 – 1:45 Grades 1 & 2 Early Birds 8:20 – 2:05 Later Gators 9:20 – 2:45 Grades 3 – 5 (Regular Schedule) Attend 8:20 – 2:45

**Mrs. Morgan, TEDDE teacher, will distribute the TEDDE schedule.

	BLUES’ NEWS
Richmond Street School and PTA Newsletter
September 2007				Volume 8, Issue 1
Richmond Street School 615 Richmond St., El Segundo, CA 90245 (310) 606-6831		Dickie Van Breene, Principal Jack Plotkin, Assistant Principal elsegundousd.com/richmond_school Shari Gulian, Newsletter Editor	Tammy Long, PTA President PTA El Segundo Council Thirty-Third District California State PTA, everychild.onevoice

Richmond Street School and PTA Newsletter

Richmond Street School

615 Richmond St.,

El Segundo, CA 90245

(310) 606-6831

MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL