IS YOUR CHILD RETURNING TO SMASH NEXT YEAR?
We are in the process of making plans for next year’s enrollment. It is important for us to know if you are planning on returning to SMASH so that we can provide other children the opportunity to enroll.
If you are planning to attend another school in the district, you MUST complete and submit an Intradistrict Open Enrollment Application to the district’s Student Permit Office BEFORE May 31. Applications are available in the SMASH main office.
Please fill in this form and return to the main office by May 16.
Return one form for each child enrolled.
_____ YES, we will be returning
_____ NO, we will not be returning
If no, please let us know the reason and where your child will be attending so that we can transfer school records. Thanks.
__________________________ __________
Child’s Name Current Grade
__________________________________
Parent or Guardian Signature
ptsa BOARD nominations
Most of the PTSA Board terms out this year. Here are the nominations for the new board. We will vote on these nominations at our next PTSA meeting on Tuesday, May 6 at 8:30AM.
Please note that many positions are still open. Serving on the PTSA board or a committee is a truly rewarding experience. Consider volunteering. Help get things done, shape the way PTSA does things, and make our children’s time at SMASH the best it can be.
PTSA BOARD NOMINATIONS
Co-Presidents: David Saltzman and Helga Schier
Co-Vice Presidents: Ross Furukawa and Jeff Jarow
Treasurer: OPEN
Auditor: John Smith
Recording Secretary: Andrea Morgan
Financial Secretary: Faye Jarow
VP Fundraising: OPEN
Historian: Lori Nafshun
BOARD MEMBERS FOR ANOTHER YEAR are:
VP Membership: Susan Alinsangan
PTSA COMMITTEES
In addition to the Board, here are the new committee chairs and open positions:
Parent Ed Committee: Ken Downing
Legislative Committee: Gina Garcia
Core Representative Coordinator: Tracy Saltzman
Hospitality: Mimi Ison
COMMITTEE CHAIRS FOR ANOTHER YEAR are:
Database: Tracy Saltzman
Foreign Language Chair: Helga Schier
Diversity Chair: Elaina Archer
We’ll be filling the chairs for our major fundraisers (Book Fair, Rummage Sale/Pumpkin Sale, Jogathon, SuperSMASH) in the beginning of the next school year, hoping, of course, that this year’s fabulous chairs will return, and that we’ll attract lots of new volunteers.
ptsa news
president’s note
Dear SMASH Community,
Don’t fret. You’re not too late. There are still a few PTSA board positions waiting to be filled. Anyone out there who wants to be TREASURER? VP FUNDRAISING? Anyone who’d like to take the lead in the PARENT ED committee? Please contact Ofer Grossman at ogrossman@glassgoldberg.com as soon as possible. The school, your kids, the PTSA – all need YOU!
And if that doesn’t strike your fancy, please check out the fliers on SuperSMASH in this week’s Friday Letter, and help us make this year’s SuperSMASH the best it’s ever been. We can never have too many volunteers.
Thanks!
Ofer Grossman
SMASHing fundraisers
5 more weeks to SuperSMASH on Saturday, May 31, 2008. A cool carnival, a super silent auction, amazing art and fabulous food…this fun-filled day is our major fundraiser. We need your help to make it a SMASHing success. Please use those 5 weeks to get as many donations for the Silent Auction as possible (due date May 15). Extra donation forms are in the office. Thanks! If you can volunteer in the planning stage or on the day of the event, please check out the flyer in this Friday Letter, and contact Helga Schier at 310-828-8421, or helgaschier@verizon.net. Thanks! And finally, we need a smoker for SuperSMASH. If you have one, please contact our fabulous grillmaster David Story at storytym@gmail.com or 310-453-4396. Thanks!
John Muir/SMASHing workshops
The John Muir “Green Committee” has put together a “green living workshop” taught by non-profit environmental specialists “Sustainable Works.” The workshop, open to parents from both schools, will meet on Mondays for six weeks, starting in May. Parent/children participants are welcome. Check out the flyer attached to this Friday Letter. To make this workshop happen, we need at least 15 participants. To sign up, follow the instructions on the flyer attached. For more information, visit the “Sustainable Works” website: www.sustainableworks.org. Questions? Please contact John Muir parent Delfine Lamont at dedel55@aol.com. Thanks!
SMASHing meetings
Our next PTSA meeting is on Tuesday, May 6, at 8:30AM. Among other things, we’ll be voting on the new PTSA Board. We need your voice! We need your support! Be there!
SuperSMASH ‘08
WHEN?
Saturday, May 31, 2008, 11:30AM to 5:30PM
WHAT?
Games, Rides, Art Projects, Live Music, Food and Drink, Silent Auction
WHO?
Come one, come all… You, your family, your friends, your neighbors!
HOW U CAN HELP
We still need volunteers to lead and help run booths. Interested? Please call!
Coordination
Helga Schier 310-828-8421 helgaschier@verizon.net
Silent Auction
Ofer Grossman 310-392-5729 ogrossman@glassgoldberg.com
Student Art Projects
Tracy Story 310-453-4396 tracymstory@hotmail.com
Art Booths
Helga Schier 310-828-8421 helgaschier@verizon.net
Games
Erin King 310-399-1004 erinandmattking@hotmail.com
We still need LEADS for the PRIZE BOOTH and the BEAN BAG BOOTH.
Rides
Lori Nafshun 310-452-5700 gettalife@earthlink.net
Music
Lori Nafshun 310-452-5700 gettalife@earthlink.net
Cakewalk
Yvonne Lockheart Delaney 310-450-5663 paradisekid@verizon.net
Food
Tracy Saltzman 310-397-0013 rhubarb@earthlink.net
Our grillmaster needs a smoker. David Story at 310-453-4396 or storytym@gmail.com
Drinks
Helga Schier 310-828-8421 helgaschier@verizon.net
We still need LEADS for the POPCORN, ICEE and DRINK BOOTH.
Raffles
We still need a COORDINATOR for our RAFFLES.
Decorations
Marianne Smith 310-396-7245 msmithblue@yahoo.com
Set-up and Clean-up Coordination
David Saltzman 310-397-0013 saltzmans@earthlink.net
AND
Don’t forget to go out there and get donations, donations, donations!
Alumni Essays
How has SMASH influenced your life?
By Griffin Libby-Bleser
At SMASH, we were encouraged to be creative. We weren’t just pushed to do well, to be smart, or to get the right answer; we were pushed to have insight, to have revelation. I feel like the SMASH teaching philosophy has become a significant part of my own personal credo – a personal, even philosophical emphasis on originality. If it wasn’t for my experience there, I doubt I would be (as much of) the creative person I am today.
More specifically, SMASH also fostered my two great passions: Art and literature. If I wasn’t drawing on the pages of my planner, I was writing. My middle school experience really exposed me to the idea of expression, and while it’s still a long ways coming, SMASH gave me the dedication and inspiration that is so essential.
Finally, it also gave me long-lasting friends. While most people lose touch with their middle school playmates, SMASH spits out kids of a different breed. I’ve kept almost all my close friends, and I still search for that SMASH archetype in the people I meet – that infamous “SMASH Kid”.
By Alana Powell
The decision my parents had to make was whether to send me to an alternative school, like they did my brother, or to the traditional neighborhood school. In the end, they chose to send me to SMASH for all of elementary school. It was one of the best decisions they could have ever made. SMASH’s teaching style is so unique from any other school that the students learn so much more, past all the standardized tests and classes that we supposedly “need”. I have grown more as a person from SMASH and carry many qualities with me that I learned there.
One of the biggest ways SMASH has influenced my life would be in the area of English. Every morning we would write in our journals about whatever we wanted to, as long as we kept writing. Sometimes we would have trouble spelling words but the teachers there, Jackie for example, refused to just tell us exactly how it was spelled but, instead, pushed us to sound it out and discover it for ourselves. This innovative quality was born inside me from these constant techniques of teaching so that we are more independent and can learn without just getting the answer. Since we focused so much on writing and English, I now love creative writing and do it all I can.
SMASH was also a more comfortable, kind environment than those of other schools. We were allowed to call our teachers by their first names so they do not seem like supreme beings ruling over us but, instead, people there to help us along in the world and to teach us new things. This friendly atmosphere has influenced me to act in such ways to other people now in my life. I am a very kind person, always willing to help out another and I give credit to SMASH, which was the place that really taught me to be kind to others. The golden rule (treat others how you want to be treated) is still in my mind and I use it every day.
