March 2013 PAC Newsletter

GREENDALE PAC

Newsletter
March 2013

Wow, March already. This year has been flying by for me and I am looking forward to some down time during Spring Break. I am also excited about the next couple months at Greendale Elementary Community School. The following is an update and a look forward to upcoming events.

 

Thank you

Thank you to all the parents who have volunteered their time to the many things we do here at Greendale Community School. It was much appreciated. We would not have the school environment we have if it were not for all of you.

 

Playground

The PAC has been busy brainstorming and implementing ideas on how to raise funds for the playground. The wooden playground needs to be taken out due to rotting wood and bug infestation. For the last year and a half we have been raising funds to replace this playground and to make it a great place to play for the entire community. The School District has been gracious and will wait until we have the funds in place to replace it, before they will take it out. But they cannot wait forever and they will not replace parts if they break or are unsafe. I am pleased to announce that we have raised $36,000 dollars so far towards the $65,000 we need. We will continue to run events and fundraisers as well as apply for grants.

The School District has also allowed us to use their charitable donation number when collecting donations. So if you or a company would like to donate funds please make your cheques out to SD #33 and they will be able to issue tax deductible receipts.

We have approximately 100 families in our school and I figured that if each family pledged $29 a month for the next 10 months we would have raised the amount needed to install our new playground. Just a dream.J There are pledge forms at the front office of the school. (We also will accept all your unwanted pennies)

 

Coming Events and Fundraisers

There are many fun events coming our way. In April we are having our second Mr. Q Fun Run. There will be a 5K walk/run or a 10K run. May 31^st is this year’s Fun Fair. Both these events will need volunteers so please mark them on your calendar. These events raise money but also are a great community building time. We also will be once again sending out Neufeld Farms and the Plant Sale Forms in April. Watch for these and stock up!

 

Mrs. Neufeld

We have to say goodbye to an incredible school secretary and amazing person at the end of March. Mrs. Neufeld will be retiring. We will all miss her cheerful smile and hello and how she kept the school running. We appreciate all that she has done over her many years at Greendale Elementary Community School. Thank – you Mrs. Neufeld!

 

Blog/Facebook

Keep informed at greendalepacinfo@blogspot.ca and on Facebook at Greendale PAC

 

Come on out to the PAC meetings or send an email to greendalepac@live.com with any questions, concerns, comments or ideas.

Next PAC Meetings: Tuesday, March 12, 7pm and Thursday, April 11, 8:30am.

 

The next PAC meeting is on Tuesday, March 12th at 7pm at the school. The agenda can be found on the right hand side of the blog under PAC agendas.

The next PAC meeting is next Thursday, February 14th at 8:30am at the school. The agenda is under PAC Agendas on the right hand side of this page.
See you all there:)

Raise the Dough

Raise the Dough is this Thursday, Friday and Saturday!!

Place an order for pick up or delivery any of those days and a percentage of it goes back to your school. The class with the most money raised will receive a free pizza party! Please hand in the paper that was provided to you through the friday folders with your child's name, teacher's name and the name of our school. If you no longer have that paper, hust write it on a blank piece of paper and hand it to the driver or the person at Dominos in Vedder when you pick up.

Happy Pizza Eating!!

January PAC Minutes can now be found on the righthand side of this page under PAC Meeting Minutes.

School Lunch February 22nd

School Lunch Forms are coming home this friday. Please return them on Monday February, 4th.
If you have lost yours or need extra ones you can find the form on the right handside of this page under School Lunch. Pam Hildebrand is in need of parent volunteers to hand out the lunches on Feb.22. If you can come please meet at the school at 11:15. It takes about 20 minutes to half an hour. If you can make it please contact Pam trough the Greendale PAC email- greendalepac@live.com

Safer School Community Meeting

The School Road Safety Committee, in collaboration with, Chilliwack Public Safety Specialist, Samantha Piper, ICBC, & the RCMP has set out to identify the key road safety concerns for our school. We are now in the planning stage to implement initiatives to encourage and enforce safer driving habits within our school zone.

With the aid of traffic counts, speed watch, and observations of behavioural patterns, it has been determined that speed is a major concern in our school zone. This, of course, comes as no surprise for those of us who live & play here.

 

We encourage everyone to join us on Monday, January 21, 2013 at 7pm
at Greendale Elementary for a meeting with the City Public Safety Dept. and an RCMP representative.

 

In order for change to occur, the City needs to see and hear there is strong community support behind this issue. If you have concerns you want to address or if you just want to hear what plans and ideas are in place to help us find a solution please come out and show your support.

We know that our greatest challenge will be to change driver behaviour but, we believe that with the participation and commitment from the City and most importantly, our community, we can achieve our long term goal of keeping all of our children safe.

As parents, we can help keep our school zone safe by teaching and reminding our children a few simple rules.

 

·       Always look left, right, and then left again before crossing the road.

·       It is important that children learn not to assume all drivers will stop. They should try to make eye contact with the driver.

·       The school parking lot can become dangerous when it gets congested. Teach your children to not run out in the parking areas.

 

We want everyone to be able to enjoy a safe school and playground environment and look forward to seeing all of you at the meeting.

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the following people:

 

Samantha Piper  Public Safety Specialist | Engineering
P: 604.793.2766  or E: piper@chilliwack.com

 

Candace English   School Road Safety Chair

604.823.6412