UPG Report to the School Board - April 2009

[Jim Butt]

UPG Report to the School Board - April 14, 2009

Good evening! I’m Paula Barvin, Co-President of the United Parents
Group.

After a successful teen parenting event in March, we immediately
followed it up with Part I of a two-part series on the acclaimed
technique for helping students learn to resolve conflicts and
behavioral issues through the program called Restorative Practices.

With the guidance of the International Institute for Restorative
Practices, parents and teachers are sharing in an experience to learn
some simple techniques -- techniques that bring both strong individual
support and strong group structure to any environment, including both
home and school. During our first session, our facilitator introduced
the basic ideas of Restorative Practices, and we learned how many of
the practices we have all grown up with actually make learning from
young mistakes harder and can actually increase the likelihood of
their recurrence.

In the next session, this Thursday at 7pm, we will practice the
techniques that help students learn to work together to solve problems
like bullying and cyberbullying as well as build a positive school
community that reduces discipline referrals, detentions and
suspensions. The workshop takes place here in this room and we invite
all parents and teachers to join us as we review the first session and
move forward with the training.
We want to emphasize that parental awareness of these practices and
training will directly complement the ongoing work of our school
district to make our program more effective.

We also want to highlight some special events at our schools:

Earth Day is coming to Cedarbrook! Our Community's Annual Earth Day
Festival takes place on Saturday, April 25th, from 12-4 at Cedarbrook
Middle School at 300 Longfellow Ave in Wyncote. Details will be
available soon, but parents should save the date and come join the fun
and educational events planned as well as view the many exhibits and
displays of environmentally-centered programs, products, and
technologies for a greener Cheltenham.

And speaking of the environment, Cheltenham provided great support for
the recent Ethical Electronics Recycling event organized by the
Tookany-Tacony-Frankford Watershed. They collected 18,500 lbs from
over 250 families and people who were cheery about the opportunity to
ethically recycle their electronics. Net proceeds of about $2400 from
this event will benefit the Watershed Partnership’s watershed
education work our local schools, including numerous projects with
District schools, including Cedarbrook.

The CHS Physical Ed Department is sponsoring “The Run for Jake”
Sunday , April 19th, at Kingston Road and New Second St. Sign in 7-8
AM. Race begins at 8:30. 1 mile fun walk to follow race start. There
will be T-shirts, refreshments and prizes.

Also on Sunday 19th is the first “Can you Dig it” Plant Sale will be
held from 1-4 at the Cheltenham Art Center on Ashbourne Road. Finds
raised will go toward building the garden at EP. In addition to plants
for purchase, there will be refreshments, entertainment, and craft
activities for children.

Cheltenham Elementary reports that they had a very successful
fundraiser at the Phillies game on Friday, April 3rd where "Cheltenham
Elementary School" was in bright lights on the jumbotron! Their annual
Author Visit assemblies and luncheon are on May 4th.Women and girls in
science night will be on May 12th.
Wyncote PTO will host Bingo night on April 28th and Wellness night on
May 18th.
The next CHS PTO meeting will be on Thursday April 23rd at 7:30 pm.
Judge Cerski be the speaker at the meeting. All are welcome and
parents/guardians of rising freshman are encouraged to attend. Door
prizes will be awarded.

And this final announcement – the news we all wait for each year. In
just over 2 weeks, our community will witness murder (or two) at CHS!
Don't Miss Sweeney Todd!

Cheltenham Music Theatre is proud to present the epic Broadway
masterpiece, Sweeney Todd, as their 46th annual spring musical. The
performances will be on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, April
30, May 1 and 2 at 7:30 PM in Stretton Hall at Cheltenham High
School. Reserved seats for these performances are $15 each. A senior
citizen discount rate of $10 per seat is available for groups of ten
or more.

As a special service this year and because the evening performances
are sometimes too late for some senior citizens, they are extending a
cordial invitation to all senior citizens to attend Tuesday evening,
April 28, at 5 pm for a light dinner and a 5:30 pm special dress
rehearsal performance of Sweeney Todd at the reduced rate of $5 per
person. Advance reservations are required. Please call 215-881-6420
for details.

Either way – everyone should make plans for this exciting
performance. Our students have been working diligently for the past
several months and their efforts, as always, will produce a
spectacular regional event you won’t want to miss!

The next UPG meeting is Friday, April 24th at 9:15 AM in Room 119 of
this building. Dr. Davis will be addressing communication in the
District. [Subsequently, Dr. Davis had to decline and Dr. Bavi will
be discussing facilities.]

As always, if any this information is new to parents, we urge them to
sign into PowerSchool or to join their school’s distribution list, and
then to join OUR email distribution list by visiting our website at
www.upgct.org. Adding your email address to PowerSchool is easy and
you’ll be making it even easier for your school to reach you with
important information. Informed parents are involved parents, and
involved parents have great students!

That’s it! Thank you very much!