This message is courtesy The Washington Coalition For Gifted Education. Comments or questions can be sent to wagifted@earthlink.net or barbaragmaurer@yahoo.com. If you wish to have your name added to their mailing list, send a notice to wagifted@earthlink.net.
We hope you will join other advocates in Olympia on February 5 for Gifted Education Day in Washington.
Please pre-register by mailing Christine Holland or wagifted@earthlink.net so we can have a packet of materials prepared for you. Your Welcome Packets will contain just about everything you will need for the Day.
Even if you aren’t pre-registered, come anyway. Meet old and new friends, network, energize your enthusiasm for the cause of appropriate educational opportunities for all of Washington’s gifted students.
We are anticipating a record turn-out on Friday. Come and be part of it. Only two other public events are scheduled for Friday, both between 11:00 and 12:30 (http://www.ga.wa.gov/Vistor/eventCal.htm ), so there shouldn’t be too much competition for parking spaces early in the day.
LAST MINUTE NOTES
The Coalition operates on the slimmest of budgets. To help defray the costs of Gifted Education Day, we will be accepting donations to help with the expenses. (Coffee service alone runs to about $400.) Rules for the use of capitol campus facilities prohibit us from soliciting donations on site. However, we are allowed to accept them provided they are placed in a plain white sealed envelope and handed to a Coalition representative.
New rules for the Columbia Room prohibit any displays or exhibits and the solicitation of memberships. However, we can accept memberships, again in a plain white envelope – one will be in the Welcome Packet along with membership forms.
We will continue to provide Gifted Education Day note paper and envelopes and Gifted Education Day cards which you can use to write – of course – notes to the Legislators you visit on Gifted Education Day. Or “sorry I missed you” notes to Legislators you did not see. These materials will be found in the Welcome Packet.
If you need additional notes and cards, ask at the sign-in desk where they will be available.
There will be a drop box for these notes and cards and the Coalition will hand deliver them to the Legislators to whom they are addressed. Last year we were unable to deliver several because they did not have the Legislator name on the envelope or card, so be sure you do address them with a full name.
If this is your first trip down to Olympia for Gifted Education Day, please check your Gifted Education Day Handbook 2010 for information on parking, use of the DASH shuttle, and look at the map for the most convenient entrance to Legislative Building leading to the Columbia Room.
For those bringing students, please bring some materials to keep the children occupied during down time when nothing is scheduled. To make them fit in with the purpose of the day, consider using the materials you can find at http://www.leg.wa.gov/studentspage/Pages/default.aspx. There are other activities listed down the left side that might be of interest.
SCHEDULE
Please plan to begin signing in from 8:15 on; if you have early appointments, please sign in first. We need all adults to sign in and give us your e-mail address so we can put you on our e-mail list and keep you informed of what is going on in the Legislature.
Coffee, tea, hot chocolate and hot cider will be available beginning about 8:30. There will be cookies.
The day’s program is scheduled to begin at 9:00 am. After opening remarks, Nancy Amedei will be presenting a session on effective advocacy followed at 10:00 by Gayle Pauley, representing Supt. Dorn, and Marty Brown, the Governor’s legislative director. We anticipate being done by 11:00.
We hope all of you will be able to be present for the program but if you have appointments scheduled with Legislators during that time frame, feel free to come and go as needed.
OTHER NOTES
Some of you have expressed an interest in attending committee meetings or watching the floor sessions. A preliminary schedule for the Legislature for Friday can be found at http://www.leg.wa.gov/legislature/pages/calendar.aspx. Select “Daily;” then select “2/5/2010.” If you want to see what each committee plans to do, click on the Agenda link. Please note that both houses will be in either floor session or caucus at 10:00. Not much to choose from here for observing what goes on. All this is subject to change, of course. We will have the most current schedule available at the sign-in table.
The Columbia Room can be used as a depository for backpacks, jackets, lunches, etc. We accept no responsibility for items left there so do not leave computers, cell phones or other electronic or expensive items.
The Columbia Room is a place for you to eat lunch, meet with friends old and new, find a table to sit and write your notes to Legislators. Presently two students groups are scheduled to meet with their Legislators in the Columbia Room, one at noon and a very large group at 1:30. So be prepared to give way for seating for these groups.
Members of the Coalition leadership and other experienced advocates will be in the room throughout the day. Please consult with them if you have any questions or concerns.
If you are bringing students with you, don’t forget your camera. Photograph some good memories; share the photos with us.
We will close the Columbia Room at 2:30 and will not be responsible for any belongings still there at that time.
COME AND JOIN OUR CELEBRATION OF GIFTEDNESS!
