Academic Booster Club » From the District

Highly Capable Funding Update

ABC Board — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 06:12:53 +0000

The relative calm in our advocacy efforts is about to come to an end. Thursday will bring a new state financial forecast, and we expect to see the first budget proposal from the Senate Democrats shortly thereafter. You may recall that the Governor proposed eliminating all state funding for highly capable programming in her 2011 – 2013 budget. Advocates for highly capable have been making the case for funding highly capable programming throughout the session. We were able to protect funding through the end of the current budget cycle, but our status in the next cycle remains unknown.

While we don’t know for certain what the legislature will decide, or when they will ultimately decide it, the leadership of the Puyallup School District can’t wait and has been hard at work writing their own budget proposal for next year. The District expects to need to make about $6.5 million in cuts for the 2011 – 2012 school year. In deciding where those cuts would come from, the District used the Governor’s proposed budget as a starting point. As the Governor’s proposal contained no funding for highly capable, the District assumed that they would not receive the approximately $195,000 next year that they received from the state this year. To reflect that reduction, the District’s 2011 – 2012 budget contains a $10,000 cut to highly capable programming. While we would obviously prefer the QUEST and PAGE programs not be cut, and in a better financial situation would seek for the expansion of highly capable services, we understand that difficult choices have to be made. ABC will continue to work with the Washington Coalition for Gifted Education and other local parent organizations to try to protect state funding for our students. We don’t know at this time if a better outcome at the state level may result in the restoration of the $10,000 District cut.

Baby Food Jars?

ABC Board — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 18:43:32 +0000

There is a QUEST project coming up that requires 75 baby food jars with lids – any size will work. If you can donate a few or a lot, it would be very helpful! You can send them to QUEST Coordinator Nancy Velazquez (her office is at Maplewood) or let her know and she will arrange to pick them up.

QUEST Open Houses

ABC Board — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:34:56 +0000

The Puyallup School District is hosting two informational open houses for parents who would like to learn more about the QUEST program for highly capable students. These meetings are designed for families who do not currently have students in the QUEST program and would like more information, but families who are currently involved in the program are also welcome to attend. You may have received a phone call from the District with information about the meetings. If you missed it, the message is also available here.

The Open Houses are scheduled for:

Shaw Road, Tuesday, January 26, 6-7 PM
Maplewood, Thursday, January 28, 3:30-4:30 PM

Parents interested in learning more about the district’s QUEST Program are invited to attend one of these Open Houses. This will be an informal opportunity to meet teachers, examine curriculum resources, talk with other parents, and learn more about the QUEST Program. Program Coordinator, Nancy Velazquez will be present, as will leadership from the Academic Booster Club (the QUEST parent group).

If you know a family that has been considering QUEST, but needs more information to decide, please be sure to let them know about this great opportunity to learn more. Testing is now in progress, but applications are still being accepted.

The District Needs to Hear from You

ABC Board — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:56:53 +0000

The Puyallup School District is currently soliciting student, parent, staff, and community feedback on budgeting priorities for the 2010 – 2011 school year. Highly Capable funding is a big part of this survey. It is extremely important that the families of highly capable students be heard from. This is what the District website says:

The Puyallup School District would like to obtain the opinions of staff, parents, and community members on their priorities for district activities through an online survey. Your Puyallup School District Cabinet, Superintendent, and School Board of Directors will use the survey results as an advisory prioritization of budget items to better understand your overall priorities for 2010-11 budget deliberations.

The survey is available by clicking this link: http://www.puyallup.k12.wa.us/ourdistrict/financials/1011Budget/BudgetSurvey.cfm

Please take a few minutes of your time to follow the link, view the information provided, and answer the survey. It is essential that highly capable families participate in this.

QUEST Interest Forms due January 8th

ABC Board — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 04:32:08 +0000

Parents of second graders in the clustering potential program, and of third, fourth, or fifth graders in the QUEST Regional classes, should have received interest forms through the mail in December. Please be sure to complete and return those forms by Friday, January 8th.

Parents of second graders who have previously tested and were placed in the clustering potential classrooms may elect to have their children retested for placement in a QUEST Regional classroom. Retesting is not required.

If you have questions, or would like an application, please visit the QUEST Website.

Are you registered to vote?

ABC Board — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:30:34 +0000

The February Puyallup programs and operations levy is vital to the District. This levy replaces the expiring programs and operations levy that was passed by voters in 2006. The Legislature’s formula for funding basic education falls far short of providing adequate funding to maintain current levels of service. To make up for the shortfall, Puyallup, like most others in Washington, submits levies to voters to support acceptable levels of staffing and essential educational programs like QUEST and PAGE.

The proposed tax rate under the new levy is $3.40 per $1,000 of assesed value, three cents less than the rate approved by voters in 2006. The District has put together a very nice slideshow highlighting how much this levy matters and made it available through their website. You can view the slideshow by going to: http://www.puyallup.k12.wa.us/ourdistrict/financials/10Levy/flash/index.html.

If you are not yet registered to vote, you can register on-line through the Secretary of State’s website: http://wei.secstate.wa.gov/osos/en/voterinformation/Pages/RegistertoVote.aspx. This will be an all mail election, so if you have moved and need to update your address, you can do that through the same page.

Your children need your yes vote. Don’t miss out on the chance to show your support for our schools.

Electricity and Magnetism at the Karshner Museum

ABC Board — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:18:15 +0000

The Karshner Museum is hosting one of its Family Days on Saturday from 10:00am to 2:00pm. The topic will be “Electricity and Magnetism,” a topic that fits in very well with the 5th/6th grade magnets and motors science unit. Drop by whenever you can for some hands on science education. Admission to the museum is $3.00 per person, or $10.00 per family.

QUEST Regional Teachers Announced

ABC Board — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:20:14 +0000

The teachers for the QUEST Regional program were just announced a few minutes ago. Though the announcement was just made public, these teachers have already undergone a significant amount of training to help prepare them to teach classes of highly capable students, and they will continue to receive additional training throughout the school year. Teachers of the Clustering Potential second grade classes were not announced, but those teachers have also been receiving additional training over the summer and will continue to receive additional enrichment opportunities during the year.

ABC is glad to welcome the newest members of the QUEST team, and to welcome back the returning veterans of our QUEST classrooms. We’re look forward to a very successful 2009 – 2010 school year.

Brouillet 3rd/4th……..Leslie Raymond
Brouillet 5th/6th ……..Lisa Darling-Gower
Pope 3rd/4th …………Janelle Burger
Pope 5th/6th …………Kelley Lee
Zeiger 3rd/4th ………..Jennifer Beck
Zeiger 5th/6th ………..Gail Lovering
Sunrise 3rd/4th ………Marcia Case
Sunrise 5th/6th ………Renee Barkley
Shaw Road 3rd/4th…..Susie Turner
Shaw Road 5th/6th ….Barb Weir
Meeker 3rd/4th ……….Lanita Miller
Meeker 5th/6th ……….Jodi Franks
Maplewood 3rd/4th …..Ann Schumacher
Maplewood 5th/6th …..Erik Gonzales
Northwood 3rd/4th ……Heather MacMaster
Northwood 5th/6th ……Kelly Newbrey and Dave Williams

QUEST Regional and PAGE Transportation Schedules Released

ABC Board — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:48:59 +0000

Earlier this week, the District mailed home transportation schedules for QUEST Regional and PAGE students. If you have not yet received a copy of the schedules in your mailbox, you can view the schedules here:

Early start elementary schools (Brouillet, Sunrise, and Zeiger) list a QUEST program start time of 8:05 – 15 minutes earlier than the regularly scheduled school start time. Late start elementary schools (Maplewood, Meeker, Northwood, Pope, and Shaw Road) list a QUEST program start time of 8:25 – 25 minutes earlier than the regularly scheduled start time. Please plan your morning transportation accordingly.

If you have any questions about the transportation changes, the District Director of Transportation asks you contact him via e-mail at transportation@puyallup.k12.wa.us. If you would like to discuss the changes with other parents, or need to try to find other parents you can work with to arrange supplemental transportation, we invite you to join our forum.

Parent Information Exchange

ABC Board — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:29:58 +0000

We understand that there is still uncertainty regarding how parts of the QUEST Regional program are going to work, particularly in regards to some fundamentals like start times and transportation. The District website does not currently list QUEST Regional or PAGE transportation schedules, but ABC has received copies and posted them here. These are the same schedules that were sent home in a mailing from the District the week of 8/17. The District website is currently (as of 8/19) silent on issues of start times and transportation that are unique to QUEST and PAGE students (though a mailing from the District regarding transportation for QUEST Regional and PAGE students is on the way). Some parents have interpreted that silence to mean that there has been a change from the plans announced in the Spring. This is not the case. QUEST Regional sites 3rd/4th and 5th/6th grade classes will begin from 15 (early start elementary schools) to 25 (late start elementary schools) minutes before the posted start time of the host school. Regularly scheduled District buses may not be sufficient to get your child to their classroom on time.

Some additional uncertainty may be resolved when classroom assignments are mailed on August 26th. We expect that many of you may still have questions after that point, and want to provide a central location for parents to exchange information. We invite you to use our ABC Forum to post your questions and get responses from other parents in similar situations. We’re all in this together, and we want to be able to provide accurate information to as many people as we can as quickly and easily as we can. If you have a question, you’re probably not the only one with that question. Our forum will provide a way for our parents to exchange information with each other, so we can learn from each other, and create a history that we can learn from as we move forward.

We do require that you register for the forum before you can begin to post and read all our messages. Registration will help us to prevent SPAM and abuse, and provide a safe place for our members to share their experiences and their knowledge. Each registration is reviewed and approved manually, so there may be some delay before you’re able to login to the forum to post.