Book Night, Gifts, Volunteering, and More

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Hi everyone.

I hope you're doing well now that we're beginning week 12 of this pandemic.  Even though school (the building) has been closed, there are a few things to bring to your attention.  In no particular order:

  • Book Night at the Silver Unicorn – Tuesday June 9 - 6:30 – 8:30 PM

    • We are working with Paul Swydan and the staff at the Silver Unicorn for a “virtual” book night.  More information will roll out in the next week, but please note the following:

      • Teachers will read stories via Zoom

      • Purchases can be made online (https://www.silverunicornbooks.com/) for store pickup (delivery will not be available).

        • A portion of the proceeds will be a donation to the PTO.  This is a win-win!  We help support a local business and we raise funds for the PTO!

      • When ordering books from Silver Unicorn, please follow these directions:

        • Write “PO#” in the Promo Code or PO# field’; and 

        • “CON20” in the “Instructions” field.  This will help Silver Unicorn apply the donation to the PTO.  Otherwise we will not receive any portion of the sale

  • Class pottery gift

    • During the Ice Cream Social, the PTO historically has raffled off pottery pieces decorated by each class.  While the ICS didn't occur this year, we had already commissioned the pottery pieces and will fulfill our commitment to purchasing the pieces which we expect to be finished in the next week or so.  Because these pieces are perishable, meaning they won't really fit next year's classes, we have decided to conduct a random drawing for each class and will award the pottery piece to that random winner.  The drawing will occur Monday June 1.  Good luck!

  • 2020-2021 Volunteering

    • Please let me know if you are interested in continuing on (or starting out) as a room parent next year (president@conantpto.org).  I feel like it would be a good idea to have room parent volunteers identified well in advance so I can focus attention on recruiting incoming K parents and any classes that don't have anyone identified

    • Please let me know if you are interested in getting involved with any of our various PTO events and activities (president@conantpto.org).  We're always looking for volunteers and there are many ways to contribute your time and effort.  I expect to post a listing of open volunteer opportunities to our website over the summer (https://www.conantpto.org/volunteer).  These postings will be included in a Polar Press email, which contrary to prior history, will be sent out from time to time during the summer.  Please be on the lookout!

  • Teacher Gifts

    • I've fielded questions from some parents and have solicited some guidance from teachers.  The feedback I've received is that teachers do not expect end of year gifts.  They understand this is an unprecedented time for families and teachers are comfortable letting families to focus on their own needs right now.  Teachers are genuinely sensitive about this.

    • Should anyone still want to give, gift cards for Staples, Amazon, Silver Unicorn would certainly be put to good use when school resumes

    • Of course, all of this needs to fall within the District's gift giving policy, which can be found here:  https://www.abschools.org/school_committee/policies/section_g__personnel

Again, I hope this finds you well.  I look forward to seeing everyone again soon under better circumstances.

Jimmy

Walter Rodriguez