Crocker Farm Open House, Thurs, Oct 15th

Open House Schedule, Grades K-6

6:15 pm - Mr. Shea & Ms. Conklin: Welcome Remarks in Cafeteria

6:30 pm -
Classroom Presentations (Grades K, 1, & 3)
Grades 4-6 visit with Specials Teachers (Art, Music, P.E., Library, Computer/Technology) ELL, Special Education, Guidance, Reading/Math Intervention (Title I) in individual rooms

7:00-7:05pm (Transition to next portion of the evening)

7:05 pm -
Classroom Presentations (Grades 4, 5, & 6)
Grades K, 1, 2 and 3 visit with Specials Teachers (Art, Music, P.E., Library, Computer/Technology, ELL, Special Education, Guidance, Reading/Math Intervention (Title 1) in individual rooms

7:35 pm - End of presentations-Have a good evening!

CHILDREN ARE INVITED TO ATTEND THIS EVENT WITH THEIR FAMILIES. There will be no childcare available. Children will go to classrooms with a parent/guardian.

BUS TRANSPORTATION. Bus transportation for Open House is available for families living in housing complexes off East Hadley Road & Butternut. The bus will stop at Butternut at 5:00 pm, Southpoint entrance at 5:10pm & The Brook entrance at 5:15 pm. Transportation will also be provided for going home from Crocker Farm leaving Crocker at 7:30 pm.

THE CROCKER FARM PGO will have a table set up in the school lobby during Open House.  Stop by & say hello. All Crocker Farm parents & guardians are automatically part of the PGO. 

Regional School Committee Meeting, Tues, Oct 13th

ARHS Library, 6 pm
The agenda indicates that the School Committee will go into Executive Session at 6 pm, & that the open part of the meeting will begin at 7 pm.

Topics on the agenda include:
* Discussion & update on the MS-HS consolidation
* Superintendent's performance goals & evaluation for the 2015-16 school year
* Vote on the solar energy contract discussed at the last School Committee meeting

The full agenda is available here. 

Meetings this Week on the Wildwood/Amherst School Building Study - School Committee Vote Planned for Nov 3rd

For people who are interested, there are a number of information sessions & discussions scheduled this week regarding the Amherst Elementary School Building Study (aka the Wildwood Building Study) & possible reconfiguration/consolidation of the 3 public Amherst elementary schools.  

The Amherst School Committee is expected to vote at its Nov 3rd meeting on which of the study's options to move forward with. The options are to (1) renovate Wildwood, (2) build a new school on the Wildwood site that this similar is size to the current building, and (3) to build a new townwide school for grades 2-6 (for 750+ students) on a site still tbd. Under this 3rd option, the current Wildwood & Fort River buildings would no longer be used as elementary schools, & Crocker Farm would become a townwide school for preschool, Kindergarten, & 1st grade. Whatever option is selected, it will impact the district's elementary schools for decades. 

There are a number of ways & opportunities to learn more about this project & to express your opinions if any about the project. The district is maintaining a web page (http://wildwood.projects.joslinlesser.com/) and a Facebook page on the project. These sites contain the latest information on the project.

The district recently updated its FAQ document for the project & added additional questions & answers.   It is available at this link/
   
There are a number of upcoming PGO & district events where the study and options will be discussed. 

**Tuesday, October 13th, 10 - 11 AM
Informational Session for Families with Preschool & Young Children
in the Wildwood Cafeteria
Young children welcome
Hosted by ARPS Administrators

**Tuesday, October 13th, 7 PM
Parent Led Discussion about Proposed Elementary School Plans
ARPS District representatives may be present
in the Wildwood Cafeteria
Moderated & hosted by the Wildwood, Crocker Farm & Fort River PGOs

**Thursday, October 15th, 7 PM
Wildwood School Building Update
with special guests Mr. Morris & Ms. Appy
in the Wildwood Cafeteria
Hosted by the Wildwood PGO

**Friday, October 16th, 9 AM
Fort River Coffee with the Principal
with special guests Mr. Morris & Ms. Appy
in the Fort River Cafeteria
Hosted by the Fort River PGO

**Monday, October 26th, 3:30 & 7 PM
Wildwood School Building Public Forum
two similar sessions (attend either)
in the ARHS Library
Hosted by the ARPS
The forum will be recorded & the recording will be available through Amherst Media later.

Joslin Lesser of Watertown, MA is the Project Management company coordinating this project. The Wildwood Joslin Lesser Community page is here: http://wildwood.projects.joslinlesser.com. To see other K-12 projects coordinated by Joslin Lesser visit here: http://www.joslinlesser.com/projects/k-12/

If you missed the public forums held on September 29th, the district and Amherst Media have made content available. The video from the public forums are here.  The slides shown during the forums are here.

Still seeking Class Parents for Ms. Coley's & Mr. Hughes' classes

Just two classes remaining .....

The Crocker Farm PGO is still looking for class parents for:
* Ms. Coley/Ms. Dougherty (4th grade)
* Mr. Hughes/Mr. Borrell (5th grade)

Class parents work individually with their child's teacher to determine the best way for them to help the class.  If you are interested in being a class parent for one of these classes or for another class, please email Amanda, the PGO's Class Parent coordinator, at amandanlawall@gmail.com, or otherwise contact the PGO.   Thank you.  

The other 17 classes now have class parents.  We will be posting the class parent list soon. 

Thank you to everyone who has signed up to be a class parent or to volunteer with the PGO in other ways.  If you have been meaning to signup to volunteer & haven't yet, you can access our online volunteer signup form here. 

Amherst Elementary School Building Study - upcoming meetings & opportunities to learn more

**** This morning, Fri Oct 9th, 8:45 am, Coffee with the Principal & Special Guests Assistant Superintendent Mike Morris & Amherst School Committee Chair Katherine Appy. The topic will be the Amherst Elementary School Building Study (aka the Wildwood Building Study) & possible reconfiguration/consolidation of the 3 public Amherst elementary schools. Please join us to talk about this important issue. ****

The Amherst School Committee is set to vote in early Nov on which of the study's options to move forward with. The options are to (1) renovate Wildwood, (2) build a new school on the Wildwood site that this similar is size to the current building, and (3) to build a new townwide school for grades 2-6 (for 750+ students) on a site still tbd. Under this 3rd option, the current Wildwood & Fort River buildings would no longer be used as elementary schools, & Crocker Farm would become a townwide school for preschool, Kindergarten, & 1st grade. Whatever option is selected, it may impact the district's elementary schools for decades. 

There are a number of ways & opportunities to learn more about this project & to express your opinions if any about the project. The district is maintaining a web page (http://wildwood.projects.joslinlesser.com/) and a Facebook page on the project. These sites contain the latest information on the project.
--
There are a number of upcoming PGO & district events where the study and options will be discussed. 

**Tuesday, October 13th, 10 - 11 AM
Informational Session for Families with Preschool & Young Children
in the Wildwood Cafeteria
Young children welcome
Hosted by ARPS

**Tuesday, October 13th, 7 PM
Parent Led Discussion about Proposed Elementary School Plans
ARPS District representatives may be present
in the Wildwood Cafeteria
Facilitated by district PGO members

**Thursday, October 15th, 7 PM
Wildwood School Building Update
with special guests Mr. Morris & Ms. Appy
in the Wildwood Cafeteria
Hosted by the Wildwood PGO


**Friday, October 16th, 9 AM
Fort River Coffee with the Principal
with special guests Mr. Morris & Ms. Appy
in the Fort River Cafeteria
Hosted by the Fort River PGO

**Monday, October 26th, 3:30 & 7 PM
Wildwood School Building Public Forum
two similar sessions (attend either)
in the ARHS Library
Hosted by the ARPS
The forum will be recorded & the recording will be available through Amherst Media later.

Joslin Lesser of Watertown, MA is the Project Management company coordinating this project. The Wildwood Joslin Lesser Community page is here: http://wildwood.projects.joslinlesser.com. To see other K-12 projects coordinated by Joslin Lesser visit here: http://www.joslinlesser.com/projects/k-12/

If you missed the public forums held on September 29th, the district and Amherst Media have made content available. The video from last week's public forums is here: https://archive.org/details/WildwoodForum092915 The slides shown during the forums are here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0By0mz4P0v3bWanliV0RUalBVRUgwbG9QSnp0MUdMT0M1R0dJ

Public Forum on Regionalization Tues, Oct 6th

Public forum tonight on the potential K-6 regionalization of the Amherst elementary schools with the Pelham, Leverett, & Shutesbury schools.

6:30-8:30 pm, ARHS Library

Each town may be voting on the K-6 regionalization early next year. The 4 towns already share the MS & HS.

An ARPS powerpoint presentation on the regionalization is here

& here is the most current FAQ document on regionalization.

Public Forums on regionalization are also scheduled for:
Leverett: Oct 21st, 7 pm, Leverett Elementary School library
Shutesbury: Nov 18th,  6:30 pm, Shutesbury Elementary School library
A date/time for a forum in Pelham is still TBD. 

Harvest Fest tomorrow - 6 pm

The forecast for Friday now looks better, but we'll still be in the cafeteria. 

The Harvest Fest & Potluck start at 6 pm.

Hope to see you there!  

SC meeting Oct 1st, discussion of solar energy proposal & upcoming forums on regionalization

At today's Regional School Committee meeting (6 pm, ARHS Library), the School Committee will consider an agreement to receive some of the MS & HS's future energy needs via a solar energy source to be developed in Deerfield.  Slides providing an overview of the proposal are included in the meeting's agenda packet, link here. 

At the meeting, the SC will also discuss the upcoming public forums on K-12 regionalization.  The first forum is scheduled for next Tues, 10/6, at 6:30 pm, at the ARHS Library.

Dental services visiting Crocker Farm on Thurs, Oct 8th

Signup deadline: Fri, 10/2

from ARPS central office:
The ARPS Family Center is partnering with The Mobile Dentist once again to provide dental care to our district families of Amherst. Smile Programs…the mobile dentists are innovative, on-site, school based, dental outreach providers. Their mission is to bring state of the art dental care to those students in need, in the most comfortable & effective way possible. Dental care remains the greatest unmet health need among U.S. children. Over 50% of children have a cavity, which can cause pain leading to missed school. 

Together, we can keep our children healthy, in school, and learning. Please call the Crocker Farm office at 362-1600 if you did not receive a registration form in your child’s backpack, & you are interested in signing your child up.

ARPS PGO 501(c)3 meeting

The ARPS PGO is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization consisting of the PGOs of Crocker Farm, Wildwood, Amherst Regional Middle School, & Amherst Regional High School.

One representative from each of the above PGOs serves on the ARPS PGO board. 

The Fort River PGO is a separate 501(c)3.  

The ARPS PGO was created to help joint fundraising efforts among the school PGOs, & to enable that PGOs to apply for grants & other funds that are only available to 501(c)3 non-profits.  

The ARPS PGO holds one business meeting in the fall, & one in the spring, & additional meetings when needed.  These meetings are open to the public. 

  

ARPS PGO

Fall Public Meeting

October 14, 2015

4:00-5:30 PM

Crocker Farm Lobby

Meeting Agenda

Introductions

Voting on new representatives and officers

Fall Tax Filings

Paypal on Websites

Processing Large Donations/ Matching Gifts Protocol

Grant Writing Protocol

Valley Gives, Giving Tuesday, Whole Foods & future other joint fundraising opportunities

Sales Tax Exemption Use

Other new business not known at the time of the posting of this meeting