[CabotCommunity] JabberLite for Tuesday, November 28th, 2006

[Jo Doherty]

JABBERLITE FOR TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28TH 2006

 

This email contains information about the following:

Campaign for Cabot

Update on the School Committee meeting yesterday & the space crunch issue

Cabot PTO's online shopping link & Learning Express Fundraiser

Information regarding Newton North

 

 

Upcoming Dates

A complete & updated calendar for all events for the year can be found at
www.cabotpto.org <http://www.cabotpto.org/>   

 


December 6, 2006

PTO Learning Express Fundraiser


December 11, 2006

School Committee Meeting, 7:30 PM


December 14, 2006

Early Release Day, 12:30 PM Dismissal


December 15, 2006

Hanukkah Begins at Sundown


December 19, 2006

Affinity Group


December 19, 2006

CASP Play 7:00 - 8:00PM


December 20, 2006

CASP Play 7:00 - 8:00PM


December 22, 2006

CASP Play for Students 


December 25 to Jan 1

Vacation, NO SCHOOL


December 26, 2006

Kwanzaa


 

 


January 1, 2007

Vacation, NO SCHOOL


January 2, 2007

School resumes


January 4, 2007

Understanding our Differences Grade 5 1:00 - 2:45 PM


January 8, 2007

School Council 6-7:30 PM


January 8, 2007

School Committee Meeting, 7:30 PM


January 10, 2007

All-City School Chorus Concert, Brown Middle School 7:30 PM


January 15, 2007

Martin Luther King Day, NO  SCHOOL


January 18, 2007

Winter Concert, 10:45 AM & 7:30 PM

 

 

 

Campaign for Cabot 

The Campaign for Cabot is our largest source of fundraising for the whole
year and it goes a long way to ensuring the PTO can 

fulfill its mission to provide the services & support identified in the
budget. Thank you to all the 16% of families who have so far 

contributed and helped raise $9,494! Our goal is to raise $24,000 to ensure
the PTO can continue to underwrite all the 

fantastic services we provide to all the students at Cabot. So if you have
not yet contributed please take a moment to think

about how much your child benefits from all the enrichment activities
provided & financed by the PTO. This year we are striving 

towards 100% participation from our community of families, so please
contribute whatever you can. There is

an old Scottish & Jamaican saying - "Mony a mickle makes a muckle" - every
penny adds up!! 

And remember any donations are tax-deductible! 

 

Update on the School Committee meeting yesterday & the space crunch issue

At last nights School Committee meeting enrollment projections were
presented which indicate that Cabot is expected to need another 

2 classrooms next Fall in addition to those classes we currently have: an
additional K class & an additional 1st grade class. Generally, the 

report concluded that Newton Public Schools would experience a general
growth on student population, particularly at the Elementary 

School level & especially at Kindergarten. The report contains a lot of
information so please take a look at it online at 

http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/schoolcommittee/docs/11_27_06/Enroll%20Report%20
11.06.pdf 

 

Also at this meeting the Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Jeff Young, made his
recommendations on how he would like to see the School 

Committee address the short terms space needs of the 5 Elementary Schools
identified as having space issues. He proposed 8 actions for their
consideration, 

which in summary included these of specific interest to the Cabot community:

 

*	Recommended the School Committee purchase & install 8 modulars for
use as classrooms for the start of the 2007/08 school year, 

2 of which would be for Cabot - this would protect the art & music rooms as
specialty rooms & eliminate the need for co-hort redistricting for Cabot.

*	Eliminate 3 existing choice zones, effective September 2007,
including the 2 choice zones for Cabot & Underwood near Fairmont & Bellevue.

He recommends that existing students & future siblings be grandfathered but
new students entering Sept 2007 for the Cabot zones would be sent to
Underwood.

*	Commence the process of securing the Carr School for future use
*	His report can be seen in full at

http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/schoolcommittee/docs/11_27_06/elem_space_rec_11_
27.pdf

 

Points of further interest raised at the meeting:

*	Mayor Cohen identified that he has included in his capital
improvement plan for next year $900,000 for modulars & could raise that to

$1million if the School Committee could fund the difference -  Dr.Young's
report estimates the cost for purchase & installation of 8 modulars 

to be approx. $1.1 to $1.2 million. 

*	The schools recommended to have 2 modulars each (Cabot, Pierce &
Zervas) would need to have them co-located in order to reduce installation
cost.

Onsite surveys have already concluded 3 possible sites for Cabot - outside
the current Kindergarten entrance, on the blacktop, and on the 

faculty parking area. Of these, the last 2 only can accommodate 2 modulars.
Specific site discussions will be had with School Principals etc to 

determine the best location. Such details will not be decided by the School
Committee's vote on December 11th but will need to be resolved prior to 

modulars orders being placed during Mar/April.

*	Dr. Young stated all other non-classroom space needs such as SPED,
after schools programs etc,.would be addressed by the long term facilities
plan. 

This was identified as starting in the new year with a deadline of May 2007
in order for Newton to file requests to meet State deadlines for renovation 

reimbursement.

 

What happens next?

*	December 11th is when the School Committee vote on their proposals
to address the short term space issues, which may or may not reflect Dr.
Youngs.

You can stay informed by reading his proposal, coming to this meeting or
watch it live on NEWTV. Thanks once again to the Cabot parents who showed 

up last night!

 

SHOPPING FOR THE HOLIDAYS

If you are shopping online for the holidays or birthdays don't forget to go
to www.cabotpto.org <http://www.cabotpto.org/>  first & then click on the
Shopping icon!! 

You will pay exactly the same prices BUT a % of your total purchase will be
donated to the Cabot School PTO! All of the main online 

stores participate, so check it out by visiting
http://www.cabotpto.org/shop.html 

Also, on December 6th the Learning Express store in Newton Center will again
run a fundraising day to benefit Cabot School. 

Coming home soon will be a flyer with more information. Simply shop at the
store on December 6th identify yourself as Cabot School & 

the Learning Express will donate a $ of the total sales generated!! 

Our thanks go to Julie Stonehill for organizing this & other small
fundraisers like Papa Ginos.

 

 

Social Action Food Drive

Thanks to everyone who helped make this year's Thanksgiving food drive a
success -- we delivered three carloads of food to the 

Newton Creative Start program last Wednesday morning!  The Creative Start
program enrolls over 100 students, and the parents 

of those students count on Cabot School's generosity each year to make
Thanksgiving dinner a reality.  Thanks again to everyone 

who donated, and to those on the Social Action committee who collected and
delivered the food.

 

 

NEWTON NORTH HIGH SCHOOL

As advertised in earlier emails tonight is Conversation One: The Site Plan
held at the High School's Lasker Auditorium at 7:30pm.

Newton's League of Women Voters, the Newton PTO Council and the Newton
Schools Foundation have joined together to offer 

an opportunity to learn more about the upcoming referendum on the approval
of a site plan for a new Newton North building. 

Two forums will be held titled "Conversations about Newton North," so that
voters will be able to ask a balanced panel questions 

about the issues involved in the ballot question they will be voting on
January 23rd. Panelists for the first forum will be David Cohen, 

Mayor of Newton; George Mansfield, Ward 6 Alderman and opponent of the site
plan; Laura Naylor, member of Voters for a Better Newton North; 

and Dori Zaleznik, chair of the Newton School Committee. The evening will
begin with a brief introduction to the site plan. 

Following that, each panelist will have five minutes to briefly state their
position. The remainder of the evening will be devoted to questions from the
audience, moderated by Amelia Koch of the League of Women Voters. 
  
The second forum to be held on January 9th at will focus on the finances of
the project. Both forums will be held at 7:30 p.m. in 

Newton North's Lasker Auditorium. 
 
In addition to the forums, tours of the existing Newton North building will
be available on two different dates. The first set of tours will 

be offered immediately before the first forum, on the evening of November
28th starting at 6:00 pm. The second set will be offered 

during the day on Saturday, December 2nd from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. 
For more information, visit www.newtonptocouncil.org
<http://www.newtonptocouncil.org/> ,

 

 

Compiled for you by the Cabot PTO

Jo Doherty

Cabot PTO Co-President

11 Leonard Avenue,

West Newton, MA 02465

617-332-1530

jcdoherty11 at comcast.net

 

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