Welcome back, Birney Community!
The Birney Elementary PTA and Friends of Alice Birney Elementary (FOABE) are excited for another great year as we welcome back our students, parents, teachers, staff members and administrators for the 2015-16 school year.
The PTA has lots of events planned beginning with our Playground Play Date on Friday, September 18th at 6:30PM. We’ll bring dinner and playground monitors; you bring your kids and get to know other Birney parents while the kids run on the playground. The fun continues with such annual events as International Peace Day (9/21), Birney Day at the Padres (9/26), Family Dinner Nights, Star Party (10/2), Jump Rope for Heart (11/6), book fairs, the 52nd Annual Toyland Parade (12/5), Bedtime Stories (3/4), Staff Appreciation Week (5/2-6), the Kensington Memorial Day Parade (5/30), and the Passport to Adventure festival (6/25). Along with several free, family friendly events, the PTA raises money throughout the year to fund your child’s field trips, assemblies, and classroom supplies.
The Friends of Alice Birney Elementary (FOABE) raises money to fund Birney’s Spanish, art, and garden programs. We do this through such events as our upcoming University Heights Urban Harvest Festival on November 7th. Other fundraising events for the year include Big Give (12/17), Run for the Green (3/11), and Parents’ Night Out (11/13 and 2/19). We also aim to work with community business sponsors to raise these funds, and we are always looking for innovative ways to do this. It takes about $160 per student per year to keep these “Specials” programs alive and to preserve our International Baccalaureate (IB) program.
The PTA’s website, www.birneypta.com, is chock full of info such as PTA meeting minutes, volunteer opportunities, email list sign-ups, forms you would pick up in the office, and information on all PTA activities. FOABE’s website, www.friendsofalicebirney.org, provides you with info regarding events, ways to donate, a thermometer to show funds raised as the year progresses, lists of community sponsors, and much more. We also provide parents with lots of great info regarding upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, and other news from both parent organizations through our weekly eBlast. Sign up to receive these information-packed emails via either website.
We welcome you to get involved and become an active member in our amazing community. Perhaps your unique skills are just what we have been missing! Below are a few ways you can get started.
- PTA Mtg. – 3rd Thursday each month – 1st meeting Thurs, 9/17 – 6:30pm – Auditorium
- FOABE Mtg. – 2nd Thursday each month – 1st meeting Thurs, 9/10 – 6:00pm – Rm. 26
- Family Friday – 1st Friday each month – 1st one is Fri, 9/11 – 2:30pm – Auditorium
- Parents’ Coffee Connection – Last Friday each month – 8:30am – In front of school
Here’s to an amazing year,
Sarah McLure, PTA President
Beth Deig, FOABE President