The Windham Parent Network

Please tell your friends and save the date.

The Windham Parent Network Invites you to our Annual Holiday Celebration.

We will be having our annual holiday party.  All WPN members and anyone interested in our organization is welcome.  There will be Complimentary Pizza & Beverages and Childrens’ Crafts.

When: Sunday, Dec 12, 2010, from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm.

Location: Fred’s Brick House Cafe, 1681 West Main St Willimantic, CT 06226

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The Board of Education will have its next Finance Committee Meeting on Tuesday June 29th.

The meeting will be at 6PM in the Kramer building, at the corner of High & Prospect Streets, 2nd floor. We will be discussing possible areas to cut and the impact. This will not be the final cuts, we will not vote on those until the budget is set.

The more important date will be the Town Meeting on Wednesday June 30 at Town Hall (most likely). This is where the Board of Finance is asking for input from the community to decide how large to make the next cut to our budget.

At the Fin Comt Mtg we will be looking at the current list of proposed cuts and then trying to identify possible future cuts. The Bd of Fin will be invited as guests.Next the Bd ofFin will host a special Public Forum on Wednesday June 30 followed by their regular meeting at which time they will announce theamount for the next reduction to the Ed … See Morebudget. The next vote isset for July 13(unless they change their minds about this dateon June 30th)

Public is always invited to a Bd of Ed comt mtg and will be able to speak during public comment at our Tuesday mtg. The really important date will be on Wednesday June 30 to try and convince the Bd of Fin not to make too drastic a cut, since the actual cuts the Bd of Ed makes will not be set until after the budget is approved.

Since only 11% came out to vote and the budget failed by only 90 votes that means about 6% of the voters are forcing moredire cuts to the budget.

The education referendum/vote did not pass for the 3rd time, yesterday, June 22nd. There will be a special meeting on 6/28 or 6/29 to discuss the next steps.

As soon as the date is chosen, it should be posted here Windham Public Schools. Look toward the bottom right side of the page, under “Upcoming Events.”

Please consider attending this meeting, telling friends and contacting Board of Education members to discuss your opinions about the budget and what will happen next.

Thank you.

TheThe budget referendum will be held on June 22, 2010 from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm.

It is expected that the Board of Education will be cutting $75,000 from the most recent budget.  Please mark your calendars and come out to vote!

Voters in the Windham District will vote on at the Windham Center Fire House on Route 203 Windham Center.

Voters in the Willimantic Service district will vote at the Elks Club on 198 Pleasant Street, Willimantic.

Polls open – 6AM to 8PM on Tuesday June 8.

Willimantic (Districts I, II, and III) vote at the Elks on Pleasant St
Windham Villages (Districts IV and V) vote at the Windham Center Fire House

Please plan to vote for the education budget on Tuesday! If you are going to be out of town, please stop by Town Hall on Monday and cast and absentee ballot (it’ll take less than 15 minutes). Your vote is extremely important! Please ask your friends and neighbors to vote for the education budget–forward this message, or compose your own. Thanks!

Are you a parent of an infant, toddler, or preschooler?
Would you like to learn more about:
*     Positive discipline techniques
*     Helping your baby learn and grow
*     Handling stress, frustration and anger

Register now for Nurturing Parenting: Birth to Three
Next group scheduled to begin mid- August, 2010
Generations Family Health Center, Inc., Windham Mills, Willimantic
Childcare may be provided

Contact: Kerry Fair at 450-0585 ext. 528 or kfair@genhealth.org to register

Guilford Smith Memorial Library
17 Main Street, South Windham

Call the library at 423-5159 for more info about our
Toddler Tunes program every Tuesday at 10:30AM.
We have several library passes, including a 20% off coupon to the new CT Science Center.  But hurry – offer expires May 31st!

March
4:30PM Tuesday, 2nd: “Dr. Seuss Birthday Celebration” – Come dressed as your favorite character and read some silly stories with us!
6:30PM Thursday, 11th:  “Johnny Appleseed Day” – Apple stories, crafts and games to honor one of America’s great men.
4:30PM Tuesday, 16th: “Penguin Picnic Polka” – Stories, music, and crafts.
7PM Thursday, 18th: Friends of the Library planning meeting for May Book sale.  We are taking book donations at the library now.
10AM Saturday, 20th: “Kiddie CAT Author Gayle Byrne” – One of Connecticut’s newest children’s authors will talk about her picture book, Sometimes It’s Grandmas and Grandpas.  Bring your grandparents for this special morning.
6:30PM Thursday, 25th: “Limitless Legos” – Build a creation as big as your imagination.

April
6:30PM Thursday, 8th: “National Frog Month” – Come celebrate at the library with stories, games, and crafts.
6:30PM Tuesday, 13th: “Windham Reads” Meet children’s author/illustrator Carla Harrell as she discusses her new picture book  2 Zie-Two Aunts.
6:30PM Thursday, 22nd: “Earth Day” – We’ll have an assortment of cool recyclables for you to make a green project.
10:30AM Saturday, 24th: “Mrs. Cardot’s Craft Corner” – Another creative day with our guest artist.

May
6:30PM Tuesday, 4th: “Cinco de Mayo” – Learn the history of this day as we do the Mexican Hat Dance and make paper flowers.
9AM – 2PM Saturday, 8th: Friends of the Library Book, Plant and Bake Sale.
6:30PM Thursday, 13th: “National Strawberry and Duckling Month” – Two of our favorite things will be the focus of this library program.
4:30PM Tuesday, 18th: “4-H Babysitting Course” – 6th, 7th, & 8th grade boys and girls are invited to participate in this 5 week course. Registration and $5 booklet fee required.

Our Summer Reading Program – “Make a Splash – Read!” kicks off in June.
www.guilfordsmith.org

We have redesigned our website.  We hope you like it.

Windham Parent Network

Stories in the Park Committee Meeting

September 10, 2008

In Attendance

Barbara Kaczowski Pat Calvo Elizabeth Espitia Gale Zeiba Kate Hardisty Leila Fecho

Call to Order @ 5:00 p.m.

Gail Zeiba – Literacy Tables

• We need to have volunteer ID Tags for all the volunteers.
• Literacy Tables count 10, Tables now closed to new requests.

Facilities Committee: Kate Hardisty

• We should have Hand Sanitizer since we will not have a hand washing station.
• Thank You poster needed.

Refreshments: Pat Calvo

• Pat will pick up the beverages before the event.

Advertising: Leila Fecho

• She would like to give credit to Bob Bloom and Jason Alteri in the press release. Can Pat Calvo send her the information.
• If Leila can set it up would someone be available to talk on the radio about Stories in the Park?
• Pat said she would be available by phone.

Odds and Ends: Barbara Kaczowski

• Coupon Books for food, drinks, and books are designed. They will be printed and assembled before the event. Volunteers for this have already been lined up.
• The Book coupon needs to be changed to have book pick up at the Willimantic Public Library.
• Signs will be posted around the SITP area designated that pictures will be taken.
• The registration table will tell parents about the photo zone, and that they may be on our Website, or be used for publicity.
• The registration table will be where families will get their coupons for free items, and we can collect data on who is be served by this event.
• We need to purchase hand stamps to track people who have already been registered.

Next meeting: September 10, 2008 @ 5:00 p.m. -Willimantic Public Library Children’s Dept.

Meeting Adjourned @ 5:50 p.m

Respectfully Submitted,

Barbara Kaczowski – Community Organizer

Windham Parent Network
Board Meeting
September 14, 2009

Attendance	Documents Distributed
Pat Calvo Barbara Kaczowski Suzanne Kelly Shante Powers-Gaskins Elizabeth Espitia Mark Doyle Rebecca Cronin Bill Stover Mary DeMarco Dennis Cronin Dennis O’Brien Omar Rosario	Agenda June Board Meeting Minutes Stories in the Park Summary

Call to Order @ 5:53 p.m.

Suzanne Kelly

• June Minute Approval, Motion to Accept minutes: Mary DeMarco, Motion 2nd: Bill Stover, Minutes Approved by all present.
• Suzanne Kelly has moved from Windham to Mansfield, and regrets that for the best interest of the Network, she is resigning her position as President. She will stay active as a member, and continue to help at events. Rebecca Cronin as Vice President is the next in line to take over duties.
• Thanks from all fellow members was expressed, Suzanne will be missed.

Director Report: Pat Calvo

• Back to School Fest 267 Backpacks were handed out to area children.
• 3rd Thursday, Suzanne Brogie has made sure that all entertainment has been provided.
• Health Fest went very well.
• Stories in the Park (handout). Expenses total $ 246.62, but next year we will need to get additional sources of funding, since books used this year were already on hand.
• The participation level was about half of last year, but that was to be expected since we had to change venues to inside Kramer Gym due to rain.
• 2010 Funding, Graustein is changing their funding strategies. They are moving towards 3 strategies. Funding option 1 is for communities ready to implement their Local Capacity Plan. Windham does not fit into this category. Option 2 is for communities that need to continue the process for the Local Capacity Plans; Windham could apply for this option. Or option 3 is to implement specific community activities, this fits in best with what the WPN does now.
• The SRC decided to go for option 3.
• This option would be $7500/ year for a total of 5 years.
• The current funding period would be extended until March 31st, at the current level of funding. Basically ¼ of this years $35,000.00.
• Letter of intent has been submitted to Graustein for deadline of September 15th.
• This will give us time to approach other revenue sources.

Magnet School

• Rebecca Cronin has invited Dennis Cronin and Dennis O’Brien to come and speak to us about what is happening with the Magnet School.
• Dennis Cronin has asked the Board what we knew about the issue, we all had heard various fact and fiction.
• The real danger is that the BOS would elect to have another referendum on the Magnet School. And whether or not the Board will vote for the First Selectwoman to sign the contract to purchase the proposed site.
• There are people collecting signatures on a petition to stop the Magnet School from moving forward, and to have another referendum on the issue.
• We need as many bodies as possible to show up at the BOS meeting, to show support for the Magnet School.
• If we turn down the 38 Million State money, it would be “stupid” – Dennis O’Brien.
• Bring the children to the meeting; they need to see the children this vote is impacting.
• So far the Selectmen have not received any calls or emails about this issue. If you cannot attend at the meeting, then you need to call them. But bodies in the room are preferred.
• Susan Johnson: Bond funding is still in place. Magnet schools’ funding has been increased, the regular schools funding was decreased. In addition, a student from Windham who was a good student was denied admission to ECSU, because our standards are so low. We need to have those standards raised.
• Mark Doyle: The selection for the Magnet School will be 75% Windham, and 25% Other Towns. This also has to be broken down further to reflect the ethic ratio of the town.
• The children that do go to the Magnet School will cost the town less because the State reimburses the town at a higher rate.
• The WPN will help to solicit people to come to the meeting, but we should not state we represent all WPN members.

Open Floor:

• No further discussion.

Next Board Meeting: October 19, 2009
Next Membership Social: December 13, 2009 – Holiday Hoopla.

Meeting Adjourned @ 6:50 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
Barbara Kaczowski
Community Organizer