Last Student PTSA Meeting of Year and Election of Officers Thursday, May 17th

The last general student PTSA meeting of the year will be held Thursday, May 17^th, at 8:30 a.m. in the Home Ec Room, Room 103.  Please enter through the performance room.

Election of next year’s officers will take place at this time as well as the election of the Membership Committee Chairman.  6^th and 7^th grade members are eligible to run for one of the following leadership positions.

President, Executive Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Financial Secretary, Historian, Membership Committee Chairman

Student PTSA welcomes all student members, even those who have not been able to attend yet this year!  Membership forms and participation waivers are available in the front office and on the PTSA website, nhmsptsa.org.

Post expires at 1:00am on Friday May 18th, 2012

Click here for the flyer to print out.

Post expires at 11:45am on Monday June 4th, 2012

Click here for the flyer!

Post expires at 11:31am on Monday June 18th, 2012

Please join the PTSA in expressing our appreciation for our Niguel Hills Teachers!

We will be celebrating our teachers the week of May 14^th.  On Tuesday, May 15^th, the PTSA will be sponsoring a luncheon in honor of the staff.  Grade levels will be providing breakfast on the following days, and we are still in need of donations.  If you would like to contribute toward breakfast on any of the following days, please contact the PTSA chairman listed below.

Monday, May 14^th – 6^th Grade, Stephanie Samia, stephaniesamia@mac.com

Wednesday, May 16^th – 7^th Grade, Mitra Nariman, mitram1@hotmail.com

Thursday, May 17^th – 8^th Grade, Nicole Bourquin, nicole.bourquin@yahoo.com

CUCPTSA Parent Education Event: “Keeping Creativity and Imagination in the Classroom”

Tuesday, April 17^th, 2012 6:30-8:00 p.m.

Capistrano Unified School District Board Room

33122 Valle Road, San Juan Capistrano

Sarah Murr, Community Investor, Art & Culture, Boeing Company

Pat Wayne, Deputy Director of Arts Orange County

Jim Thomas, Coordinator for Visual & Performing Art for the OC Dept of Education

RSVP via email to: parenteducation@cucptsa.com

Why is Arts Education Important?

A strong arts education promotes the skills children need to be successful. Exposure to art education promotes self-directed learning, improves school attendance and sharpens critical and creative skills. In fact, several recent studies have concluded that the creativity and innovation utilized in the artistic process will be highly valued by employers in the United States in the coming years as we continue to shift into a global economy.

Benefits of Arts Education - Source: Americans for the Arts,

• Stimulates and develops the imagination and critical thinking, and refines cognitive and creative skills.
• Has a tremendous impact on the developmental growth of every child and has proven to help level the “learning field” across socio-economic boundaries.
• Strengthens problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, adding to overall academic achievement and school success.
• Develops a sense of craftsmanship, quality task performance, and goal-setting—skills needed to succeed in the classroom and beyond.
• Teaches children life skills such as developing an informed perception; articulating a vision; learning to solve problems and make decisions; building self-confidence and self-discipline; developing the ability to imagine what might be; and accepting responsibility to complete tasks from start to finish.

Nurtures important values, including team-building skills; respecting alternative viewpoints; and appreciating and being aware of different cultures and traditions.

But how does that help my child get ahead later in life? Well US employers have rated creativity/innovation as one of the top five skills that will increase in importance over the next five years. On top of that 56% of employers agree that a college degree in the arts is the most significant indicator of creativity in a prospective job candidate.

Post expires at 1:01am on Wednesday April 18th, 2012

Important Points For You To Know

The California State PTA strongly supports this education funding measure that would raise approximately $10 billion a year in new revenue for local public schools and early childhood programs. Funding will be allocated to all students in K-12 public schools, including those in basic-aid districts and in charter schools.

Our Children, Our Future will:

• Provide an average of approximately $1100 per year, per student for the first four years and then $1700 for the following eight years.
• Provide local control of these new education dollars by giving school boards decision-making authority based on school site input.
• Help restore programs, such as art, music, physical education, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM); reduce class sizes; and add more counselors, librarians, and nurses.
• Support low income students with additional dollars
• Require funds to be spent at local school sites, not district offices (no more than 1% maybe spent on administrative costs)
• Not allow schools to use these new funds to increase salaries and benefits.
• Establish accountability and transparency for how the money is used.
• Place the money in a separate trust fund outside the state legislature’s control.

Our kids need a quality education so that they can compete in a global economy. Our state needs an educated and skilled workforce to create new jobs and grow our economy. Investing in education is good for kids, good for the economy and a necessity for all of us.

This initiative is about investing in our children and our future.  Investing in our kids is good for children and an  
economic necessity for all of us. Polls show that voters know our schools are in trouble.  
They don’t need convincing.

• 47th in per-pupil spending, below states like Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi
• Dead last in class size – 50th out of 50 states – largest class sizes in the nation.
• Public school budgets cut by over $20 billion and 40,000 educators laid off over 3 years
• More cuts coming
• An entire “lost generation” of California children won’t have the education they need to succeed in jobs and in life

Some California education facts:
We can’t wait while this happens. It’s time to make a real change to transform education in California. Our Children, Our Future will raise $10 billion in new  funding each year for 12 years through a sliding scale  income tax to invest in our kids.

• Funds allocated per pupil to each public school in the state  
(includes charter schools, county schools and schools for kids  
with special needs)
• Provides additional per-pupil funding for low-income students

Allows schools to restore a well-rounded education

• art
• music
• physical education
• science
• technology
• engineering
• 
math
• English and foreign languages
• vocational and technical education
• improved college preparation
• 
smaller class sizes
• up-to-date teaching materials and classroom technology
• training to improve teacher skills
• Money goes directly to local schools, not to Sacramento.
• The Legislature and Governor can’t use these new funds to replace  
current funding.
• School boards must get public input from parents, teachers, other school  
staff and the community before deciding how to spend these new funds at  
each local school site.
• New funds can’t be used to give pay raises or benefit increases to school personnel
• 1% cap on administrative spending
• School boards must publicly provide clear, accurate budgets for every school site – parents and the community will know how money is spent to improve student outcomes and to whether those outcomes have been achieved
• New tax rates must be re-approved by voters after 12 years – extra layer of accountability
• Academic studies show that high-quality early education is one of the best educational investments we can make.

Our Children, Our Future

• funds expanded access to preschool, especially for less advantaged children
• $300 million to help restore budget cuts made to early childhood education programs
• establishes a new rating system & quality standards to improve quality of early childhood education and childcare programs.

Please contact your Legislation Chair with any questions. (allimaier@cox.net)

We need your support in collecting signatures from family and friends!

PTA Legislative representatives will be at various sites in the month of March thru April 10th collecting signatures at various locations and will have petitions and information for you to pass out. Please help us affect change in our local schools. This initiative does this!

Week of March 4th

• Tuesday, March 6th 9:30 – 10:30am – Marina Hills Starbucks, picnic tables
• Thursday March 8th  7:45am – 10:30 am Marina Hills Starbucks, picnic tables
• Friday, March 9th 7:30 – 9:00am Starbucks at Alicia Parkway and Pacific Island Dr

Your kids and future generation of kids will Thank You!

More Questions?
Contact  Ali Maier 949-682-6102. Linda Fong 949-680-5012, Julia Walsh 949-292-5199

Get information to make good decisions on Social Media. Get advise on navigating your child’s options and choices.

Click here for the PDF.

Volunteers Needed to Help with Homework:

A new Homework Club has been formed for students who are in the Keystone Program and have been on a long waiting list for the After School Homework Club.  This new Homework Club is run by Barbara Goodwin, Instructional Teacher Aide, and Juliana Pena-Marconi, Bilingual Community Liaison, and meets every Thursday morning from 8:15 – 9:30 a.m. in the library.  (Enter through the staff lounge.)  Over 20 students have been attending, and volunteers are greatly needed to work with all of these students.  Any time you can give would be appreciated — even if it is once a month or one time only.   Please email jpenamarconi@capousd.org, with questions or for more information.

LAGUNA NIGUEL – Students at Niguel Hills Middle School are taking a more active role in the PTSA.

For the first time, students are organizing their own projects within the Parent Teacher Student Association. So far, they’ve identified one service project outside the school and one within the campus. Students decided they’d like to organize a DVD drive to replace movies stolen from Children’s Hospital Orange County last year. They also looked at where they could make a difference on campus.