Back to School Time!

Hi Everyone,
Tomorrow starts the beginning of our new school year and marks the 150th anniversary of Bainbridge Island Schools. Check out this youtube video of a parent writing a letter to his child's teacher on the first day of school. Can you guess who the parent was?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-yuQKi-bdo

Phonathon Update!

Thanks to everyone who has helped out with calling, organization and donating to our phonathon held November 17-19th. We have over $60,000 in pledges and contributions in the door. We need everyone to send in their mailers and help us reach our goal of $250,000! You may be wondering what we need that money for... well, we are still raising $250,000 to pay for salaries for the teachers we saved in June and we have committed to the district to pay for $70,000 in teacher training and $30,000 for classroom enrichment grants. Every teacher, every child gets the benefit of your donation. Did you know only 37% of school age families contribute to the foundation?
Did you know we are the only organization that can fund staff salaries? Consider giving to your schools as a present this holiday season!

Phonathon is coming next week, Nov 17-19th!

Phonathon is coming! Answer your phones next Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. We will only call once and ask for a donation. Our goal is to make $250,000 for our schools. We will use this money to fulfill our pledge to the district for $250,000 for teacher salaries, $70,000 for teacher training and $30,000 for classroom enrichment. We saved 7 teachers last June, but we still need to pay for them! We are focusing on increased participation for phonathon. Last year, we had 40% of families giving, this year, we want to increase that number. Every dollar counts! For a donation of a dollar a day, or $25/month or $300 per year, we will send you a "We support BSF" license plate holder! Watch for them around town!

July 21 Dinner at Real Foods to benefit BSF!

Eat Dinner at Real Foods on July 21st from 6-8pm!
Real Foods writes:
First on deck is the 'Save our Teachers' dinner July 21 from 6-8pm: This community has done great things toward this goal and we wanna keep it up! We'll be serving a special dinner menu filled with local yummyness (regular favorites available too) and all proceeds from the dinners sold this night will be directly donated to the school fund. Come on out and eat dinner and support our local schools, bring your families, bring your friends. We're working on some live music too!
This is so wonderful!

Support local merchants on July 22 for BSF!

On Wednesday, July 22, Bainbridge merchants will donate a percentage of
sales during their last two hours before closing to the Save Our
Teachers Fund.

Participating businesses will be identified by an orange poster in their
windows. Among the benefit's sponsors are Dana's ShowHouse, Eagle
Harbor Books, Esther's Fabrics, Paper Products and Willows Naturally.
This is a great time to make that purchase for the home that you've been
thinking about, stock up on healthy snacks for summer picnics and
materials for summer crafts projects as well as school supplies for the
fall.

Donations may be dropped off at American Marine Bank, sent to Save Our
Teachers at 8489 Madison Ave or made through the website at
www.bainbridgeschoolsfoundation.org.

Preston Family Foundation Grant

BSF is pleased to announce that we have received a grant from the Preston Family Foundation for $70,000 to help fund the new Wings Program at BISD. A private donor supplemented this grant and added another $14,000. The money will be used to help fund a full time Autism Spectrum Disorder Specialist, will fund additional staff time and training for ASD teams at K-6 schools and will help fund Autism training programs in the district. Bainbridge Island has an autism rate that is 4 times the national average. We are thrilled to help out with the funding of this very important program!

July 4th Parade

Together BSF and PTO are celebrating the Save Our Teachers Campaign and marching in the July 4th Parade! Come and Join us and our little yellow school bus. Meet in front of the library at 12:30pm, we are entry B20! See you there!