September Board Notes
On behalf of the Board, welcome to new and returning students, families and teachers!

I would like to welcome, and thank, our new Board members Eric Rasmussen, Lindsie Bailey, and Todd Olson (Vice Treasurer).  Welcome back and thank you to our returning Directors Caitlin Blood (Secretary), Jacqueline Fassett, Jeff Demand (Vice Chair), and Karen Foreman (Treasurer).  We look forward to seeing you at Board meetings and work sessions.

We had a busy summer preparing for our charter renewal process, which begins in January 2018.  Our first order of business was to establish and implement new Board policies.  Check them out at http://mcs.k12.or.us/board-of-directors--policies.html.  We formalized our relationship with the PSO and have set in place ways to make sure that we are communicating with each other regularly. Congratulations and thank you to the new PSO officers!

Our 2017-18 priorities are:

1.  Successful renewal of our charter
2.  Updating our 5-year strategic plan
3.  Fundraising

We are well poised to renew our charter successfully.  With leadership from Todd Olson and Melissa Meyer, we have begun the process of updating our strategic plan, and expect to have that completed before the end of 2017.  It will guide charter renewal.

Our fundraising activities will include a poinsettia sale, a Giving Tuesday appeal, and an event at Top Golf.  While MITCH families will be welcome to participate in these activities, the Directors will be tapping into our own networks for our fundraising efforts.  The Board, the PSO and Melissa recognize that your annual contribution is first priority followed by PSO fundraisers, such as the upcoming MITCH Marathon.
With our infrastructure firmly in place, we will be turning our attention to establishing broader and more strategic Board goals and facilities planning.

Feel free to contact me at dcapodacqua@mitchcharterschool.org.

Happy autumn!
Donna Capodacqua
Board Chair
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What's Happening
​Monday, 10/2

PICTURE DAY!
Uniforms required. If it's a PE day for your student, he or she can wear a polo instead of the PE t-shirt. PE shorts or sweats are still required.

Play.Fit.Fun. 2:40
Gym

Science Matters 2:50
7th/8th Commons Room

Tuesday, 10/3
Yoga for Kids 2:50
Room 1A

PSO Meeting 6:30
Gym

Wednesday, 10/4
Kids Like Languages 2:50
Room 1B
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Friday, 10/6
Family Contribution & Activity Fee ACH payments due

Monday 9/25
2:35 Play.Fit.Fun

2:50 Science Matters

6:30 TTSD Board Meeting

Tuesday 9/26
2:50 Yoga for Kids

Wednesday 9/27
2:50 Kids Like Languages
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Friday 9/29
2nd Lan Su Chinese Gardens

Why is MITCH important to your family?
Please sign up to share your story with the Tigard-Tualatin School District Board of Directors. If you have questions, email Seana Brewer at scott.seana@gmail.com. 

I look forward to hearing how MITCH makes a difference for your child.

What's Happening?

Friday, 8/25
Teacher Meet & Greet
1 - 3pm

Bring school supplies!

Saturday, 8/26
PlayFitFun Event
Kids Olympiad 
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Monday, 8/28
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
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Charter Renewal Preparation
​We begin the formal charter renewal process in January, 2018. 

How can you help?

While there will be many ways for you to support and help, we have an opportunity which requires planning on your part and coordination on ours. Would you like to share with the TTSD Board of Directors how vitally important MITCH is to the community and to your family through their public comment process? Would you like three minutes to share your story?  Speaking to the TTSD Board of Directors is an occasion to share great things about MITCH!

If you want to help out this way, here are some thoughts about how you might frame your three-minutes  – and remember, I will attend the meeting with you. 

As you think about your three-minute comment, be sure to include

• your name and role at MITCH, (parent, grandparent, teacher, etc.)
• how many children you have attending MITCH and their grades,
• how long you have been at MITCH,
• if you live in the TTSD boundaries or another district, and
• a short statement about the importance of MITCH for your family and why MITCH makes a difference for your children.
• and be sure to thank the Directors for their time.

The PSO is coordinating the sign-up and scheduling which will be available at Registration and online, thereafter; here are the first semester's TTSD Board Meeting dates which all start at 6:30pm:

August 28, 2017
September 11, 2017
September 25, 2017
October 9, 2017
October 23, 2017
November 13, 2017
November 27, 2017
December 11, 2017 ANNUAL MITCH PRESENTATION
January 8, 2018
January 22, 2018

Thanks for thinking about sharing how important MITCH is to your family,

Melissa

OrderLunches.com is now BOONLI

Ordering lunches is simple to do with MITCH's ordering/payment platform. MITCH's families love using it, and this year the platform has a new look, feel and name. Over the summer, the service we use, Orderlunches, changed its name to Boonli and launched a new user experience. The platform still provides the same secure and time-saving features, but with some additional benefits.
 
Check it out at: https://secure.boonli.com/login. When you first log-in a quick tutorial will pop-up to walk you through the platform.
 
Highlights include:

• The color-coded features make it easy to see at-a-glance how many items are in your cart, what orders have been placed and the total number of users with an order each day.
• Like always, you’ll be able to star favorite items, so the platform will automatically select them every time they are offered.
• After saving an order, if you’d like to copy that order to other users it’s as easy as a click of a button.
• Navigation is simple – just click on the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner to open up tabs to your order history, profile, program information and help menu.

Lunch service begins September 5th, but you must place your order for the month by August 20th.
Students bring lunches for the first week of school. ​

 ​It sounds like you are enjoying a wonderful summer with your families -- picnics, water-fun, bicycle rides, camping, cousins visiting -- these are just a few of the activities you've shared with me when we've run into each other these past few weeks.  If you have time, please join us for one of the School Work Days.

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School Work Days!
We need help with maintenance and Back-to-School preparations -- this is a great opportunity to get a jump on volunteer hours!  Eric Rasmussen, one of our newest Board Directors, has taken on the Herculean task of keeping the building in top-shape for our students and recommends you bring simple tools for work in the building and the garden. The work-days are on a drop-in basis, but it would be great to get an idea of who can help out.  THANKS!

RSVP or send questions to Eric at: erasmussen@mitchcharterschool.org

Sunday, July 30th, 8am to 3pm
Sunday, August 6th, 8am to 3pm

Hope to see you -- continue enjoying this beautiful summer!

Melissa

STEAM Fair 2017
​Our Annual STEAM Fair is a phenomenal educational opportunity for our students to share with one another what they have learned this year in science, technology, engineering, arts & agriculture, and math.  Ask you child about their presentation  -- everyone spoke in front of their group! ​

What's Happening
​Tuesday, 6/20, 6pm
Kinder & 8th Grade Graduation

Overflow PARKING at KAISER

Use care in crossing Tualatin-Sherwood 
 
Wednesday, 6/21 Last Day of School -- FULL DAY
Students released at 2:30

PSO Field Day, 3 - 6:30pm
Ibach Park

2017-18 Teachers
The school leadership team has prepared Teacher assignments and the overall schedule for the 2017-18 school year.  Special kudos go to Shasta Maclean as our SG (Schedule Guru) – thanks for translating all the moving parts into calendars and excel spreadsheets.  And a huge thank-you to Sandra Ottley for designing a phenomenal middle school plan.  Finally, thank you Ashley Robinson for making sure we are always moving forward and for gathering the balls we may drop!
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PRIMARY & LOWER ELEMENTARY GRADES
We anticipate exciting changes for our Primary Grades with one change creating a dominoes-falling effect for the remaining classes. Mrs. Onstott and Mrs. Gates will share teaching duties for 1A, with the resulting vacancy in Kindergarten-A filled by Mrs. Baker. Therefore, we will have two teaching positions open in third grade, one of which is filled by Dr. Hudson who has been teaching in other areas in the school for much of this year.  We are currently interviewing excellent candidates for the remaining third grade position. Here is the line-up for the Primary and Lower-Elementary classes:
 
Primary
KA – Janet Baker
KB – Kelsey Meyers
1A – Rachel Onstott & Mindy Gates
1B – Rebecca Jackson
 
Lower-Elementary
2A – Brittany Hill
2B – Shelby Gill
3A – Beth Hudson
3B – New Hire
 
UPPER ELEMENTARY & 6th Grade
Sixth grade is designated as a middle school class with all the student responsibilities and rewards associated with this stage in school.  Nevertheless, we are creating an instructional team consisting of the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades to ensure seamless instruction in the Core Knowledge Sequence and to support student needs in math instruction.
 
Upper Elementary & 6th Grade Team
4 – Dina DeYoung
5 – Jennifer Wytmans
6 – Karin Bury-Roller
 
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Like the exciting changes at the primary level, there are middle school transformations on the horizon. It is with incredible sadness that I let you know Mr. Simmons is not returning to MITCH next year – he has chosen to pursue other teaching opportunities. We will honor Craig’s service to the school and our students at the end of the school day on June 21st – watch for more information. 
 
We have thoughtfully examined how best to meet the 7th and 8th grade students’ developmental and social needs while providing an exceptional education.  We have designed a plan to teach the 8th grade CKS curriculum next year, followed by teaching the 7th grade curriculum in 2018-19; the combined class will be team taught by Sandra Ottley and Jennifer Grady.  We’ve planned the field trips, the Core Knowledge Events, as well as designating specific times for projects to better coordinate homework expectations.  Parents of current 5th, 6th, and 7th grade students have received a separate email accompanied with more detailed information about the middle school program.
 
SPECIALS TEACHERS
With the imminent development of the MITCH Frontier Garden, we have made a commitment to return to the integration of agriculture with the Core Knowledge Sequence by dedicating a half-time position to Ag-instruction.  Mr. Ketel will resume these duties while continuing to teach PE half-time with Mrs. Grady teaching the other half.  Finally, Mrs. Johnson is returning to Library Media Tech.
 
Here is our Specials Team for next year:
Kristi Dotson, Interventions Teacher
Jenni Grady, PE
Kirsten Johnson, Library Media Tech
Duncan Ketel, Ag-Instruction & PE
Sue Lau, Art
Ed Roller, Music

What;s Happening?
Tuesday 6/6
Yoga For Kids, 2:40

PSO Meeting, 6:30
Dr. Lukich's Visit

Wednesday 6/7
Kids Like Languages, 2:40

Thursday 6/8
6th CK Event: Astronomy Rocket Day

5th CK Event: Science/STEAM
Governance Committee, 6:30
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Friday 6/9
7th CK Event: Cyrano de Bergerac

MITCH Frontier Garden
July 24th, 7pm
City Council Hearing
​Our conditional use permit application for the MITCH Frontier Garden is complete and we have a hearing scheduled with the Tualatin City Council for July 24th at 7:00pm.

It has been a long road, but a huge thank you to Amanda Hoffman for helping us to finish this lap of the race.

Annual Board MeetingLast night's Annual Board Meeting was informative and productive. If you missed it, check out the results of the Annual Family Survey and the Executive Director's State-of-the-School Report posted on the web site under the Board's Highlights.   Meeting minutes will be approved and posted after the June meeting.  

The governing Board and the Parent Support Organization (PSO) are working together to draft a memorandum of understanding to create clear communication avenues between the two groups and to prepare a fundraising/event calendar.  Watch for more news in June about this collaborative effort. 

Three parents were newly-elected to the Board for two-year terms -- welcome to Lindsie Bailey, Todd Olson, and Eric Rasmussen. Caitlin Blood, Donna Capodacqua, Jeff Demland, Jacqueline Fasset, and Karen Forman were re-elected to one-year terms.  ​

What's Happening

​Saturday 5/20
PSO Work Day
9am - 1pm

Monday - Wednesday
Outdoor School, 6th Grade

Monday 5/22 
Science Matters, 2:35pm

Tuesday 5/23
Yoga For Kids, 2:40

Wednesday 5/24
Kids Like Languages, 2:40

Thursday 5/25 6-8pm
End of the Year Celebration 
OPEN HOUSE
Max's Fanno Creek Brew Pub