Elysian Charter School Newsletter

January 14, 2008

Vol. 3, Issue 18

              www.ecsnj.org

           www.friendsofelysian.org

Elysian’s nominating committee is accept-ing nominations for our upcoming Board of Trustees election on March 18, 2008. 

If you are interested in running, please adhere to the following guidelines:

Nominations are being accepted through January 25^th at 3pm.  If you are interested in running, please pick up an information packet from John Mercado in the Rue office. It is very important that once you have made the final decision to run, that you call or stop by to leave your name, email address and phone number. Any qualified individual may run for the Board (employees of Elysian or spouses of employees may not run).  You need not be formally nominated by someone else. It is perfectly okay to nominate yourself.

Trustees need not be parents or guardians of Elysian students. We would love to recruit some members of the greater community to run for our Board. If you know of anyone who might be interested, particularly someone with a background in education, real estate or fundraising or who is interested in Charter Schools, please put them in touch with us. We are happy to answer any questions.

If you have any questions or are unsure about what the role of a Board member is, please contact the Nominating Committee. Nominations will not be accepted after 3pm on Monday, January 25^th. At this time, the slate of nominees will be written and presented to the present Board. The slate will include any nominees who have followed this procedure.

Candidate Bios are due Friday, Feb. 1st. Once you have declared your candidacy, you are required to write a brief bio to be enclosed with the ballots. Sample bios are included in the Information Packet.

We welcome members of the Elysian community to step forward and get involved! The Annual Meeting is March 18, 2008. At this meeting all candidates give a brief state- ment to the members prior to the final vote.

We are also encouraging all nominees to attend “A Day at Elysian” on March ^7th (a flyer is in the information folder). This will give you an opportunity to visit classrooms and meet the staff.  The PTSO will host a meet and greet at their March meeting; tentatively scheduled for March 11th.

Any questions, please contact Melissa Landera (201)876-0102 ext 11 melhalli@aol.com or Kathy Prussack (201)420-0692, kathy_prussack@yahoo.com.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!--that's Cajun for “Let the good times roll”. And, roll they will at the Friends of Elysian Mardi Gras 2008 Fundraising Dinner and Auction on Saturday, January 26 from 7-11 pm in the OLG auditorium. We’ve got a great night planned --- a Cajun/Creole dinner, live music courtesy of John Bauers, three different auctions and a cash bar.  There’s no better way to spend a Saturday night — we’ll be having fun while raising money for our teachers and kids!

Thanks to the efforts of so many of our early donors and Mardi Gras committee we are on course for a great event.  And, there’s still ways you can help:

(1) There are a few more tickets for the event that must be sold.   Please contact  Donna Olah-Reiken (mother of Avery, 4th Grade, and Eric,1st Grade) at her e-mail (donnaor@optonline.net) or by leaving her a note in the school office. If you CAN’T come to the event, please consider purchasing a no-show ticket from Donna. We will accept any price you are willing to donate.

(2) More Auction items, please!   We have a great list of items already, but we can use more if we are going to break last year’s record.  If you would like to help, but don’t have access to goods or services, think about donating your time or talent.  Last year, Gene Steinhart donated a home cooked meal. And, Robert Strell donated a frisbee lesson.  Great ideas! Some teachers donated tutoring time and others donated coaching time (thank you John Mercado!). We’re a creative group so please consider making these kinds of donations; they are always the most popular and show Elysian’s true community spirit.

Submit donations by January 20 so we can include them in the event program. Please e-mail Deb Lewis,genstein@optonline.net or Grace Leong, gleong@hunterpr.com, with your contributions.

Thank you for your assistance.  We look forward to seeing you on the 26th.

Grace Leong and Deb Lewis


 

We would like to congratulate the winners of Elysian’s First Annual Chili Cook-off.

First place – Ken Nilsen

Second place – Gene Steinhart

Third place – Nacy Martell

All of the chili chefs did a wonderful job and made judging quite difficult!  It was a great event for the whole community. 

We would like to thank all our volunteers who helped make this event a huge success.  Thank you Gene Steinhart, Ines Garcia-Keim, Ben Walker, Paola Kusner, Hillary Quist, Chad Carpenter (who kept the tunes coming all night long!), Pat Kelly, Grace Leong and everyone who donated time and food.  Thanks to all the wonderful chili cooks!

The PTSO Team

We are looking for another person to help with the small fry Lego club on Thursday afternoon.  The club is for K & 1, but with more help, we could add another grade. 

We also are looking for knitting needles and yarn, if anyone has some to donate. 

Again, Spy Club needs: black hats, black

Gloves, sun glasses, flash lights, toy or old cell phones (thank you to the Olah Reiken family for donating two), magnifying glasses, clear plastic jars, empty tin cans for walkie-talkies, and books about spies.

Tuesday, January 15

·         6:30 Open House for Prospective Parents at Rue.  Volunteers wanted to help with refreshments, set up, clean-up, and welcoming parents. Call Lynne Shapiro to sign up!

Wednesday, January 16

·         Half Day, 12:30 dismissal for staff development.  After School Program available.

Thursday, January 17

·         Special closed board meeting to discuss legal matters, 8 pm at Rue.

Friday, January 18

·         Movie Night, “Daddy Day Care”, 6 – 8 pm. Snacks purchased will raise money for the 8^th grade school trips.

Monday, January 21

·         School Closed, Martin Luther King Day.

Tuesday, January 22

·         After School Enrichment Clubs begin today and end March 6^th.  Tuesdays & Thursdays.

Friday, January 25

·         Lottery, 2008-9 school year, 11 AM, Rue Building

Saturday, January 26

·         The Friends’ Annual Mardi Gras Fundraising Dinner and Auction, 7-11 PM in the OLG auditorium. Tickets are $35 each. Contact Donna Olah-Reiken at donnaor@optonline.net. 

Monday, January 28

·         Board of Trustees Meeting, 7PM Rue Bldg.

Wednesday, January 30

·         6^th grade goes to Camp Mason!

·         4:30 Performance of Luna Negra Dance Company at New Victory Theater.

Friday, February 1

·         6^th grade returns from Camp Mason.

·          

Please come to our movie night!  This event will take place in Joe’s classroom in the Rue Building.

Drop off your children, K-8 – there will be adult supervision.  Please arrive by 5:45 so there will be time to take off your coats and settle down.

Snacks will be sold to raise money for 8^th grade trips.  Snacks range from 50 cents to $2.00.

See you there! – Ashle and Brandon, 8^th graders 

Parents Maureen Melnick, Roya Sheshbaradaran, and Janet Rothermil volunteered to help out at Saturday’s Open House.  Their participation was greatly appreciated!  Thanks too, to Mary Guthrie, Melissa Landera, and Carol Stock for coming to Hoboken on the weekend to meet prospective families.  Jeff Belton (Little Jeff), Daniel Henson, Peter Henson, and Synna Kenna all woke up early to come answer phones and buzz people in.  Thanks!        – Lynne Shapiro

On Saturday, the Little Eagles (3^rd and 4^th graders) played the Cougars in basketball and won, 15 - 4.  “Collectively, we played a good game,” said Michael Purvis, one of the two coaches.  Nicole Walsh, the other coach, agreed!  See attached schedules for Little Eagles and Biddy Basketball (5^th and 6^th graders).  Come out and cheer for Elysian’s teams!