Wednesday, March 28, 2012

March Newsletter

Dear Lindeneau School Families,

Thank you to everyone who helped to make this year’s Tricky Tray a success. Headed by Dawn Marie Slocum, many parents worked in conjunction with teachers, Mrs. Schutz and a dedicated group of Edison High School volunteers to make this event a huge success. We raised over $16,000 for our school. This money will help us to pay for events such as spring field trips, Fun and Field Day and many other improvements to the school.

Please join us at our next PTO meeting March 29 @ 7pm. The Superintendent of Schools Dr. Richard O'Malley will be joining us to speak and answer questions about the upcoming School Budget. The vote on the school budget takes place on Tuesday April 17th.

Although it is only March, please consider running for a position on next year’s executive board or chairing a committee for an event next year. Nominations will be sought in April and elections held in May. This is your chance to work closely with the teachers, staff and other parents for the betterment of our school. I know you want the best for your child. Taking a leadership role in the PTO will enable you to make sure your voice is heard on issues that are important to all the children of our school.

Thank you again for your support. 

Sincerely,

Richard Jeffreys

Upcoming Events:
View / download original newsletter pdf

Monday, March 26, 2012

Music Program Raffle

Get your raffle tickets now for a chance to win some great prizes and support Lindeneau's  music program.  Tickets are $2.00 each and the drawing will be on Book Bingo Night: May 17th 2012 At 8:00PM, 50 Blossom St. Edison, NJ 08817



Prizes:
  • 1st Prize: Apple iPod touch
  • 2nd Prize: 2 tickets to George Street Playhouse
  • 3rd Prize: 2 tickets to Battleship New Jersey
Click here to print the raffle ticket order form, complete and return it to Lindeneau PTO.

Friday, March 23, 2012

McTeacher's Night

Ever dream of having your teacher prepare dinner for you and your classmates?  Now is your chance,  bring your friends and family to Lindeneau's first ever McTeacher's Night on April 3 between 4-7 pm at the Edison McDonald's, located at 1966 Route 27, and join your teachers for dinner.  A portion of all counter sales (not drive thru) from McTeacher's Night will be donated to Lindeneau School.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Meet The Superintendent At The March PTO Meeting

Superintendent of Schools, Dr. O’Malley will be reviewing the Proposed School Budget for the 2012- 2013 school year at our General PTO Meeting on Thursday, March 29th at 7:00 pm.

All parents are encouraged to come, listen and ask questions. This will help you make an informed decision on our school budget.  Light Refreshments will be served.

We hope to see you there.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

2012-13 Edison School Budget

via: nj.com

Edison school district proposes first school tax cut in history, but rates unlikely to drop

EDISON — Edison residents this year will vote on a school budget that requires fewer local tax dollars than the current spending plan, but due to a decrease in ratables it is not expected to reduce school taxes.

In the proposed $212 million budget, $188,235,709 would come from local taxes, a drop of $56,012 over the current school year.
District leaders say it is the first school tax decrease ever in Edison, the state’s fifth-largest municipality by population, with an enrollment of 14,540 students this year. Enrollment is up from 13,689 students in the last six years.
"It’s pretty exciting to propose the first tax cut in history for the Edison school budget," Superintendent Richard O’Malley said. "Based on our records, it is the only time we can account for this reduction in the tax levy in our history."
One factor contributing to the decrease is a $900,000 increase in employee contributions to benefits and pensions. Under new state regulations increasing public employee contributions, Edison school district employees will pay $2.7 million toward their benefits this year.
"You are starting to see the reaping of a couple of benefits from some policies that may not have been popular," O’Malley said.
School districts across New Jersey are noticing the increased employee contributions and seeing the benefit, said Frank Belluscio of the state School Boards Association.
"Health care costs have been the most rapidly increasing costs in budgets," Belluscio said. It’s too early to say if that will translate into tax reductions, he said, adding that cutting tax levies as Edison did is rare.
Edison also cut special education costs by $750,000 by providing more services within district and consequently reducing the number of students sent to other providers.
O’Malley said an additional $1.5 million in state aid and $1.5 million in reserve funds also contributed to the tax cut. The tax levy was reduced even though the total budget increased by $7 million from the $204.9 million budget for the current year.
Residents won’t see the drop in their property tax bills, however, because of an overall decrease in the township’s tax ratables.
School officials included funds for 10 new positions, including six teachers for an elementary school-level gifted and talented program and two world language teachers.
"We will not lower our expectations and we will continue to deliver academic success." O’Malley said.
School board members will have a final public hearing on the budget at 7 p.m. March 26 at John P. Stevens High School.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Tricky Tray Wrap Up

Lindeneau's 4th annual Tricky Tray was a huge success.  It was an evening of fun and prizes with a sell-out crowd. Thanks to all who participated, the event raised a grand total of over $16,000, all of which will directly benefit the students of Lindeneau School.

There were many people who contributed to this achievement: our parent volunteers, the faculty and staff at Lindeneau Elementary School and Thomas Jefferson Middle School, the students of Edison High School who volunteered their time and the many donors who responded so generously to our requests.

We would like to personally thank our dedicated and talented Tricky Tray Chairperson for her hard work: Mrs. Dawn Marie Slocum as well as Mrs. JoAnn Garland for her tireless efforts soliciting donations.  This team was a pleasure to work with.

We are delighted with the results of all their hard work. It’s a terrific feeling to know that we work with people who are not only great at what they do, but willing to go above and beyond the call of duty to help our school.

To all of you who helped, contributed and supported the Tricky Tray, thank you!  It is evident by your generosity that you value our children's education as much as we do.

Click the thumbnail below to view some photos of the event.


Tricky Tray 2012

Sincerely,
Lindeneau PTO

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Principals March Newsletter

Dear Parents/Guardians,

As quickly as February came, it is over. We are entering a month of changes and weather uncertainty with the hope of spring. School at this time of the year is also changing and filled with uncertainty as the work gets more challenging and the hope of new and exciting continues.

February was a short but busy month. Parent/teacher conferences were held and it was great to see how proud you were of your child's accomplishments and to anticipate your thoughts about how to keep the fire burning when it comes to learning.

At our Character Counts assembly we applauded the students who show trustworthiness on a continual basis. They were recognized and celebrated with a pizza lunch.

The PTO and the teachers joined together to host the Second Annual Reading Night. The evening was fun and educational. It was wonderful to see families coming together to listen to quality literature and creating masterpieces connected to the stories read. Along with listening to books, many families went home with new books purchased at our Scholastic Book Fair. We were able to purchase $1700 worth of books from the profit of the fall book fair for our library. I am looking forward to ordering more books from the profits of this current and our May Book Fair.

As the marking period ended, our Tiger Ticket Shop reopened for the students to spend their tiger tickets which they earned for being a good citizen of Lindeneau School. The students are very excited when they hear them and we are very excited to award them. This along with our Tiger Stripe initiative has truly rewarded good behavior both on an individual basis and as a class. The students love celebrating when they stripe their tigers seven times. This has been a worthwhile and team building experience for all.

To encourage good sportsmanship and team building, Team Lindeneau came together to make it to the semifinals in the district staff volleyball game and our students were treated to an assembly where sportsmanship was the theme. They witnessed teamwork and good sportsmanship in action when once again Team Lindeneau took to the climbing wall to scale it with and without competition. Our quickest participant was Mr. Harry, our beloved facility manager followed by Mr. Kitchell. The team consisted of Mrs. Tufte, Ms. Pecce, Ms. Dunham, Ms. Gillis, Ms. MacIntyre, Mr. Eckert, Ms. Brotspies, Mrs. Kraemer, Mrs. Sheldon, Mrs. Galligan and even me! It was a fun experience and the children congratulated all whenever they saw a climber in the hallway. Thanks to Ms. Bobko, Ms. Fresco, Mr. Kitchell and Mr. Eckert for their efforts and to the Leadership Club for teaching us the meaning of good sportsmanship.

The last week of February and the first days of March, we are celebrating Read Across America. We have completed our yearly competition and on Friday, March 2 the primary grades will be watching "Dolphin Tale" and grades 3-5 will be enjoying a concert performed by both parents of Lindeneau students and also former students of Lindeneau. Individual and class winners for reading the most minutes will be awarded later in the month when all totals are calculated. On Friday, the students who participated in reading a minimum of 360 minutes over the two month time frame will be permitted to wear pajamas to school. They have also earned a free ticket to Six Flags.

Throughout the week the students will also be listening to stories read by Superintendent O'Malley, members of the Board of Education and other noteworthy citizens and community helpers.

Beginning March 1-March 16, the students in grades 3-5 will take the last NWEA assessment for the year. Results will be sent home by the end of the month.

Also this month, the students in grades 4 and 5 will attend an assembly presented by former NFL star, Lonnie Algood and other athletes encouraging students to stay drug, and alcohol free and to stay in school since professional sports are just a small part of a life. This same group will be playing basketball against Edison teachers at Edison High School on March 11th.

Our annual Festival of the Arts will take place on March 15th at 6:00. Ms. Blahuta, Mrs. Resnick and Mrs. Wojcik are hard at work getting your children and their works of art and song ready to thrill and entertain you. Come see and hear the amazing accomplishments of your children in Art and Music.

Many PTO events continue to occur and on Friday, March 2 we will have our annual Tricky Tray. Thanks to many people, especially Mrs. Dawn Slocum, who chaired the committee, there will be over 445 prizes to be won. Thank you to our PTO for all their hard work for the children of Lindeneau School.

The Lindeneau Teacher of the Year recognition is always a special time of the year. The quality of teaching in this school is second to none and this year’s winner is a perfect example of that. Mrs. Linda Tsirikos has won the honor this year. Mrs. Tsirikos is a caring and conscientious teacher who gives so much of herself to help our students. Throughout the years, Mrs. Tsirikos has been on many committees, attended many after school events, tutored many students both before and after school and is a leader amongst her peers. I know that you join me in congratulating Mrs. Tsirikos on her award and thank her for the countless hours that she dedicates to the students of Lindeneau School.


Sincerely yours,

Rosemary Schutz