Dear parents,

·         The Annual Staff Luncheon will be held on May 17th. You can help by volunteering with playground supervision (otherwise, the children might be mugged by raccoons), donating prepared food, setup, serving and clean up. Email Tamrah Corben to volunteer corbenst@telus.net .

·         Ross Road’s first Clothing drive. Another great way to help raise money for the PAC. Developmental Disabilities Association has a Cash 4 Clothes program that pays $2 per bag up to 150 bags and $3 per bag if more than 150 bags. Please stop by the school lobby by the PAC bulletin board to pick up a bag or two and fill up with all your unwanted items. Here’s a list of what they will take (used clothing, bedding, towels, purses, drapes, sewing materials, pillows, shoes, toys, games, and small housewares). All bags will need to be dropped off on May 13th before 10:30 am.

·         The Ross Road PAC AGM is fast approaching – like that unstoppable freight train in that Denzel Washington movie.  Because you’re a parent, you’re invited!  Yay!   It’s May 25th at 7 pm.

·         Scott Munro has volunteered to be next year’s PAC Treasurer.  Go Scott!   We are thrilled to have him onboard, but we need two more roles filled for the upcoming year before the end of May. Secretary (minute taking) and Communications (website and emails) .

·         BrainSTEM demo night was a huge success. Sarah and Enrique were fantastic and the rollercoaster structures were amazing. They will be offering a 6 week after school program in May. More info to follow.

Dear parents,

This one’s for all you meat-loving fundraising parents out there – the last email that was sent out about this Ross Road initiative apparently contained a link to the wrong website.  Don’t worry, the guy that wrote that email has been fired.  He’ll never volunteer for a PAC in this town again.

Here’s the correct address:  https://www.tworiversmeats.ca/fundraiser/ross-road-pac/ 

Don’t trust the interwebs?  No worries – you can still order old school by  by calling Tammy at Two Rivers Meats at 604 990 5288.  Tell her Ross Road sent you.

• GM minutes are now available on website. The AGM will be on May 25 and the PAC is seeking parent input for our New Volunteer Vision – assigning annual volunteer events and programs to each grade.  Please email Tamrah Corben (corbenst@telus.net)  with your thoughts.  Also, please consider helping by joining the PAC Exec – opportunities exist for anyone who’s interested.
• Fundraising initiatives: Our year end is approaching quickly and
  we still have a couple months to raise some more money for the upcoming
  year. We have two opportunities for you to participate in:
  • Two River Meats offers quality local meats and will give the PAC  15% of
    all sales.
  • Kidsworld offers a fantastic array of summer activities and events for
    only $50. With every membership, $5 will be given directly to the PAC.
  • More info will be sent out through your  is class reps.
• Upcoming events:
  • KM club returns! Come out and join us starting Monday April 4th at 8 am
    on the school gravel field.
  • Spring Carnival is booked for June 10th. Save the date…it’s going to be
    fantastic (Live band, Dunk Tank, Tug of War…)

Dear parents,

The RR parent party is tomorrow night from 7pm to 11pm at Toby’s (1378 Main Street).  If you didn’t get a chance to get your ticket it’s not too late!  You can buy tickets at the door.  $30 gets you food, refreshment and a live DJ.  Bring your friends!  Non-RR people are more than welcome.

A few things to think about;

• Parking: If you leave your car over night, find a Toby’s employee and pick up a parking pass so you don’t get towed while you sleep!
• Loonies — bring loonies for the 50/50 draw.
• Toonies – bring toonies and practice your hand/eye with the toonie toss.
• There’s door prizes and a prize for the best hat.

Dear parents,

If you missed last week’s GM….it was noticed.  We talked about you.  We talked about how much we missed your good nature, your funny comments and the awesome way you light up the room when you enter.  Not to worry, we know you tried to make it.  We’ll see you next time.  Here’s what you missed.

We heard about the Argyle rebuild process.  Thanks to Argyle principal Liz Bell, (lbell@sd44.ca ), School Trustee Cyndi Gerlach (gerlach@sd44.ca) and Argyle PAC chair Heather Skuse for speaking.  Please contact them directly to keep informed and ask questions.

On the subject of Argyle, parents need to start applying more pressure on the government to get the contract signed for the rebuild and insist on more to meet  community needs.  Please get in touch with Tamrah to find out how you can help.

The North Vancouver Board of Education seeks your input on the 2016/17 Budget Priorities. Public comment on the 2016/17 Budget Priorities must be received via e-mail by Friday, March 4, 2016 at 5:00 p.m.  The email address is: budgetcomments@sd44.ca. 

Personally identifiable information (name, e-mail address, etc.) from your e-mail comment will not be included; only the text of your comment will be collated.

To learn more about historical budget priorities, current funding and operating grants, and the timelines for developing the 2016/17 Budget, please see http://www.sd44.ca/Board/BudgetFinancialInformation/BudgetInput/Pages/default.aspx

Finally, there were also great presentations from Ashley McIntosh (Igirl and Iguy) and Sarah Baldwin (BrainSTEM)

And, you missed out on the door prize, sponsored by Two Rivers Meats.

In other news, there’s been a change in fun lunch days.  April 29 is now a Booster Juice day and May 6 is a sushi day.

Finally (for reals this time), we’ve found a volunteer to coordinate the spring carnival!  More details to come.

Ordering closes THIS FRIDAY for the next session of fun lunch.  So, stop whatever you’re doing right now, click this link, and order away.  Otherwise, terrible things will happen.

Well, that’s not true.  Nothing will actually happen.  But you know, it sounded good while I was writing it.

And remember, while I have your attention, tomorrow night is the PAC GM! 7pm! In the library!

Dear parents,

So, this Wednesday (the 24th) at 7pm is the Ross Road PAC GM.  Why should you care and why should you come.

1.  Snacks (enough said, am I right?)
2. You can buy tickets for awesome Parent Night that’s happening on March 5 at Toby’s.  (tickets are only $30 and the PAC keeps some of this)
3. You can hear about the IGirl, IGuy and the Brainstem children’s programs.
4. You can even have someone else look after the kids – email Tamrah at corbenst@telus.net if you need this service.

Want to read the minutes from the last GM?  Click here.

And now that I’ve lulled you into a false sense of security thinking that this is a PAC email without a call for volunteers…..surprise!  The Spring Carnival is fast approaching and needs a coordinator – or better yet, a team of coordinators to coordinate the stuffing out of this thing.  We really need someone to step up by March 7 –  otherwise….cancellation.

What that will mean is sad children, donkeys that have to walk without Ross Road children on their backs, Ross Road teachers who have to find other schools willing to dunk them and a whole crapload of uneaten cotton candy.  Plus, you know, a major hole in the PAC’s revenues for the year, which impacts the programs and resources we can provide to everyone’s kids.  So yeah, sad face all round.

But you can stop this from happening, by dropping Tamrah an email at corbenst@telus.net if you want to find out more.  No commitment needed at this stage, no heavy selling, just a gentle introductory chat to find out if it’s the thing for you.  And Tamrah’s the woman who would know…she did an awesome job for last year’s fair and is still standing.  Plus, she got to keep all the unsold cotton candy.

Have a great week.

Dear parents….

Thirteen Days.  Yes, that was a great movie starring Kevin Costner, but we’re talking about a different 13 days.

That’s how many days you won’t have to make lunch for your kid if you sign up for the next Munch a Lunch session.

Want to know more?  Click here.

Want to start ordering straight away?  Click here.

Want to find out more about Kevin Costner?  Click here.