Good afternoon, Bell Community:
Given that this is our last newsletter for the school year, I wanted to highlight all that the Bell PTSA has done this year. It’s been a busy year and we are proud of the impact our work has had on our community. Thank you to every one of you who made this possible by donating money, participating in corporate matching, volunteering your time, donating food or clothing items, or being a member of our PTSA. None of this would have been possible without your engagement and support.
Our work generally centers around four key areas: (1) advocacy, (2) giving back to our community, (3) educational enrichment, and (4) building community connection. Below are some highlights from this year:
Advocacy:
- Obtained a commitment from the district to remedy the issues with our playground (e.g., does not meet ADA standard, is not built for inclusivity, and does not meet LWSD's current safety standards). Bell will be the pilot school for rubber tiles (a more inclusive play surface). The project is schedule to be completed by next summer (2022). The estimates project cost is $400K.
- Spoke at a LWSD school board meeting about the quality of laptops provided to our students (many were 5+ years old). The district responded to our advocacy efforts and replaced the oldest models with new laptops.
- Connected Bell families with leaders in our community to conduct Q&A’s and ask questions about decisions being made that impact our students and community. We conducted Q&As with Senator Dhingra, Cassandra Sage from the school board, Principal Story, and our School Resource Officer, Officer Davidson.
- Reached out to our legislators asking them to support bills that align with our legislative priorities
- Worked with the administrative team to find a way to bring composting back to the school lunchroom. We want to ensure students see that we can still live sustainably during a pandemic; sustainable living does not need to take a back seat.
Giving Back to Our Community:
- Provided $10K to our school library to improve the diversification of books
- Provided $10K to the playground project to fund a new digging pit/sensory garden at Bell (scheduled to be installed this summer)
- More than doubled our amount for teacher grants to support Bell staff during this challenging time. Over $6K in grants has been provided YTD.
- Provided bags of groceries to 32 Bell families each week via our Pantry Pack Program. Additionally, we ensured all classrooms were provided snack bins, so no child went without a snack at school.
- Worked closely with our school counselor to identify unmet needs in our community and worked with the community to fulfill every single need identified (e.g., mattress, bedding, pillows, coats, shoes, backpacks, headphones, grocery gift cards, etc.).
- Organized a holiday gift drive which resulted in 183 gifts for our students -- 100% of the kiddos who needed gifts, received them!
- Held two staff appreciation events this year -- one in December and another in May
Educational Enrichment:
Community Connection:
This work was a team effort and would not have been possible without the amazing 2020-2021 executive board (Leslie Victor, Lakshmi Kuduganti, Jennifer Venters, and Christi Zemke) and committee chairs (Tennile Jones, Tammy Sittnick, Jodie Galvan, Whitney Pierce-Takaba, Kelsey Hayes, Amanda Gibson, and Gretchen Dalquist). What a phenomenal group of strong, competent, and committed women. Each of these women gave so much to their community. With all the challenges of balancing remote learning, careers, the demands of motherhood, and everything else thrown their way, they still managed to carve out time and prioritize the needs of our community. It is admirable work and this is precisely how we make our communities stronger and more connected. I am thankful to have had the opportunity to work alongside each of them in service to our community.
I look forward to the work we will do next year and wish all of you a wonderful summer break.
Brena Gattuccio
Bell PTSA President | 2020-2021
