Hunt PTO Update 1/15/2013

School will not be in session on Monday, January 21st in honor of Martin Luther King Day.  Enjoy the following events with your family to celebrate the life of Dr. King. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service & Stewardship -- Burlington, VT
January 21, 2013  

ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center, One College Street, Burlington

ECHO will open its doors during a community-wide celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. The day's events will include family-friendly programming honoring Dr. King's legacy, including a production of the musical "I Have a Dream" and a show by Puppets in Education. Visitors will also have access to the traveling exhibit RACE: Are We So Different? which closes January 27. 

 Information: www.echovermont.org/exhibits/race/events.html

Time : 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Admission : $2
Phone : 877-324-6386

Tavis Smiley

Author, publisher, talk-show host and philanthropist Tavis Smiley will be the keynote speaker at a gathering Sunday afternoon in Burlington to honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. according to organizers.

Patrick Brown, director of the nonprofit Greater Burlington Multicultural Resource Center, announced Smiley’s participation at a news conference Monday.

The event will take place at 3 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Society — at the top of Church Street.

Smiley will be the center’s 20th MLK-remembrance-celebration speaker in as many years, Brown said.

Tickets, although free, “are going fast,” and can be obtained at City Market and at the Fletcher Free Library, he added.

More information about Smiley, and the Multicultural Resource Center, can be found at http://bit.ly/TavisSmileyMLK.

Sponsors for the event are listed on the GBMRC as: the City of Burlington, Church Street Marketplace, Courtyard Mariott, KeyBank, NBT Bank, Spruce Mortgage, United Way of Chittenden County and the Unitarian Church.

Greater Burlington Multicultural Resource Center

January PTO Meeting THIS THURSDAY

1/17/13, 7 pm

AGENDA

Welcome and Introductions– Kate Belluche

 UPDATES

Treasurer’s report - 5 min -Board

Principal’s Corner – 10 min - Rich Amato

Fundraising Update - 10 min - Gabi Baumann/Susan                           Rutherford

Play Update – 10 minutes – Kim Hunt/Sarah Smith

Teacher/Team Grants/ Unified Arts

Assemblies/Enrichment opportunities

Next PTO Meeting:  Thursday, 2/21/13,  7-8pm

Update from a recent parent meeting with Mr. Amato:

Hunt Sports website now up and running. There is a sports calendar and a sports form and a sports hotline number.

Mr. Amato will talk with teachers at the staff meeting and asked two teachers to rotate at PTO meetings every month.

Mr. Amato is meeting with Burlington police and Jeannie Collins to talk about the school entrance and how people come and go.  He is talking about putting in a buzzer at the entrance with video cameras in the entry and pointing towards the bike area.  All in the talking phase.

Mr. Amato will write about school safety in the February newsletter.

The PTO will help to distribute a paper copy of the newsletter.  We made plans to help with that every year at the beginning of the year to find out who needs copy sent home.  Hunt will pay for printing.

Hunt is making changes to International Week.    They are hoping to spread out activities throughout the year.  The parade of flags will be in February.  Mr. Amato will let parents know how many seats are open so that some parents can attend.

Mr. Amato will talk with Jenny Tomczak again about possible assemblies she discussed with us.   I think they were finance and engineering.

We talked about budgets and the fact that Spanish may change on the middle school level-  Mr. Amato did not know.

Hunt Heritage Dinner to be held sometime in April.

Mr. Amato talking to Jen Sutton about some end of year  Enrichment/initiatives - something akin to the Flynn inquiry fair or BHS yes program.

Susan and or Gabby will send Mr. Amato fund-raising dates for each year so he can let teachers know what the PTO is doing and when so they are not doing similar things.

Eighth-graders have orientation at BHS on January 31.

Third quarter honor roll celebration is April 18. Parents staff and student reps meeting on the 24th to start planning what  this celebration will look like.

Grants to teachers. $2000 split between 400 students equals five dollars per student. What about unified arts? Kate will get reminder to staff about cashing in for their teams.

Next meeting with Mr. Amato. Friday, February 15, 3:15.  

Town Meeting Day, 2013

If you are interested in joining parents/stakeholders from other 

schools to advocate for now PASSING the school budget, please be in touch with Christopher Hood at Burlington Friends of Education. Christopher Hood:   chood@cvuhs.org

More information on BFoE can be found here. 

http://burlingtonfriendsofeducation.wordpress.com/ 

The Hunt January newsletter is now available online.  
Read on to catch up on all of the news!

http://hunt.bsd.schoolfusion.us/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=244755&sessionid=0c9bfb2fd981fb65fb216274165d20d4

Also check out the NEW 
Hunt Athletics web page!!
https://sites.google.com/a/bsdvt.org/lyman-c-hunt-middle-school-athletics/

BHS Parent Focus Group on Topic of Diversity

If you have a high school student or 8th grader in your household, Burlington High School is seeking parents interested in exploring the topic of diversity - forming a new parent focus group. Please notify nknox@bsdvt.org if you are interested in joining the focus group. 

What do our Graduates Need to Succeed? 

What do our Graduates Need to Succeed?

On a different but related topic, on Saturday, Feb 2nd. there will be a Community Learning Conversation about What do our Graduates Need to Succeed? If you would like more information please contact:  nknox@bsdvt.org

Interested in helping to re-imagine 

Student Achievement celebrations at Hunt?  

An achieving student!
Many families were upset to hear that Honor Roll celebrations had been suspended at Hunt.  Thanks to the many families that weighed in on the fall PTO communication survey, Hunt families will have a voice in helping to re-design these 
celebrations at Hunt.   


Do you have some ideas to share?  Would you like to represent 

the parents at a meeting with representatives from the climate 

committee and the student council? A meeting has been 

scheduled at Hunt for January 24th at 3:15pm.

 Would you like to be part of this meeting? Please email the 

huntmiddleschool@gmail.com with ideas or to represent 

parents needs at this important meeting - your participation is 

appreciated.  

Update: The families of Hunt Middle School have collected 2 Full boxes of shoes and they have been mailed to ShoeBox Recycling to be sent to places in the world where recycled shoes are re-used. Keep up the great work!!

Each year, more than 300 million shoes are landfilled; how many of them could have been reused?
It takes more than 200 years for a sneaker to break down naturally in a landfill




Hunt Middle School is partnering with Shoe Box Recycling to recycle paired, wearable shoes. The shoes will be reused for individuals here in the U.S. and throughout the world.





This program provides affordable shoes to those in need such as those suffering from Hurricane Sandy and many others. This will keep used shoes out of the landfill, creating a cleaner and greener planet. Recycling shoes also creates micro-enterprises for individuals throughout the world, fueling local economies here and abroad.   










Shoes We Accept: 






* All paired men’s, women’s and kids shoes that are still usable. That means no holes in the soles and no wet or mildewed pairs. This includes athletic shoes, dress shoes, timberland type work boots, sandals, heels, flats 








Shoes We Don’t Accept: 




* Heavy Winter Boots, Skates, Blades, Flip-Flops, Slippers, Singles, Unusable, and Thrift Store Shoes. 






Where to bring your reused shoes? 




Place your reused shoes in the specially marked box ShoeBox Recycling found in the main lobby of Hunt School.  Questions or for larger pick-ups, contact Susan Rutherford at 951-2571 or susanrutherford@hotmail.com  “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”




Want an easy way to support your PTO that doesn’t require volunteering and won’t cost you a dime? 




Save Box Tops for Education! 



Update: So far HMS has earned more than $180 through this Box tops project!  Please keep the box tops coming!









Here’s how to help:











**Box Tops for Education are on the packages of hundreds of participating products that you probably use every day. All you need to do is cut them off the box they are on, stick them in a baggie, and send them to school with your child. There is a container for the Box Tops in the main office. 












**Did you know that Box Tops are dated and cannot be used if they are past this expiration date?? 










Make yourself a note on your home or electronic calendar to send in those Box Tops!! Saving them is the first step. Sending them in before they expire is the next.










We will be collecting Box Tops all year long, so start saving and sending in your Box Tops today! The collection box will be located in the main office.














Thanks for choosing to support our school by collecting Box Tops!













Sincerely,









Susan Rutherford



Volunteer Coordinator for Box Tops for Education



Hunt Middle School PTO























Hunt Middle School now has BOTH a Facebook and a Twitter account!  Interested Hunt community members or school supporters can go to the school website and link to either/both of these accounts:  http://hunt.bsdvt.org/

If you "like" these pages, you will get notifications of events happening at the school, such as early closures, no school, sports cancellations, etc.  The Hunt middle school team is very excited to offer these new communication tools.  Their success depends upon families using them -- Please "like" these pages today to stay connected!  This is a GREAT way to get regular updates from your child's school.  












Save the Date...


January 17 --  PTO meeting - 7 pm in the library - Everyone is welcome
January 21 -- No School, MLK Day
January 25 -- Ghost Out Assembly (Drunk Driving Awareness)
February 2nd -- Jr. Iron Chef