September 2009

WELCOME FROM THE BRIDGE SCHOOL PTA

Welcome. Welcome. Welcome to new families, returning families, new teachers, returning teachers, new staff, returning staff. Hello children.

The Bridge School PTA (Parent Teacher Association) warmly welcomes everyone to the 2009-2010 school year. We are excited about the months ahead – and hope that everyone takes a moment to learn about the PTA at Bridge and to get involved! We are here for you – whether you need help or have a question, or if you have a great new idea for fundraising or a community project. We are an organization that touches many parts of your child’s experience at Bridge.

We want to include as many parents and families as possible, whether that means volunteering in the library, helping to create safe walking routes to school, or being a room parent, the PTA has something for everyone. Opportunities vary from one-time events to ongoing projects and committees.

We are a resource for helping to connect you to your child’s experience at Bridge and we will strive this year to enhance and encourage opportunities for our community to grow and flourish. Please keep an eye open to information coming home from the PTA both in this publication (which will be going green in October!) as well as via flyers that go home in your child’s backpack.

We encourage you to join the PTA – your membership benefits include a copy of the Bridge School directory (a very useful resource!). Watch for PTA enrollment forms coming home in your child’s backpack. You will also have an opportunity to join the PTA at Back to School Night on September 17th – hope to see you there!!!

To help support all that we do at Bridge, we will be hosting our first fundraiser of the year starting September 10th-24th. We are partnering with Meadow Farms for our annual gift wrap fundraiser. We switched to Meadow Farms because they offer a much wider array of products in addition to gift wrap. They will have a table at Back to School Night to answer questions and exhibit product samples. Monies raised by PTA fundraisers go directly to improving the resources available to children and teachers.

How to stay connected:

1. Sign up for the Bridge School ListServ!!! This is a vital link for you to get information about Bridge School and general announcements from Dr. Reitman and the School District. Starting in October, the ListServ will be the main way for you to continue to receive a copy of Bridge to Home (Going GREEN!).
   To subscribe to the Bridge School ListServ, go to the list web page:
   http://comet.ci.lexington.ma.us/mailman/listinfo/bridge-announcements
2. Bridge_02421 – This is yahoo group set up for parents to share information, ask questions, and post information. This is a great community resource and we encourage all of you to join.
   To join, either go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bridge_02421/join
   - OR - send an email to Bridge_02421-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Sincerely,

Liz O'Neil, Bridge PTA Co-President
and The Bridge School PTA Executive Committee