At 2:45 in the Sanislo Gym, every first Friday of the month. Parents and siblings are welcome to attend. Come see student performances, presentations of awards, and who knows what else! The next Spirit Assembly will be tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 4. See you there!

We have enough special needs students at Sanislo this year to warrant the addition of a half time special education teacher. We are getting some applicants now and would like to interview on Monday, Nov. 23rd. If you have gone through the S.E.A. training and would like to help on the interview team, please contact Principal Seevers as soon as possible!

We are collecting school supplies to help support kids in Uganda. New or gently used school supplies, athletic equipment, books, and children’s clothing are needed. For more info about the program itself, see www.sisterschools.org. For questions about Sanislo’s participation, contact Carolyn Autenrieth (our beloved art teacher) at cjautenrieth@seattleschools.org or stop by the Art Room.

The second draft of the attendance maps will come out Nov. 3rd, so even if you’ve already made comments, be sure to follow up with the newest draft when it is presented. The board will vote on the final draft Nov. 18th. You can give your feedback via e-mail or community meetings. For more information, visit www.seattleschools.org

The flashing beacons on 16th Ave SW will be fixed in about 6 weeks. The No Parking signs on Myrtle, across the street from Sanislo, will be changed to the correct times sometime in the “future months.” (No one should be parking there during school hours.) And we’re trying to address the ongoing challenges of the traffic circle at 18th Ave, where there have been concerns about traffic flow and keeping our crossing guards safe. Suggestions are welcome.

The annual fund is here!

This is our major fundraiser for the year, replacing the auction. Please remember to turn in the address forms you received last week! We need your help to build a list of potential donors so we can send out our brochures soon. Forms are due back to your child’s teacher by Friday, October 30th. If you have more than one child at Sanislo, just fill out one form (there’s room for both your kids’ names) and have your oldest child turn it in. Thanks for you helping make our first Annual Fund Drive a success!

Remember what is was like to be a new Sanislo parent? We’re getting together a list of parents who are willing to be “mentors” and have their names on a list to talk to new parents one-on-one about Sanislo. It’s an easy way to help new families feel welcome and navigate their new school community. We will make the list available when we get the first group of names. Please e-mail Alison Enochs at alisonenochs@gmail.com with your contact information if you are interested in being a mentor.Parents that speak languages other than English are encouraged to volunteer.

Only half of our families have paid for school supplies. It’s time for the other half to pay up the $15 per student so we can use our newsletter space for other news. We all contribute school supply money because it’s cheaper than buying our own supplies and so all our students get the same stuff. But less school supply money means we will have to pull money away from other programs. Please send your payment to school with your child. He/she can put it in the gold PTA Drop Box in the entry area. Please include a note with your child’s name and teacher. Thank you!

If you want to talk about the new student assignment plan or give any other feedback to your West Seattle school board representative, you can attend one of the following neighborhood meetings:

High Point Library
Saturday 10/24, 10:00–11:30am
Saturday 11/7, 1:00–2:30 pm

Delridge Library
Wednesday 11/18, 10:00–11:30am

The goal of the Washington Reading Corps (WRC) is to improve the reading abilities of students through research-based tutoring and community partnerships at the state and local levels. SaraLee Stata and AmeriCorps members Bana Abera, Angie Fioretti, and Cherrie Angeles are Sanislo’s WRC team for the 2009-2010 school year. In addition to tutoring, they will organize family literacy events at Sanislo and provide other opportunities for students to read even more; for example, reading challenges and the Reader Leaders program, where older students read to younger students on a weekly basis. They are looking forward to a great year at Sanislo and hope to meet you!