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September 7, 2020
MONDAY MESSENGER
UPCOMING DATES AND EVENTS
THIS WEEK:
  • Monday, 9/7 • NO SCHOOL—Labor Day

NEXT WEEK:
  • Saturday, 9/12, 8:30AM–12:30PM • Virtual College Prep Workshop*

LOOKING AHEAD:
  • Thursday, 9/24, 6:30–7:30PM • Virtual Senior Parent Night*
  • Wednesday, 9/30, 6:00–7:00PM • Virtual Curriculum Night*
  • Saturday, 10/3, 8:30AM–12:30PM • Virtual College Prep Workshop*
  • Tuesday, 10/6, 6:30–7:30PM • Virtual Financial Aid Night*
  • Friday, 10/9 • NO SCHOOL—Professional Development Day

(*More info to come on these events, you may just want to mark your calendars)
PTSA NEWS
THE FALL FUNDRAISER IS OFFICIALLY UNDERWAY!
  
Let’s RAISE THE TORCH for IS as we begin a new school year!  

This year is going to be different, but we all want to support the good work that is happening at International School.  

Thank you to the 10 families who helped kickstart the campaign through generous donations made during the ISPTSA membership process. We’ve already raised nearly $1,250 toward our goal! We’re just getting started.
  
We invite all families to participate in this campaign, because your contribution—no matter the amount—makes a difference! We ALL benefit from the community, academic excellence, and reputation our students were fortunate to join. This is our chance to give back and benefit from that legacy.  

Choose a support level that works for you: Gold $500, Silver $250, Bronze $100, or define your own amount. For those families who can, we ask you to consider becoming a Titan Torch supporter with a donation of $1,000 or more. 

All donations to the Fall Fundraiser you give today are tax-deductible and 100% go back to the community through:
  • Curriculum enrichment through teacher grants and supplies, teacher training, math support, art supplies, band/orchestra/choir grants, French intern, library books, Makerspace supplies, PE equipment & more.
  • Student activities such as the 6th-grade & HS retreats, HS play, graduation activities, computer club & more.
  • YES counselor, scholarships, staff appreciation, communication tools, community-building events & more.


Still need to join the ISPTSA or renew your annual membership? You can become a member and make your donation in the same transaction. 

Prefer to write a check? Fill out this donation form and mail it back to the ISPTSA. 

Questions? Please contact vpfundraising@isptsa.org.  
Thank you for your support! 
Here is my membership report as submitted to the ISPTSA Board on 9/3/20:
 
  • The current Membership is 94 members. The breakdown is 81 parent/guardian members, 12 student members, 1 teacher. At this time last year, based on B2B, we had over 200 members. 
 
  • Our membership drive runs from July 1, 2020 to Feb 28, 2021. We need 538 members to reach100% membership. Last year, we reached 100% membership in both members and teachers/staff. I am having a “discussion” with state PTA membership that PTAs that get 100% are basically non-existent to any PTA membership growth lists for the following year. My discussion is that ANY PTA that can conceivably get 100% membership, which is a rarity, should be allowed to have their growth number start from “0,” so that they can be on the growth lists as they go to 100% again. This would be a great benefit for the PTAs that have worked hard for the 100%.
 
  • All board members have been entered into Memberplanet and should receive any leadership news from the state PTA. Almost all board members have renewed their memberships.
 
Respectfully submitted
Meribeth Nordloef-Pedersen

P.S. Our board meetings are super-efficient and last one hour. Think about joining the board and you won’t be bored.
ISPTSA CURRENTLY SEEKING VP (OR CO-VP) OF COMMUNICATIONS

If you care about the school community and the ISPTSA, and have an interest in how information is communicated between the two, this would be a terrific position for you—even think about sharing the position with a friend!

The ISPTSA VP of Communications does the following:
  • Recruits and oversees committee chairs (Monday Messenger/Web Content, Website, DirectorySpot, Facebook) to ensure timely dissemination of ISPTSA information to the community.
  • Actively maintains social media accounts such as Facebook to coordinate with the weekly Monday Messenger (if the social media chair position is vacant).
  • Promotes a positive image of the ISPTSA to the school community.
  • Monitors communication income and expenditure against yearly budget.

If you are interested in this position, might consider being a Co-VP, or you just have questions, please contact VPOutreach@isptsa.org.
DISTRICT NEWS
USDA EXTENDS WAIVERS ALLOWING FOR FREE MEALS FOR CHILDREN

Last week, the USDA announced the extension of waivers that will allow the district to offer meals to children in our community for FREE this fall. The student name and ID will no longer need to be provided at the time of pick up. The extension of waivers is will last through as late as December 31, dependent on available funding.
 
  • Families are welcome to stop by any of our seven Meals2Go locations to receive a meal. 
  • Parents/guardians may pick up a meal on behalf of their child.
  • Meals will be provided for any child in need. A child does not have to be a BSD enrolled student. 
  • A breakfast & lunch will be offered at the time of meal pickup. 
  • Meals are being provided the day before, so students can enjoy their breakfast & lunch while engaging in remote learning.
 
Meals2Go Locations & Times:
  • Enatai Elementary 3:30–4:30PM
  • Highland Middle School 4:30–5:30PM
  • Newport Heights Elementary 3:30–4:30PM
  • Odle Middle School 4:30–5:30PM
  • Sammamish High School 4:00–5:00PM
  • Tillicum Middle School 3:30–4:30PM
  • Tyee Middle School 4:00–5:00PM
 
 
For more information regarding the Meals2Go program, please click here, or contact the Nutrition Services Office at 425-456-4507, nutrition@bsd405.org.    
TECH SUPPORT DURING REMOTE LEARNING

Supporting your technology help needs is important to us. The following are the top five questions families have and resources to answer the questions:
  1. What is my ParentVUE activation key?
  2. How do I monitor my student’s online behavior? 
  3. My student’s device is constantly freezing in Teams. What do I do?
  4. My student is unable to access content that should be available. What do I do?
  5. Where do I find my student’s Teams meeting links?

Technology Support is also available online, by phone, and in-person.
Online
Phone
  • MondayMonday–Friday, 7:00AM–4:30PM
  • Parents and students call (425) 456-4321
In-person
  • Sammamish High School and Newport High School
  • Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 8:00AM–3:00PM
  • Tuesday, Thursday: 10:00AM–6:00PM
SCHOOL NEWS
TEMPORARY REMOTE SCHEDULE

In case you're confused about what your student is doing each day, here's a link to the Temporary Remote Schedule for IS to help you keep track.

And here's a link to a remote schedule blank template, where you can fill in your student's individual schedule and really stay in the know!

Finally, here's the temporary remote schedule for this week:
  • Monday: No School—Labor Day
  • Tuesday: Regular schedule (periods 5–7)
  • Wednesday: Asynchronous learning using “Week 1” schedule
  • Thursday: Regular schedule (periods 1–4)
  • Friday: Regular schedule (periods 5–7)
STUDENT REQUESTS FOR TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANCE

We are thankful for everyone's patience as we started school in a remote format. This was a new experience for everyone and we want to make sure to provide timely support to student needs. To make this process as efficient as possible for our staff, requests for support should be made in the following manner:

  • Make the request from the student's email account (from the district). This makes student identification easier as it is built into the email. Family members are free to work with their student on the message. It is most helpful to ensure that we are only receiving a single request for a student.
  • Request should be made to Tara Jones at jonesta@bsd405.org. 
  • Use a clear subject heading such as "Tech Help Request"
STUDENT NEWS & OPPORTUNITIES
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS: DO YOU WANT TO TEACH CHILDREN?

Hello, we are Rishi Chilamcharla and Kaiser Williams, both Juniors at Bellevue High School and founders of CW Academy.

CW Academy was founded during the covid-19 quarantine as a platform where children grades 3–7 can explore STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and career topics through free online courses taught by High School Students. We wanted students to keep learning & find a passion in the increasingly popular and demanding fields related to STEM while they were stuck at home. So far, we’ve had three waves of classes and taught over 140 students in less than 90 days. Courses have included introductory python 1, python 2, introductory java, biology, math tutoring, and more. We’ve gotten great feedback from parents and our students!

We want to continue providing classes to students during the school year, but to continue our classes and meet student demand, we need more voluntary High School students to become teachers. We are currently looking for python, chemistry, digital music, career ed, introduction to microsoft office, dance, drawing, and, photography and editing (iphone) teachers, or if you would like to introduce a new course, please suggest it on our application.

If you would like to apply to become a teacher, please do so on our website, www.cwacademybellevue.com. 

We hope we can teach and inspire many more children during these unprecedented times!! 

CW Academy Team
CW Academy is a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit organization
COLLEGE EXPERIENCE PANEL (STANFORD, HARVARD, PENN & MORE)

Sunday, September 27, 1:00 PM via Zoom

Wondering what a top college experience is like? The Seattle Advocates for Education is hosting a free online College Experience Panel, bringing in speakers from Stanford, Harvard, Brown, Penn, Cornell, and Berkeley to talk to you! Gain insight on the college experience to learn about specific colleges, social life, internships, research, studying, and more. Ask your questions during the Q&A!

Learn more & sign up at zmurl.com/college-experience.
Limited spots available!
MASTHEAD / DIRECTORY / LINKS
President
Azfar Moazzam/OPEN 
Secretary
Ann Ross-Clarke
Treasurer 1
Tony Wang
Treasurer 2
Zena Heywood
VP of Communications
OPEN
VP of Community
Melissa Richardson
VP of Fundraising
Emilie Castle
VPs of Outreach
Beverly Ni & Hao Sun
Membership
Meribeth Nordloef-Pedersen
Advocacy
OPEN
Monday Messenger
Julie Molinari/OPEN
Website
Li Zhang
IS Staff Liaison
Marrene Franich & Wesley Hung
PTSA
Website: www.isptsa.org
Newsletter Submissions: news@isptsa.org
SHOP FOR THE BELLEVUE SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
Enter Amazon.com through this link and Amazon will donate 8% of every purchase you make to support Bellevue students, including those at IS! Share the link and spread the word to family and friends anywhere.
SCHOOL DIRECTORY & LINKS

Attendance 425-456-6545
Main Office 425-456-6500 
MS Counseling 425-456-6546
HS Counseling 425-456-6542 
Registrar 425-456-6535 
SUPPORT YOUR PTSA
Donate Anytime

Write your check to the International School PTSA and send it to:
ISPTSA
445 128th Ave. SE
Bellevue, WA 98005
Or, even easier, donate
via PayPal.
Visit the International School PTSA Store. Proceeds benefit the International School PTSA.
CONFUSED ABOUT SOMETHING?
The ISPTSA is always here to help answer your IS questions.

Email us here, and we'll help you find the answers you need.
MONDAY MESSENGER
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
  • Please submit articles by FRIDAY at 12:00 PM (noon) to news@isptsa.org.
  • We encourage submissions that align with our mission.
  • Submissions are subject to review by the ISPTSA and may be accepted, rejected, or edited.
  • Please use a separate email for each article submitted.
  • Documents in plain text are preferred, however, you are welcome to include an image or icon as a separate attachment—please do not include them in the body of your email or document.
  • If you need to link to a registration form or document, send us either the address of the link or a pdf copy of the document.
  • If you would like your article to repeat in successive Monday Messenger editions, please resubmit it for each edition in which you would like it to appear. If you do not resubmit it, it will not be republished.
  • Note: you will receive an automatic confirmation email response once you submit material to the Monday Messenger.