SCHOOL NEWS
May 9, 2008

SAVE OUR CLASS SIZE REDUCTION
We understand that may of you have questions about fundraising for Class Size Reduction for next here.  We have asked the CUSD Foundation to come speak at our school and explain how our donations will serve your children.  The TOWN HALL meeting will be held in our MPR on Friday, May 16 at 1:00pm.  Please support our teachers and let your voice be heard!  We will not be able to reach our goals without the help of all of our parents. These cuts will affect your students for next year! Please park on the street there will not be parking in the lots or along the red curbs.  If you have questions please visit the CUSD Foundation Website www.cusdfoundation.org

WE NEED YOUR HELP
If you know of any local business that would be interested in donating a portion of their proceeds on May 29, 2008 for Class Size Reduction please let the office know. 

DEAR PARENT VOLUNTEERS,
The Board of Trustees has instituted a new policy requiring that next school year, all our parent volunteers will need to have 1) a negative tuberculin (TB) test or chest x-ray, 2) a Livescan Fingerprint check and 3) a completed Megan’s Law check on file with our school and school district.  A copy can be read here. We received follow-up information today, as well as packets of information that all our parents who wish to volunteer in our classrooms will need to have completed before they can assist our students and teachers in the 2008-2009 school year.

There are 3 categories of volunteers: 1) Student Contact Volunteers, 2) Non-student Contact Volunteers and 3) One-time or Occasional Volunteers.  Each category has its own requirements.

Student Contact Volunteers: 
Volunteers working with students inside or outside our classrooms or other supervised school settings; working in the school office or other areas while students are on campus or present.   Required: Megan’s Law check (conducted by CUSD), Fingerprints and TB clearance.

Non-student Contact Volunteers: 
Short term projects on campus when no students are present. Required:  Meagan’s Law check required (conduct by CUSD), TB clearance.

One-Time or Occasional Volunteer:  
Attend or help at a one-time special event involving no unsupervised contact with children. Examples: help at school fair, Grand Parents Day (guest), Jog-A-Thon (observer), parent supervisor on field trips (as described in Board Policy 1240 under “Not considered as a volunteer”).  No requirements for these activities.

The Megan’s Law check will be conducted by the school district and there is no cost to the parent for this.  Unfortunately, the parents will need to bear the cost of the TB test and Livescan fingerprinting.  The total estimated cost is between $52 and $62.

Parents who know they will be volunteering in their children’s classrooms and school next year are urged to begin this process right away.  Doing these now will allow our teachers to begin benefiting from your kind offers of help sooner, and allow you to miss what will surely be a backlog of appointments for scans and tests next September.

Packets containing the Volunteer Application Form and all the information you will need to obtain and provide appropriate documentation to Capistrano Unified School District are now available in our office. 

We realize this is quite an extra burden and expense to require of our good parents offering of their time and efforts.  It is, however, a policy designed to help all of us provide for the safety and health of our children.

Thank you,

Dennie Samuels