Eckstein Families,

Bus assignments should be sent out around the last week of August, 2010.  If you have not received any information from the District’s Transportation Department about a bus assignment, that means your child is NOT assigned to a school bus.   Please contact Transportation at (206) 252-0900, rather than Eckstein.  They can fill out a Space Available form, but last year Transportation did not look at the requests until the beginning of October.

Bus cards are not needed to get onto a bus if you are assigned to a bus.  So, if your student is assigned to a bus, just have them at the pickup location and the bus driver will have a list of students for that bus route.  If your student is assigned AN ORCA CARD, we should have those passes available the first day of school, but not before.  We will inform those students assigned to Metro when they can get their pass.  If you have any questions about transportation, please call the District’s Transportation Department directly at (206) 252-0900.

For FAQs on Transportation visit www.seattleschools.org.  Select “Transportation”.  FAQs contains some very useful information for families.

A Welcome to Eckstein letter was sent home to all Eckstein families the week of August 9th.  If you didn’t receive one, click on the link below to download a copy.  The letter contains important dates, including the First Day of School information.

http://ecksteineagles.org/files/2010/08/Opening-school-info-2010-11.pdf

All Students:

 One 2-3” heavy duty three-ring notebook (no expanding folders or trapper keepers)

 Notebook dividers (5 tab minimum)

 Pencil pouch

 Writing supplies: one dozen sharpened pencils; 8 pens (black or blue ink); highlighter; colored pencils

 Pencil sharpener with receptacle

 Erasers

 8 ½” x 11” notebook paper (College rule, preferred)

 Flash (thumb) Drive

 Box of tissue for homeroom/study hall

 Standard/metric ruler

 4 operation calculator

 Protractor

 1 ream of 8 ½ x 11 copy paper

 Hole reinforcements

For 8th Grade: Five Mead composition notebooks, 80-100 pages (wide- rule, if possible);

For 7th Grade: Five Mead composition notebooks, one of the five notebooks should be with graph paper;

For 6th Grade: One, 1 ½” three-ring binder; Four Mead composition notebooks;

(Donations of any of these supplies are greatly appreciated and can be dropped off in the Main Office. Thank you.)

PERMANENT MARKERS (Sharpies) ARE NOT ALLOWED

Ms. Whitworth just posted her “End of Year Letter” on her blog (click this link to go to the Whitworth Weekly blog), in which she writes about what we accomplished on this year and some changes for next year (including a new bell schedule).

Also, the early release calendar for 2010-2011 is now available for download as a pdf.

Congratulations to Eckstein student Maxwell Krist for winning first place in a nation-wide computer-aided design contest. Click here to read the Seattle Times story.

From Monday June 14 through Friday June 18 the Eckstein Library will be hosting a community book drive.  The intent of the drive is to build strong classroom libraries that support our Eagle Readers.  

Please consider donating gently used books, appropriate for ages 8-18, to support our Eagle Readers.  Donations can be dropped off in the library from 7:30am to 2:45pm.  Your generous donations will then be equally distributed throughout the school to provide constant access to quality books for all of our students.  Please contact Rebecca Wynkoop (rlwynkoop@seattleschools.org) if you have any further questions.

Seattle Public Schools has scheduled two community meetings to provide information about how schools are funded and strategies to close the funding gap for the 2010-11 school year. The district will also seek feedback on plans to address the shortfall.

In addition, families are invited to share their ideas on what SPS programs and services are most important for them to have protected as the district begins to address a projected $26 million budget gap for the 2011-12 school year. Interpreters will be available at both community meetings, which will include a question-and-answer session.

The meetings will be Saturday, April 17, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Aki Kurose Middle School, 3928 Graham St., and Tuesday, April 20, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Roosevelt High School, 1410 N.E. 66th St.

“Top Groups” Concert this Thursday, April 15th at 7:30 pm at Eckstein – Reminder!  Wind Ensemble, Senior Jazz, Choir and Senior Orchestra perform this Thursday at 7:30 pm.  Don’t miss this great opportunity to see all of Eckstein’s top groups in one concert.  Eckstein has an amazing music program and this annual event showcases the best of all groups!  There will be a joint bakesale benefitting all of these music programs so dust off your mixers or get out that box of brownie mix and bring a treat to donate.  This will be a terrific concert so hope to see everyone there!  We’re also looking for a couple more volunteers to help with the bake sale table.  If you can help out, please email Susan Griffith at sgriff@u.washington.edu.

In response to recent parental concerns, Eckstein’s Counseling department and PTSA are providing an opportunity for our community to learn more about the serious issue of eating disorders that can impact our children.  You (and your child, if you wish) are invited to attend a special presentation on this topic in the Eckstein auditorium on April 21st at 7:00 pm by Virginia Low.  Virginia Low is the co-founder of Friends and Family Northwest, a support group for families who are living with a family member suffering from an eating disorder.  For more information click on the link Eating Disorders.  Larry Christensen, Eckstein Counselor