Please join us for our 5th Annual Spring Arts Celebration this Wednesday night. Our hallways will showcase the art work of our students. And we will have performances in vocal music, instrumental music, dance, and theater.

The show will begin sharply at 6:30, so please arrive by 6:15 so that we can start on time! We look forward to seeing you at our celebration of the arts!

The Annual City Neighbors Board Elections will take place this Wednesday night at the Spring Arts Festival. The ballot is attached for your review. Please participate in this very important process by voting that night or turning in an absentee ballot!

This Friday, the Student Council will sponsor the first annual City Neighbors Talent Show. Students from all grades have volunteered to participate and share a talent—singing, hula-hooping, acting, playing an instrument, theater, and more!

You are invited to join us and celebrate all of the talents—those just beginning or those already developed-of our students and even our staff!

We will hold our next Graduation Meeting Tuesday May 18th at 6:30 at City Neighbors. We will be discussing the Graduation program and finalizing more details.

8th grade students in Algebra class will be taking the High School Assessment this Tuesday, May 18th. It is a one day test.

City Schools requires that all students pass four High School Assessments in order to graduate high school—Algebra, Government, Biology, and English. Students can take the Algebra H S A starting in 8th grade. Students who pass will only have three remaining. Students who don’t pass will get to take it again in 9th grade.

If you have any questions about the H S A, please contact Mike or Mr. FitzSimons.

Thank you to all of the City Neighbors parents who showed up at last Thursday’s Cedmont Community Association meeting. We were there as a school community to partner with the church and the community to advocate for the placement of a speed bump on Raspe Avenue in front of the school.

We are pleased to report that the Department of Transportation of Baltimore City has approved and budgeted for the placement of a speed hump on Raspe Avenue for the fall. We are grateful for the news and will be monitoring to ensure its timely completion!

The OPG, in partnership with the Community Relations Committee, is sponsoring our annual end-of-year picnic this Saturday, May 22nd from 12-4 at the campus of City Neighbors Hamilton (5609 Sefton Avenue).

The committees are asking for an RSVP so we can appropriately gauge planning. Please RSVP in the envelope on the Parent Board!

Dear CNCS Families, Teachers and Friends:

We did it!! Together we raised $5,912 (Gala $5,206 and $706 in Annual Giving & Project 52 during the Gala) and as you continue to send in your Annual Giving and Project 52 Donations this number will continue to increase. Prior to the Gala we had raised $6,421.

As of Today CNCS has raised a GRAND TOTAL of $12,333 by fundraising.

Thank you for attending the Gala, your wonderful Donations, Advertisements/Shoutouts and for giving so generously to support City Neighbors during the 2009-2010 school year. To the Fundraising and Gala Committee — thank you so very much for ALL your hardwork.

Sincerely, The Fundraising Committee

Kimaya Bell, Isabelle Padgett, M’Lynn Bedel-Grah, Eve Macdonald, Eva Scott, Eliot and Emerson Holcomb, Naomi Larson and Zach Kirsh will be recognized by city officials this Saturday afternoon at the Top of the World for their greening efforts. The Green Team, along with students from 15 other City Schools, participated in the Cleaner, Greener, Sustainability Challenge funded by the Baltimore City Office of
Sustainability.

We will hold our next Graduation Meeting on Tuesday, May 18th at 6:30 at City Neighbors. We will be discussing the Graduation program and finalizing more details.

8th grade students in Algebra class will be taking the High School Assessment next Tuesday, May 18th. It is a one day test. City Schools requires that all students pass four High School Assessments in order to graduate high school—Algebra, Government, Biology, and English. Students can take the Algebra H S A starting in 8th grade. Students who pass will only have three remaining.

Students who don’t pass will get to take it again in 9th grade. If you have any questions about the H S A, please contact Mike or Mr. FitzSimons.

We are pleased to announce that Ms. Mercier and Mr. French were nominated as “Teacher of the Year” for the Maryland Charter School Network. Ms. Trinisa was also nominated as an “Extra Mile Supporter” . Nominations were accepted from any member of a charter school community. Their names were announced and printed at the recent Maryland Charter School Conference. Congratulations to both of them.

This Thursday, the Cedmont Community Association will hold its monthly meeting.

At this meeting, the Cedmont Community Association has asked a representative from the city (from the Department of Transportation) to be there to discuss the placement of a speed bump on Raspe Avenue outside of the school.

We have wanted a speed bump for many years, as we have all witnessed cars zipping down Raspe Avenue.

Please come on Thursday night to help advocate for this. Your presence will make an impact.

This week, the Student Council will hold their Talent Show Auditions from 1:15-2:15 in Ms. Watson’s room.

The Talent Show will be held on Friday, May 21st during All-School.

Only students who have returned a permission slip can attend the auditions. If you are auditioning, please bring any materials you may need for your performance!

Please join us for the 7th Annual City Neighbors Gala this Saturday Night!

This event is our biggest fundraiser of the year. In addition, it is a great night of community, conversation, and connection. If you’ve come before, please come again. If you’ve never come to a Gala, please make this your first! And, please bring friends!

Hightman Hall, 7:00 pm

$15 tickets can be purchased from Gwendolyn Unoko , on-line at www.cityneighbors.org or in the School Office.

See you there!

This week is “officially” Teacher Appreciation Week. The OPG has planned a few thank-yous (don’t forget your $5 per family lunch contribution). But, I encourage everyone to say a thanks to a teacher or staff member that has supported their child. We have the gift of an amazing and dedicated teaching staff. Please join me in
expressing our gratitude!

Please join us for the 5th Annual Karma, Dharma, Pudding and Pie evening! On this night, students (and some teachers and parents) gather to read and hear poetry written and/or recited by the students and adults. It’s a good old-fashioned poetry slam —- on the K-8 level.

So, please join us and prepare to support, be moved, and maybe even share some poetry that moves you!

Thanks to Mr. French for organizing this event.

Please mark your calendars. Due to the changes to the school year because of snow, the following changes have made to the calendar:

• June 7th and 8th are not 1:00 days.
• The last day of school is Wednesday, June 16th.
• The following days are 1:00 days for Parent/Teacher Conferences:
  • Friday, June 11
  • Monday, June 14
  • Tuesday, June 15
• Graduation Night will be Friday, June 11th at 6:30.
• The End of the Year All-School Day at the Park will be Tuesday, June 15.

If you have any questions about the calendar, please contact the main office!

I want to thank you so much for supporting our 1st annual Spring Fling. Many CNCS families were spotted playing games, watching the talent show, jumping in the moon bounce, or grabbing a bite to eat. The event was well attended largely due to our CNH and CNCS families, and for that we are so grateful! I want to extend a special thanks to John Kovacevich for his tireless support from early morning until the evening. Your advice and hard work was much appreciated!!!!!

– Tanya Robinson
CNH Fundraising Chair

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, May 19th at 6:30 for our 5th Annual Spring Arts Celebration!

As mentioned in the first page, final recording of all volunteer hours are due by Friday, May 15th for the 2009-2010 school year. At that point, final amounts will be tabulated and letters will be sent. We will be asking families who did not meet their 40 hours to meet with the Principal and the Director of Accountability.  That’s the official memo.
 
Unofficially, here’s what I notice. As principal this year, I have experienced a very strong volunteer presence—maybe even stronger than previous years. Supported by the OPG, we have had great responsiveness from parents for any task we’ve needed —- volunteers to help prepare for testing, Open Houses, and more. We have a new and thriving Greening Committee. We have had parents help cover the office when needed. We had two busloads of folks show up to advocate for equal funding in Annapolis. We have parents coaching teams, supporting our school library by re-shelving books, bringing in snacks, coming in to participate in class activities, and conducting many afterschool enrichment clubs. From my perspective, there is a lot of energy and partnership in so many aspects of City Neighbors life.
 
So, here’s the problem I notice. Our recorded hours are much lower than previous years. Is this because folks are not as engaged? I strongly disagree with that assertion. I think that folks are just as engaged —- maybe in different ways than before, but still engaged. I think that participating in an event, showing up when something is needed, or finding ways to participate is so natural now for so many parents, that we just are not as good at recording them.
 
Therefore, I encourage everyone to record your hours. Please. I know it can seem tedious. But, it is important to us. 

• When we can say to a funder that our parents gave over 8,000 hours of partnership last year, that means something—and funders are often more willing to give to our children when they know that our families are engaged. 
• When we can show City Schools that our parent volunteer efforts (as measured in hours) continues to go up every year, that says something about our work here and our community commitment to our school. 
• And most importantly, when we can say to ourselves that our quantifiable evidence shows that partnership increases, it inspires us all to keep participating.
   
  If you are someone who has not participated as much as you would like or as much as we expect from each other in this community, then let’s talk and find a way for you to participate.   Remember, City Neighbors is founded on the ideal that the school and the parents are in partnership—in how we interact, in how we work, and in the work that we do.
   
  Between now and May 15th, please be sure to record those hours…or set up a time to talk.  There is a volunteer hour log attached to the back of this Monday Mailer.  We need you to send it in!