It’s Party Time! Treat your child or yourself to a special event! There are still a few spots left at the Lawton fundraiser parties that were sold at the auction. Space is limited so please reply quickly if you are interested. All proceeds go to the Lawton PTA. We hope to see you there!

To Register for these events, fill out the registration form linked here leave in the Treasurer’s box in the school office with a check to Lawton PTA.  Questions? Please contact Jani Lauvrak Lee at  or Kerry Peterson.

Remaining spots are available on a first come – first serve basis. They sell out, so if you are Interested, act quickly!

UPCOMING EVENTS! (descriptions below)

Friday, May 11th – Explore Magnolia with Ms. Eppley – Sold Out
Saturday, May 12th – Aquarium visit with Ms. Rudisill – Sold Out
Friday, May 18th – Hip “Pop” Arazzi Party – Tickets Available
Saturday, May 19th – Boys Basketball Night w/SPU players – Tickets Available
Saturday, May 19th – Lost Lands of Discovery Park – Sold Out
Friday, June 1st – Bike ride Beach and BBQ – Sold Out
Saturday, June 2nd – Beach Explorers in West Seattle – Tickets Available
Tuesday, June 5th – A Putt Putt experience at Interbay – Sold Out
Saturday, June 9th – Mother and Son Bowling – Sold Out
Sunday, June 10th – Father/Child Survivor Beach Party – Tickets Available
Friday, June 15th – Mom’s Night Out – Tickets Available
Wednesday, July 11th – Zoo & Picnic w/Ms. Parks & Ms. Wong – Tickets Available
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THESE UPCOMING EVENTS ARE STILL AVAILABLE SO HURRY!
Hip “Pop” Arazzi Party
Have you ever dreamed of being a Pop Star? How do you Rock? How do you Sway? Come dressed as your favorite music artist and kick it with us at Lawton’s 2nd Annual Hip “Pop” Arazzi Party! You will be treated like Pop and Rock Royalty, walk down the red carpet and have your picture taken by the paparazzi. This will be a party to remember from the hottest tracks playing to our fun filled night of dance. And of course our party wouldn’t be complete without a Soul Train Dance Off and Best Pop or Rock Look-a-like Contest. So show us what you’ve got and we’ll show you a Hip Poppin Good Time! Parents drop off and pick up at Lawton.
Date: Friday, May 18th / 6:00pm – 8:00pm / Price: $35 per child (Grades K-5)
Thank you: Cheryl Parks • Amie Schumer • Elaine Cooper •Emmy Misner

Boys Basketball Night with SPU Players
Calling Hoopsters of all ages! Does your Lawton boy like Basketball and Pizza? Could you use a little “kid free” time on a Saturday evening? We’ve got a great idea! Sign your young athletes up for an action packed basketball and pizza party right in our own Lawton gym. We are thrilled to have College players from the Men’s SPU Basketball Team coming to lead the action. Your boys will be able to score tips from the real deal! The SPU players will help your kids with all of the basics and then some!What a great way to inspire our future athletes! Maybe they’ll even give the SPU guys a run for their money! Parents drop off and pick up at Lawton.
Date: Saturday, May 19th / 5:30pm – 8:00pm / Price: $35 per child (Grades 2-5)
Thank you: Cheryl Parks • Seattle Pacific University •Jani & Dick Lee • Kerry Peterson

Beach Explorers in West Seattle
Come explore West Seattle’s beautiful Alki Beach with Mrs. Cooper and Ms. Mitchell. Your young explorers will comb the beach for treasures and marvel at sea life revealed only by a low tide. After they’ve worked up an appetite they will enjoy a picnic lunch along the shore. There is never a better way to spend the day than by the beach! Now who’s gonna get their toes in the sand!
Date: Saturday, June 2nd / 9:30am – 1:30pm / Price: $35 per child (Grades K-5)
Thank you: Mrs. Cooper and Ms. Mitchell

Father-Child Survivor Beach Party
Grab your son or daughter and head out to Carkeek Park for a day of some serious father-child bonding!
Compete in Lawton’s annual survivor party and enjoy dinner on the beach – plenty of snacks, hot dogs,
s’mores and refreshments provided! Only the fittest Lawton kids will “survive” this wild day on the beach. Upon arrival, dads and kids will be given their tribal buffs and separate into two tribes. No one’s torch will be extinguished, but there will be challenges, competitions and a tribal council at the end
of the outing to review the day’s activities and receive individual survivor awards. K-5 welcome!
Date: Sunday, June 10th / 2:00pm – 5:00pm / Price: $50 per child (dads are free) (up to 20 kids)
Thank you: Keith and Carla Skogland,Tate and Christine McHugh

Field Day Recovery Party (aka Moms Night Out)
Field Day 2012 is over, Lawton kids are exhausted and happy, now it’s mom time. Enjoy appetizers and a
signature cocktail while relaxing with friends at our very unique Moms Night Out featuring customized “Field Night” activities. The dunk tank and bouncy houses will be packed away, but there will be some good natured competition and a fun time visiting with friends celebrating a great school year and in anticipation of summer!
Date: Friday, June 15th / 7:00pm – Jani Lauvrak Lee Home / Price: $50 per person
Thank you: Jani Lauvrak Lee, Kerry Peterson, Kirsten Dumo and Kimball Mullins

A Day at the Zoo and Picnic with Mrs. Parks and Mrs. Wong
Who doesn’t love a day at the zoo! The day will be spent at the Woodland Park Zoo with two of your
favorite Lawton teachers! Mrs. Parks and Mrs. Wong will escort five lucky explorers through the zoo and will provide a delicious picnic lunch. Safari gear is optional – but bring your sense of adventure!
Date: Wednesday, July 11th / 9:30am – 2:30pm / Price: $40 per child (Grades K-3)
Thank you: Cheryl Parks and Tessie Wong (back up date in case of rain is Thursday, July 12th)

The school board is currently considering changes to the transportation plan for 2012-2013 school year. This email is intended to provide you with additional information regarding the transportation proposal, some talking points, and suggestions on how to voice your concerns.  Please note that the school board is planning to vote on the proposal next week. Any public comments need to be made as soon as possible, ideally within the next few days.

Transportation Proposal Background: SPS transportation staff are reviewing options for revising the District’s transportation plan for next year. Last week, a presentation was made to the School Board that outlined three arrival/departure times for schools. Schools are currently divided into three transportation tiers. Under the new proposal, changes would be made so that Tier One schools would have buses arriving at school as early as 7:10 am. (school would begin at approximately 7:30 am). Tier Two schools would arrive at 8:25 and depart 3:00.  Tier Three schools will have later start (arrival 9:20, start around 9:40) and end times with buses leaving schools at 3:55 p.m. and some students potentially arriving home as late as 4:40 p.m.

The school district has not communicated which schools will be assigned to each tier so we do not know how or if  Lawton would specifically be affected Lawton is currently a Tier Two School.

Although not all students arrive at school by bus, transportation decisions do impact all families because transportation plans ultimately determine bell times. How the transportation issues are resolved will determine what time students start and end school next year. Also note that the transportation issue is ultimately a budget issue. The district is hoping to save an additional $1 million in transportation costs in the next school year. Additional information on the transportation plan is available at the district website.

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From our friends at the McClure PTSA:  As reported in the McNews earlier this week, the SPS Transportation department has proposed changes to the bus schedule, which impacts start times at most schools. Information on the SPS proposal can be found here and here. If SPS adopts these changes to the bus system, middle and high schools will have a bus drop off time of 7:10 (start time 7:25). Since the proposal also allows for increasing ride time to 60 minutes (it is now 45 minutes), students could be the bus as early as 6:10. To accommodate this proposed 3 tier busing system, some elementary start times could start as late as 9:45 (dismissing at 4). This proposal will likely impact all students and their families in some way. Several parent groups have begun working on this issue.

Please see the following:

•There is a petition on the subject that can be found here. Please consider signing to send a message to the school board.

•An alternate proposal, recenlty drafted by a parent, can be found here.

•There was a meeting of interested and concerned parents at TOPS last night. Below are the talking points and notes from the meeting at TOPS last night.

If you wish to contact the entire school board on this issue, you can email schoolboard@seattleschools.org with a cc to the Transportation department transdept@seattleschools.org. If you wish to contact specific school board members (our region’s representative is Michael DeBell), you can find individual email addresses here.

The school board will vote on this proposal on May 16th Board Meeting. To sign up to speak, click here.

Talking Points from TOPS Meeting:

TRANSPORTATION TALKING POINTS

No Public Engagement: The District introduced the new transportation plan at the School Board meeting on Wednesday, May 2 to be voted on at the next meeting, May 16. Staff admitted there was no public engagement prior to introduction of the plan. Furthermore, the proposal acknowledges that 5-6 additional schools will need to be moved to Tier One, but staff won’t disclose which schools will be affected. That robs those who will be affected of the opportunity to evaluate the impact to their school communities and provide feedback.

After Open Enrollment: The Transportation Service Standards, adopted by the School Board on February 1, 2012, state that bus arrival/departure times and school start/end times must be established prior to the start of Open Enrollment. Open Enrollment ended in March.

Enrollment: The District has not considered the impact on Enrollment if they make this change now. We predict that many families will leave option schools on Tier One because of the time change and show up at their attendance area school, many of which are already over-crowded.

Safety: The Transportation Service Standards state that option schools can have bus rides up to 60 minutes. For an option school K-8 on the first tier for buses, with a bus arrival time of 7;10 am, that means that some buses could be picking up children at 6:10 am. With a 45 minute ride, the first bus pick-up would be at 6:25 am. For bus routes with community stops, the bus stop can be up to ½ mile from a child’s home. It is not safe for young children to be walking to their bus stops and waiting at bus stops in the dark.

Sleep Issues: Young children who require 11 or more hours of sleep at night would have to go to sleep at 6 pm. Research shows that middle and high school students should start school later. This early a start to the school day will not lead to good educational outcomes for any students – elementary, middle or high school.

Parental support and engagement in homework: Research shows that parental support and engagement in homework is an important contributor to student achievement. Yet, changes to school start times will have little to no effect on the core working hours of the vast majority of parents. All it will do is reduce the number of hours that working parents and children have together to read, review assignments, and give and get help with homework.

Impact on Staff: Some staff will not be able to continue to work at schools on Tier One. For example, day cares typically open at 7 am. A staff member who is required to be at school prior to bus arrivals will not be able to work at a Tier One school. This will mean Tier One schools will be disadvantaged because the pool of available staff will be smaller than other schools in the district.

Impact on after-school care infrastructure: Spreading out the bell times for different elementary and K-8 schools will put on a strain on various aspects of after-care infrastructure. Programs will have to staff for longer and pass those costs on to parents.

Cost Analysis: The District’s proposal does not contain the kind of cost analysis the School Board should insist on before changing school start times drastically. Where is the support for the claim that doing this will save $1 million?

Need to Cut Costs: It is disingenuous for the District to claim that if the transportation is not adopted, they will have to RIF more teachers. There are other areas of the budget that can be cut. And, the District is considering the purchase of an office building and buy-back of a ground lease for $3.2 million, introduced at the same May 2 meeting and also scheduled for a May 16 vote. Does it make sense that the District can spend $3.2 million to purchase an office building and at the same time, claim that it must inconvenience thousands of families and adversely affect educational outcomes for thousands of students by changing bus times in order to save $1 million?

Failure to Consider Alternatives: The District has not considered other ways to cut transportation costs that would not inconvenience families and staff and have an adverse impact on educational outcomes. For example, District staff dismissed the proposal of one School Board Director to expand community stops to more bus routes, stating there could be discipline problems at bus stops and complaints from property owners. District staff did not consult with families or staff at TOPS, which is using community stops on all buses this year – without complaint and without discipline problems.

Three Tier v. Two Tier: If the only way the District can reliably operate a three tier bus system is to push back start times to 7:30, then perhaps we should conclude that three tiers don’t work in Seattle because of our geography and travel times.

SCHOOL BOARD DIRECTOR COMMUNITY MEETINGS

Wednesday, May 9 — Director McLaren Community meeting – 12:30-2:30 p.m. at Southwest Library, 9010 35th Avenue SW

Saturday, May 12 — Director Carr Community meeting from 8:30am-10:00am at Bethany Community Church, 8023 Green Lake Dr – Christian Education Building (corner of N 81st and Stone Ave N). The entrance can be accessed from N 81st Street, next to the playground.

Saturday, May 12 — Director Smith-Blum Community meeting from 10-11:30 am, location TBA.

The MSP or Measurement of Student Progress test (previously known as the WASL), begins next week for 3rd, 4th, and 5th Graders across Washington State.  Please click here to see the complete MSP schedule for Lawton’s 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. 

For more information on the MSP, please see the OSPI’s website.

MSP preparation:  It is important that students be at school on testing days and that they arrive on time — please do not schedule any appointments for your child during these dates.  Students should get at least 8 hours of sleep the night before the tests and eat a hearty breakfast in the morning.  Please send your child to school with a water bottle and some healthy snacks to keep energized while testing!  This is not a timed test so students can take as much time as they need to finish, and we encourage them to work at a comfortable pace and to check their work over. We appreciate your support and positive encouragement for our 3rd through 5th graders during this testing time!

MAP Testing for all students May 14th  through June 1st

The MAP or Measures of Academic Progress is a computer-based assessment program produced by Northwest Evaluation Association or NWEA. Each child spends about 45 minutes completing each test for both reading and math, in the winter and spring, with an option to test in the fall. MAP tests are unique in that they adapt to the appropriate level for your child’s learning.  For more on the MAP test, please see the SPS MAP page.  

Click here to see the complete MAP schedule for Lawton students.

In addition, each grade band will have a different color which will follow the students year to year so no need to order a new shirt each year as long as it still fits! Ordering a Field Day shirt is not mandatory and is offered as an option for those who want a shirt.

Order forms have been given to the homeroom teachers and your child should be bringing it home. Extra forms will be available in the front office and from Mrs. Parks in the gym. Colors for each grade are as follows:

            Student shirt colors

K= Yellow
1^st= Red
2^nd= Caroline Blue
3^rd= Light Gray
4^th= Orange
5^th= Lime

Leaders are needed to monitor each group as they share their work.  In order to do this, we need about 25 volunteers.  A short orientation is held in the library at 9:00 – 9:15.  Leaders receive their materials and find their locations within the building.  Students  begin their share about  9:30 and finish  by 10:00.  At which time, K-2 students go to recess and 3-5 students  return to their classroom.  

This event cannot be held without the help of volunteers to monitor the small groups.  Please consider giving an hour of your time to this worthy activity.  Contact Kathleen Dial, 252 2138 if you are available to help.  Thank you for all you do.

There will be very few extra copies to purchase at the end of the year, buying it now ensures your child a copy.

Thank you!

You may have been hearing in the news about a pertussis epidemic in Washington State. Pertussis is also known as “whooping cough”. It is a disease caused by a certain bacteria. Pertussis is spread through sneezing and coughing. This disease is of high concern in infants because they are too young to get the vaccination. Infants with pertussis may eat poorly, turn blue, or stop breathing. Infants are also at highest risk for severe pertussis complications that require hospitalization such as difficulty breathing, pneumonia, convulsions, and even death.

Whooping cough vaccines are recommended for all children and adults. The shots children get wear off over time. Everyone age 11 and older should get a whooping cough booster, called Tdap. It’s especially important for anyone who has close contact with babies younger than 12 months to get a Tdap vaccine. This will help protect the baby from whooping cough. Pregnant women should ask their doctors about the vaccination.

It is important to contact your doctor if you or someone in your family:

·       Has a persistent cough that lasts more than 2 weeks OR

·       Has a cough that occurs in “spells” followed by difficulty breathing or gagging

Consider talking to health care provider or our school nurse, Lynne Carveth, if you have questions or concerns.

The Seattle School Board on Wednesday decided to extend the school year by two days to make up for January’s inclement weather.

The last day of school will be Friday, June 22. Seattle students lost three days of school in January because of severe winter weather conditions. One day was made up on Jan. 27.

The School Board voted 0 to 7 against applying for a waiver from the state, which would have allowed Seattle Public Schools to not make up those two days. Not making up the days would have saved the district about $500,000.

“This is a statement on the value of classroom instruction,” said Board President Michael DeBell, after the unanimous vote.

The 3rd through 5th grade are hosting the Marketplace this year. All Lawton students will tour Marketplace with their class and sample local foods from the different regions or parts of history featured by the 3rd through 5th grade classrooms. Make sure to ask you children what foods they tried at Marketplace Tuesday evening. If you would like to volunteer to help students at Marketplace this year, please contact your child’s teacher.

World Cultures Open House Thursday April 12th 6-8pm

The school is transforming into a worldly celebration. This year join us for the World Cultures open house, Thursday April 12th, from 6-8pm ands travel the world.

The kindergarten students have been studying different regions of South America, while the first grade students have focused on different regions of Asia. Travel through the South Pacific and Australia with the 2nd graders but watch out for any passing kangaroos. Upstairs student have been dicing into adventure, mythology, history and civics. The 3rd grade students have focused on North America, with emphasis on Alaska and the Klondike Gold Rush, the journey of Lewis and Clark, and the Native American and Mexican cultures in the southwest. Take a European tour with the 4th grade students before exploring the vast diversity found in the African countries with the 5th graders. It will be a spectacular display of student learning so come and travel the world through the eyes of the Lawton students. We are positive that you will enjoy the adventure around the globe.

PASSPORTS:  Lawton students will receive passports but the format is slightly different than in years past. The passports will have 2 questions from each area. Lawton students will write answers to the questions on the passports while they tour around with their families. The completed passort will be brought to Customs for an approval stamp and a travel souvenier. Passports will be collected so students can share information and discuss their trip around the globe in class on Friday to continue their learning. Passports for young siblings will be available too so they can check off their travels around the globe. Souvenirs from customs will only be available for Lawton students due to the procured amount. Thank you for you’re understanding.

CUSTOMS:  Students and families can go to Customs after they are finished touring around to get a customs stamp on their passports. Customs will be open 6:45-8:00 pm. Students can go to Customs for their stamps anytime after 6:45. Any students/families still around at 7:45 will be asked to move to customs at that time. Classrooms viewing areas will close at 7:45 and Customs will close at 8 pm. Customs will be located in the commons (a.k.a the lunchroom). There will also be a video with photos from the past few weeks of students engaged in the integrated social studies and arts, world cultures focus.

PARKING:   World Cultures is a popular event and many of the Lawton families attend. Parking is always difficult. If possible families are encouraged to walk to the event or carpool. Please remember when parking on the surrounding residential streets to respect parking laws. Please do not block any driveways and park on legal spots on the streets. In the spirit of respecting our neighbors and the world, we hope to keep our residential neighbors to the school happy.

World Cultures Closing Assembly Friday April 13th 2:15-2:45pm (3rd through 5th grade only in attendance)

A performance of Polynesian dance with Room 103, as well as songs from a couple of classes. Teachers of the classes performing songs will let parents know via e-mail later in the week.