Portola Science Fair

02/03/2014
Portola Science Fair
Wednesday February 12th, 2014
6pm – 7pm
Come support and celebrate our junior scientists here at Portola! Your attendance will make the school wide event a success!  All projects are to be taken home at the end of the night’s event, except those moving onto the district science fair.

The science fair  committee needs at least 15 judges and a few helping hands to help set up and take down the event. If you can help in ANY way please email Keith Meuller at kmueller@ccsf.edu.  You do not need a science background to judge, just a desire to support and validate our students creative work.
 

Free After-School Japanese Program

01/20/2014

A new Portola after-school class in Japanese Culture & Language is starting the end of January.
Class will meet the last Thursday of each month from 2:40-3:40 beginning Jan. 30

  • Learn what today’s Japan is like
  • Experience Japanese culture through Origami folding, foods and other activities
  • Learn some conversational Japanese
  • Instructor is a UC Berkeley student who just returned from a semester of research in Japan
  • Students from El Cerrito High’s Japanese program will be assisting with the class

To sign up, or for additional information, please send e-mail to japan-portola@leonardoslab.net 
Please include:

  • Name
  • Parent’s name(s)
  • Phone number
  • Email
  • Any Japanese experience
  • Other hobbies or interests

See the flyer for more information.

Portola basketball is here!

01/15/2014
Introducing the 2013-14 Portola Middle School Basketball Team:
  • Alvin Vilayngeun
  • Darylou Quiton
  • Javon Franklin
  • Jesse Perkins
  • Jonathan DeLaPaz
  • Joshua McCoy
  • Keith Samson
  • Kwesi Guss
  • Michael Soriano
  • Nile Harris
  • Tenzin Norsang
  • Vincent Nguyen
  • Will Sepe
Please feel free to support the team and join us for games.  Here is link to team calendar:
Here are game dates (subject to change):
  • THURSDAY, JAN 16 (5pm) at Helms Middle School – 2500 Road 20, San Pablo
  • WEDNESDAY, JAN 22 (4pm) at Helms Middle School – 2500 Road 20, San Pablo
  • THURSDAY, JAN 30 (4:30pm) at Carquinez Middle School – 1099 Pomona St, Crockett
  • SATURDAY, FEB 1 (11am) at Realm Middle School – 2023 8th St, Berkeley
  • THURSDAY, FEB 13 (6pm) at Orinda Intermediate School – 80 Ivy Drive, Orinda
  • WEDNESDAY, FEB 19 (4pm) at Dorris-Eaton School (Tice Valley Gym) – 2055 Tice Valley Blvd, Walnut Creek
  • TUESDAY, FEB 25 (5pm) at Piedmont Middle School – 740 Magnolia Ave, Piedmont
  • FRIDAY, FEB 28 (TBA) at Realm Middle School
  • SATURDAY, MAR 8 (TBA) League Tournament (location TBA)
Feel free to contact Chuck Harris with any questions:  510-323-4933

Next PTSA meeting Tuesday 1/14 7pm Room 7.

01/09/2014

The first PTSA meeting of the year will be as usual on the second Tuesday of the month, January 14th at 7pm in room 7. We will be voting on the revised bylaws which can be viewed  at the school office and a summary of the changes is available at http://portolanews.com/2013/12/06/notice-of-change-to-ptsa-bylaws/. Also, find out ways to help at our biggest fund raiser “Celebrate Portola”, which is on Saturday, Feb.1st !

After PTSA business, Community Engagement Specialist, Karina Tindol, will present the “Tips, Tricks, and Traps” of disaster preparedness.  Come learn what you need to do in the new year to prepare yourself, your family, and your neighborhood for potential disasters.

You can find the agenda at Portola PTSA Agenda Jan. 14, 2014.  See you there on the 14th!

Our Families Coalition Presentation at Kensington Hilltop

01/08/2014

Kensington Hilltop has a great speaker from Our Families Coalition coming to their meeting tomorrow night to talk about being inclusive and welcoming to LGBTQ families, being good allies, and breaking gender stereotypes. They have generously opened the presentation up to other local parents who might like to attend.

The meeting is Thursday, January 9th at 7:00 in the Kensington Elementary School library at 90 Highland Blvd in Kensington. We have free childcare and can accommodate approximately 20 children.

Special Board Meeting About the New Portola Campus – Thursday 11/19 6:30pm

12/16/2013
From an email sent by Charles Ramsey, WCCUSD School Board President:
“The board is having a special meeting on Thursday, December 19th at LaVonya DeJean Middle School at 6:30 PM. The meeting is not televised, since it is a special meeting, but the purpose of the meeting is to get a status report on Portola Middle School. This will enable parents and other interested parties in learning about when the new school will be completed and when students will be able to start school in the new facility. It will also signal when we can initiate the transition for the Fairmont students and staff.  So please make a point to attend.  We need to keep parents notified about this important project.
Further, I will also initiate a conversation about how to start spending some of the 12 Million Dollars that is unrestricted and can be used on programs. I am going to strongly encourage board members to signal how we can use this money. Our kids need programs and we need to get going on the use of the funds.
We need folks to really show up and make it known that we want this money to be used on kids and not seen as a savings account.  We already have a healthy reserve, state requires 3% and we have 6%.  This 12 Million is in ADDITION to the mandated state reserve. …. We could add more rigor, we could have more AP Courses, also more elementary music and support for more counseling to ensure that our kids have an idea about the plethora of colleges that exist in our country.”
Lovonya DeJean Middle School
Multipurpose Room
3400 Macdonald Avenue
Richmond, CA 94805
Can’t make it? You can always email comments to the WCCUSD School Board. 
 Emails found here:

Bayside Council PTA Needs Officers

12/13/2013

Have you been looking to get more involved in the PTA and meet people in  the wider PTA district? Volunteer to be an officer on the Bayside Council PTA! The council helps support WCCUSD’s PTA’s! WE NEED YOU!  All positions are available:  President, Executive VP, 1st VP of Reflections Art Program, 2nd VP of Membership, Secretary, Treasurer and Auditor. Anyone interested please contact the Bayside Nominating committee Nominque Chico ronique1527@hotmail.com, Toi Porter toipta@yahoo.com, and  Kathy Guarneri Lamaneri@yahoo.com.

Teaching Excellence Award Nominations Open

12/12/2013

The Ed Fund has decided to extend the deadline for nominations for our annual Teaching Excellence Awards! Nominations are welcome from anyone, especially the students who learn from these outstanding teachers.

Selected teachers will receive $500, will be honored at the 26th Annual Ed Fund Teaching Excellence Awards Banquet in May 2014, and will have a chance to compete for the county Teacher of the Year.

Each nominator (including YOU once you nominate!) will be entered in a raffle to win a $300 gift card from Apple.

Read more at www.edfundwest.org/teaching-excellence-awards

Submit your nomination at www.edfundwest.org/nominate