The Clinton School PTA prides itself on being a committed, proactive, and creative force. We work rigorously to provide valuable resources and services to Clinton students, parents, and staff, and we are dedicated to reaching every family in our wonderfully diverse community. Whether we are volunteering in classrooms and at school events, fundraising, creating enriching programs for our students, maintaining an awesome cultural arts assembly program, purchasing items—both big and small, or advocating for our school, our students, and our staff, our work has a major impact on many aspects of the Clinton School experience.

When we see an opportunity, we take it. When we identify a need, we satisfy it. Here are just a few examples:

Our auditorium was in desperate need of updating and we raised $30,000 to undertake a complete audio-visual renovation and to install new lighting throughout.

Clinton School needed new playground equipment and the PTA raised $25,000 for brand new state-of-the-art equipment that will entertain and challenge students of all ages.

We wanted to do a better job of communicating with our non-English speaking families, so we wrote and received a translation grant and instituted a bi-monthly newsletter for our Haitian Creole and Spanish-speaking families.

Clinton School is a warm and inviting neighborhood school, with a committed faculty and staff, and a spirited, active, and talented parent community. Please join us as we continue to work hard for our school and our children. Join the PTA, volunteer at a PTA-sponsored program or event, spend an hour helping out in the library or the art room, pick one of our annual fundraising campaigns and go crazy with it, communicate your ideas to the PTA Board, become a class parent, and most importantly, let your child see first-hand the importance of getting involved and making our school (and our world) a better place.

PTA Membership Flyer

Message from Cecelia Cancellaro, PTA President

Although I never thought I’d be president of a PTA, I am excited and honored to serve in this position for Clinton. My work at Clinton has allowed me to become part of a dedicated, talented, and inviting school community, a community that is always willing to share ideas, energy, enthusiasm, and time to enhance our children’s educational experience. If you are new to our school, you will soon witness this dynamic group in action and you will, no doubt, be inspired by the amazing collaboration that exists between our parents, teachers, staff, and administration. You will be moved by how much we care, how committed we are to every child in our building, and how much we manage to get done. If you are new to the Clinton community I warn you that this passion is contagious, and you’ll soon find yourself responding to emails and calls for help, eagerly sharing your special talents, performing tasks you’d never imagined, and having a great time in the process.

The Clinton PTA accomplished many extraordinary things last year. We received a Take Your Family to School Week Grant from the National PTA for our amazing Walk Around the World event, which allowed visitors to experience four countries, all within the walls of our school. Walk Around the World was a museum-worthy interactive event which included music, dance, art, food, and language. It was a celebration of diversity and collaboration, and as such it represented the very essence of Clinton School. More than 70 parents, teachers, and students volunteered to create Walk Around the World, and the event drew more than 700 visitors and received wonderful media coverage. It was also recognized by the National PTA at their annual convention, where Leah Gomberg (our past president) and I were invited to present a workshop that detailed this meaningful event and our PTA’s commitment to reaching every family in our school. As we witnessed Clinton being recognized and lauded on that national stage we realized, all over again, what an incredibly unique school we have.

Last year our PTA also began a successful translation program. We raised money to fund translation efforts, instituted a bi-monthly newsletter for our Creole and Spanish speaking families, and also began to translate key documents and announcements. We designed and hung multi-lingual signs throughout our school building that allow students who are new to English to identify important spots, while native English speakers have the opportunity to recognize words like library, cafeteria, and nurse’s office in languages including French, Portuguese, Gaelic, Hebrew, and Chinese.

As always, we raised money to support cultural arts programming, school trips, academic support initiatives, recess equipment and programs, classroom supplies, and popular events such as our annual Storytelling Night, International Dinner, Pumpkin Patch, and Spring Fair. We completed a big audio-visual renovation in our auditorium and we added three new panels to the much-loved climbing wall in our gym.

The new school year will bring new ideas, new goals, and new accomplishments. We’ll continue to work together to educate, inspire, and nurture our students, and we’ll continue to celebrate who we are and what we have managed to do. I speak for the entire PTA Executive Board when I say that we are eagerly looking forward to working with you to create another fabulous year for our “little school that could.”