For the last several years, Clinton School has been the fortunate recipient of Artist-in-Residence Grants from the NJ Council on the Arts. Our 4th grade students have been the lucky beneficiaries of these programs and in the recent past they’ve created beautiful murals with a professional muralist, constructed 3-D ceramic art with a professional artist, and last year, learned and performed dances from around the world with a team of top-notch professional dancers.

The Clinton PTA partnered with Principal O’Neill and applied, and received, another arts grant for this school year (its focus is jazz music) and had even started interviewing artists when we received bad news from the Council.

Gov.-elect Christie has asked Gov. Corzine to freeze payment of all 2010 NJ State Council on the Arts grants until at least January 19 (nearly 14 million dollars worth). This grave crisis is affecting every arts organization and arts program in NJ that receives state funding and it’s also affecting Clinton School since we cannot move forward with our residency until the freeze is lifted. The Council is hoping that the freeze is quick and temporary and that residencies can resume in March but the future of our grant is uncertain, to say the least. Additionally, it takes several months to put the grant into action and complete the program, so there is no guarantee that we will have it at all for this school year.

It is important to let our legislators know how this freeze is affecting our children’s educational experience. Please make your voice heard. Visit www.artpridenj.com and click the Action Alert button to find out who to write to and what methods of delivery are available.

We’ve worked hard year after year to get these grants and implement them into our students’ daily lives. As a PTA we’ve matched the NJ Council on the Arts funds in order to make these programs available. Arts education is incredibly beneficial to our school community. Please make your voice heard as we are in danger of losing this wonderful program.

    –Cecelia Cancellaro

If you’d like to read more about the freeze here are some links: 

Starving N.J. arts: A sad consequence of our budget crisis

Fate of New Jersey Arts Groups Uncertain as State Freezes $10 Million in Funding PND

STATE FUNDING FREEZE COULD MEAN TROUBLE FOR THE ARTS on NBC40

Just a reminder that our PTA Fall After School Enrichment Program ends this coming Thursday, December 10th.

The session was a great success and accommodated more than 160 students for eight creative and fun-filled weeks. Many thanks to our amazing proctors, Lisa, Liz, and Jenny, who kept things running so smoothly and to the parents who helped guide our youngest students during the first couple of weeks, Tracey, Ilena, Victoria, Maria, and Rosalene. And a big THANK YOU to Cecelia for organizing the whole program for our kids!

After School Enrichment will be back again in the spring for another 8- week session beginning Thursday, March 25th (after our All-School Musical Revue), so look for registration materials in late February or early March.

The PTA would love to hear your thoughts about your child’s experience during the session, so please take a few minutes to complete our questionnaire.

Completed questionnaires can be emailed to ccancellaro@verizon.net or can be sent to school in your child’s backpack marked “PTA/After School Enrichment.”

Thanks!

Tomorrow Thursday, October 1st, is the first day of our Fall 2009 After School Enrichment Program! We have 164 children participating and a wonderful line-up of classes.

If your child is taking an Enrichment class, please remind them that morning to go to the gym at 2:35 dismissal for attendance. If they attend the ASP Program in the cafeteria, they must sign in at ASP first, before coming to the gym for attendance. You might also want to remind Ms. A at ASP that your child is participating.

Teachers will be given name tags for students to wear to the gym to facilitate lining up and attendance taking.

When picking up your child, please enter the school through the main entrance. Proctors will be available to direct you to your child’s Enrichment classroom if you are not sure where it is located. All children must be signed out directly from the classroom, unless you have given them permission to walk home alone (3rd grade and up) on the registration form.

Class ends promptly at 3:45. Please be on time. Proctors are volunteers and late pick-ups cause inconvenience for them (and their own children) and anxiety for the children who are waiting.

We’re looking forward to a great session.

If you haven’t heard from us yet it is likely that your child is in their first or second choice class. We have left messages or sent emails in the cases where both classes were full, and we’ve listed the other options.

However, there are still forms coming in so some of you may be hearing from us over the weekend or on Monday.

As of now there are a very limited number of spots available in these
classes:
Yoga for Kids
Trash Art
So You Wanna Be a Star
and
Stories & Crafts

Please check the registration materials for the age groups included in each of these classes.

Confirmation letters will be sent home next Friday, September 25th.

For those of you new to Clinton, please know that the PTA started After School Enrichment about 4 years ago and we are delighted to be able to offer such a program. It does, however, require an enormous amount of volunteer work hours, both administrative and on-site. The program currently runs in the fall for 8 weeks and in the spring for 8 weeks, and each session serves approximately 160 students. If your child does not get into her/his first choice class, we know it can be disappointing, but many of the most popular classes are offered in every session so there will be other opportunities.

We are looking forward to another great Enrichment session!

The FLES Program for students in grade 3-5 is now enrolling students.

The Fall 2009 Enrichment Program begins on Thursday, October 1st. Registration is first-come, first-served. The registration materials will be sent home in folders today, or you can download them from our PTA Flyers and Forms page.