One more week to go in the Clinton School Readathon which ends on Tuesday, March 2nd.

After the 2nd, you can collect money from the sponsors who pledged and return payments, pledge sheet, and reading log to the Clinton PTA. Don’t worry if you haven’t kept good track on the reading log, as long as you can give your sponsors the information they need to send payment.

Please be sure any checks are made out to the Clinton PTA and have a phone number on them.

Everyone who returns a pledge form (whether they collected money or not) will be entered in our raffle to win one of three gift certificates to a local bookstore. The raffle winners will be announced on Monday, March 22nd during morning announcements.

Please return pledge forms and check by Tuesday, March 16th.

And don’t forget: this Friday, February 26th, the Clinton students will have a visit with Horrible Harry author Suzy Kline, sponsored by the Clinton PTA.

Due to the snow day we had on the original date, the district’s Lice Information Night has been rescheduled:

Join the Parenting Center, doctors, and local lice professionals for an evening of information and demonstrations about Lice.

RESCHEDULED
Thursday, March 4, 2010
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Clinton School Cafeteria
27 Berkshire Road, Maplewood

We are in the countdown phase…..

Almost every available seat for the 2010 Tricky Tray/Auction is taken. We can’t accommodate more than 230 guests and we are now over 200.

Additionally, our program/list of prizes is truly amazing this year!

Below you’ll find our list of Live Auction prizes for this year. We like to get the word out about these in advance since many of them might require a little calendar-checking before the actual evening of the event.

And in addition to our usual live auction fare, this year for the first time we are featuring dinner parties. Several families have graciously offered to host amazing dinners at their homes, the seats to which will be auctioned off during our live auction. Here is a brief description of how it works:

During the live auction, our emcee will announce each dinner party separately, the date it will take place, the number of seats available, and the opening bid per seat. If you’re interested in buying a seat, raise your program with your paddle number showing (it’s on the back of the program). Example: Chinese dinner, 8 seats, $20 per seat. Maybe 30 people show their paddle number. At that point, he will raise the bid per seat to $25. This time, only 15 people show their paddle number. He will keep raising the bid until only 8 people are still interested. Those 8 people each will win a seat. (If you’re interested in bidding for two seats, hold up two fingers.)
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One of the most fun (adult) evenings of the school year is coming up fast. Have you made you reservations for the Seventh Annual Clinton Tricky Tray and Auction? We sold out last year and had to turn some people away, so if you’re interested in coming, please submit your form and check as soon as possible. We also want to thank everyone who has donated prizes to this event.

Thanks to past Tricky Trays we’ve been able to buy a climbing wall for our gym, brand new playground equipment, and subsidize a complete audio/visual renovation of our auditorium. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year and your support is greatly appreciated.

If you are donating a prize, but haven’t given it to us yet, please send it our way within the next week. We are busy putting together the program for the event and want to be sure all prizes are included.

Please contact Cecelia Cancellaro (ccancellaro@verizon.net) or Karen Betheil (kbetheil@verizon.net) and we can arrange for a pick-up or drop-off. The deadline for our program is next Wednesday, so let us know as soon as possible.

Lastly, we have lots and lots of great prizes and thought you might like a glimpse of just a sampling. Below you’ll find some excerpts from the Silent Auction portion of the evening. We’ll excerpt more in future emails and we’ll also treat you to a sneak preview of our live auction items, including our new live auction group dinners that are being offered for the first time.

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On May 23rd, The South Orange-Maplewood Education Foundation (SOMEF) will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a multi-faceted event called “A Night on the Towns.” The dazzling program, kicking off a long term initiative to raise significant funds for the restoration of the Columbia High School auditorium, features a star-studded musical review directed by local residents Bethany Pettigrew and Tricia Benn.

The performance will be chock full of local celebrities as well as Columbia High School’s own impressive talent from the past, present, and future! Admission will include a delicious post-show dessert reception, sponsored by the CHS Music Parents Association.

An extravagant pre-show cocktail party will be an additional option.

Invitations will be mailed in late March and information about ticket choices and prices can be found on the site. Since its inception, SOMEF, soon to adopt a new name, The ACHIEVE Foundation, has raised more than one million dollars to support the South Orange Maplewood schools. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate our 20th anniversary than to showcase one of our district’s most valued treasures—performing arts at Columbia High School. Our campaign gives everyone a chance to support this institution. In addition to ticket sales for the show and dessert reception and the pre-show cocktail party, opportunities will be available for donors to dedicate new auditorium seats with a permanent plaque honoring a student, teacher, or special occasion,” says Deborah Prinz, the organization’s director.

Don’t forget that Candygram orders for the student government Valentine’s Day Fundraiser are due on Wednesday, February 8th. The money collected will be donated to the Haitian Relief Effort.

Also, don’t forget that today is officially the first day of the Clinton School Readathon. It’s not too late to get or add more sponsors to your child’s pledge sheet. The Readathon ends on March 2nd and 100% of proceeds will be used to purchase books for the Clinton School Library.