Those of you who purchased the $10.00 “calendar membership” should be receiving your printed calendar within the week. The calendar is also available for download on our website as an Adobe PDF. The Student Directory is being compiled and is scheduled to be ready for you to pick up on Fall Parent Night (September 13).

No problem. Parents may sign up at any meeting, or by going to the Hauser office any time during the school day. Forms are also available on our website or by contacting our membership chair, Maura Doherty via email at mojo1216@aol.com or see the Student Directory for her phone number.

If you filled out the volunteer interest form as part of your PTA registration, your name has been forwarded to the chair(s) of the committees in which you indicated an interest. You’ll be hearing from these chairs when they begin to recruit their volunteers. In some cases this may not be until later in the year. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to help this year.

In an effort to beautify the Hauser landscape, the PTA is launching a “Pennies for Plants” program. Please save your pennies; details about where and when to turn them in will follow shortly.

Box Tops contests will return to your child’s homeroom this year. Have your kids bring their box tops to their homeroom in a baggie with their name on it. The homeroom that brings in the most box tops will receive a prize at the end of the year. (Last year it was a Krispy Kreme breakfast.) Also, the student who brings in the most box tops will receive an individual prize. Go to www.boxtops4education.com to learn more about the program, including which products qualify.

The District 96 calendar for the 2006/2007 year is now available online as an Adobe PDF.

Join us for the first PTA meeting of the school year on Wednesday, September 13 at 6 pm in the cafeteria. Principal Leslie Berman will be there to discuss some of the changes that have occurred at Hauser over the summer, and will introduce the new teachers. Assistant Principal Dan Johnson and Superintendent Jon Lamberson will also be on hand to answer questions. (Hauser Fall Parent Night will begin at 7 pm–immediately after the PTA meeting.)

Haven’t joined the PTA yet? No problem. You may sign up at any meeting, or by going to the Hauser office any time during the school day. Forms are also available on this website and may be returned to school with your child.

Box Tops for Education is an easy way for our PTA to make money. Since we began participating in the program in 1996 we have earned almost $1100.00. In the 2005/2006 school year alone we made $368.00! Our goal for this year is to do even better. We are asking all Hauser parents to please clip the Labels for Education coupons off of products from General Mills, Pillsbury, Yoplait, Betty Crocker, Old El Paso, Totinos, Nature Valley, Chex Mix, Pop Secret, Ziploc, Kleenex, Cottonelle, Scott, and Viva. We get 10 cents per box top! Please save your box tops for the rest of the summer and have your child bring them to his/her homeroom in September. Thanks in advance for your support of this program.

Schools and parents have an important and complex relationship. While Hauser students take on the adolescent task of self-exploration and growth toward greater independence, parents grapple to define their changing role as they continue to best support their child. I’m sure many of you would agree that the nature of this unique developmental phase leads to challenges in maintaining effective home-school relationships.

It is not unusual for parent involvement to diminish at the junior high school level. In their enthusiasm to establish themselves as individuals, students may resist parents’ efforts at school involvement. Parents may not clearly envision how they fit in to this transitional phase of their child’s schooling.

As Mary Jo has so correctly pointed out, student success is positively impacted when families and schools work together. In fact, a study by Henderson and Berla (1994) concludes that “the most accurate predictor of a student’s achievement in school is not income or social status, but the extent to which the student’s family is able to: 1) create a home environment that encourages learning; 2) express high (but not unrealistic) expectations for their children’s achievement and future careers; and 3) become involved in their children’s education at school and in the community.”

As I assume the Hauser principalship, I welcome the opportunity to promote and improve the home-school connection. I will enjoy working with you to determine the most effective ways that parents and the school can join hands to support our students in a developmentally appropriate way.

Best wishes for a wonderful school year,

Leslie Berman