Hearst Weekly Update

Thanks to all who attended the PTA meeting on Wednesday. It was exciting to see so many families support our first graders, hear about changes to our grading policy, celebrate the Owl Fund's success, and discuss traffic safety on 37th Street. If you were unable to attend the meeting, please visit the PTA section of the hearstes.org website for minutes of the meeting. Hope you had a great weekend and thank you for your continued partnership!

Email: attendance@hearstes.org
Website: www.hearstes.org
Location: 3950 37th Street Northwest, Washington, DC, United States
Phone: (202) 282-0106
Facebook: facebook.com/hearstes
Twitter: @hearstes

It was a blast to do the Kindness Rocks project with Ms. Burleigh and Mr. Stacey's classes and they looked great on the front walkway. Unfortunately, the sealant I used on the rocks didn't hold up in the rainy, cold weather and so in the coming weeks, the kids in these classes are going to repaint their rocks with messages of kindness and positivity. Over the course of the year, the goal is to have all kids in the school create rocks and to do that, we'll need to collect lots more rocks. Especially before the ground freezes and snow begins to fall, please be on the lookout for large, flat rocks to bring in to our Kindness Rocks donation bin in the lobby. For more information about the project, please visit http://thekindnessrocksproject.com.

Each year, the District of Columbia Public Schools applies for Impact Aid funds from the U.S Department of Education. Impact Aid is a federal formula grant program designed to assist local school districts impacted be the enrollment of federally connected children. More specifically, Impact Aid provides financial assistance to local educational agencies that educate: children who reside on federal property and whose parents are employed on federal property; children of parents who are in the military services; children who live in federally subsidized low-rent housing; and children whose parents are civilian employees of the Federal Government and do not reside on federal property.

For determining eligibility and computing the amount of payment, it is necessary to conduct a survey of federally connected children who were enrolled in the school district and were provided a free public education on a specific date each year. Therefore, the completion and return of these forms, which determine eligibility and funding levels, is essential.

We need every form returned to Hearst by Thursday, November 16th. Please have your child give the form to his or her teacher or feel free to turn them in directly to the main office personnel.

The Chancellor’s Monthly Community Forum on Tuesday, November 7th, focused on the DCPS FY19 Budget Process and Priorities. Members of our school community were present and were able to discuss the budget process and school needs. Their thoughts and reflections will be shared with the DCPS Management Team as they continue the work of building equitable school budgets. The PowerPoint Presentation from the Forum is attached.

If you are looking for more budget resources, the DCPS Data Center has lots of information about the DCPS budget including:

• Each school’s FY18 initial allocation and submitted budget, as well as previous years;
• Comprehensive Staffing Models for each school type (these were reviewed during your small group discussion)
• Video on “How DCPS Budgets are Made”

Last year's FY18 Budget Guide is also available online, including program requirements, position costs, and more. For a deeper dive into Local School Advisory Teams (LSATs) and their role, please refer to the resources online here.

The PTA would like to thank all of the parents and teachers who taught a fall enrichment class or who supported the fall enrichment session. Additionally, we want to thank Mindy Farrell, Claire Kupferman and Rhonda Forbes for all of their hard work. Without that crew, we would not have an enrichment program. Please make sure you thank them when you see them at school!

Upcoming Events:

• Politics and Prose: If you like books, this is the community event for you. And if you don’t, please buy some books anyway and donate them to the school! Coming on January 28, we will have a fundraiser at Politics and Prose, with 20 percent of the proceeds coming back to the Hearst PTA. The fundraiser will take place that day from 10am-8pm and there will be a table set up downstairs with teacher wish lists!
• SAVE THE DATE – AUCTION WINE PARTIES: The first pre-auction wine party will be held on Saturday, January 6 and will be hosted by the Long Family. The second pre-auction wine party will be held on Saturday, February 10 and will be hosted by the Levine Family. Get those bottles of wine ready and more information will be available in the coming weeks.
• Parents Night Out: Looking for a night out? How about Friday, January 26? Drop your kids off in the Hearst gym from 6pm-10pm and they will eat pizza, play games and watch a movie with four of our outstanding Hearst teachers. The charge is $20 per kid for the entire four hours. We are capping this at 60 Hearst students and their younger potty-trained siblings who are at least three years old. In order to sign up, you must find PTA Vice President Jolyon Bowman on the playground and hand him the cash.
• SAVE THE DATE – AUCTION: The annual Hearst auction will take place the night of Saturday, March 3, so line up your babysitters now! There are a lot of volunteer opportunities—both big and small—to help make the auction a fantastic, successful night. Please reach out to auction co-chairs Christina Burnett at clipp_10@yahoo.com or Kim Cooper at kzaikov@gmail.com to find a match for you. Even the smallest job is critical to the overall event.
  
  Have a great week!

On November 1, Mayor Bowser kicked off open enrollment in Washington, DC. Despite the federal marketplace now limiting its open enrollment period to six weeks, families and individuals in the District can sign up for or re-enroll in health insurance through DCHealthLink.com until January 31, 2018. Go to DCHealthLink.com to sign up today.

Spread the word: On Saturday, November 18 from 10-1 at the National Children's Center, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) is hosting an Early Childhood Educator Fair for child development center teachers, assistant teachers, and home caregivers in Wards 7 and 8.