Dear Community Member:

If you were to search the term "partners in education," you'd find thousands of entries across the country and the world. Some partners are trying to sell something to schools. Others are coordinated efforts to match the needs of schools with corporations or businesses that provide services. Still others are efforts involving joint community projects.

Here in Mount Laurel, the term begins at home. Our parents partner with their schools by sending children to school rested and ready to learn. They keep in touch with us through phone calls or e-mails, and they monitor their children's progress via Power School and parent conferences.

For many, it does not end there. Mount Laurel's seven Parent-Teacher Organizations work very hard to benefit all 4,300 students in our schools. Nearly everyone is aware of the major projects such as playgrounds and outdoor classrooms that have been donated by our PTO groups, but did you know that they also sponsor enriching assemblies for students each year?

At the end of the school day, many of the most popular student clubs that meet in our buildings are funded by our PTO's. Over the years, as budget funds have strained, the PTO's have generously stepped-in to keep clubs going.

We expect that tradition to continue, and although we have eliminated the district-sponsored after-school clubs at the elementary level and reduced the number at both Hartford and Harrington, our PTO-sponsored clubs will continue. In fact, we are looking forward to assistance in that area from another of our district partners, our Mount Laurel Public Education Fund Inc.

This volunteer group was formed in 1994 specifically to support the Mount Laurel Schools, and has contributed more than $650,000 to our programs since its inception. It provides tutoring and teacher mini-grants and has helped tremendously to boost our technology program. The Fund has now offered to help us continue the extra-curricular enrichment of our children.

Late bus transportation will not be available at the elementary schools, and will be more limited at Hartford and Harrington, due to the recent budget cuts. But we are confident that parents will form new partnerships to assure that those children wishing to participate will be included in the carpool.

This will look different from what we know, at first, but I am confident that we will confront this challenge with the same spirit of partnership that has brought us so far in the past.

Sincerely,