Gateway Communigator March 10th

GATEWAY HIGH PARENT ASSOCIATION

*** The CommuniGator ***

Greetings!

The CommuniGator is a bi-monthly publication of the Gateway Parent Association (GPA) featuring the latest news and notes on Gateway High School's activities, learning resources, and volunteer opportunities for parents, guardians and students.

The Gateway Parent Association (GPA) uses this electronic newsletter as a way for our staff and board members to communicate with our large and far-flung Gateway family.

DATES TO REMEMBER

March 11th (Tue.)             CAHSEE (Exit Exam) Make-ups
March 11th (Tue.)             Early Release (12:10 Dismissal - No Tutoring!)
March 11th (Tue.)             Educational Panel @4:30-5:45pm
March 12th (Wed.)           CAHSEE (Exit Exam) Make-ups
March 12th (Wed.)           Early Release (11:35 Dismissal - No Tutoring!)
March 17th (Mon.)            Friday Schedule
March 18th (Tue.)             Board Meeting @5-7pm
March 20th (Thu.)            End of 3rd Quarter
March 21st (Fri.)              No School (Teacher Work Day)
March 24-28                    SPRING BREAK
March 31st (Mon.)             No School (Cesar Chavez Day)

GATOR NEWS & UPDATES

Monday, March 10th, 2008

*** NEW LOOK FOR THE COMMUNIGATOR!!! ***

Your eyes are not deceiving you!

Thanks to our esteemed IT guru, Kevin McCoy, the CommuniGator not only has a whole new look, but a whole new structure, style, and delivery system. Some things are similar, and some things are very different. You still have the "Dates To Remember" at the top, and the same great, informative articles like always. On the right is our gray "navigation" section. You can jump to any article by clicking on the "In This Issue" section, go to various pages in the Gateway website by clicking one the "Quick Links" section, donate to the Gateway Annual Fund (hint, hint!), or send this to an interested party ("Join Our Mailing List"). On the back end, the CommuniGator is easier to send out, and has a greater chance of getting to you without any dropped articles. It's a win-win.

Thanks again, Kevin, for all your hard work and dedication!

Welcome Alumni Families

Welcome back alumni families! For many of you, this is the first Communigator that you have received in quite some time. We missed you! As you can see, the Communigator has a new look and a new distribution system. One of the very important benefits of our new-and-improved Communigator is that we are now able to reconnect with you, our longtime friends. We hope that you will enjoy receiving our bimonthly email newsletter - even if you just scan it, you'll be able to get a sense of what is going on at Gateway and, hopefully, ways that you can remain involved in our school. So much is happening here at Gateway and our community is still strong as ever. We are particularly proud to be celebrating our 10-year anniversary, and we are spending the year reaching out to our many friends and supporters to thank them for the important ways that they helped Gateway develop, grow and thrive. Thank you for believing in Gateway and our mission and for entrusting us with your children's education. We hope to see you soon!

Fondly, Sharon Olken

p.s. If you wish to opt out of the Communigator (I know how many emails we all get) click on "unsubscribe" at the bottom of this email.

*** GATEWAY ANNUAL FUND ***

We may have a new look, but the message is still the same:

If you haven't already done so, don't forget to donate generously to our Annual Fund.

It is one of the most important things we, as parents, can do for our children and our school.

Thanks to the hard work of our Annual Fund team - Tracy Pore, Jenny Hart, Mirella D'Andrade, Ginny Gjedsted, Susan Hoffman, Barbara Vincent, Anna Johengen, and Eve Goodman - who called parents last Tuesday evening, our parents have stepped up and we are now at 52% participation (1/2 way there to 100%) and have raised $90,000 towards goal of $150,000.

These hard working parents do a thankless job twice a year and we thank them so much!

Congratulations to Jenny Hart who won the Phonathon Raffle, a $25 gift certificate to Safeway!

Gateway is a Legacy of Love and a gift we give to our children. Last year
82% of Gateway parents made a contribution to support the Annual Fund.

Let's make our participation 100% this year!

All amounts welcome and pledges are happily accepted! There are many ways to give, electronic deposit, online donation, $5 a week...Just call us and we'll make it easy.

Please support our School and give as generously as you can, whatever you can to help support our unique programs.

To those of you who have already contributed, many, many thanks.

For those of you who are ready to make a thoughtful gift today, there are easy ways :

1.      Click on the "DONATE NOW" button in the right-hand column and we receive your online donation instantly!
2.     Mail or drop off your donation at the school anytime.
3.     For further information or to set up a plan for easy payments, please contact Tina McGovern: tmcgovern@gatewayhigh.org or call 415-749-3600 ext. 19

*** EARLY RELEASE DAY SCHEDULES ***

Tuesday, March 11 (12:10pm Dismissal):
D-Block     8:15-9:08am
C-Block     9:15-10:08am
B-Block     10:15-11:08am
A-Block     11:15-12:10am
No After School Tutoring!

Wednesday, March 12 (11:35pm Dismissal):
F-Block     8:15-9:18am
E-Block     9:25-10:28am
G-Block     10:35-11:35
No After School Tutoring!

*** IN CASE YOU MISSED IT... ***

After school tutoring will be cancelled on Tuesday, March 11th, because of the panel discussion (hope you can be there) and on Wednesday, March 12th, which is also an Early Release day.

Thursday, 3/13 will be a regular tutoring day schedule.

Please pass it on to your children and we will post the info outside the Learning Center.

*** PROM FUNDRAISERS ***

Two ways to help out - Why not do both?

Eat at Chevy's

The 2008 Prom Committee will be having a fundraising event at Stonestown Chevy's to raise money for this year's prom. Chevy's will donate 25% of each bill (excluding tax and alcohol) to the Prom Committee. Feel free to invite all friends and family and ask them to mention Gateway when they pay their bill. We will be passing out flyers as a reminder closer to the date.

When: Tuesday, March 11
Time: 4:30 - 9pm
Chevy's Location: Stonestown

Call Denise Olivera (749-3600 x31) or Marisa Pena (749-3600 x30) with any questions!

Thanks for your support!

Car Wash!

The Prom Committee will also be having a Car Wash to continue raising money for this year's prom:

When: Saturday, March 15, 2008
Time: 10am - 2pm
Where: Gateway Parking Lot

Any questions? Call Denise Olivera (415/749-3600 x31) or Marisa Pena (415/749-3600 x30).

Thanks again for your continued support!!

*** EDUCATION PANEL DISCUSSION ***

"What is Working in Public Education - 10 Years of Reform"

Come to our Panel Discussion on Tuesday, March 11th at 4:30-5:45pm. Moderated by our principal, Sharon Olken, the panel includes:

Steve Barr, Founder of Green Dot Schools
Steve Seleznow, Education Officer at the Gates Foundation
Ted Mitchell, CEO of New Schools Venture
Russlyn Ali, Director of the Education Trust

RSVP Bani Cheema at 415-749-3600 ext.16

*** GET THOSE PE HOURS IN ***

Alternative PE hours for '07-'08 are Due Soon!

PE credits are due before or by April 30th.

Seniors: this is important for graduation clearance.

Sophomores and Juniors: Note - all old PE hours (from previous years) not turned in this year will not count next year. Please turn in any old hours by April 30th.

Freshman: any PE hours you have collected this year must be turned in this year or they will not count.

5 credits = 60 hours. All students by their senior year must have 240 hours or 20 credits complete.

Turn in all documents for PE hours to: Coach Joe Killmaier jkillmaier@gatewayhigh.org

-Ms. Grimes, Assistant Principal of Academics

*** AND SPEAKING OF P.E. ***

Just in from Coach Killmaier:

Team Pictures Wednesday March 12th at 1:00PM. Meet at the gym for Baseball and Girls Soccer. Make sure you bring uniforms and order forms for pictures.

Girls Soccer - Tuesday March 13th vs Bay School at Polo # 5
Thursday March 15th vs San Domenico at Polo # 3

*** HUMANITIES 9 EXHIBITION ***

The Humanities 9 teachers are excited to invite you to a special event to showcase the work of our 9th grade students:

Learning About Religion, Promoting Religious Tolerance is an exhibition and celebration of our students' achievements that will take place on Wednesday, March 19, 5-7pm in the Tech Center, Library, and adjacent hallway.

As the culmination of our students' research projects on a world religion or spiritual philosophy, the exhibition will include opportunities to "surf" more than 35 websites our students have created and to talk to students about how their websites promote awareness and tolerance of diverse beliefs.

This event is open to the public and will include a potluck supper as well. If you are interested in helping out with food please contact Greg Grossman at ggrossman@gatewayhigh.org

Thank you for your support-- we look forward to seeing you on March 19th!

The Humanities 9 Team is: Kerry Erspamer, Sean Gass, Greg Grossman, William Johnston, and Rebecca Wieder

*** YOUR GPA PRESIDENT REPORTS ***

From Tracy Pore, Gateway Parents Association President:

Announcing The Senior Garage Sale & Car Wash to be held on Saturday, May 3 at Gateway. This Gateway tradition will help to offset costs for the senior end- of- year festivities. Thank you to Jenny and Stephen Hart for chairing the Garage Sale and to Gary and Antonella Goldsborough for chairing the Car Wash. Volunteers are needed for both activities...a great way for students to earn Community Service hours.

Contact Jenny at hartx4@hotmail.com to sign up for the garage sale or Gary at garybg@gmail.com for car wash sign up

The Gateway 10th Anniversary Celebration Party Committee is working on finalizing an off-site venue and date for the celebration to be held in mid-October. Stay tuned for that announcement. In the meantime, we are looking for parents to chair and join an Auction Committee. Gateway has history of successful auctions headed up by parents. We need you to make this happen! Join the party with the Party Committee. Current and Alum families are welcome. Contact Tracy Pore, 10th Anniversary Celebration Chair, at tpore@sfspca.org

Mark your calendar. The next GPA meeting is Tuesday, April 15, in the Gateway Library, 6pm-7pm. Please join us!

*** YEARBOOKS ON SALE ***
But not for long!

Yearbooks are for sale at school. Yearbooks are now $50 and can be purchased by check (made out to Gateway High School) or cash. We have a limited supply of yearbooks, so act fast!

If you have questions, please email Erin Willard at ewillard@gatewayhigh.org