Dear Burr Community,

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

It was great to see many of the Burr families and friends enjoying pizza, snacks and a movie together Friday night for our first Burr Family Movie Night - it was a very successful effort for the Playground fund with over $1,800 raised as well as a wonderful opportunity to bring our community together.  A hearty thank you goes out to Sloane Goldhagen and Lisa Holahan who planned and executed the event.  Thanks also, to all of the volunteers who pitched in to help with set-up, clean-up and snack distribution.

Want to host the next Burr movie night for the playground?  Contact the PTO Board and we can get you all of the information you need to pull together a great event - our first movie night team has it all laid out for you.  This is a great way for a couple of parents to get together and raise money for the playground while also having fun with the kids!

Thanks also go out to Burr dads Doug Kwartler, Scott Marucci, Jack Morefield and their host Boca Bella Cafe and the Lucky Art Gallery for their Playground benefit concert on Jan 15th.  The benefit contributed $450 to the new playground fund - another successful effort on short notice and a very chilly night!  

A hearty thank you goes out to all the parent volunteers who contributed their time and wisdom to our annual Science and Engineering Week - as always it is a great way for Burr parents to engage directly with the Burr students and a unique opportunity to share something of special interest.  Special thanks to parent volunteers Ted Vahey and Joanne Kotz for organizing the event.

Your help is needed!

In addition to the Family Movie Night and Science and Engineering week, other events such as the Back to School Picnic, Halloween Family Fun Night, The Burr Book Swap, May Fair and the upcoming World Cultures Fair help build and reinforce the fabric of the Burr community.  Classroom enrichment events such as Science and Engineering Week, as well as the entire slew of Understanding our Differences modules, Respect for Human Differences, and Creative Arts and Sciences programming help bring the classroom curriculum to life within Burr.  The one aspect they all have in common is that they rely 100% on parent volunteer commitment and energy as well as funding from The Gift for Burr.   

For these programs to continue there is a constant need for new families and volunteers to help take over organizational and leadership focus as current volunteers and their children move on from Burr. Tasks are not difficult and typically consist of being a point of contact to make organizing an event or effort more efficient.   As we quickly head into the second half of the school year and begin preparation for next year we ask folks to consider taking on additional roles within the number of committees set up to support our classrooms and community events (for a complete list click on the following link: http://burrpto.org/pto/programs-and-committees-2/.

Parent involvement in the school is a fundamental part of what makes the school community at Burr rich and fulfilling.  In the face of constrained district budgets and rapid student enrollment growth parent volunteer efforts are becoming increasingly critical to helping maintain the current excellent educational experience here at Burr.  

Interested in volunteering?  Have questions? Send us an e-mail at pto-board@burrpto.org.

New playground fundraising

In addition to new committee volunteers, the Burr PTO is looking for additional volunteers to help with two new playground fundraisers. The first is an online auction where Burr School families and friends bid online for various items. The second fundraiser is a "Newton Kitchen Tour" - an afternoon where homeowners and their contractors display their remodeled kitchens for community members who have purchased tickets. These fundraisers require lots of parent volunteers to successfully execute them, and we encourage all parents to sign-up to help. There are positions for everyone; if you don't see something that works for you, please contact us. The sooner we get the fund-raising started, the earlier our project can be completed.

To assist in our sign-up process, we have a created an online sign-up. Each position is described on the sign-up page, but please feel free to contact the PTO Board if you have any questions about duties, time commitment, or the fundraising process in general. Here is the link to sign up: Burr Playground Fundraising - Auction and Kitchen Tour.  Thank you in advance for your interest and participation in our amazing Burr School community!

We look forward to seeing everyone at the next PTO Meeting (Thursday Feb 6th @ 7:00pm), the very first Franklin/Burr Trivia Night (Friday Feb 28th), and the World Cultures Festival (Sunday March 22nd) - until then...

See you around The Burr,

Jaye and Jason