MLS PTO

Serving the children, families, teachers, and staff of
Meriwether Lewis School.  

Tonight, Wednesday, February 26 is Family Book Fair Night, featuring a pizza dinner starting at 5:30 and story time with a mystery reader at 6:30.

Questions? Contact Mary Chinn at marychinn@comcast.net or Jane Jackson at mcqueen@pobox.com.

Board of Supervisors Budget Hearing held 2/24

A number of MLS & county teachers and parents were in attendance at the Board of Supervisors' Budget Hearing on Monday evening.  Tom Foley, the County Executive, gave a presentation explaining the overall county budget proposal. The Board, who had just received the budget proposal on Friday 2/21, then opened up the meeting to hear input from the public.  The majority of speakers on the topic of schools encouraged the Board to fully fund the schools and provided heartfelt and well thought out arguments.  There were only 2-3 attendees that spoke against the proposed 1.7 cent (per $100 of assessed value) real estate tax increase.  A podcast of the entire meeting can be found here.

What Next?    

- The BOS will have 3 work sessions (open to the public) prior to March 3rd when they will set the proposed county real estate tax rate and communicate it to the public.  The work session focused on the schools will be held Monday March, 3rd at the County Office building.  We are not yet sure of the time but will communicate that next week for any parents who would like to attend.  

- On Monday March 24th the BOS will make their budget proposal available to the public.  

- On Tuesday April 8th there will be another hearing for community members to voice their opinion on the Board's proposed budget and proposed tax rate.  The BOS encouraged members of the community to attend that meeting to provide feedback to the Board.   

We will be sure to share with you information regarding the budget as it is put forth by the Board and will remind you of important upcoming meetings as they approach.  If you have any questions feel free to email Laura Steenburgh, PTO coPresident, at lsteenburgh@gmail.com

Kids Night Out - March 21st Extended Hours

With the totals from the Box Tops bin that were counted this past week, the FINAL numbers for the classroom contest are in!  

In the spirit of the recent Olympics, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place will be rewarded.  The GOLD medal goes to McFarland's Kindergarten class with an amazing 2069 Box Tops!  Kirtley's 3rd graders earn the SILVER with 1801 Box Tops, and Kuhn's 2nd graders finish with 1709 Box Tops for the BRONZE.  A big thank you to ALL of the classes for collecting so many Box Tops and earning money for our school!  This was the biggest year yet for Box Tops at Meriwether Lewis!  Great job everyone! 

Tech Expert? The PTO Needs You!

This semester the PTO will be undertaking a technological "spring cleaning."  We need help from a small group of parents who can help us examine our website, payment and accounting tools, email, and social media presence.  If you have experience in these areas and a few hours of your time to give (or have a spouse or MLS friend who might fit the bill), please contact Laurel Geis at laurelgeis@mac.com or Holly Stancil at hmstancil@hotmail.com. Help us serve our school and parents more efficiently!

Meriwether Music Flier

Thursday, March 13th 12:45 p.m.

1st Grade Patriotic Show

Star-Spangled Banner - America, the Beautiful - God Bless America - You're A Grand Old Flag - Yankee Doodle Dandy - America and many more!!!!

Wednesday, March 19th 5:30pm

ACPS Honors Choir

Ten of our 5th grade students will be singing with the 150 voice ACPS Honors Choir. The event will be held at the Monticello High School Auditorium.

Thursday, March 27 9:00am

"Sing A Song of Aesop"

3rd Grade Show: Five of Aesop's beloved fables come to life with scripts and catchy songs!

Tuesday, April 29th 9:00am and 6:30pm - 

"Small Part of the World" 

4th and 5th grades are busy working toward their combined-grade Spring show.  The show will feature a variety of music from around the world!

Spring Session II course registration will remain open until Monday, March 10th and you can sign-up online now at Spring 2014 EZ Registration. Visit the MLS PTO Enrichment Zone webpage for the complete spring schedule, course descriptions and additional program details.

Also, school cancellations and early closures have affected most of our Spring Session I EZ classes. Parents have been emailed with the make-up dates, and the information is also available at the MLS PTO Enrichment Zone webpage. Or email ez@mlspto.org for information.

Thanks for your continued support of the MLS PTO EZ Program

SOL Testing Dates 

Community Events

Dana Quist, Communications Coordinator

Meriwether Lewis School PTO

please email mlsmatters@gmail.com. 

Community events are listed by request as space is available.  The MLS PTO does not endorse or have any additional information regarding these events.