Teacher Contracts/Re-enrollment
May is an important month for WMS. Teacher contracts will be offered on May 15. This date coincides with our re-enrollment count and the acceptances of new children who currently do not attend classes at WMS. Currently, some of our classrooms are close to being fully enrolled, but some current families have not yet sent their re-enrollment contracts and deposits. Please ensure your child's place today by returning your deposit with these documents. This will also help us to stay on schedule with teacher contracts and staffing the classrooms. If you have questions, please contact me by phone or email.
Sad News
We are saddened by the passing of three members of our community. We all send condolences to their families.
Elaine Muhlbauer, art teacher Laurie Muhlbauer's mother, was an assistant teacher at WMS for 20 years. She is remembered for her devotion to the children and WMS. She and her husband Bob have been dedicated supporters of our school and our co-op program for many years.
Joan Zimmerman, the mother of Laurie Orsic, passed away last week after an extended illness. Laurie was an elementary teacher at WMS for eight years. She left last year to care for her mother.
Art Hasted, the husband of former preschool teacher Nancy Hasted, passed away this weekend. Nancy taught at the Arden School and moved to the new building in 1993. Art and Nancy's son and grandchildren attended WMS for many years.
Contact the front desk, if you need contact information for any of these families.
Rummage Sale
Last week's Rummage Sale was a huge success. Most of the furniture items sold, and people came throughout the day and left with happy smiles and treasures they had purchased at great prices. Thank you to Rummage Sale chair Nancy Sakaguchi for all of her hard work throughout the year and to everyone else who helped with the sale and donated items. The sale raised more than $6,000 for our operating fund.
Congratulations
Communications Officer Noel Dietrich achieved a personal record for her finishing time at the Nike Women Half Marathon (a race to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) in Washington, D.C., this weekend. Congratulations, Noel, for your efforts to support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by raising more than $15,000 for cancer research and patient support during the past two and a half years.
Heads of School for the Day
On Monday, I had a wonderful day with elementary students Alex and Daniel Ropars. They stayed with me from arrival to dismissal, including an enjoyable lunch in the staff lunch room. We visited and observed every classroom, talked with office staff, toured the downstairs, and the boys shared their ideas about marketing and strategic planning. They also read to children and helped preschoolers with their Mothers' Day projects.
Daniel, who is currently enrolled in the 7-9 program, described his day as "great" and said his favorite part of the day was when he and his brother decided that the empty downstairs classrooms would be a perfect place for a 7th and 8th grade program.
Alex, a student in the 9-12 program, also enjoyed his day, particularly his lunch in the staff room.
"We talked about a lot of things and I met people I don't usually get to see like Carolyn Fuhrman (executive assistant)," he said. "I also liked visiting Joyce's preschool class because she was my old teacher. We read books to the preschoolers and talked about how it was different from when I was in preschool. Joyce said her students like to nap, and I hated napping! I had a wonderful time!"
7-9 students complete NASA STEM challenges
As part of their astronomy study, 7-9 students learned about the history of space exploration and past and current Mars Rover missions. They then completed two NASA STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) challenges. 
