Before our kick off meeting of the year tomorrow morning, we wanted to take a moment to say "Thank You" - to everyone who made last year so successful.  So whether you are brand new to our school or have been around a long time take a moment to read through the below "Appreciation"  and see what we have accomplished together.

PEP 2012-13 Year End Appreciation

Before we begin, a special thank you to Daphne Gronich whose final year as PEP chair was last year. Her tireless leadership and dedication to our school is inspirational. Without her none of this would have been possible. Thank you Daphne. Our success would also not be possible also, without the leadership of our Principal, Joan Ingle. Mrs. Ingle, thank you for your dedication to improving our school. Her guidance, cooperation, ideas and wisdom are an invaluable part of every program below. Thank you.

Fundraising Update:

Our two largest fundraisers both set records last year. PaliGiving raised over $388,000 with almost 70% participation.   Thanks to the leadership of Dawn Houston, Laurie Hudson and Rene Rodman and our team of class representatives for their relentless focus on bringing in donations. Get your check books ready for the 2013-14 kick-off this year in early September!

PaliGala and on-line auction also set records last year, raising over $165,000 for our school. We are so lucky to have the amazing team led by Keri Kraft, Sarah McCormick, Joan Rochman, Toni Frankel, Matt Rodman and Kevin Charbonneau mostly in place for next year as well. A heartfelt appreciation to the extensive team that worked on this money-maker that was also the funnest night of the year for many.

Ruth Laurent-Kocher and Felicia Alexander joined our school last year and created PaliPartners, with the help of our three platinum partners (Laurie Hudson, Michael Elden and Banc of California), they took the program from $0 to over $40,000 in less than a year. They have a larger team in place for 2013-14 and have sold six platinum partnerships before the year has even begun! We can't wait to see what happens next to what has quickly become our school's third largest fundraiser.

Walk-a-thon

Other fundraisers that raised over $10,000 include Magazine Drive (thank you Alissa Bartle and Susan Parlane), Grants (Thank you Erin Karish), the Pali Party Book (brought to life by Diane Monaco, Amy Lally and Katherine Saslow) and, of course, our treasured Yee-Haw Day (thank you to Fati Adeli and last year's co-chair Sarah McCormick who is working hard on planning this year's fabulous day on October 19th).

Other small but special fundraisers include PaliWear (thank you Heather Irving and Wendy Garff), Scrip (thank you Rhiannon Dourado, Amy Jefferson and Angela Aktins), Directory (thank you Terri Lyman), Birthday Marquee (thank you to Daphne Gronich for this and so much more), Book Fair (thank you Teri Rawson, Burkley DuBois, Daryn Eller, Kerry Reid and Kate Rabinov), Bingo Night (thank you Jason Somer, Ainslie Sugarman and this year's chair Kori Sahin), TB Testing (thank you to Dr. Terri Rock) and what would our school be without the most amazing yearbook ever produced (thank you Ann Dinner and team).

Another special thank you to the many PEP supporting volunteers without whom none of this would be possible. Especially our graphic designer, Carlin McArthur, our web designer, Grant Alkin, our Publicity Chair, Lisa Kraynak, our New Parent Outreach Team, Amy Baker and Sarah McCormick, our Room Parent Coordinator, Stacie Hausner, hospitality chair, Catalina Pernisco, and our secretary, Jill Nichols. We are still in need of hospitality help and a webmaster shadow. If you have web designing skills and would be willing to help in this area, please let us know. Also thank you to our PTA team lead by Lee Ann Daly- including Melanie Speiser, Jessica Masterson, Joan Rochman and Stacie Hausner.

Program Update:

Thanks to the success of these fundraisers -and the initiatives of our principal, faculty, governing committees, and Governing Council - our amazing school is still getting better and better place.

Our top priority last year remained class size reduction. We were able to buy back two teachers again. Because incremental class size reduction in the younger grades is not feasible, we focused spending on additional Instructional Aides in these grades - funding extra aides and more time for current aides. We also funded some of the instructors for the school's Learning Lab program which was created last year. This program gives children who could benefit from more individualized instruction the chance to receive it. It was a tremendous success in its first year and we look forward to this being a lasting asset of our school.

Our Physical Education and Music Enrichment programs as PEP's next highest priorities remain as strong as ever with coaches Kris and Jonah and our fabulous Teacher Lawrie at the helm. PEP will also continue to fund our amazing drama teacher, Kiki, for 4th and 5th grade. At the end of the year we purchased replacement equipment for P.E. as well as material to support the development of our TRIBES community in the classroom. Thank you so much to liaisons Tara Sizlo, Susi Cohen and Melissa Standish   who have worked tirelessly with the teachers through the years on the improvements of these programs. We are still in need of a Music Liaison shadow for this year.

Our technology program including our phenomenal lab led by Teacher Val and support for technology in all the classrooms is our next priority. We are happy to announce that, thanks in part to grants received from American Legion and Riviera Lodge, we have been able to fund replacement of the eight year old computers in the lab that had numerous screen issues last year. Be sure to check out the new lab where our K-3rd grade students will go through a curriculum that supports what they are learning in the classroom and teaches them how to type; create with Pixie; program with Bee-Bots, Crystal Rain Forest, and Logo and present with Microsoft Power Point, Word and Excel. New last year our 4th graders also learned iMovie in the lab! Thank you so much to PEP technology liaison Allan Frankel for his continued guidance of our technology program. No one works harder behind the scenes to make sure our children are getting the education they need for the future. Thank you to Allan who will need a shadow this year. If you have technology knowledge and willingness to help please let us know.

Last year was the first year that PEP was needed to support our library and what an amazing year we had. Our Librarian, Jane Jaffe, immersed herself into our community - organizing our library, selecting books and teaching our children. We can't want to see what her second year will bring. Thank you to our library liaison Erin Herron who has worked with Mrs. Jaffe to bring this treasured program to life.

The garden keeps getting better. Its well integrated curriculum is led by two of the most amazing parent volunteers I have ever met - Tracy Judah and Lisa Taylor. The garden curriculum fosters creativity and builds scientific curiosity in young minds.   This year we applied for and received a grant from Whole Foods that will help fund ongoing maintenance of the garden. We are always need volunteers to join our garden team and will definitely need some leaders in the years to come. If you are interested in helping preserve this remarkable program - please let us know.

We again received a grant from Pacific Palisades Women's Club to help fund our Art Cadre and Arts Matters program. Last year during Art Cadre, 1st-3rd grade students created Giving Flags that hang in our hallways and an amazing Claude Monet style mural hung in our garden. Thanks to liaison Kate Rabinov for working with our Art Cadre instructors. Parent volunteer, Alethea Redclay, led a team of 3rd-5th grade Arts Matters parents to teach our children in the style of numerous famous artists. Thank you Alethea!

Another program helped along by a grant this year was our cultural programming which received support from the Optimist Club and Target. Thank you to Kari Weaver and Lisa Robbins who lead this program - and Kari especially for working with our own Mrs. Barbera to create International Day.

Additional appreciations go to last year's Green Team and Waste Warriors chairs, Audrey Plager, Susan Sullivan and Lana Benadek, who worked with teachers to bring the program to life this year; Community Service chairs, Trish Jochen, Ona Barnett and next year's chair Susan McInerney who taught our children what it means to contribute to the world around us with at least one great activity a month; to Science Fair chairs, David Dawson, Kristy Morris and Susan McInerney, who brought us the largest, most impressive Science Fair yet; and to Lost and Found chair Terri Lyman. You all have accomplished amazing things with basically no budget at all. Wow!

There is no way any of these programs could happen without two very important people: PEP Administrator - Tanya Moskalenko and PEP Treasurer - Amy Lally. You have no idea how many hours these women work behind the scenes. Also, a special thank you to Jenny Aragon who has stayed on as Treasurer for so many years because she is just too good at what she does. Thank you to Tanya, Amy and Jenny!

A final thank you to the entire graduating 5th grade class. Their end of year class gift, and donations from Lou Kamer and HDI Group enabled us to upgrade all of the sound equipment in the auditorium. We look forward to listening soon.

A final bit of news for those who missed the last PEP meeting of the year - we were able to respond to demands coming out of PEP's survey for additional teacher training, especially for new teachers, and for more cleaning resources to support the health and sanitation of our growing student body. Thus, we funded two days of faculty training last Spring - covering science, technology and TRIBES. These were in addition to days funded by our school, so our amazing teachers are even better prepared than ever before. Thank you to Mrs. Ingle and the Curriculum Committee for their leadership here. We also have hired after school cleaning support for the first time ever this year.

What an amazing year it has been. Thank you yet again to all who have made it possible. Please continue your support with both time and money. Pali Elementary would not be the remarkable community it is without each and everyone of you. So many people contribute to our school that we are sure we have missed many here. You know who you are. Thank you to you! We have two new PEP chairs on board for this year, Trisha Jochen and Susan Parlane, and we look forward to the best year ever!

Your 2012-14 PEP Chairs

Lindsay Hubbard and Keri Kraft