E-News

April 10, 2014

As a reminder, there will be school tomorrow, April 11. A previously scheduled professional development day has been cancelled. To make it fun, tomorrow will be Pajama Day. Students should follow dress guidelines in the Parent Handbook (beginning on page 13).

Don't forget to order your Field Day t-shirts. All orders are due to the front desk by tomorrow, April 11. Click here to download the order form.

Students will participate in the national fitness project Jump Rope for Heart next week. The event promotes physical fitness while raising money for the American Heart Association to fund research into heart disease.

There will be two separate Jump Rope for Heart events at Foote:

• Wednesday, April 16 from 11:45 - 12:15 for all Middle School students
• Thursday, April 17 from 11:45 - 12:15 for all Lower School students

For more information on the event, see last week's Parent E-News.

Foote will host a special half-day conference Sat., April 26 called "Go Out and Play! The Importance of the Outdoors in Early Childhood Education and Development." Presented by the Edith B. Jackson Child Care Program, the conference will consist of a screening of the award-winning documentary film School's Out: Lessons From a Forest Kindergarten, a panel discussion, interactive breakout sessions (including one led by Foote's own Leslie Long) and a keynote address from author and City College of New York professor William Crain. Click here for more information, and click here to download the registration form.

There is still time to sign up for spring after-school minicourses. Click here for course descriptions and the enrollment form.

Join us for Foote Summer 2014! Early and Late Summer Adventures and Foote Summer Theater (with a production of the hit musical The Music Man) are part of what promises to be a wonderful summer.
   
View our summer offerings here.

Here is a sampling of some of the wonderful travel packages that will be up for bid at the Annual Fundraising Auction on April 26. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets.

1) Bermuda: Tuckers Point Vacation Villa - Luxury villa sleeps up to six, private beach, tennis, golf and million-dollar ocean views.

2) Nantucket: White Elephant Hotel - Two-night stay at one of the finest and most historic hotels on the island.

3) St. Maarten: Star Sonesta Maho Beach Resort - Four-night, five-day all-inclusive stay for two adults and two children.

And many more to come...

Students learned about a school experience quite different from their own on Wednesday. Foote alum Ted Crosby '59 and his wife, Becky, talked with students about their experience helping poor Haitian children get an education through their Crosby Fund for Haitian Education. In rural Haiti,  children walk up to four miles to school, barefoot so their shoes (which are required for school) will last longer. Classrooms are ramshackle, stiflingly hot structures, often with no electricity, and water fountains are modified plastic buckets. Most Haitian children don't attend school at all, because they can't afford the modest cost of tuition, uniforms and books. "More than half of kids your age don't go to school," Becky told students. "I hope you see how lucky you are to go to school." The Crosby Fund is working to disrupt Haiti's cycle of poverty by granting scholarships to more than 300 gifted school children a year. To date, Crosby Fund graduates have gone on to become doctors, teachers and other professions. You can read more about Ted and Becky's work in the forthcoming issue of Foote Prints magazine.