Suggestion - Water Fountain?

Yes, it's been hot the past few days, and it won't be long before cooler weather is here for the long haul, but how would you feel about adding a water fountain or two to the playground. It seems the kids spend a good bit of time running around out there and yet there's no water available until they go back into the building (if it's P.E. or recess) or until they get some at home (if it's after school). Does anyone think adding water fountains to the playground (or under the overhang) would be worthwhile?

PTO Meeting Speaker

At last night's meeting it was suggested that the PTO extend an invitation to speaker to make a short presentation at the monthly PTO business meetings. Suggestions were: a nutritionist or a reading specialist. Is there someone you'd like to hear from? Would you like to make a presentation? Post your suggestions here!

Reminder- Charlottesville City School Board Candidates' Forum

Please plan to attend the Charlottesville City School Board Candidates' Forum

WHEN: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 @ 6:00 p.m.
WHERE: City Council Chambers

Open to the public -- questions from the community are welcomed and encouraged. All of the certified candidates have confirmed participation.

Sponsored by:
The League of Women Voters Charlottesville/Albemarle
Quality Community Council
Center for Freedom of Expression
Virginia Organizing Project

This event will also be televised and broadcast on public access TV.

For more information, contact Carol Hogg at (434) 974-7592.

You Can't Get Enough Pizza! The Return of CiCi's Night!

Mark you calendars: The first CiCi's Pizza night of this new school year will be on Thursday, Sept. 27. Thereafter we'll have Cici's pizza nights on the fourth Thursdays of each month for the remainder of the school year (with the probable exception of November - we'll keep you posted). If you haven't been before, come on out and support a good cause - CiCi’s donates 10% of the evening’s sales to Greenbrier, plus it’s lots of fun for the kids. CiCi's is at 240 Zan Road, in the Seminole Square Shopping Center. See you there!

Another Easy Way to Help Raise Money for Greenbrier

Vocelli Pizza, located in the Woodbrook Shopping Center near Kohr Brothers, will donate $1.00 to Greenbrier for each logo collected from one of their home delivery or carry out pizza boxes. Simply cut out the green logo on the front of a large or extra large pizza and place it in the plastic bin outside the Greenbrier office or in one of the “box tops” boxes near the school entrances on Kerry Lane or Greenbrier Drive. They will be redeemed with proceeds benefiting Greenbrier. To order a pizza, call Vocelli’s at 800-707-1111.

School Board Candidates Forum

There will be a Charlottesville School Board Candidates Forum at 6 p.m. on September 19 at City Council Chamber. School board candidates will answer 3 questions from the Forum sponsors and then from audience members. Sponsored by the Charlottesville League of Women Voters, Charlottesville Quality Community Council, and the Virginia Organizing Project.

Greetings from Alaska!

The Steddums (formerly of Greenbrier, now in Alaska) wanted to write something for the school blog because their children miss their friends so much....

Alaska is the most beautiful place we have lived in our 20 years with the Army. There are mountains everywhere, and we even have a moose family that lives in our yard. That is real cool. Right now the temperature is 48* and our high today is 61*. The warmest it's been this summer is 72* and that felt pretty warm to us. At 48* people wear shorts and no jackets, not something we would have done down there. Right now we have 14 hours of daylight but when we arrived in June, there was 20 hours. We lose 5 minutes of daylight each day so pretty soon we will only have daylight for 4 hours each day. We are told it is supposed to start snowing in about 4 weeks. Kimo and LeiLani love their school and are making new friends quickly. Though I must say that school-wise, Greenbrier is way more advanced than they are up here.

It has been a shock and adjustment but I do believe it's going well. We miss all of our friends from the area and I personally miss walking into the school and having everyone know my name. Greenbrier was more than our school, everyone became our family and during our year without the kids' dad, everyone made us feel like they were there if we needed anything and I do thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Be on the lookout for an Alaskan basket at the silent auction and bid bid bid. You may even find a note in there from us.

Take care and have a wonderful school year. We miss you all very much and hope to hear from you soon.

The Steddums

PTO Mailing List

Lorie and Willa have done a great job building and maintaining the PTO's e-mail list, but updating it to reflect its members' changing e-mail addresses can be a challenge. We think it is time to take another step forward and migrate the mailing list to avenue.org. This will help simplify the management of the list and ensure that all PTO mailings are always sent to the same group of addresses.

Soon you will begin receiving PTO-related mailings through avenue.org courtesy of the "Greenbrier PTO Mailing List" (a/k/a pto.frogblog@gmail.com). Be on the look-out for the new messages! Occasionally, users have reported that these messages wind up in their "spam" folder, so check there occasionally for PTO messages. If you find a PTO message in your spam folder, just add the sender to your "approved" list or otherwise identify us as non-spammers. Don't worry, we won't try to sell you cut rate pharmaceuticals, approve your loan application, or wire the king of Nigeria's money to you - ha ha. All kidding aside, though, the new list will not be used for commercial purposes, and avenue.org will not share your e-mail address with anyone else.

For safety reasons we have established the list as a "closed" mailing list - meaning that the PTO must approve additions to the list and address changes. If you need to update the e-mail address you have on file with the PTO, please e-mail pto.frogblog@gmail.com with the new information. If you have any other questions about the new mailing list, please get in touch with Lorie, Willa, Sabra Timmins or me, and we can give you more information.

Fun Fair Silent Auction

Last year, the PTO doubled the proceeds of the Fall Fun Fair by adding a Silent Auction. We're looking for your help this year to make this year's auction even better. Please begin thinking about something fun that your family could donate to the auction.

Popular items last year included theme baskets (movie night, arts and crafts, books etc.), gift certificates, lessons (knitting, yoga, etc.), artwork, and baked goods. Some generous parents also donated their time and talents, such as an afternoon riding along with a horse vet or a kitchen design consultation.

The sky's the limit, and we'd love to use this blog as a place where people can suggest and discuss donation ideas. Maybe you've got tons of ideas, but limited time and budget. A less creative soul might appreciate your suggestion! Anyone?

Please have your donation turned in by Friday, September 28 so that we can get organized in time for the Fun Fair on October 5th.

Please contact the Silent Auction co-chairs if you have any questions or to make a donation. Donations can also be placed in the PTO mailbox in the Greenbrier office.

Beth Gehle
Kristy Amacker
PTO Silent Auction Co-Chairs
elizabeth.gehle@ccs.k12.va.us