The new academic year is upon us, and students, teachers, staff and administrators share a sense of anticipation.
Since this will be my final year teaching, it is especially poignant for me… looking back over many decades as a Culver City teacher, student (myself), parent of two kids who attended Culver City schools, and now looking forward to another generation of our family attending these schools…
This year my students will receive a box of crayons and several pencils, as usual. But no colored pencils this year. Our schools, teachers and staff are being pinched in so many ways.
I bought my students some supplies at Office Depot. Teachers always plan on spending several hundred dollars a year on supplies and fun rewards for their great students. Our PTA and booster clubs always pitch in, too, thanks to the support of amazing parents.
This year they will rise to the challenge again, I am sure. Like me, they will send that check to PTA, to ALLEM (or to the booster club at their child’s school), to the Culver City Youth Health Clinic, hopefully, and to the Culver City Education Foundation.
They know that the PTA provides site- specific programs that keep their money close to their home school. They know that their older kids will need to have the superior health services close to campus at the Middle School and Culver City High School that the Youth Health Clinic provides.
But do they know how much the Education Foundation does for their child in their school?
This year my students (and every single grade three student in our District) will get a musical instrument so that they can learn to play and read music. They will have a series of assemblies to listen to jazz, and to touch and play 15 instruments during the course of the year.
My students will have monthly lessons about nutrition, and learn to garden from Growing Great. This year we’ll have more Brightlinks boards to our third grade classrooms, too. The funding source for all of this is theEducation Foundation.
So this year, like last year, I will be writing one additional check. This one will be for the Education Foundation’s “All for 1” campaign. I am certain that this investment will be well spent, come back to my school and to my students manifold, and preserve the arts, music, assemblies like “We Tell Stories,” and computer programs like SuccessMaker.
My property values will stay high, my students will benefit, and my lawn will proudly sport a sign that says “I Support CCUSD Schools.”
Join me in supporting the Education Foundation by going to their website: ccef90230.org/donate and sending in a hundred dollars (more if you are able).
Thank you.
And watch for great kids coming your way.
Ms. Sergant, a teacher at El Marino Language School, may be contacted at robertasergant@ccusd.org
