WORK PARTY POSTPONED TO MAY 15TH!

Due to rain, hail, sleet, snow, mud and cold the retaining wall and garden work parties have been postponed. Weather permitting, we will schedule the retaining wall party of 9 am Sat May 15th, break for a lunch and then have the garden work party at 12:30.

Thanks for all that had volunteered and we hope you and many more CH families will be able to join us on May 15th!

Overhaul the Land / Garden Work Party!

WORK PARTY

Calling all able bodied parents! There will be a work party Saturday May 1st beginning at 1 pm (3pm for garden work)! We are in the process or getting the NEW field ready for grading and landscape work. But in order to get that going we need to do some clean up and build a retaining wall.
We need to continue this block wall for about 60 feet to bring up the elevation of the property for grading. Here's a list of what we need:

• Parents to help with the wall
• Parents to supervise the kids (families welcome) on the playground
• Dump truck or trailer (if anyone has access to one)
• Tractor with tiller or bucket
• Gloves, shovels, rakes, picks and rakes
• Topsoil (for the garden)
• Access to retaining wall blocks?
• $$$ donations!
  

GARDEN WORK PARTY

The first grade is working to improve their garden conditions. The garden work will begin the same day at 3 pm. So if the volunteers can stay longer to help that would be great. Else, if you can't make it by 1 pm come at 3 pm. We will be removing a large amount of the clay dirt in the garden and replacing it with more suitable topsoil.

Please bring the family and join the Channing Hall community for a bit of work and a lot of fun and socializing. Several board members will be present to talk to and have some of your questions answered. Light refreshments will be served.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Let me (Karl- kvizmeg@channinghall.net) know if and how many are coming or if you have any questions.

We hope to see you ALL there!

HAPPY SPRI-NTER BREAK AND EASTER!

Make the best of it! HAPPY EASTER!

Borrowed from http://floatingrabbit.blogspot.com/2009/06/snow-in-spring.html

GREEN THUMBS AND MUSCLES NEEDED!

We are in the process of fixing up the new property! Our goal is to grade the land, put in sprinklers and seed it this early spring! We are looking for landscapers to offer help in planning and implementation but will also need a lot of parents that have time and muscle to donate for trenching, raking and building a retaining wall. Supplies such as sprinkler pipes and retaining blocks would be great! Email me at: kvizmeg@channinghall.net if you know of someone that can help.

Now that we own it let's work on making it look better and getting some use out of it for our kids!

CHANNING HALL GLUE

This is a personal reflection I want to share with our CH community and not a general board note. Since our last board meeting I've been reflecting upon why my family chose to be part of CH and why I feel so comfortable on the board.

To come to CH every family had to make an active chose to leave the default system of public education, get on a waiting list and having to drive their children to school. This was at least a little bit inconvenient. Yet all of us did it. Why? I am sure there are many reasons our families could list. But one commonality I believe for all of us is that we wanted something BETTER for our children. This I believe is our glue and bond. We CARED about our children's education enough to take an active role in changing the default option.

In our situation when considering CH as a place for our boys, we were looking for a place that had at least the potential for exploration of and tolerance for diverse perspectives. And I feel we've gotten that. There are many ideologies, beliefs and practices among our families that in many cases might be cause for a strained atmosphere or even rejection of certain members not following the norm. but yet I feel that there is an acceptance of this "diversity" at our school. The reason for this, I believe is that "glue" that we have in common- that we actively "care" about our children. We are able through this focus to accept each other for who we are and work together to achieve our goal- the best for our children.

And that is what is reflected on our board. Personally, as is glaringly evident by my appearance, I am obviously not a member of the norm in this community, So I was initially surprised and heartened that I would be asked to serve. But as I have learned about the members of the board, it has been evident that we are diverse. We have a rich mixture of varied beliefs, histories and experiences, some following the norm and others not. But yet we all have a common belief: And that is, that we want the best for our children at Channing Hall. Furthermore, our bond has been greatly cemented by the countless hours spent together on that single mission. And that, I believe is our hope for the CH community as a whole.

We hope that our family bonds can grow stronger through everyone's desire to help our children and our students. That is a large reason that there has been such a large emphasis on the level of participation- even over that of the amount of money raised- in our Annual Giving campaign. We hope that the CH community can demonstrate unity and support by participating in giving to our school. The amount of the giving is left up to the families, since that ability is as diverse as our beliefs. Give what you are able as a sign of our cohesion for our children.

ALMOST THERE!

Happy St Patty's Day! Happy End of Annual Giving Day! Yes, this is the "official" end of the Annual Giving drive and we are at 60% participation (as of yesterday-the 16th).
This is good and bad.

The Bad: We have not yet reached our 75% family participation level to receive the matching $10000.

The Good: At this time last year we were farther behind in our participation level.

The other Good: The donor has extended the time frame to achieve the donation level.

The other Bad: The board will be calling those families that we have not heard from to beg for their participation.

We cannot leave the $10000 on the table so we must do everything we can to have over 75% of our families contribute to the betterment of our children at Channing Hall. And we wont apologize for that.

What are the chances we will reach the 75% goal today on the last day of the drive? Pray....

I PAY TAXES FOR MY CHILD'S EDUCATION

It is a greater work to educate a child, in the true and larger sense of the word, than to rule a state. William Ellery Channing

Education is more than a luxury; it is a responsibility that society owes to itself. Robin Cook

Education is not the filling of a pail,but the lighting of a fire. Wiliam Butler Yeats

Yes. We pay taxes that go to education, but it is embarrassing that in Utah we would settle to invest the least of any state for our children. Let's not settle for the least at Channing Hall.

LAST WEEK TO GIVE.........!!!!!!