Happy Fall!

I hope that your little one is enjoying his or her time at CCNS so far. And I hope that you, as parents, are too. CCNS is an experience for your whole family, and every year we aim to keep our community and our parent-run school—now in its 54th year–going strong. It takes a village, as they say, and at CCNS it’s really true.

This year we were excited to expand our program by adding a few new teachers.

Stacy Haaga has joined CCNS as the teacher for the Explorers two-year-old class. She was previously a parent and Fun Bunch teacher, and led several of our summer camp weeks. We are thrilled to have her enthusiasm, new ideas, and patience at CCNS.

Jennifer Pinegar is new to CCNS, both as a parent and as one of our Fun Bunch teachers. She has a master’s in education, teaching experience, and loves working with children. Jennifer is leading Fun Bunch on Monday and Wednesday mornings.

Sonja Cox has been a longtime CCNS parent (her 3 children are graduates), an excellent substitute teacher, and our director’s assistant. Now we are so happy to have her leading Fun Bunch on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

The fall is always a busy time at CCNS. This month we have two big events scheduled…

On Saturday, October 15th we’re holding our annual Fall Harvest Dinner and Auction, which is always a great event, but this year we will have a few new twists. First, as you are hopefully aware, this year’s event will have a New Orleans/ Mardi Gras theme. It should be a fun night with spectacular food, a great display of auction items, and a chance to spend some time with other parents.

The Fall Harvest Dinner has always been a fundraiser for CCNS where we raise money for our school supplies and classrooms. This year, we will also be raising money for a CCNS family, the Stanfields.

Kelci and Ben Stanfield’s son Leopold was a student at CCNS last school year, and in May of this year, Kelci was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) – Grade 4, which is a very, very aggressive brain tumor. She was told that she has around two to four years to live at best. In addition to Leopold (age 4), the Stanfields have a younger daughter, Vesper, and an infant, Margot, who was delivered healthy, but prematurely in late August, due to Kelci’s diagnosis. Kelci is undergoing intensive (and very expensive) treatment at the Huntsman Cancer Institute and the family has moved to Toole to be closer to family, therefore Leopold is not at CCNS this year.

As a small token, CCNS will be donating the proceeds from the ticket sales and raffle to the Stanfields with CCNS matching the same amount. Money raised from the auction will go to help CCNS with supplies for our classrooms. We hope that you will attend the event, not only because it should be a really nice evening, but also because it will also help a family in our community that could use a little help right now as well as help our school meet our needs. If you cannot attend the dinner but would still like to help the Stanfield family, you can contribute here.

In other October events, mark your calendar for the annual Trunk or Treat on Friday, October 28th. Decorate your car, stock it with treats, and come to the CCNS parking lot where the kids will trick-or-treat from car to car (or, from trunk to trunk), perform some Halloween songs, and eat pizza (we’ll have slices for sale). This is always a safe, fun family event and we hope to see you there.

And I’d like to highlight one more thing this month…

At the General Meeting back in August, we talked a bit about what to expect when you co-op, covering topics like what to do when you are the snack parent and facilitating play with the kids. But we may have missed an important co-oper responsibility, which is when and how to intervene in conflict situations if necessary. If you’re not sure how to handle a situation with the kids, the teachers have a wealth of knowledge and experience. But as a general rule of thumb, check out the Co-oping 101 article on how to keep the energy positive, productive, and safe at school.

Finally, please look for our parent survey in the next month or so. Though we just started the school year, the Board of Directors and I will soon be planning our class schedule and other potential changes for the next school year. The survey will give you a chance to weigh in on some specific topics, but please know that we are also always open to feedback.