Friday, May 14th
Calendar of Events
5/18 Recreation Committee meeting 7:30pm
6/14 Beginners’ Band Concert-9:15 am Cafe
6/17 Last Day of School (1/2 day)
Principal’s Search Update
from Superintendent Ballen
The Principal’s Search Committee has worked long and hard to find the right individual to be your next Principal. They reviewed the resumes of 31 candidates, interviewed nine individuals, and invited four back for a second round of interviews and a visit to the school. One candidate declined, but the other three completed a second interview and visited. At this point, the Search Committee has unanimously voted NOT to forward any of the three candidates to the School Committee and myself as finalists. This is not to say that any of the nine who were interviewed were not qualified, each person had their own strengths and weaknesses. Rather, the Committee has taken the courageous step to say that they did not feel, at this point, that any of these individuals were the “right fit” at this time for Richmond School.
This is a critical time for Richmond School and for our community. The choice of a new Principal is the most important decision that has to be made at this point in time and you should feel fortunate that you have a dedicated and talented Search Committee in place to continue with this process.
Therefore, the Committee has decided to instruct me to RE-OPEN the search and re-advertise for the position. In addition to re-advertising, they are being proactive about contacting any individual they feel may have the qualifications for the job and are encouraging them to apply at this time. I am asking that you participate in the process by doing the same thing! If you know someone who you feel might present a strong candidacy, please contact them or let me or one of the members of the Search Committee know. We would certainly be happy to contact them.
I am also prepared, if this second search does not yield any individuals we can all feel excited about, to appoint an interim Principal for next year and begin the search again next spring. That decision will be made after reviewing a new batch of candidates.
As always, if you have any questions, concerns or comments, feel free to contact me here at school. My office number is 698-4001 or you may try me on my cell phone at 446-1196.
Bill Ballen
Talent Show
Thank you to Mrs. Regina Serkin & Mrs. Kim Lopez for once again organizing and running our Talent Show this year. Thank you also to Diane Piraino, Ted Randolph, Mark Kelso and Tammy Jervas for adding an adult element to the show. A big thank you to all the students who shared their wonderful talents with us that evening.
Kiss & Ride
Please help keep our students safe by only having one lane of traffic into the pick-up area and one lane out.
Great East Festival
Mrs. Mullen and the Richmond Chorus won a Gold plaque at the Great East Festival today!! Congratulations to all the students for their hard work all year. Thank you to Mr. Peter Serkin for accompanying the chorus.
Art Show/Spring Concert
Congratulations to all the students, Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Mullen for the terrific evening Wednesday night. The Art Show was great and the Concert was wonderful. Thank you to Mr. Peter Serkin for accompanying the chorus.
7th Gr Berkshire County Writing Contest
Congratulations to Richmond students Jordan Begley, Allie Glass, Ceci Reynolds, Mia Smith, and Kevin Stasiewski for their participation in the annual 7th Grade Berkshire County Writing Contest. The students spent the day at Nessacus Middle School in Dalton writing, communing with other young writers, listening to a guest speaker who is a writing professor at NYU, and eating pizza. All the students did a great job; special kudos to Jordan for winning an honorable mention plaque!
5th Grade News
Congratulations to Lucy Hoffman for winning 3rd place on the beam with a 9.625 during the state gymnastics competition.
Seedlings
Calling all seedlings and budding gardeners: please bring back to school the seedling you have been nurturing at home. Drop the milk carton with the growing plant in the cafeteria so we may continue to help it grow strong. All plants will be planted in the school garden on Sat. May 22nd (with a rain date of May 23rd) at our celebratory ground breaking garden event from 1-6pm. Please plan on joining us that afternoon to start our garden and participate in various fun activities, followed by a potluck supper. So mark your calendars for the 22nd!
5th Grade Red Sox Raffle
ATTENTION RED SOX FANS!!!!!!!! Your 5th grade class is selling raffle tickets for June15, 2010 Red Sox tickets for 2 people. It is against the Diamond Backs. Cost: 5.00/ticket or 3 for 10.00.
GET THEM WHILE THEY ARE AVAILABLE!!! Drawing June 1, 2010.
Washington, DC (7/8)
If you haven’t already turned in your paperwork for this trip, please do so ASAP. The final payment of $110 ($330 total) is due Monday, May 17th. Thank you for attending to these two matters promptly.
Beginner’s Band Concert
The Beginners’ Band concert will be Monday, June 14th at 9:15 am in the cafeteria. The dress attire will be skirts or dresses for the girls; and dress pants, dress shirts with ties for the boys.
Drawing Contest
Richmond School Children between the ages of 8 & 14. The Richmond Pond Association (RPA) is sponsoring its annual drawing contest. We are asking that you use your artistic talent and imagination to draw some activity, adventure, or experience that you have had at Richmond Pond. The picture is to be no larger than 3”x5”, please sign your name or initials in the bottom right corner. Print your name, age, address and phone number on the back of your picture.
The RPA will be selling stickers and tee shirts with the winning drawing on them for its annual fundraiser. The winner will receive $50.00 and a tee shirt displaying their winning drawing.
Please submit your drawing to: Richmond Pond Association, Linda Kay, President, 39 Cherry Road, Richmond MA 01254, before May 28, 2010 to be included in the contest.
Parent Enrichment Committee- Book/Lecture
We are pleased to announce our spring book selection,
“Worried All the Time: Over parenting in an Age of Anxiety and How to Stop It” by David Anderegg, Ph.D. We are fortunate in that Dr. Anderegg, a resident of the Berkshires, has graciously agreed to moderate what promises to be a dynamic discussion on May 19th at 6:30 PM. Participants will have an opportunity to submit 2-3 questions and/or topics of interest prior to the discussion to help direct the conversation. So don’t miss this exciting opportunity. Get your book and start reading!
See the following links for some helpful information.http://www.drdavidanderegg.com/page.php?PageID=470&PageName=Worried+All+The+Time
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=worried+all+the+time
http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?store=book&ATH=David%20Anderegg
Recreation Committee meeting
Tuesday 5/18 at 7:30pm. The agenda items will include debriefing of the Ping Pong tourney and the upcoming Fathers Day– Reach the Beach race.
Tennis Anyone?
The Richmond Recreation Committee would like to offer tennis lessons this summer for both children and adults. Lessons would probably be twice a week for children and once a week for adults and we would charge a small fee. If enough folks express interest, we will proceed with a program. If interested, please email Holly Freadman at hfreadman@nycap.rr.com.
Donations Accepted
The Pediatric Development Center, PDC, is now accepting “gently used” items for their table at the Kiwanis Tag Sale at the Pittsfield Common o Saturday, June 5 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Items include: children’s clothes (NB-6yrs), children’s toys, children’s books, and children’s furniture and other accessories.
Berkshire International Film Festival
This June the Berkshire International Film Festival will showcase two free family programs as well as an enactment of the classic Yiddish musical film JIDL MITN FIDL (tickets $10 for the play). KID FLIX MIX 2009 comes from the world-renowned New York International Children’s Film Festival and presents a kaleidoscopic collection of the best animated short films from around the world, for ages 3 to 8 and will show at the Mahaiwe at 10am Sunday, June 6th. In SCHOOL PLAY (recommended for ages 3-8) a hilarious, award winning coming-of-age film showing Sunday June 6th at noon, the drama of childhood is magnified through the lens of a 5th grade production of THE WIZARD OF OZ. For more info visit www.biffma.org.