Dear Bolinas-Stinson School Families and Community,
I hope you have all fared well in spite of the recent PG&E planned power outages. Hopefully, this event will improve our emergency preparedness for the future. Thank you for coming together as a community to support one another and make the best of a difficult situation.
UPDATES AND SCHOOL NEWS
Planned Power Outages & School Closures
It is somewhat ironic that as I write this, many parents may not be able to read my message until they regain power. Unfortunately, PG&E states that these planned power outages are the “new normal” for California. While we strive to keep school disruptions to a minimum, keeping students safe is our first priority.
During PG&E planned power outages, Superintendent John Carroll is in constant communication with Mary Jane Burke, Marin County Superintendent of Schools and other superintendents across the county. He has been given the following guidance. If our school loses power during the day, keep school open (if possible). If our school does not have power, do not open school. There are many factors that contribute to providing a safe environment for our students, such as food preparation, adequate heat & light, and maintaining sanitary conditions.
We will make every effort to keep parents informed in a timely manner and share the most recent updates on our school app and website as we receive them. We understand and apologize for the great inconvenience and hardship this may place on families and will make every effort to keep our school open. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Tour to Learn - So Much Fun!
Thank you to the many parent volunteers, staff members, and students who made our Tour to Learn such a huge success! The evening was filled with excited students acting as guides for their parents and participating in fun activities showcasing what they are learning with specialists and in their homerooms.
A special thank you to Rebecca Sterlin and Stephen Trivelpiece and their local restaurant, Eleven, for the delicious pizza dough. I heard from many people that the pizza was one of the best they have ever had! I also need to give a shout out to John Sabbatini, Sean Scott, and Zachariah Maynard for tending the fire, making pizzas, and cooking them to perfection. A giant thanks to Meadow Evans, Veena Lucas, Chelsie Fontan-Walker, Jennifer Tiscornia, Zoe Feher, Camila Campos, Rosa Lomeli, Christina & Bryan Lee, Azucena Vazquez, Ingris Lopez, and Lina Scott for food prep, set-up and clean-up. Your fabulous teamwork helped to make the evening a huge success!
Thank you to parents for your generous donations at the dessert table. We were able to raise $178.00 for our Parent Teacher Group and to help fund future events like this!
Beach Day Blast
I am the luckiest principal ever to be able to spend the day at the beach with my Kindergarten through eighth graders! The water was cold, but the kids didn’t mind as they swam and played on the beach. This special day helps build a cohesive school community and allows staff, parents, and students the opportunity to interact across all grade levels. We enjoyed the natural beauty of Shell Beach one and two and, of course, ended the day with a beach clean up!
School Site Council Parent Representative Needed - Join Us!
Please let me know if you are interested in becoming a part of our School Site Council or would like to visit our next meeting to check it out. This important and fun committee works together to evaluate and improve school programs, coordinate important school events and more. Current members of the committee are Chelsie Fontan-Walker, Veena Lucas, Meadow Evans, Ilie Watterson, Sara Lieber, Omar Rifkin and me! We meet once a month on Thursday afternoons from 3:15-4:30 PM. Our next meeting is Thursday, October 17th - Hope to see you there!
PLEASE JOIN US FOR THESE UPCOMING IMPORTANT EVENTS!
Next Bolinas-Stinson School Community Coffee Chat, Tuesday, October 15th, 9:30-10:30 AM, Bolinas Campus Library
I hope you will join us as we meet to discuss important topics, current school issues, programs, needs, and more! All parents and community members are encouraged to attend this casual gathering and get to know other parents as we address current items that parents want to discuss. Please come to this meeting if you have questions, concerns, or thoughts about our school or if you just want to hang out!
Special Free Live-stream Event! Wednesday, October 16th, 7:00-8:30 PM, Bolinas Campus Library
David and Nic Sheff will be speaking about their newest book, High: Everything You Want to Know About Drugs, Alcohol, and Addiction. Due to overwhelming interest and a sold-out venue at Angelico Hall in San Rafael, we will be live-streaming this event for our school community.
Drug education for children is more important than ever, HIGH draws on the experiences of the NY Times bestselling father/son team of David and Nic Sheff to provide all the information teens and tweens need to know about drugs, alcohol, and addiction.
We are excited to be offering this educational opportunity to our school community with David and Nic Sheff. The book provides reliable information on drugs and alcohol so teens and parents can make educated decisions. Please RSVP below, hope to see you there!
Bolinas-Stinson Library Live-stream Viewing RSVP Link
https://www.marinhealthyyouthpartnerships.org/marin-community-read
All School Assembly, Wednesday, October 23th, 8:25 AM, Bolinas Campus Quesada
This week our 5th graders will host our All School Assembly. We will continue to learn about our staff and students as they participate in The “True or False” game. 5th graders have also been working with teachers, Willow and Sara, to create a short skit. I will be announcing the winners of the Tour to Learn Map Challenge - See you there!
Please feel free to reach out to me or stop by if you have any questions or just want to say, “Hi!”
Warmly,
Michelle Stephens
Bolinas-Stinson School Principal
415-868-1603