The Family Bulldog Bulletin 5/20/24

TODAY (Friday, May 17) is the last day to fill out the family survey for Briarcliff. Please provide your honest, thoughtful feedback! Use the link below to complete the 6-8 minute survey.

Panorama Survey Link

Hi Families,

Please sign up for Field Day Volunteers below. Thank You. Both times k-2(9:30-11:30) and (12:30-2:30)Only k-2 (9:30-11:30)Only 3-5 (12:30-2:30)

Here is a link to the Field Day Sign Up Genius.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C084AA5AB2CA75-49532027-briarcliff#/

Enrollment for Kindergarten is open. Please help us prepare by enrolling your upcoming Kindergarten early. Here is a link to the online process. All enrollments start online first.

Here is a link to EOG Information. Please read carefully to help us have a successful testing season!

Join us for our final meeting of the school year – on June 4 (the first Tuesday of the month) in the Media Center and on Google Meet.

At 6:30pm, TheraFriends will be sharing a presentation on “Inclusion is Everything: Best Practices for Disability Inclusion.”

Then, during our 7pm meeting, we will be voting for our required leadership positions for the 2024-25 school year. Please make an effort to attend (either in-person or online) and use your voice! As a reminder, all are welcome, but only paid PTA members for 2023-24 may vote (join now!).

The nominees for Board positions are:

• President: Shannon Knox

• Vice President: Katie Robertson

• Secretary: Katy Kranze

Vice Presidents Lance Kronzer and Krystle Nelson as well as Treasurer Anna Hoppert will continue to serve their 2-year terms.

Committees

Please reach out if you’re interested in learning more about one of our committees! Volunteering with the PTA is a great way to get involved, give back, and get to know other Bulldogs. Many hands make light work, so the more the merrier! We particularly need help with:

• Book Fair

• Spirit Booth

• Spirit Wear

Briarcliff PTA welcomes Native American pottery artist Senora Lynch to our fifth grade next week! Our Cultural Arts committee and PTA funding make these opportunities possible for our students. Thank you for your support!

Multiple PTA members have received fake phishing scam emails pretending to come from our president. These emails come from a suspicious email address such as presidet494@onmail.com, and they ask if you are available to talk or help with a task (or a similar request).

If you received one of these emails, delete it immediately. Do not respond or open any attachments.

Remember, please always verify the sender's email address before interacting with a message. Here are tips from the FTC on how to recognize and avoid phishing scams.

A message from the Wake County PTA President:

“NC drops again in national rankings for teacher pay.

Despite the local supplement, beginning teachers are still barely making a living wage. According to the Living Wage Calculator, an individual in a household in Wake County must earn $25.30 an hour to support themselves- no children. Beginning teachers make $28.56, and support staff and bus drivers make much less.

Under the NC finance system, it is the state’s responsibility to fund instructional and operational expenses (including personnel, instructional materials, transportation, and more) while county governments are responsible for the cost of capital expenses (buildings and maintenance).

Because the state has continually failed to provide adequate funding for teacher salaries and Wake County provides one of the largest teacher salary supplements, our facilities are in dire need of attention.

According to the Superintendent’s budget, “the maintenance needs of our buildings have been deferred to create and maintain funding for teachers and classrooms. This has created a constant backlog of work orders, many of which involve regular repairs to heating and cooling systems stretched beyond normal and recommended life spans.” We saw this at the beginning of the school year with many facilities closing because of a lack of functioning air conditioners.

The real power of the PTA is not in our ability to fundraise and increase resources for our own schools. Our real power is in our collective action, in using our voice to speak out for our public schools, our educators, and all children.

Contact your legislators, and talk to your friends, families, co-workers, and let them know that our children deserve better.”

Please note our website address has changed to https://briarcliff.givebacks.com/ (formerly known as Memberhub).

Thank you for your support… And remember, it’s never too late to get involved with the PTA!