Welcome (Back) to the Parent Council Website!

Dear Fort River Families, Welcome (back) to Fort River and the Parent Council Website! I hope you all had a wonderful summer and a great start to the new school year. It was wonderful to see so many of you at this morning's Coffee With a Principal, where we all got to greet Ray Sharick. I'm sure you all join me in wishing him well as he gets to know us and our children. Welcome to the Fort River Community! I am looking forward to working with our new Parent Council President, Sue Borden, and the rest of the Parent Council officers and members this year. Please bear with Sue and me as we work out a schedule for updating this website. I have already made quite a few updates, but you may find that some of the links and features may not be functioning yet. Please be patient: I intend to get them working as soon as possible! If you haven't already subscribed to our Parent Council email list, you can easily be added to the list by sending me an email at: damclaughlin@comcast.net. You'll get weekly email reminders to check the updates on this blog, and you'll also get automatic calendar reminders before the various Fort River events such as the Family Fair and Parent Council meetings. All Fort River families, staff and faculty are welcome to sign up! Have you been getting Parent Council emails this year? Make sure I have your latest email address or else you won't! Once again, just send me an email with your updated address. Also, please let me know what your old email address was so I can remove it from the list. If you no longer wish to be on the list, please send me an email as well, and I'll unsubscribe you. Or, send any email to: fort_river_parent_council_newsletter-unsubscribe@npogroups.org and you will be automatically unsubscribed. And finally, as always, I make every attempt to keep the website and calendar up-to-date and accurate. If you notice a mistake or omission, please feel free to send me an email with the correction and I'll fix it as soon as possible. Thanks, Ann McLaughlin Fort River Parent Council Secretary and Website Editor

Amherst School Superintendent Search

Principal Sharick asked me to share the following with you. Please see the entry below this one for the full schedule of meetings with community groups.

AMHERST-PELHAM REGIONAL SCHOOLS 170 CHESTNUT STREET AMHERST, MA 01002 413/362-1810 413/549-6108 (FAX) Office of Human Resources September 5, 2008 RE: Amherst School District Superintendent Search Dear School Council and PTO Members, As you may be aware, a consultant, Jacqueline Roy of J.A. Roy Associates, has been hired to assist the Regional School Committee in the search process for a new Superintendent of Schools to begin his/her work in July 2009 or sooner. Ms. Roy will begin her work by helping define the qualities, skills and experience that the public is looking for in a superintendent. To accomplish this critical task, Ms. Roy will be meeting with approximately 20 groups representing a broad range of constituencies within the district. I have scheduled a focus group with Ms. Roy and School Councils and PTOs on Monday, September 15 at 7:15 p.m. at the High School Library. The meeting is intended to provide the consultant with information about the district’s current strengths and challenges, as well as to gather suggestions about the qualities and characteristics that the district should seek in its superintendent, as indicated above. I hope that the assigned date and time are convenient for you. Please contact me at 362-1803 or by e-mail at mazurk@arps.org if you have any questions about the scheduled meeting. In addition to the group meetings, Ms. Roy will hold other public meetings as per the attached schedule to which you are also invited. We appreciate your participation in this important endeavor. Sincerely, Kathryn Mazur Human Resources Director

Attention Google Calendar Users

Did you know that you can add the Fort River Parent Council calendar to your Google calendar? Just go to Google Calendars and sign into your Google account. In the search box, type in "Fort River Parent Council" and hit "Search Public Calendars." When "Fort River Parent Council Calendar" pops up, just click on "Add to Calendar." When you view your Google calendar, all the Fort River events will already be there!

Fort River Family Fair--Tues, Sept 16 5-7pm.

Fort River Family Fair 2008 Fort River Playground Tuesday, September 16, 2008 (Raindate: Wed., Sept. 17th) 5-7pm Please join the Fort River Community in celebrating the start of the school year, featuring foods from around the world, drinks, music and games. Once again, pizza, salad, drinks, casserole dishes and baked goods will be on sale. You can bring your own picnic if you like. The sixth graders will be working very hard planning fun games for everyone. The salads, casserole dishes and baked goods come from contributions from Fort River families. Each year the selection of yummy foods gets better. If you wish to donate food for the fair, please bring food from your cultural heritage. Please contact Anne Duffy if you plan to donate food to the fair, or just bring it along! The Family Fair is one of the most popular fundraising and social events of the year, sponsored by Parent Council. Please come and support the sixth graders and at the same time socialize with your friends and network with new families. If you have any questions, please call Anne Duffy at 256-1646 or email her at cattlexstudios@verizon.net.

Staff and Faculty Welcome Back Event

Michele Spirko reports that the "Welcome Back" event for staff and faculty was very successful. Your help is/was very much appreciated! Ray Sharick and many teachers commented on how delicious the food was and how much they enjoyed the opportunity to relax with colleagues during such a busy time. Michele had some difficulty keeping track of everyone who donated, but would like to acknowledge all who helped. Below is a list of those volunteers that she is aware of. Our apologies to anyone who has been left off the list--it was strictly unintentional! Parent Council thanks: Jenny Reynolds, Suzanne Schilling, Ann Becker, Debbie Gabor, Caroline Goutte, Lynn Hayes, Laurel Dickey, Nancy Reffsin, Janet Kannel, Joan Lloyd, Jen Wellman, Janet McGowan, Lisa Oram, Lisa Masteralexis, Maya Rege-Colt, Karen Cardozo, Catherine Sanderson, Carrie Turkot, Ellie Skinner, Sue Borden, Traci Wolfe, Rebecca Fricke, Alison Donta-Venman, and Chris Felton.

Parent Council Thanks Playground Volunteers

Parent Council thanks the talented parent volunteers who helped the Playground Committee assemble the new picnic tables at the playground on Saturday, August 23rd. Many thanks to: Nancy Reffsin, Amy Rose, Peter Venman and Alison Donta, Blake and Michele Spirko, Mike Jacques, Patrick Schilling, Jon Kane, Steve Reynolds, Steve Poulin, Mark Marasco, Catherine Sanderson, and Principal Ray Sharick. Also, thanks to Mark Marasco for the great photos!

Of Interest to Fort River Families

Please note that these events are not sponsored by Parent Council. Girl Scout Registration. A registration night for the Girls Scouts will take place on Tuesday, September 23rd, at the Bangs Center in Amherst, room 101 at 5:45 PM. We would like to invite all girls who attend Fort River School. Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts, http://www.gscwm.org/. Contact: Anne Duffy, cattlexstudios@verizon.net. Calling all 3rd Grade Girls. Fort River's Brownie Troop 324 will be having a Get Together and Get Organized Round Up at Groff Park on Saturday, September 6th, 1 - 3pm. All 3rd grade girls at Fort River are welcome to come and find out what our Brownies have in store for the coming year. An RSVP is appreciated but not required. If you have questions, please contact Liz Larson at 230-3453 or nateliz.larson@gmail.com. Join in the Adventure and join Cub Scouts. For boys in Grades 1 through 5. Boy Scouting includes boys in grades 6 through 12. Sign up with either: Pack 515, which meets at the Masonic Hall in Amherst (contact: Russell Kosuda; work: 587-6587 or home: 253-1663; email; Russell.Kosuda@McKesson.com) OR Pack 502, which meets at the South Congregational Church in South Amherst. (Contact: Julia Mawson 253-2817 email: JSMQUILTSCOUT@yahoo.com.) Sign up is Tuesday, September 9, 2008 from 5 PM till 8 PM at the Masonic Hall (next to the police station in Amherst on Main Street) for both Pack 502 and 515. Representatives from Troop 500 and Troop 504 will be present if any older brothers are interested. Come and see what Scouting is all about. North Amherst 3rd Annual Harvest Festival, Sunday September 28th. 1 to 6 PM being held at Simple Gifts Farm, Located on North Pleasant Street, North Amherst. Get It On the Map. GIS Viewer Traing Sessions. The Amherst GIS Viewer is a powerful system at gis.amherstma.gov that can be used make custom maps, perform geographic analysis and to gather all kinds of information about any place in Amherst. Please join us for this hour-long public training seminar designed to teach you how to get the most out of the Amherst GIS Viewer. Sessions are currently scheduled for the following dates and times: Monday, September 15th, 10:00-11:00am, Town Room, Amherst Town Hall Thursday, September 25th, 7:00-8:00pm, 1st Floor Meeting Room, Amherst Town Hall Thursday, October 2nd, 7:00-8:00pm, 1st Floor Meeting Room, Amherst Town Hall. Reservations are not required. Feel free to RSVP or just come by. For more information, please contact: Mike Olkin, GIS Administrator, Town of Amherst PH 413-259-3247 FX 413-256-4006 http://gis.amherstma.gov/ See Amherst in 3D: http://gis.amherstma.gov/3D. Make Sure Your Child Doesn't Get Left Inside. The Berkshire Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club is starting up hikes and other events to get kids outdoors. Our first outing will be a short hike at Buffam Falls in Pelham on Saturday, Sept. 27. The goal is to have at least one kid-friendly event every month of the year. Possibilities include scavenger hunts, building fairy houses, and letter boxing. Anyone interested in attending family events or helping with the program can contact Nancy Weld, Family Programs chair at (413) 256-8728 or at familyprograms@amcberkshire.org. The Sept. 27 event will be a short hike at a slow pace, with plenty of opportunity to throw rocks and sticks into the water and explore nature. We may get a snack, lunch or ice cream afterward. We'll start at 10 a.m. Our second event, on Oct. 12, will be a hike up Rattlesnake Knob which is a smaller peak just east of Mount Norwottuck, part of the Holyoke Range in Amherst. We will meet at 10 a.m. and may gather for lunch afterward. Contact Leader Nancy Weld for more information (413) 256-8728 or at familyprograms@amcberkshire.org. A note from Parent Council. We will publish information about non-Parent Council sponsored events with the following conditions: 1. The event should be of interest to Fort River families. 2. The information should be sent to Ann McLaughlin at damclaughlin@comcast.net in the form of a short description. 3. Contact information (website or name, telephone and/or email address) must be included. We add new information to the blog every Friday during the school year. Please note that we do not accept announcements of items or services for sale (with the exceptions of children's classes/lessons). Inclusion in this section does not imply any guarantees or endorsements by Fort River Parent Council or Fort River School.