Staff Bulletin: November 24, 2004

• Our first late start of the month will be for a staff meeting, next Wednesday, December 1st at 7:45 in the library. Don will email you the agenda.
• Our second late start of the month, Wednesday, December 15th, will be for Curriculum Areas to meet and begin discussing budget requests.

• The social committee has decided to have a fun, competitive, during-work-hours staff social activity leading up to the holidays...
• On Thursday, December 2nd, we will hold our first annual Staff Dessert Soiree! Staff members who want to participate are invited to bring their favorite dessert in to the staff room to share with each other from 1:30-4pm. We encourage homemade items, however store-bought desserts will also be welcome. There will be participant voting and a prize for the most popular dessert. Bring on the desserts!

• We are planning a CHS Staff Secret Santa week for December 13-17th, the last week of school before winter break. Staff members wishing to participate should sign up with Karla by Thursday, December 2nd. Names will be drawn and distributed via notes in your mailboxes to those participating Friday the 3rd to allow plenty of time for Secret Santas to plan and scheme. We already have 10 staff members signed up!
• What does the Secret Santa event entail? When you sign up to participate, your name/information will go into a pool, out of which will be drawn who you will be Secret Santa to and who will have you. These names will be drawn and the results distributed December 3rd. During the week of December 13th, each day you will secretly give your person a gift (to the individual you "drew"), and you will receive a gift from your Secret Santa (that person who "drew" your name). Friday's gift is typically bigger - a sort of finale and on Friday the 17th, we will have a get together in the staff room immediately following the release of school where Secret Santas can reveal themselves to the person they have treated all week. If you have further questions, see Karla.

• Our staff holiday party will be on Wednesday, December 15th from 4-6:30pm. This year we are hosting the party at Game Day in the Gilbert Shopping Center on Highway 99 (next to Putter's Mini-Golf).
• There will be a no-host bar but hors d'oeuvres will be provided. There will also be a fun, light-hearted white elephant gift exchange for those interested in participating ($5 max gift).
• All this for $5/person, and if you have paid your staff dues, you get in free! Please email your RSVP to Karla by Monday, December 13th.

• The Band department's annual Christmas Tree Sale is happening again this year. It starts Sunday, November 28th and goes until they run out of trees, usually by Winter Break. Hours are from 3:30pm - 8pm weekdays, 10am-8pm Saturdays, and 12-7pm Sundays. See Chris Mudd for more details.

• Churchill Alternative School is again offering their Some Assembly Required class this year. The industrial and engineering classes can assemble your holiday gifts, such as bikes, dollhouses, game tables, even BBQs ... anything you need assembled. This is a fundraiser class and the money raised will go towards buying equipment for the wood shop. Contact Lee Kounovsky at x3106 for more details or to arrange a time to drop off your holiday assembly needs. The last day to submit an item for assembly is December 15th.

• Our outstanding musicians here at Churchill are performing in holiday concerts in December. The Band's performance is Thursday, December 9th from 7-8:30pm and Choir is performing on Thursday, December 16th from 7:30-9pm. Both concerts are in the Auditorium. If you are available, come hear our outstanding musicians.

• Beginning Monday of next week, the annual Churchill High School Canned Food drive will commence. The two-week event is being sponsered by Student Leadership, with Zach Saltz and Jessie Chatfield chairing the efforts. On Wednesday, November 24, the Canned Food Committee will pick up barrels from Food For Lane County to place around the school for can disposal. Most of the food is donated to Food For Lane County, which is often in deparate need of canned foods during the holiday season. Some food, however, stays internal; this food is donated to the Churchill Teen Parent Program and some needy families with children attending Churchill.
• They urge you to participate in the event, and also ask that you energize students by informing them of the drive. Feel free to add academic incentive(s) for students who bring canned foods to class. Also inform students that per every five cans they turn in, an hour of community or school service will be granted . . . just make sure the student has you sign off on his or her community service form. A maximum of three hours of service may be accumulated.

• IHS Hall
• Mrs. Wigmore's Room H-5
• Rachel Carson Room C-8
• Cindy Wilgus and Deb Vobora's Office
• Front Office
• J-Hall
• F-Hall
• The Commons (Two barrels)
• Library
• Teacher's Lounge
• Auditorium Hallway
  
  
• If you feel left out of this mix, please contact Cindy Wilgus or Executive Leadership, and they will give you some boxes for your classroom. The barrels and boxes will be cleaned out every three days.
• Also remember that the Canned Food Drive is not limited to solely canned foods. All packaged and processed goods will be accepted. Loads of cheap goods, such as Cup Noodles and candies, are unnecessary and not desired.
• For the next few weeks, students will be informed of the upcoming drive with announcements and posters throughout the halls. But it is word of mouth that is often the most crucial element in a school-wide event, and leadership asks for your support in this honorable and distinguished food drive.

• We have recently had our parking lots completely repainted with new yellow curbs and bright new white spacing markers so all who park in the lots can see exactly where they should and shouldn't park. However, drivers continue to park along the front yellow fire lane, in the bus lane, along yellow curbs and in clearly marked NO PARKING areas. So, as a staff, let's please set a good example for our impressionable student drivers by only parking in actual marked parking spots.

• The front office area is temporary home to the Register-Guard newspapers teachers receive at the school. Unfortunately, during the last several weeks this has become an increasingly permanent home. Newspapers have not been getting picked up daily and these piles of papers on the floor have created obstacles for safe travel through the office area. If you are a teacher receiving free newspapers for your class(es), please make sure you do one of the following:

(1) Pick them up before school starts
(2) Arrange with the front office for them to be delivered to your
classroom or office
(3) Cancel your subscription if you no longer want to receive them

• All enrollment forms must be completed and turned in to the 4J Risk Management Office by Wednesday, December 15, 2004 before 5:00pm. If you were unable to meet with Manley when they were here at the school, you can still attend the District-wide informational meeting in December.

• For those of you who do not know yet, we are no longer providing bottled water. We have had a filter installed under the sink in the staff room with a spigot to the left of the sink where you can get clean, fresh, filtered water for drinking.

• If you are planning on contributing to EEF, or United Way, the completed forms should be placed in the manilla envelope labeled EEF FORMS located on the 1/2 wall across from the mailboxes.

• It's early, but FYI... the deadline for articles for the February newsletter is Monday, January 10th. Also, if you have activities going on in your classrooms, Karla would appreciate it if you would let her know -- for photo opportunities for the newsletter. Thanks to Katy for her recent classroom activity photo op!