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Elysian Charter School
Weekly Newsletter
A Positively Different Public School
February 29, 2016 Vol. 11 Issue 24
Please note that the school newsletter is sent out on Mondays. When there is a holiday, the newsletter is sent the following day. Please send news to lynne.shapiro@ecsnj.org by 1:00 PM on Mondays.
The weekly newsletter is archived on Elysian's website, www.ecsnj.org, so that you can always access both the most recent newsletter as well as all previous ones.
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| Harry's Corner Why Do We Need to Fundraise? On the way to the auction on Friday night, I stopped off with my wife, Lily, to show her our new building. She had not seen it yet. She was amazed at how wonderful it looked, at how inviting for children and how comfortable for everyone. However, I did detect a little bit of wistfulness when she said, “I wish we had that for our children.” Standing in the hallway, she immediately called both of our boys and said they had to come and visit the school. There is no doubt that we could only afford this with the support of Bijou Properties, who gave us a deal with which we could work and with the incredible support from our community as developed through the Friends of Elysian. So the question comes up, why do need to continue to fundraise? I would like to give you some basic facts about our budget. This data comes from the New Jersey Department of Education website page entitled, “Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending 2015.” The latest data cited on the website, and below, is from the 2013-14 school year. - Elysian per pupil spending in 2013-14 was $15,705 for the school year.
- Hoboken District per pupil spending in 2013-14 was $24,318 for the school year.
That is a difference of $8,613 per student. Thus, we received 64.5% of the funding that the Hoboken Board of Education received. When this number is extended over our 288 students, the Hoboken BOE would get $2,480,544 more than we received for the same number of children. That is quite a difference! Yet despite this deficiency we have an amazing staff…highly talented teachers and caring support staff. We maintain a small class size and get great results on the State testing. Even more importantly, our graduates find their way into the top high schools in the area. So why donate? Our costs have gone up with the new building and just general cost of living increases, but our budget has been flat since 2008 (yes, really—this has to do with the State funding formula for Charter Schools). We now must pay for utilities (HVAC is very expensive) and extended cleaning services because we have so much more space (and many more bathrooms). Salary increases for our staff have been so minimal that the rising cost of healthcare has not been covered. Friends has committed to supporting the school, not only in its ongoing costs, but in helping us to expand into 21st Century skills. Again, thank you for your ongoing support. We could not be here without you!
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Auction Results & LOTS of Appreciation
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To everyone in the Elysian community,
On behalf of the Friends of Elysian and our extended auction committee, we are so very grateful for such an amazing turnout for this year’s annual auction fundraiser. From the energy and spirited bidding in the room, it was apparent that a good time was had by all. Of course, the ultimate beneficiary of that is our wonderful school.
THE BIG NEWS: So, thanks to all of you—while we are still finalizing the finances—as of now it looks like we will net more than $60,000 for Elysian, the highest amount ever raised by an ECS auction! The overall success also shows that when a group of caring friends get together, nothing is beyond their grasp.
50/50 RAFFLE TICKETS: A total of 2,210 raffle tickets were sold, translating to a soaring pot of $22,010! Elysian of course receives half that amount: $11,005! Great job, everybody!
Classroom winners are:
1st Place: Ashley’s 3rd Grade class – Pizza party!
2nd Place: Josie Kindergarten class – Ice cream party!
3rd Place: Alyssa’s 4th Grade class – A collection of games for the classroom!
Congratulations to you all for such a fantastic effort! Prizes to come VERY soon.
IMPORTANT APPRECIATION: Nearly three dozen people put their talents, skills and sweat into physically making the auction happen. What a wonderful testament to the commitment we all have at Elysian. It takes a village to host an auction and we are so proud to be a part of this community.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! And thank you to the following:
* All the donors, both individuals and businesses, who contributed items (or coordinated a contribution) to the auction. (A graphic of the donor appreciation sign displayed at Friday’s event listing was sent in the earlier email. Included are more than a hundred businesses who receive many requests and made the choice of supporting our school. Please take a moment to scan them, and perhaps the next time you frequent one, extend your thanks for helping Elysian. You’d be surprised how even the smallest note of appreciation can make someone’s day.)
* Everyone who bought and sold raffle tickets. Each little bit definitely helped!
* Once again, to an amazing auction committee, an incredibly hard-working (and fun-loving) group.
* Harry Laub, whose support, both personal and professional, made this feel like an overall team effort from the very beginning.
* Second-grade teacher Melissa Landera, our faculty/staff liaison, and all the wonderful teachers who helped in so many ways, especially in collecting those unwieldy raffle tickets.
* To Deb Rosner and Susan Gilbertson in the office, who truly went above and beyond to help with raffle and auction tickets as well as facilitating some auction donations and several other vital coordination efforts. (Apologies to Susan for misspelling her name in the earlier email.)
* All of the class parents who helped collect raffle tickets and communicate information about the auction. This was a concerted effort, and it made a significant difference.
* Nicola Hoelzl, Mitzi Joss and Paul Jung for their amazing, artistic contributions to the masterpieces created by the K-2 grades. Outstanding and inspirational. And to the teachers of these respective grades—Abra, Amanda, Angela, Joanna, Josie and Melissa—your help and coordination were invaluable.
* Michele and Jimmy McCue, the owners of Cadillac Cantina, and our hosts for the second year in a row. Your generosity, hospitality, ideas, know-how and calm in the middle of the storm are greatly, GREATLY appreciated. Also a separate note of thanks to your wonderful staff who were so great to work with and made everyone feel at home. Oh, and the food was dee-licious!
Some other quick notes:
* ALL PHOTO BOOTH PHOTOS AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR DOWNLOAD: The photo booth, courtesy of AmazeBooths, was a great success! And all the photos are now uploaded onto the AmazeBooths website at www.AmazeBooths.com. Click “View Gallery” at the top right of the website and choose our gallery from the selection. Our guests can view and download all the photos at no cost.
Password: hoboken (lowercase)
* YOUR FEEDBACK? We’d love to hear your feedback on the event while it’s still fresh in your mind to help make next year’s event even better. What did you love? What could’ve been better? What’s something you would like to see next time? Email us at friends@ecsnj.org. Again, thanks to everyone who made this such a successful night for Elysian!
Sincerely,
Joan Spiegel, Chair, on behalf of the Friends of Elysian board
(Clare Cook, Colin Cook, Cathy Cruz-Levine, Harriet Fitzpatrick,
Cynthia Ng-Villaluz and Danny Spiegel)
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| Basketball Updates 7&8th(Grammer) grade boys basketball- Tonight's game Monday, February 29th against all saints is cancelled due to a forfeit on their side. This game will not be rescheduled.
- Our first playoff game this Friday, March 4th is cancelled and is rescheduled to March 3rd at 4:30 PM at the Multi gym. We will be playing Hoboken Charter.
- If necessary, our second playoff game is Monday, March 7th at 7:15 PM at the Multi gym.
- If necessary, our third playoff game is Tuesday, March 8th at 6:30 PM at the Multi gym.
5th grade basketball:
- There is a snow day make-up game on Monday, March 14th at 7:00 PM against HCA at the Wallace gym.
Small fry (3rd&4th grade)basketball:
- There is a snow day make-up game on Saturday, March 19th at 12:20 PM at the Wallace gym for the 3rd grade team.
- There is a snow day make-up game on Saturday, March 19th at 1:10 PM at the Wallace gym for the 4th grade team.
- We will not be making up the tentative March 7th game against HCA for the 4th grade team. HCA will have to forfeit that game.
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| PTSO Corner Meet and Greet the Candidates - Wednesday, March 2nd, 6:30 p.m.
Before you vote on Tuesday, March 8th, come to meet the candidates this Wednesday March 2nd at 6:30 pm at Elysian school. This is your chance to ask the candidates questions. Meeting room TBD.
Babysitting available. Please RSVP to elysianptso@gmail.com to help with head count for kids' pizza or with any questions.
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| Reminder: Check Out the Lost and Found in the Main Office
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| REMINDER: Parent Workshop - Helping Your MS Child Navigate Tough Choices, Tuesday, March 1, 6:30 - 7:30 (for parents of children from grades 5 to 8) Stevens Cooperative School in collaboration with Hoboken Charter School and the Elysian Charter School (sponsored by our PTSO) invites families to a parent education workshop titled "Helping Your MS Child Navigate Tough Choices." Hallways (http://www.hallways.org/) provides parents/caregivers with the latest research, information and tools to effectively communicate with teens around challenging issues, such as navigating social media, responding to peer pressure and coping with stress and anxiety. The workshop will discuss how to initiate these challenging conversations and equip children with the skills to manage increasingly complex social dynamics and situations.
Hosted by: Hoboken Charter School Demarest Building, 158 4th Street, 4th floor, Room 407, Hoboken 201-963-3280 *Entrance on 4th Street between Bloomfield and Garden
(Note from Harry: The presenters are highly respected and known for their wonderful presentations. Please make every effort to attend...you won't be sorry).
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| Elysian Collects Box Tops and LABELS for Education: Look for the container near Deb's desk in the office! Thank you!
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| FEBRUARY Calendar
Monday, February 29- 5th Grade Basketball Game, Connors/Calabro 5 vs. Elysian Charter 5, 8:00 PM, Wallace School
- CANCELLED: 7th./8th grade boys make up game at the Multi-service Center. SEE ABOVE
MARCH Calendar Tuesday, March 1 - Parent Woprkshop, Helping Your MS Child Navigate tough Choices, 6:30 - 7:30 PM (for parents of children grades 5 - 8, Demarest Building, (enter on 4th between Bloomfield and Garden), 4th Floor, Room 407.
- First grade trip
- 6th grade basketball game, 7:00 PM, Wallace School
Wednesday, March 2- Meet and Greet the Candidates sponsored by the Elysian PTSO, 6:30 PM at Elysian.Room TBD. Babysitting available. RSVP to elysianptso@gmail.com
- First grade trip.
Thursday, March 3
- First 7th and 8th Grade boys basketball playoff game, 4:30 PM at the Multi gym. We will be playing Hoboken Charter.
Friday, March 4 - CANCELLED: first 7th/8th grade playoff game. Rescheduled for Thursday, March
- New Victory Theater workshop at Elysian for 1st grade\
Saturday, March 5- 3rd grade basketball game, 12:10 PM, Wallace
- 4th grade basketball game, 1:50 PM, Wallace
Monday, March 7
- If necessary, our second 7th and 8th grade boys playoff game is today, 7:15 PM at the Multi gym.
- If necessary, our third 7th and 8th grade boys playoff game is today at 6:30 PM at the Multi gym.
- ANNUAL MEETING, 6:00 PM, in the gym.
- 5th grade basketball game, 6:00 PM, Wallace School
- 6th grade basketball game, 8:00 PM, Wallace School
Friday, March 11- 8:30 AM Community Meeting, in the gym.
Monday, March 14
- There is a snow day make-up game fior 5th grade today, 7:00 PM against HCA at the Wallace gym.
Tuesday, March 15- 7th grade trip
- After School Art Salon - Zentangles with Willa and Lilly (more info to follow)
Wednesday, March 16- Half day of school for staff development; 12:30 PM dismissal. After school program as usual.
Saturday, March 19
- There is a snow day make-up game today, 12:20 PM at the Wallace gym for the 3rd grade team.
- There is a snow day make-up game on Saturda, 1:10 PM at the Wallace gym for the 4th grade team.
Monday, March 21- Board of Trustees Meeting, 7:00 PM
Tuesday, March 22- 6th grade trip
- After School Art Salon with Becky Klein Cohen
Friday, March 25 - Friday, April 1- Elysian closed for Spring Break
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1460 Garden Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030
Harry Laub, Ph.D., Director
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harry.laub@ecsnj.org
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Phone:201.876.0102
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Fax:201.876.9576
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