Dear Dragon families,

GET YOUR GREEN ON!!! Whether you are discussing Dragon green, environmental green or dollar green, all things green are about to kick into high gear as Durham starts the 2010-2011 school year. I'm sure, like me, you are doing your last-minute school preparations and wondering where summer went. Every stay-at-home parent is shouting, "Hooray! No more fighting children!" Every working parent is establishing their school-year routines and sighing relief as they no longer worry about the logistics of getting kids from one camp to another. And if you are a new Kindergarten parent, you are highly anticipating your adventures in grade school!  As a parent who has literally been there and done that, I know how much care and work goes into each of these categories.

I hope you will join the “Green” PTO team this year. In addition to volunteer sign-ups available when you meet your teachers, we'll be sending home the PTO packet on the second day of school. This packet will offer ways you can get involved with DES, and it will kick off our membership drive. We hope that everyone sees the value of being a DES PTO member, particularly as we work to embrace both our school's "Go Green" theme and the district's motto: The Power of One!  Live, Learn, Lead. 

I also wanted to let everyone know that we really have taken your survey responses from last year into consideration when planning all events. For classroom parties, we will not be asking for any additional donations on top of the monetary donations given at curriculum night. Teacher luncheons will be done by a Hospitality Club and not be grade-level driven.  (We hope that everyone will still sign up to participate to either pick up or bake food for these events, though, as our teachers so appreciate these special days.) Our Fall Carnival will also be much more economical for families to attend, and we hope that everyone will see the fun and value in participating. We will even be doing some of our PTO meetings online to give our working parents an opportunity to participate.  All in all, we’ve implemented many changes that we hope will make us more efficient and accessible to all Durham families. 

Here’s looking forward to a great and successful school year!    

Warm regards,

Nancy Dockal
PTO President 2010-2011