Middle School Play

May 03, 2010

Hello Parents,

Daryl's 7th and 8th grade classes are going to perform "Romeo and Juliet" at the
end of the year and we are looking for parents who would like to participate.
Daryl is conducting auditions this week and will begin rehearsals after school
starting the week of May 10th. You do not need to have a lot of experience in
this field just the willingness to help. What we are looking for:

People who have acted to help students understand line study, memorizing lines,
blocking and assisting Daryl

Costumes, assisting with making, designing

Set Design, assisting with making, designing

We will have students that might have siblings that need to stay, so we would
like to have activities for them. An art project or dance, something that might
relate to Shakespeare. I am sure a lot of you would have great ideas.

We also will need help with promotion, posters , flyers. Help with getting
things donated. If you have phone time or are good with promotion it would be
helpful.

If you are interested please e-mail me at heatherpain@mac.com and I will put you
on the master list and you will receive schedules, notices of what needs to
happen, that way you can let me know what days you can help, etc...

The play will take place in June. We have a short time to accomplish a lot of
things, so the more parents involved with supporting the middle school kids in
this adventure the more chance of a smooth running show.

Thank you so much for your time,

Heather Pain
heatherpain@mac.com
 

Tags: Parents , Students , 7th Grade , 8th Grade

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OCS - Thank you!

March 10, 2010

Dear Odyssey Families,

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP. Because of your generous donations of time and money, we
were able to raise $720 at the brunch and arts "50-50" on Feb 27. This is
GREAT. Your participation is really moving us forward!!

Also our ebay sales raised $721.58 in the month of February. Thank you for the
donations! Keep those items coming in to Ellen for more ebay auctions.

Even our box tops just brought in $37. Every little bit helps!

Keep up the good work, everyone!
 

Tags: Parents , OPPG , Fundraiser

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Odyssey - We need YOU!

February 22, 2010

Dear Odyssey Families,

Please take a minute to look down this list, and make sure you are supporting
Odyssey in every way that you possibly can. Many of these fundraisers don't
cost you a cent!

I have written this in a format that you can cut and paste below and send it out
to your family and friends. Please feel free to personalize it – add your
child's name. If many of our extended families and friends can sign up for
these programs, we might start to make dent in our huge budget crisis. Please
HELP!

Dear Friends & Family,

As many of you know, the funds for schools continue to get cut by our State, and
we need everyone to step in personally to make a difference in the education of
our children. My child's school has several programs that you can sign up for
to help. Please take a look. Some of them don't cost you anything, other than
a minute or two of your time. We need your help!

Our main fundraiser is our Annual Campaign. We are asking every family to
PLEASE donate any amount they feel they can to our Annual Campaign. Ask your
friends and family to make Odyssey their charity for 2010, by making their
donation to our Annual Campaign! You can send cash or a check to our Main Office
or mail it to us at 725 West Altadena Drive, Altadena, CA 91001.

Just click one of the donate buttons on our website for a one-time donation or a
monthly pledge:
http://www.odysseycharterschool.org/support/donations.cfm

Programs that don't cost you anything:

eScrip:
Every time you use your credit and/or debit cards to shop, a percentage of the
money goes directly to our school. Once you've registered your debit, credit
and Vons Club cards, you don't have to do anything more. Encourage all of your
friends and family to sign up their cards.
Check out the eScrip merchant list at www.escrip.com. Register or renew at
www.escrip.com or 800-801-4973 for Odyssey Charter School, Group I.D. #137822784

Box Tops for Education
Earn cash for school by clipping, saving and bringing in the box tops from
popular General Mills products. Products include: Cheerios, Rice Chex, Yoplait,
Pillsbury Dinner Rolls, Betty Crocker Complete Meals, Progresso Soup, Gold Medal
Flour, etc.

RALPHS Community Contribution Program
Do you shop at Ralphs? Any family with a Ralph's card should be sure to
register! Go to: http://www.ralphs.com/ccprogram.htm and click on participant
sign up. You will need your Ralph's Club Number, and Odyssey's NPO # 80125

Target Stores - Take Charge Of Education
Do you shop at Target? If you sign up for a free Target Visa card, then Odyssey
will be given 1% of everything you spend at Target. Only 14 families have
signed up for this, and yet Target has paid Odyssey $1,987.64 since the program
began. Imagine the amount we could make if everyone who shopped at Target could
sign up! Visit www.target.com/tcoe or go to the in-store kiosk to designate
Odyssey Charter School in Altadena, CA as your school of choice.

Donate Your Vehicle
If you are getting rid of your old vehicle, please consider donating it for
Odyssey. Online at www.cars4causes.com – Or call 1-800-766-2273
(1-800-766-CARE) OCS is registered with cars4causes, so make your donation to
"Odyssey Charter School".

One Cause
Sign up to Join One Cause, and when you use it as your gateway to your normal
internet shopping, One Cause will donate a portion to Odyssey. You can also use
their search bar, and for every search, Odyssey will get 2 cents.
http://www.onecause.com/schools/odyssey-charter-school--4

Ink Cartridge and Cell Phone Recycling
Bring all your empty ink cartridges and old cell phones to the front office, and
we will turn them in for cash! You can check this list here to see which ones
qualify, and how much we will get for it:
http://www.recycletoearn.com/qualifying_lists.aspx
Or just bring them all in, and let us do the checking. Put a box in your office
at work and get your whole office in on the recycling. It is good for the
environment, and for our school!

Other programs:

Ebay
Do you have an item to donate to Odyssey? The proceeds will be donated in your
name as a cash donation! That means your donation will not only help the school
raise money, but you can also write it off as a CASH DONATION! Ellen will sell
any item (or group of items) with a value over $100. Contact Ellen Glasston
Eglasston@earthlink.net 213-300-3404.

Ebay for Entertainment Items:
We also have an Online Auction set up for high priced entertainment items.
Things like tickets to shows, meet & greet opportunities, autographed
memorabilia, or any other industry-related items. Do you have contacts in the
industry? You can view our page at www.ebay.com/ocs. Contact Carlos at
carlosg@ocsmail.org if you have something to donate.

Upcoming Fundraising Events:

Feb. 27, 2010 10:00am – 2:30pm Firefly Bistro Brunch & Art Event (12-4)
50/50* BRUNCH and KIDS ARTS AFTERNOON
Firefly Bistro in South Pasadena invites Odyssey families and friends to enjoy
to an amazing brunch, and half-yes half, will be donated back to Odyssey!
After you dine, drop off the kids for an afternoon of ART at Space Gallery's
"Open Studio". Kids explore materials and create arts and crafts projects to
their hearts' content. $20/child covers everything from 12-4 and half-yes half,
will be donated back to Odyssey!

Apr 30, 2010 Run-4-Fun
Start collecting pledges now from your friends, family, and co-workers.
Supporters can pledge per lap that your student will run, or a flat amount. All
students participate, and we need all families to support this fun event! Watch
your Thursday packet for more information. Last year we raised over $15,000,
and this year with 60 more kids I think we can top $20,000!

May 15, 2010 - Spring Rummage Sale
Start saving your rummage sale items to bring in for our May Rummage Sale!

June 5, 2010 – Save the Date-- CASINO NIGHT @ Mijares Mexican Restaurant.
This will be our major Spring Fundraiser Event. More details to follow soon

We thank our amazing community for all the incredible support. Please help us
keep our great school alive by contributing in every way possible.

Thank you from your Odyssey Parent Group.

Tags: Parents , OPPG , Fundraiser

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OPPG Ebay Fundraiser Update

February 14, 2010

We have our first two items listed on Ebay and are looking for
more! Do you have an item to donate to Odyssey? The
proceeds will be donated in your name as a cash donation!
That means your donation will not only help the school raise
money, but you can also write it off as a CASH DONATION!
This is an ongoing fundraiser, so feel free to contact me any
time with items you would like to donate!

Ellen Glasston
Eglasston@earthlink.net
213‐300‐3404

Tags: Parents , OPPG , Fundraiser

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Spring Fundraiser Planning Meeting

February 12, 2010

Thursday, Feb 18
6:30pm - 8:00pm
Community Hall

Are you able to help plan our big Spring Fundraiser? We need help! Join us for
an Organizational Meeting on next Thursday at 6:30pm.

Questions can be addressed to Committee Chair, Neil Kubon at
NeilKubon@corpcon.net.

If you want to help, but can't attend the meeting, please let Neil know!

Tags: Parents , OPPG , Fundraiser

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Special Board Meeting Details

February 11, 2010

Dear Parents,

Before I give you all the details about the special board meeting on the budget,
I wanted to start with several important points:

1. Odyssey will have to cut AT LEAST $60,000 MORE from our budget for the
2010-2011 school year.

2. We have already cut over $215,000 from this year's budget.

3. We may have to raise class size, cut PE and cut key office positions. These
cuts will hurt!

4. We have raised about $25,000 in our Annual Campaign. This is good, but we
need to do better.

5. Over 70% of our families have not yet contributed to the Annual Campaign.

6. We need 100% of our families to contribute the Annual Campaign.

7. You can make either a one-time gift or a monthly contribution.

8. The amount that you give does not matter, but we need more families to give.

9. If we raise more money, we won't have to see as many cuts!!!

10. Go to www.odysseycharterschool.org and click on the orange DONATE button on
the right side of the page.

The board meeting on Tuesday evening (2/9) started with a budget study session
presented by Richard Vasquez, the Vice President of School Finance from ExEd
(our business office). He started by explaining how charter schools are funded.

Our largest funding source is our Average Daily Attendance (ADA) funding.
Currently, we are being told that we are to expect another cut in ADA funds for
next year (2010-11), an additional reduction of at least $60,000.

Just as a reminder, we have already had to cut $215,500 from our budget this
year. These cuts were:

• Elimination of Field Trips
• Elimination of Harvest of the Month
• Cuts to instructional materials
• Elimination of Art classes
• Elimination of Music classes
• Salary freezes for all personnel
• Cut of the Above and Beyond Incentive to staff
• Reduction of Technology Specialist to half time position
• Reduction in Teacher Assistant staff to 2 full time and 4 part time

Now that we have to cut at least another $60,000 from our budget, the board is
looking at making the following possible cuts/changes:
o Increasing class size
o Eliminating our Physical Education program
o Eliminating our Technology Education program
o Personnel cuts

Here are some of the highlights of the discussion (from board members and
parents, teachers and staff)

Could we close school early and save money that way?
• This would be a pay-cut for teachers
• We would still need to meet our required minutes of instruction.
• Need more research

We are investigating opening a line of credit to cover expenses.

We have to maintain a 5% cash reserve (savings) and must submit a positive or
"break even" budget when we submit our budget.

About 27% of families are giving to the Annual Campaign currently – about
$25,000 has been pledged.
• Room parents have been calling families
• It would be great if all families could contribute, even if it is only a
one-time gift or a small monthly donation
• Families with businesses are looking into donating a percentage of their
profits to the school. (The board is still checking the legality of this).
• Can we make Odyssey a "profit center" – meaning can we hold afterschool
classes at OCS and make a profit for the school? Currently we don't make any
money off of Tom Sawyer or arts/dance/cooking classes. Parents might be willing
to donate time and teach classes. (We need to look into the insurance
requirements for this, and how this will impact staff).
• This is a great increase over previous years, but we still have over 70% of
families not giving.

Class size increases –
• If we increase class size next year, Lauren would recommend doing it in the
K-2 classes (2-3 more students). Those classes are relatively small now and
have a T.A. for support. She would not want to increase class sizes at grades
3-8.

Can parents raise funds for a specific program/teacher?
• Yes, but then the funds have to raised again each year. Typically schools do
this for music/art/PE teachers. At this point, all money raised goes to the
general school fund and not for a specific program or teacher.

Can we do an energy audit to make sure that we are not wasting energy, etc…
• Yes, this is something we can consider

There is still a lot to consider and it is not yet time to make decisions about
the budget. The board will continue to study the finances and see if there are
ways to make these inevitable cuts less painful. The finance committee on the
board will be considering everything that was discussed at the meeting and the
entire board will meet again on February 23, 2010. No decisions have been made
at this point and we continue to welcome parents and community members to all
board meetings and subcommittee meetings.

Please consider making a donation to Odyssey Charter School....
www.odysseycharterschool.org

Thank you,
Jexy Wadle
K-3 Board Parent Rep
 

Tags: Parents , Board

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Congratulations Odyssey

January 27, 2010

CONGRATULATIONS to the Odyssey Community. I was informed today by LACOE that we
made the California for Business Education Excellence honor roll for 2009.

"The 2009 Honor Roll includes 1,304 California public elementary, middle
and high schools that have been recognized by California's business community
for having demonstrated consistent high student academic achievement and have
made significant progress toward closing achievement gaps among all their
students. The Honor Roll is made up of two different awards, the Star Schools
Award (395 schools) and Scholar Schools Award (909 schools). A full list of the
Honor Roll schools, can be found at on our Honor Roll Page.

"These schools are the bright spots of hope in efforts to raise student academic
achievement and close persistent achievement gaps," said Kirk Clark, executive
director of CBEE. "By highlighting them, recognizing their achievement and
giving them a voice we hope other schools can learn from these proven practices
and we can begin to take their success to scale throughout the state."

For more information go to: http://www.cbeefoundation.org/

I hope you will join me at the LACOE board tentatively scheduled for their
February 16th meeting as they recognize our accomplishment!

Thank you all for your dedication to our community!

Lauren

Lauren O'Neill
Odyssey Charter School
Executive Director
(626) 229-0993 ext. 105

Tags: parents , Board , Ms. Lauren

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Shoe Drive for Haiti

January 27, 2010

Shoe Drive for Haiti
January 25-29

Odyssey is participating in Sport Chalet's shoe drive with the Soles 4 Souls
organization through January 31st. Please bring your gently worn men's, women's,
and children's shoes and place them in the box in your child's classroom or in
the office this week. We'll deliver the donations afterschool on Friday to the
La Cañada Sport Chalet.

This is a great way for our community to help others and one way our students
can see that they can make a difference. Please contact me with any questions.

Thank you,
Mia Picerno
Room 13 Parent
shoetopia@gmail.com
 

Tags: Room Parents , Parents

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A letter about some difficult budget cuts at Odyssey

November 18, 2009

The OCS Governing board met last night. Our board chair, Steve Cogswell, wrote
the following letter today to explain the difficult financial decisions the
board had to make. If you have any questions please contact one of your board
reps - Jexy Wadle the K-4 rep. (jexywadle@gmail.com) or Rhonda Graham the grade
5-8 rep. (kimikog@msn.com), or you may always contact Lauren O'Neill, our
Executive Director.

November 18, 2009

To the Odyssey Community
Parents, Teachers, and Staff

Dear friends,

Odyssey has never been so buoyant as it is now. We have some of the finest
teachers to be found anywhere. Our administrative leadership is inspired,
tireless, and entirely motivated to do right by our students. Parents have
stepped up and are now participating in support of the school as never before.
Their volunteer work and financial generosity is deeply appreciated. And, most
importantly, our students are at unprecedented achievement levels.

I think "buoyant" is a good word to describe us. It implies uplift and
ascendancy. It also means "to be capable of maintaining a satisfactorily high
level." Tragically, that capability is under direct threat. The State of
California has found itself in deeply troubled financial waters. The
consequence of which has been to impose reductions in education funding. And,
not just one reduction, but multiple cuts announced already this school year,
with additional cuts likely the first of the new year. Gravely, we are told to
brace for even greater cuts in the next school year, 2010-2011.

To give this some scale, we had an approved budget at the outset of this year of
around two million dollars. We have had hundreds of thousands of dollars cut,
and the State has informed us that 25% of our entire year's income, normally
received during the school year to pay our costs, will be "deferred" into some
time the following year. The consequences of deferrals added to cuts have put
your Governing Board in a very unhappy predicament. We must find a way to do
right by the children, right by our faculty and staff, maintain a clean and safe
campus, and do it all with the radically reduced funding available.

Hard choices face us. At last night's Governing Board meeting we discussed and
agonized over achieving the right balance in our spending. The highest priority
is to retain small class sizes and retain our excellent teachers. In the recent
past, we could do this and add specialized instruction such as art and music, to
give breadth and a fuller education and to contribute to our philosophy of
advancing the kids' "multiple intelligences" in a tangible way. We saw no
alternative to the unhappy decision to jettison our art and music programs,
which were scheduled to begin in January. Our stalwart teachers will include
art in their classes to the degree possible and appropriate.

On a personal note, my two sons are both artists and musicians, and had the
benefit of early education in those areas. They have achieved success in their
fields, and it wrenches my heart to have come to the decision we made last
night. But, it is the right decision for now.

As a community, we each can do a great deal to alleviate the financial stress we
are enduring. OPPG has done a remarkable job of supporting the school. The
Governing Board is pursuing grants and awards, and our parents can recognize
that every dollar they contribute goes directly to advance their children's
education. The more we can raise from all sources, the better their lives will
be. As a public school, the public is expected to cover the cost of education.
Even in good times, our charter school receives less than non-charter public
schools, and perhaps only a quarter or half what private schools charge for
tuition. If we can find ways to supplement the income we have, we can make a
disproportionate contribution to our children.

Please do all you can to help us do right by our wonderful pupils.

There is much at Odyssey to be grateful for at this Thanksgiving season. Our
gratitude includes the confident expectation that we will all do all we can to
keep Odyssey's buoyancy afloat.

Very sincerely,

Steven Cogswell
Chair
Governing Board
Odyssey Charter School

Tags: Parents , Board

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