Dear Liberty Families,
Here are some quick reminders and important dates for you to review:
Friday, September 25th - Liberty’s ASB and PTSA are co-sponsoring a Pasta Feed in the Liberty Commons from 4:30-7pm. Please join us for this fun event. The cost is $4 w/ASB and $5/without. The menu includes Pasta (two sauces), warm bread, salad, cookies, and lemonade. Enjoy a great meal with good friends and then choose one of two Liberty activities for your evening entertainment. Stay for the Liberty Improv performance at 7pm or head over to Sammamish High School for our Varsity football game that starts at 7pm.
Tuesday, Sept 29th - Curriculum Night begins at 6:30pm. This is your chance to make a personal connection with your student’s teachers. You will also have the opportunity to join Liberty PTSA and Booster Club. A detailed schedule will be sent via E-news on Monday. We will also be handing out an Issaquah School District secondary school survey that is related to Math. This survey is a quick paper/pencil survey with only 8 questions. Please take a few minutes to give us your feedback.
Wednesday, October 7th - University of Washington rep will be at Liberty at 8:45 am. The UW session will be in the Liberty auditorium and sign up is not necessary. This is the one opportunity during the semester students will have to hear from a UW admissions representative. For a current list of all schools scheduled to date, go to the Career Center website or click COLLEGE VISITS AT LIBERTY. We had an excellent turnout for WSU’s before-school visit on September 23rd.
Many selective colleges throughout the nation host evening programs for prospective students and their families at various locations in the Seattle area. For out of state schools, interested students should be checking college websites to see if a rep will be visiting the area. You may also go to the Career Center website or click on COLLEGE VISITS IN THE AREA to view the list of those programs we have heard about and the dates for some of the fall college fairs.
Student computer use: If you have heard from your student that they have lost their computer access and privilege to use the network, this is because they have not turned in their Individual User Access Informed Consent and Release Form that needs to be signed by the parent/guardian and student. So far, 85% of the students have completed the form. Forms are available in the counseling office and also attached to this e-news.
Issaquah School District messages:
Please read the important safety, health, and equal-rights notices that are posted online at www.issaquah.wednet.edu/district/legal/Default.aspx. You will find information about asbestos, nondiscrimination, pest management, the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), possession of firearms, sexual harassment, Title IX, and more.
Neighborhood safety: Do you know the King County Sheriff’s Office operates an online search tool to keep community members aware of registered sex offenders who live nearby? While these offenders have met their legal obligations and are aggressively monitored by Sheriff’s Officers, you have the ability to check your own community and even sign up for alerts triggered when an offender moves close to a certain address, such as your home or school. The Sheriff’s Office also provides safety tips for families.
Ride the bus to protect classroom dollars! We need all regular bus riders to make sure to ride the bus from Monday, Oct. 5, through Friday, Oct. 9. That’s when drivers will count each student who rides the bus in the morning and each student who rides the kindergarten bus at midday. These rider numbers determine the amount of funding our Transportation Department receives from the State of Washington. Already, we use local levy dollars (about $3 million last year) to backfill the gap in transportation funding because the state’s formula does not cover actual costs. The levy dollars also directly fund classroom expenses, such as curriculum and salaries. So by ensuring all regular bus riders are on the bus during the “count” week, our District can recoup the maximum amount of transportation funding to which we are entitled—and preserve more dollars for the classroom.
Flu season: Students are definitely getting sniffles and upset stomachs in our schools, but we have not seen anything unusual thus far. District administrators continue to be in weekly contact with health experts, who have a consistent message: H1N1 is just a flu subtype comparable to the other seasonal flu strains we experience annually. Parents should assume that H1N1 is in their schools and communities, take it seriously, and act vigilantly—however, health experts say parents should not be overly concerned with whether their child’s sickness is actually confirmed as H1N1 or some other strain. A doctor should be consulted if the symptoms become severe. To prevent the spread of the flu, please: Keep children home when they are not feeling well (until 24 hours after a fever has passed), wash hands frequently, get vaccinated for H1N1 and the seasonal flu, and cover coughs with tissue or sleeve. Parents should make a plan for back-up child care in case their students cannot go to school. The District’s pandemic flu committee has been meeting regularly and has authorized extra hand sanitizers and sanitization machines for each school. More resources for families are online.
E-news: In case you've never received E-News before, why are you getting it now? Every July, October, and January we automatically roll your e-mail address in Family Access up into the E-News lists for the schools your students attend and for the District E-News.