From your Sandpiper PTA

Welcome to our Sandpiper community! We hope all our Sandpiper families, and our entire Redwood Shores community stays safe, healthy and in good spirits.

The Sandpiper PTA is composed of, run and managed by volunteer parents and members of the school staff. We place great importance in the opportunity to create and sustain a school culture where every student and family feel welcome and thrive. We hope you will join us as we work together with the wonderful staff to make Sandpiper School the best it can be for our children and school community.

Along with the other six PTAs in our district, we have joined with SchoolForce to create the Education Commitment Campaign (ECC), where parents and guardians can make a convenient, combined donation to support the quality education your child deserves. Your donation to the ECC funds your child’s school supplies, instructional materials, academic programs (such as Art, Music, and Physical Education), staff (such as reading specialists and school counselors, librarians), field trips, parent education nights, community events, and so much more. The ECC only runs through October 31, 2022, so that PTAs can make an impact during this school year and so that SchoolForce can make funding commitments to BRSSD for next year, allowing the district to make critical staffing decisions. We encourage you to commit to educational excellence in our district and donate today.

For information on the ECC and School Force, please contact SandpiperECC@gmail.com

For information on the PTA, please contact sandpiperptapresident@gmail.com

If you're an incoming family you can rest assured that you are joining a wonderful community. Please read this welcome letter we have prepared for you. Whether you're a new or returning family, we want you to feel welcome, and we want you to be informed and engaged. Keep your eyes out for our bi-monthly eNewsletters on ParentSquare, and follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

Yours truly,

Alexandra Labrecque

Sandpiper PTA President

sandpiperptapresident@gmail.com

About our PTA

Our PTA is composed of wonderful people who give their time, passions and skills to create a school culture where everyone feels welcome. We are proud to support many activities and initiatives at the school, and provide many volunteer opportunities for parents to get involved. We organize school socials, environmental learning, a garden club, a science fair, a discovery day, a talent show, a book fair and enrichment activities that have included robotics, chess club, melody mentors, national history day, book clubs, yoga, mindfulness and mock trial.

Most of the money we raise pays to support gaps in district funding: field trips, music lessons (lower grades) and we deliver all art lessons. We fund school assemblies, classroom periodicals, laptops, disaster preparedness and project based learning. Please help us maintain these programs at Sandpiper by donating to the ECC. Your ECC donation will also include your PTA membership!

We are a members run organization, operating in accordance with our bylaws and allocating funds based on the budget that our members have approved.Our members make decisions by voting at PTA meetings. Everyone is welcome. These meetings are organized to transact PTA business and keep our community informed. You do not need to be a member of the PTA to attend meetings, but you do need to be a member to raise issues, take part in debate and vote on decisions. Meeting notices are sent out in advance to all those signed up on ParentSquare to receive our eNews and minutes are always available - please contact sandpiperptapresident@gmail.com

2022-2023 Executive Board Members

President - Alexandra Labrecque

Executive Vice President - Helen White

Principal - Gloria Higgins

VP Activities - Ying Li

VP Communication - Dapheny Wono Lee

Treasurer - Shaheen Hashmi

Secretary - Peter Hwang

Auditor - Julie West

Historian - Gopal Ratnam

Parliamentarian - Robyn White

PTA Council Rep - Manal Elghandour

School Force Rep - Lourdes Arce

ECC Marketing Rep - Deanna Chow

Why do we need to donate?

The state funding of schools in California has been in a critical state for many years. We're all going to be asked to help. Funding will be collected centrally via an Education Commitment Campaign managed by our District Ed-Foundation, SchoolForce which supports staff, science, music, art, athletics, technology, literacy and innovation. A centralized district funding solution eases pressure on groups of school volunteers to be the ones to meet vital educational needs. Our children need sustainable programs and we have to provide equality across the district.

Your donations to SchoolForce have kept your child's class sizes smaller than in other districts. Donations have subsidized in-class programs and helped to employ the quality teachers that we all value and appreciate, now more than ever.

What is SchoolForce?

SchoolForce is BRSSD's education foundation that raises money to maintain and improve the quality education we have in BRSSD. It costs approximately $12,000 to educate each BRSSD student, but our district only receives $10,000 per student in state and federal funding. That leaves a $2,000 gap per student that our local community fills through developer fees, parcel taxes (expiring soon), and generous contributions to SchoolForce from our BRSSD community. Through donations to SchoolForce, BRSSD is able to keep class sizes down, hire specialized credentialed teachers (like science and music teachers and librarians) and counselors, support professional development, technology, art, social-emotional learning and so much more.

What is ECC?

PTA and SchoolForce have partnered together to make it easier than ever to support your child's education. Through our joint ask Education Commitment Campaign (ECC), your donation will support your child's educational needs such as school supplies, art, music, specialized credentialed teachers, libraries, technology, counselors, classroom support, community building, and more. Together we can continue to positively impact our children’s education.

A joint suggested donation of $1,800 per student during ECC, between August 1, 2022 to October 31, 2023, will support your student’s school PTA and SchoolForce.

SchoolForce will continue to fundraise through June 2023 or until fundraising goals are met for the District. PTAs only collect during the ECC, closing out fundraising October 31st.

California PTA: Find Out More

This page is maintained by the Sandpiper School Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), 801 Redwood Shores Pkwy., Redwood City, CA 94065. Tax ID: 94-3268078