More improvements!

As we get closer to school opening, the pace of improvements increases. Some photos of the significant ones follow....





First, Charles H. re-stained his beautiful front sign. That wood looks great, even 50 months old! Thanks, Charles!







Dana has done a great job with a new skim coat on the basketball court, and they were out on Sunday laying down lines for painting lots of new four-square courts. It looks marvelous -- thanks so much!




The front garden has really come together. Thanks to Carla especially, as well as all her assistants -- the entire garden committee and all the contributors over the last several years.




Finally, the portable deck has been extended with steps on the back side. There's still plenty to do. There are a lot of new chain-link fences going in. More on that in the next post....

Community Cleaned Up!

Thank you to all the parents who showed up Saturday morning to pull, dig, sweep, shovel, rake, till, and otherwise neaten up the school and prepare it for the official opening on September 8! I'd guess there were well over 40 parents, with many more accompanying kids, who showed up to help.

A particular thanks to Michelle B. for organizing the event, and for getting the coffee, bagels, water, and other treats together to keep everyone going. A light rain shower cooled us down, but then the sun came out again. Well done, everyone!

When Does School Start?

Our "classroom assignment" letters (received at the end of July) indicated that Grades 1-5 would start on the Tuesday after Labor Day, September 8 (not, as has been true in the past, on the Wednesday). This shift, as I understand it, is intended to give at least one more day of instruction in the school year.

While the class assignment letter for our Kindergartener indicated that class would start on "Monday, September 8," that obviously doesn't quite work. Other hints (like the timing of the K parent's coffee and the PPS calendar) suggest that K classes actually begin on Friday, September 11. At Rieke, at least, Kindergarteners will be doing assessments on the preceding couple of days.

ETA: We got a new K letter on Wednesday 8/19 -- Friday September 11 is indeed the first day of K. Assessments will occur Tuesday through Thursday.

Community Care Day August 29

Hiding on the back of the teacher assignment letters was an announcement about the annual PPS Community Care Day. This is the day when people show up at Rieke to help tidy the grounds (pick up garbage, pull weeds, sweep, mulch, etc.) before school starts. The grounds need it, and per the PPS Web Site, the event is set for August 29, 9am to noon. Plan to bring your gloves, garbage bags, weed pullers, trimmers, etc. to school on that day. I'll be there, at least! Hopefully the area near the new portable will have been re-seeded with grass before that.

That said, it looks to me like the fabulous garden gnomes have been at work in the front of the school, because the new landscaping out there looks pretty good. Thank you!

And a personal thank you as well to the neighbor who, on occasion this summer and throughout the summer, has mowed the hill outside of Rieke along Vermont. Now that's a commitment!

More New Portable Photos

More photos of the completed new portable. As of August 12, 2009.










As you can see, it's parallel to, but set back a classroom from, the first portable.










Is it possible that they will extend the deck a little?

The New Portable Is In!

As of Thursday, August 12, the new portable has arrived. Some photos from the day's events follow.


Like the first portable, installed two years ago, this came in two halves. They rolled it over into place, then brought the other one in. Still plenty of arranging and landscaping to go.