A Short History of Rieke, v. 3 (2006-present)

In early 2006, Rieke was again caught up in a district-driven plan to close and consolidate schools throughout the City.  And once again, Rieke parents and the surrounding community mobilized and successfully fought the closure, though only after committing to work with the district to expand Rieke's enrollment.   More details after the break....

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A Short History of Rieke, v.2 (2003-2006)

The long, steady decline in PPS elementary enrollment (from its very crowded early-'70's high) led the district to close a number of schools throughout the 1980s and 1990s.  By 2003, the rolling closure wagon appeared to be heading toward Rieke. Email communications in January of that year suggested that PPS staff was preparing a recommendation to go to Interim Superintendent Jim Scherzinger that would propose closing Rieke and several other schools in the district. While that proposal was ultimately dropped after opposition from the parental community, a second proposal for closure came in 2006 under the leadership of Superintendent Vicki Philips. After the jump, I describe in further detail how the Rieke community came together to keep the school open in 2003; in Part III, I discuss the closure proposals in 2006, and take us through the present.

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A Short History of Rieke, v.1 (Construction to 2003)

I think the only way to really understand the current growth in enrollment at Rieke is to understand its recent (and maybe not-so-recent) history. In this and a couple of subsequent posts, I'll try and summarize what's happened over the years, and what led up to the Rieke Growth Plan and the current increases in enrollment. Comments welcome; this first installment addresses the construction of the school through 2003; you can find full details after the jump.
[Originally posted 11/18/08; Bumped upon Publishing Part III]

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Liveblogging PTA Meeting 9/29

The PTA meeting convened with about 30 parents attending, including a lot of K / 1st grade parents.  Judith announced the board, including several individuals who have filled in the positions that were empty in May.  The May minutes were approved, and Judith (Pres.), Sharon (VP), Naomi (Volunteer) and Kasey (Events) were officially nominated to their board positions.  Their election was unanimous.  More after the break.

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Back to Business

School is back in session! The building looks great; the new portables are up and running, and the classrooms are full.

Important items for your schedule (see the online calendar!):
Tuesday 9/15 Back to School Picnic, 5:30pm (thanks, Leanne!)
Wednesday 9/16 First "Late Start" Day, School Opens 10:45
Tuesday 9/22 Curriculum Night in the Gym, 6:30pm
Tuesday 9/28 First PTA Meeting of the Year, Rieke Library 7pm
Saturday 11/7 Rieke Auction @ MJCC

A Hurricane of Cyclones

As I note below, the new portable has brought with it the prospect of new fences; they're apparently being installed around the air conditioners on either end of the portables, between the building and the older portable (also, apparently, to protect the air conditioners), and then along the crest of the hill between the artificial turf field and the old portable.

Now, I understand in theory the need for protection / control of students in certain areas (though it seems to me that if the point is to avoid damage or graffiti, an appropriately placed set of cameras are just as likely to be successful). I also understand that chain link fences are cheap. But they don't look particularly nice. And when you start adding them up -- around these portables, around the softball field, and now -- as I've learned -- on top of the already-existing chain link fence around the Wilson baseball outfield (they're going from a 5" fence to a 10' fence), it starts to look like this:


...and that just doesn't seem very nice.

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!