North Notes
Spokane North Rotary Club Bulletin
July 15, 2019
Happy Rotary 2019-2020 New Year!!
Rotary calendar:
July 20: Rotary Serves: Meet at Holmes Elementary – 9 to 9:45am --help clean up the school field and premises
July 29: Luncheon, noon at Nectar in Kendall Yards. Chris Sloan from Bite-To-Go.
Aug. 5: Luncheon, noon at Nectar in Kendall Yards, The Community School.
Aug. 12: Rotary Connects. Art and Robin Rudd house, 1604 W. Fairway Drive.
Aug. 19: Luncheon, noon at Nectar in Kendall Yards, Spokane Transit.
Aug. 26, Rotary Serves, noon, Holmes School supplies delivered and stored,
2600 W.Sharp.
Sept. 20: Club fund-raising wine tasting and dinner at Kalispel Golf and Country Club.
Briefly:
Monthly duty rosters for the 2019-2020 year were circulated for the welcome desk, invocation and pledge, sergeant-at-arms, bulletin and programs.
Year in review: President Melinda Keberle opened the first luncheon program of the Rotary year with a smartly packaged video of pictures at luncheons and programs in the past year. Sandy Fink collected many of the photos from bulletin archives. Keberle noted “there were no wine pictures;” to which Treasurer Chad Haverkamp joked, with perfect timing, “Were they all blurry?”
This school year offers tough problems
While every school year is challenging, this next year may be especially difficult mandated staff cutting and more than usual reassignments.
At the July 15 luncheon, Holmes Elementary School Principal Stephanie Lundberg shared some of the challenges and thanked the club for its many supportive projects.
Lundberg said all members are welcomed, especially times to read with students. This item takes more importance since librarian positions were eliminated district-wide.
She thanked club members for the many donations, from school supplies to holiday gifts to mentoring and classroom support at Holmes. Most often cited were Sandy Fink, who frequently visits Holmes once or twice a week, and Lenore Romney, who has mentored students for many years.
She also indicated that the Holmes Heroes and Golden Hero programs are a sources of great pride for the students of Holmes. In both programs students are selected for the honor by meeting one or more the Character Counts attributes. These include: Six Pillars of Character: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship.
In the Holmes Hero program each classroom student who is selected for meeting one of the six Pillars of Character receives a t-shirt each month at a special luncheon to which their parents are invited.
The Golden Hero Awards are given three times per year and award a student from each classroom with a book selected by the student to keep and one for the classroom library. The student needs to show progress in ALL of the Pillars of Character.
She said how much her “kiddos” and their parents welcome club-funded recognition programs such as Golden Heroes and Holmes Heroes.
Lundberg said, “It’s not just about academics. It’s a great way to honor those students and their character traits, such as kindness and honesty.”
She said Rotary-funded programs, including “the principal’s slush fund” for things like “clothing accidents at school,” allow teachers to concentrate on academics. If Rotary didn’t help, she said, the staff and teachers would have to help more.
“It’s nice to say Rotarians took care of this,” she said.
Asked about having no librarians, Lundberg said, “teachers will take their classes to the library, but it’s not the same. It’s a huge loss.”
She was asked how things will work without librarians. “That’s a really good question,” she said. “We’ll wait and see.”
Lundberg said Holmes “is tied for second highest, with 90 percent free and reduced meal rates and tops in the district for “mobility.” She said 51-52 percent of the 440 students at Holmes will move away or arrive during the school year.
Another “huge challenge,” she noted, is that class cap size for younger grades is mandated at 18 students, forcing students in grade 4 to 6 to adjust to 29 or 30 in some classes.
Lundberg said Rotary-North is not Holmes only “partner.” The school gets help from the Scottish Rite, Whitworth, GU, STA and a local guild, among others. “But your club is the most constant partner,” she said.
Club member Sandy Fink, a retired NC principal, said, “I see how much coordination is needed” to work with all of those partners.
Yet another new challenge this year, she said, is that students will be dismissed every Friday afternoon in the school year, allowing for teacher prep time. Formerly those early dismissal were every two weeks per month.
Lenore Romney said she and Lundberg are discussing options with the West Central Community Center and SPARK center in Kendall Yards to help fill the gaps.
In summary, Lundberg said, “We couldn’t do this without you guys. It makes it better for our kids. And it’s not just the education, but the social component, too.”
Principal Lundberg also expressed gratitude for the Principal’s Emergency Fund or “slush fund”. These dollars are used to support the needs of teachers such as classroom materials and students such as clothing needs etc. throughout the year.
The bulletin producers:
Bulletin editors: Chuck Rehberg and Sandy Fink
Photos: Sandy Fink and Eric Johnson