Welcome to our 2020-2021 School Year!

8/9/2020 8:05 pm

Hello, Redwood Community!

We are so excited (and okay, a bit nervous) to be getting back to school.

Like many of you, our PTA Exec Board has been struggling to figure out what this year should look like.  We have been meeting, and emailing, and texting each other over the last few weeks, and we'll be continuing that conversation with each other and with you as we finally get everything started.  

We are so proud of our community.  We are proud of our district for taking on the challenge of maintaining the stellar education we've come to expect for our kids, even given all the uncertainty and extra constraints. We are proud of the Saratoga Education Foundation for continuing to advocate for and to fund educational opportunities for all of our kids that wouldn't be in our district's budget otherwise. We are overwhelmingly proud of our Redwood families (especially our students!) for rolling with this year's adventures and supporting each other.

Unsurprisingly, the PTA activities are going to look a little different this autumn. We are seeing a need to help our kids connect to each other socially, and we are working to figure out how to do this safely. We are also seeing that our community needs some extra help learning to navigate the emotions that physical isolation is bringing, and the challenges that virtual education will bring. We've shifted some of our priorities to try to fill that need. If you have ideas, we'd love to hear them!

Honestly, though, the bulk of our mission and the services and supplies we provide will continue.  Through the PTA's general fund, we will continue to provide grants and supplies to our Redwood staff. We will continue to find ways for our community to connect to each other. We'll also continue to organize and fund appreciation and recognition for our Redwood staff and students.

Our rockstar volunteers and Redwood staff also are able to move many of our participant-funded clubs online, and we will publish the details very soon:

• Speech and Debate -- had great success moving online in the spring, and plans to continue this autumn.  The move to a virtual format means that many more tournaments are available to speech & debate students than were available before the shelter-in-place.
• Science Olympiad -- is ready to move forward virtually this autumn.  Find out the details at: https://sites.google.com/view/redwood-so-club
• Robotics -- continued to meet virtually over the summer, and there are plans to continue virtually this autumn.  We are still waiting to hear about how tournaments can continue as we are physically-distanced, but we are ready to jump in to competitions as soon as we can.
• Chess -- will continue virtually this autumn.
• Economics -- this is a NEW Redwood Club that will be affiliated with the Saratoga High School Economics team.  We will send out all of the details over the next week or two.

We also have two opportunities for our students that will be provided with no extra donation ask to every student who wants to participate:

• Geography Bee -- is ready to move online.  National Geographic has provided all of the materials and has a plan for continuing with a 100% online format.
• Spelling Bee -- is a new start this year.  We will start with the word lists and organize practice opportunities.  We are still waiting to see what format Scripps settles on for formal competitions.

Also, while it is technically not a PTA-sponsored activity, we have word that the Toga, Jr Math team will be available online as well.