Mr. Gallagher’s Famed Adult-Only Dance Party is Back!

If you’ve heard the rumor that Mr. Gallagher has a disco ball in his room… ’tis true.  If you’ve heard that he goes out a lot…. ’tis true.  If you’ve heard that parents have gone out with him… ’tis VERY true.  

He is offering the opportunity to join him for one last dance.  In the past, he has only provided this opportunity through the Bryant Online Auction. However, since Mr. Gallagher is retiring this year,  he is offering this to any Bryant community adult who would like to attend.  There are two dates to choose from.  Please RSVP for the date(s) you would like to attend below so we can let Mr. Gallagher know how many Bryant community members to expect.  

OPTIONAL: To honor his retirement, Mr. Gallagher has kindly requested that donations be made in his name and memory to Bryant PTSA. If you wish to donate, please do so by going here.

May 27: Lo-Fi in Eastlake for their excellent 80s night, two DJs, two dance floors, a fun crowd – and Mr. Gallagher! 

• $15 cover per adult to be paid at the door (these proceeds do not support the Bryant PTSA)
• Arrive early to get in.  10:00 p.m. doors open, and he’ll be there till closing at 2:00 a.m.
• RSVP for May 27 

June 17: Neighbors on Capitol Hill for their killer club nights, fun contemporary club hits with some surprise retro hits sprinkled in. 

• $10 cover per adult to be paid at the door (these proceeds do not support the Bryant PTSA)
• Opens from 10:00 p.m. till 4:00 a.m. – Mr. Gallagher will be there all night!
• RSVP for June 17

And, you know, you do not need to be a dancer to come. Each venue offers lots of space to chat, watch, and socialize.

One more night is in the works – Thursday, 80s night at Neighbors, 9:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m. You can check Facebook for these venues for more current info, or email Mr. Gallagher at kggallagher@seattleschools.org

Feel free to share with any Bryant family, past or present.

Thank you to those who completed the Bryant Elementary School Climate Survey for Caregivers 2022-2023!  We received 136 responses this year surpassing last year’s 127.  This information from the community helps identify areas of concern and needs from community members to inform PTSA activities.

The top school concerns identified through the survey are:

• The availability of extended/advanced learning resources; and
• The quantity and quality of information and communication provided regarding student performance and assessments. 
• In terms of school climate, some families had concerns regarding feeling “seen” by the school.

As the Bryant PTSA considers options to advocate regarding concerns about the extended/advanced learning resources at the school, for parents who would like to help promote this issue, please email advocacy@bryantschool.org. 

We also need some folks to join the PTSA Advocacy Committee to help continue to advocate for the policies, funding, and programs that support the school. Please consider joining this important effort and email advocacy@bryantschool.org. Thanks!

Please join the Bryant school funding email campaign by sending an email to the SPS School Board Directors (an email template and contact info are below).  

Background

• SPS and the School Board are considering balancing the budget shortfall through cuts to school funding.
• If SPS and the School Board make further budget reductions, our school would likely continue to grow in students while staff resources are cut.  This could have have significant impacts to our school including in the following ways:
  • If changes to staffing formulas are made, class ratio sizes could increase.
  • If administrative staff, such as the Assistant Principal, are cut or reduced in hours, operational and program resources would be impacted;  
  • If funding is further reduced for specialist staff (exemplified by the librarian, music, art, and PE teachers) and other critical staff, the school will have fewer teachers and staff available to serve a significant number of students. 
• As families seek stable school resources and a quality, competitive education for their students, we must advocate during the School Board/SPS budget decision process happening now for no further cuts to student-facing positions, impacting critical, specialist staff and classroom ratio sizes.

Action

• Please add your voice to the message by sending an email to the SPS School Board Directors by Monday, January 23rd (or before).  A suggested email template is below. Please feel free to add your student’s personal story, highlighting impacts to them from budget cuts.  The email addresses to send your email to are below.

Send the email to the SPS School Board Directors at the contact information here:

liza.rankin@seattleschools.org	Liza Rankin, District 1
lisa.rivera.smith@seattleschools.org	Lisa Rivera Smith, District 2
chandra.hampson@seattleschools.org	Chandra N. Hampson, District 3
vsmaritz@seattleschools.org	Vivian Song Maritz, District 4
mrsarju@seattleschools.org	Michelle Sarju, District 5
leslie.harris@seattleschools.org	Leslie S. Harris, District 6
brandon.hersey@seattleschools.org	Brandon K. Hersey, District 7
advocacy@bryantschool.org	And CC: the Bryant PTSA Advocacy team

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Bryant School Funding Email Suggested Text

Dear SPS School Board Directors,

253 Bryant elementary parents and caregivers signed onto a Bryant PTSA letter to District 3 School Board Director Chandra Hampson in December, asking her to ensure Bryant receives full funding this year based on SPS policies and formulas for enrollment-based funding.  Further, we urged her to work to ensure that the projected SPS budget shortfall is not covered by cutting critical school staff and increasing student-teacher ratio sizes.

I email today to echo this call, particularly as you develop the funding policies which will impact next year’s budget.  Bryant is growing in enrollment and needs more student-facing positions along with a stable budget, not additional cuts creating further gaps in education resources and instability in school administration.  Since the school continues to have significant numbers of students, cuts will only require fewer teachers and staff to serve those students.

Budget cuts are having serious impacts at the school. In the case of the library funding cuts due to outstanding funding allocations from SPS this year, student library checkouts have been reduced to half, impacting the students’ independent reading opportunities and early development of good reading habits. 

[Please add a sentence or two telling the School Board your family’s story about any impact to your student from school resource cuts (e.g. any impacts to your student/s from teacher cuts, education program cuts, and/or the reduction of the Assistant Principal to half time since last year…).

I urge that, during the current budget decision process, the SPS School Board and SPS Administration make no further cuts to student-facing positions and that the critical staff positions, including the Assistant Principals, are fully funded.

Specifically, I ask for:

• No changes to staffing formulas so that class-ratio sizes increase.
• No further cuts to administrative staff, including the Assistant Principal position. 
• No further funding cuts to specialist staff (exemplified by the librarian, music, art, and PE teachers) and other critical school staff.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Add your name, your child/children’s school, and your relationship to the student at Bryant

_________

1 https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/seattle-school-enrollment-levels-off-but-district-still-faces-budget-woes/#:~:text=Seattle%20is%20projecting%20a%20budget,%24156.8%20million%20the%20following%20year