Fifth Grade Pasta Feed!

Come to dinner before Open House! The fifth graders are providing a pasta feed as a fund raiser for Outdoor School next year when they are sixth graders. Please purchase your tickets by May 19th so that enough food is purchased and prepared. You can download the order form here:Click here.

Tropical Getaway, and what a night it was!

Here are a few pictures from the wonderful dinner-auction held on Friday, May 9th

Rio's Life Lab Help Needed!!

We are looking to work with Home Depot and possibly Graniterock to refurbish and expand our existing Life Lab. We were wondering if there are any Rio Families that happen to have a tree service connection?
If there are any fence builders out there as well, we need to sink about 10 posts for the compost bins and about 15 to 20 posts for the newly constructed fence. We will be able to reuse some of the cyclone fencing, but will need a bit more to cover the expanded area.
We need to remove a diseased tree and some shrubs. We'd LOVE to accept a donation for this, or we have a some campus beautification money we could possible tap into.
Anyone out there have any viable connections?
If so, please let Mrs. Dorney know. Email or call: 688-2053

County Math Contest Place Winner

Every year now, for many years, the Santa Cruz County Math Contest pits students grades 5-8, against each other in two categories: individuals and teams. This year one of Rio's own, Sarah Jeffery, placed 2nd in the individual category. Congratulations to her!!

California Distinguished School (again)

Congratulations on Rio's being selected as a California Distinguished School once again! That's awesome!!!!
May 16th Mike Heffner, Jeff Bryant and Deb Dorney will be going to the Distinguished School Awards Ceremony in Disneyland to receive our flag and plaque. Jack O¹Connell will be there to present the awards.
Article in Register-Pajaronian 4/10/08 Click here.
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Please Read the Governor's March Newsletter!!!
Please click here.

PLEASE HELP with a LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN!(Even now!)

As involved parents, you're probably aware of the state's budget crisis and the proposed cuts to school budgets. This situation impacts nearly every public school district in the state.
What can you do? You can follow the lead of people like Dr. Mays, Mr. Heffner, and Mrs. Dorney. Here are links to sample letters to the governor and legislators. The issue is clearly a STATE issue, but it certainly impacts us at the LOCAL level, just read the local newspapers for examples of how it does.
Please click on the following links to read and print the letters (in PDF form). Thank you!

Click here forLetters from Dr. Mays and Mr. Heffner to the governor and sample letter to legislators.
Here are five letters, including samples, from Mrs. Dorney:
To the Governor.
To Assemblyman Laird
Sample to an Assemblyman
To Senator Maldonado
Sample to a state Senator

These are samples from the PVUSD web site.
Sample letters.

YOU CAN ALSO

write very short letters, perhaps including a picture of your child doing school work or something like that to make it personal, and send that. You don't need to use one of the form letters. We just want people in Sacramento to pay attention to what our kids need: which is keeping Proposition 98 in place!

First Graders On Stage!!!

Wednesday, March 19th, the first graders performed "The Ugly Duckling" for the school in two performances. Here are two pictures:

A Great Idea for Reporting Absences ONLY

YOU can use E-MAIL to notify the school office of your child's absences. Please e-mail Gail at for Gail or Maria at for Maria. This will save time for everyone involved.
Please do not use e-mail to leave messages for students. Our office staff is extremely busy, and unfortunately cannot spare the time for passing on e-mail messages to students. Thank you for understanding.

Help Keep Our Students Safe!!!!

Please do not park (stop your car) in the crosswalks on Pinehurst. Please keep the crosswalks clear of cars and not stop in the crosswalk to drop off children in order for them to take the pathway around the parking lot to class. Children who are walking and using the crosswalk are forced to wait in the middle of the street while the child/children get out of the car or have to walk around the car in traffic to cross the street. We'd appreciate the support of our families to keep all of our children safe as they arrive or leave school. It is dangerous for our students who need to cross the street.

Also, please remember that the back parking lot (behind the cafeteria), is set aside for teachers only and is not a place to drop off or pick up children. Please do not pull up in that area before or after school to drop off or pick up your children. It is a cross walk for students who are arriving or leaving school each day. Thank you.

Field Trip Permission Slips

On the left-hand side of the website, underneath "Dates to Remember", is a pdf copy of the District's Field Trip Permission slip. All you need to do is download it, print it out, and fill it in with all the pertinent information your child's teacher has told you about, and hand it in.
This should help parents whose child has lost the original form sent home by the teacher.

We are in desperate need of yard duty supervisors!

Our first priority is Thursday lunchtime from 11:00-1:00. Is there anyone available to volunteer every Thursday OR to be paid a whopping $7.00 per hour.
Our second priority is finding someone who would like to work DAILY from 11:00 to 1:00 except Wednesdays which is 10:30-12:00 to supervise students.
We truly need help in keeping our children safe during lunch time. The more supervision the better.
Anyone interested? Please contact Mrs. Dorney at 688-2053.

Order form for New T-shirts

You can download a new order form for Rio's sweatshirts and t-shirts. Click here for order form.

P.S. Are you on the Rio Minders Mailing List?

If not, please contact the webmaster listed below, and she will add your name for the weekly updates and Reminders.