Next BREA Meeting is on March 5th at 9:15 a.m. in the conference room.

Upcoming elections for 2003 - 2004 Board of Directors. The following positions are open: 2nd Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Ways & Means, Parliamentarian and Student Affairs. If anyone is interested or needs more information, please contact Patti Armstrong by email or at 303-663-9044.

Thanks to Little Italy for sponsoring the "Reading for L.I.F.E. (Littly Italy For Education)" program.

The class at each grade level with the most reading minutes winS a pizza party.

Also, Little Italy is donating 1 cent for every 10 minutes our children read to the school, up to $300 per month.

The last reading contest ends May 7th, so keep on reading! (2-24-03)

Congratulations to 1B1 for winning the February print cartridge contest and KD (am) for winning the Box Tops contest.

Our next contest ends April 10, 2003. Keep saving those Box Tops, printer cartridges and now cell phones too! (2-24-03)

More on the print cartridges:

• Put your used cartridge in a ziploc bag (1 cartridge per bag, please).
• Give them to your favorite BRE student or drop off at the school office.

Thanks for your help...

More on the box tops:

This is the tear-out-the-top on product boxes and the like. The box tops need to be cut on the dotted line...

• If you know a BRE student, you can send your box tops to school with them.
• Or you can bring the box tops to the front desk of Buffalo Ridge and they will put them in the BREA mailbox.

The Buffalo Ridge Educational Alliance is the Parent/Teacher Organization of Buffalo Ridge. (We recently changed our name to the BREA for tax purposes.)

We are a chapter of the Douglas County Educational Foundation (DCEF) which is a 501(c)(3) organization. (Most of the schools in Douglas County have a chapter of the DCEF). What this means is that any donation anyone makes is tax-deductible. Also, we qualify as tax exempt organization.

We do social events as part of our fundraising efforts. We also do 'Service Projects':

• School Directory,
• Yearbook,
• Hospitality for teachers,
• School Spirit (t-shirts, water bottles, etc.),
• School Supplies.

Funds are used to purchase items on a wish list put together by the school teachers and staff. It includes enrichment items which are not funded under our school's limited budget. See BREA in action showing one of our major project accomplishments.

Everyone who is a Parent, Teacher or Staff Member at Buffalo Ridge is automatically a member of the BREA.

There are no membership dues.

Our charter is to basically enrich the education of our children.

BREA spearheads CPN efforts to raise funds for Buffalo Ridge Elementary School... our kids do not solicit door-to-door. We rely on adults in our community to sell funds.

We host Social Events and do fundraising to do this. The Country Jamboree/Silent Auction and Book Fair are examples of this that we are holding.

We also accept Direct Donations, which are tax- deductible.

Thank you to all of our Buffalo Ridge Families and community members for your support!

The funds raised by BREA are used to purchase items not funded under the regular school budget.

We have an Executive Board of volunteers which is elected annually (with one exception - the 2nd VP automatically will be the President next year - the 2nd VP is like Pres in training and offers continuity between the years). Elections were held on April 18th, 2002.

• President - Patti Armstrong.
• 1st Vice President - Barry Meigs (he's the new principal of BRE - the principal is always the 1st VP and remains in that position).
• 2nd VP -- open --
• Treasurer - Vanessa Pusar
• Secretary - Andrea Smart
• Student Affairs - Allison Whitten
• Ways and Means - Tia Lundgren
• Parliamentarian - Suzanne Frishman

Deb Hautamaa was appointed as the Governance and Accountability Representative.

A - Open
B1 - Open
2 - Open
C - Open
D1 - Open
D2 - Open

If you are interested in being a track representative for the 2002-2003 school year, please call Patti Armstrong by email or at 303-663-9044.

Old Business:

$7,400 was approved to purchase a classroom set of wireless AlphaSmarts.

New Business:

1. The BREA pledged $15,000 to the literacy program for the 2002-2003 school year. This money will provide for a literacy specialist who will provide early intervention in grade 1 and continue to assist children in grade 4 with reading difficulties. This is an extension to the Read to Achieve program. This specialist will also provide support and staff development to all teachers and grade levels.

2. The BREA will not provide teachers with a $100 reimbursement for the 2002-2003 school year. Instead teachers will be asked to put “wish trees” (or busses or school houses) on their door at the beginning of the year and parents can choose an item off the tree to donate. These items will be of all price ranges, they will become the property of Buffalo Ridge Elementary and all donations are tax-deductible. BREA will provide receipts for tax purposes.