What an amazing week this was! Hope you were as impressed as we were by the outstanding warm welcome the staff, teachers, and principal gave our kids!

Janney was in the spotlight last week with a visit from Mayor Fenty and Chancellor Rhee on the first day of school. Many parents and kids enjoyed seeing the school shine in the evening news. Here's a brief clip from the Washington City Paper that describes what the Mayor saw and heard about on his trip to Janney. (The whole article is at http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=2426)

1:35 pm Bernard T. Janney Elementary School Tenleytown:

"Students in a fourth-grade class at Janney are reading in a new air-conditioned classroom that sits on the playground. Teachers call the structure a "learning cottage." In layman's terms, it's a prefab double-wide trailer built over the summer to alleviate crowding at the school.

Scott Cartland, the school's principal, says Janney should have about 350 students, but this year there are close to 500.

The newest trailer is one of three behind the three-story brick school. Without it, says Cartland, the school would have had to hold classes in the school's library. Administrators were saved from Plan B, however, just last Friday, when the city gave Janney a certificate of occupancy for the new trailer. It was a feat Cartland doubts would have happened under the old administration.

With the schools more closely under the watch of the mayor, things get done faster than before, he says. "It allows everything to flow much more fluidly."

Janney is one of the richest elementary schools in the city, but students still face overcrowding and less-than-perfect conditions. Of 24 classrooms, 20 have air conditioners, and 10 of those are floor units that do not cool the rooms well, Cartland says. In addition, the only bathrooms - one for boys and one for girls - are on the first floor."

We Janney parents know the hurdles that face Janney, Principal Cartland, and the PTA. We'll need to tackle them together in order to continue to have a terrific neighborhood school. Come to the first PTA meeting, in one week, on Tuesday, September 11, 7:15 pm, at Janney. The PTA meetings are (almost always) held on the second Tuesday of the month. Next week, Principal Cartland will talk about the space crunch, Mrs. Walters will talk about the curriculum, and, of course, we will talk about how we'll raise the necessary funds to support the school.

Here's your homework, parents! Remember to fill out your directory information (the blue card at the front office) and the PTA support form (also called the "All In One Form") atwww.janneyschool.org/school_forms/School_form.htm. If you have done these two things already, thank you very much! Also, we are still looking for chairs for our Hospitality committee, which coordinates refreshments for Janney special events such as Back-to-School Night, Open Houses, and the Winter Concert. If you are looking for a way to contribute this year, we need you!

This Friday is one of our favorite Janney events of the year - the Fall picnic. If you have never been to one, don't miss it! Kids love the extended play with their friends, and parents actually have some time to relax and get to know one another. The potluck food is both abundant and delicious! So come Friday, September 7, 6-8 pm. There's still time to volunteer: just let Leslie Dembinski know if you want to help by emailing her at leslied@mcenearney.com. See you at the picnic!