The McClure Middle School PTSA Mixer is set for March 23rd, and tickets are on sale now – and if you buy your tickets before March 15th, you’ll also be entered to win a mystery prize!

According to the organizers:

The McClure Mixer is a festive, adult-only evening event where we bring our McClure Middle School community together to help raise critical funds for library books, classroom technology, Writers in the Schools, math and reading tutors, our music program, drama club, and so much more.

The Mixer will be held at the Queen Anne Community Center, with the festivities beginning at 7pm. There’ll be food, a no-host bar, music, wine toss and silent auction with proceeds going to helping McClure kids.

For any questions or to volunteer, contact Chris Karam via email or at 206.954.1994.

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and McClure Middle School is hosting a Turkey Bingo night with great prizes including your very own Thanksgiving turkey. All proceeds will fund McClure Middle’s afterschool activities that provide students with the opportunity to participate in various activities including cooking, drama, pottery, and sports.

Turkey Bingo is family friendly, and the McClure 8th graders will also be selling treats to Bingo-ers that night. All of the prizes have been donated, and include iTunes gift cards, Menchies gift certificates, Starbucks cards, and “lots” of Turkeys!

Join in on the Bingo fun at McClure on Thursday, Nov 15, 6:30-8:30pm.

Today is the last day of Zaw’s month-long School Days fundraiser, and it looks like the race for which school will win is pretty close.

Our last week of fundraising shows John Hay Elementary in the lead with a mere $5 donation with Queen Anne Elementary coming in a very close second. Coe comes in third with McClure and St. Anne’s tied for fourth place.

Want to help your school win the grand prize (an Ultimate Pizza Party auction item courtesy of Zaw), as well as help them raise more dough? Customers can tell Zaw which school they’d like to make a $5 donation to in their name on all orders over $20 for the rest of the day today.

The 5th Annual Boardwalk 5K, Walk of Champions and Carnival Activities, is this Sunday, April 25 at the University of Washington Husky Stadium. The event supports health and fitness programs in Seattle Public Schools and emphasizes serving “underserved” students. Participants of the Boardwalk 5K will spend the morning walking, jogging or traversing the scenic UW campus, all while raising money for PE programs in local schools.

Funds will be used to support and expand equipment for the Physical Education Equipment Resource Center (PEERC). PE teachers share everything from archery equipment to roller skates to unicycles. PEERC makes it possible for all students to have access to success-oriented fitness experiences.

Other events, including the Walk of Champions, Carnival of Activities and Physical Education awards ceremony are free and will be held in the stadium. Check the full schedule here.

Queen Anne residents interested in participating are invited to join the John Hay Elementary team, which has already raised $710 in pledges, $460 over their goal! From the John Hay blog:

All of your registration fees will come directly back to John Hay to support Mr. Sturm’s efforts to keep our kids active and fit!

This event is for everyone in your family. We had a sizeable group last year and our fundraising allowed Mr. Sturm to buy many items on his wish list! We hope to see you on April 25, proudly sporting your John Hay spiritwear or Move-a-thon t-shirt!

Other Queen Anne Schools participating include Coe Elementary (they’ve raised $680 so far) and McClure Middle School (they’ve raised $35 so far). The brand new Queen Anne Elementary doesn’t have a team yet, but it’s not too late to make one!

For more information on joining the John Hay team, contact Carol Brown at carolgbrown@gmail.com or Suzanne Cohen at suzcohen@yahoo.com.

Although online pre-registration has closed, participants can still register day-of. More information here.

Successful Schools in Action will be hosting a community meeting next Monday, February 1 from 7 to 8:30 p.m., to discuss the future of Queen Anne Elementary, formerly Old Hay. 

The meeting will be held in the McClure lunchroom, located at 1915 1st Avenue W. The Program Design Team will be giving an update and hosting a Q&A on what is planned for the newest school on the hill.

(Thanks to Heather for the tip!)

One of our readers, a parent of a McClure middle school student, wrote to us concerning the incident of harassment and bullying that occurred last Wednesday between middle school students from McClure and St. Anne School. Kelly writes,

I am a parent of a McClure middle schooler who was NOT involved in the incident on Wednesday. I am sad and disappointed this has occurred. The McClure community has made great strides to improve our reputation in the neighborhood. I truly believe the vast majority of kids at McClure are good kids.  I would like to believe this is an isolated incident but have no way have knowing for certain. I do know that two of the kids doing the bullying involved were Queen Anne residents. This is not an issue of kids from outside the QA community harrassing the St. Anne kids. QA parents, merchants and schools need to support each other. Do not be afraid to step in if you see kids misbehaving. If you don’t feel safe doing this call the police or notify school administration. Often people do not report to the school so administration has  no way of knowing what is occuring outside of school hours. In the past, they have responsive when merchants and parents have reported inappropriate behaviors.

Thanks, Kelly. Post your thoughts in the comments below.

The McClure PTSA has decided to allocate its entire tutoring budget for the 2009-2010 school year – a $5,000 sum – to math tutoring for students through Queen Anne nonprofit Successful Schools in Action (SSIA).

“The caliber and reliability of the tutors, as well as the level of supervision and accountability provided by SSIA, were cited as the primary reasons leading to the decision to grant the funding solely to SSIA rather than utilizing a variety of different resources,” SSIA said in a press release earlier today.

The organization, which focuses on improving education, resources and one-on-one attention to students at six Queen Anne and Magnolia schools, received a $5,000 grant from the Bank of America to support the organization’s Math Assistance for Public Schools (MAPS) program over the summer.

According to SSIA, McClure math teachers have found the SSIA program extremely valuable in assisting their students’ academic growth.The $5,000 funding, SSIA says, will allow the organization to provide 30 hours of tutoring by trained instructors to McClure students each week.

Please show your support for McClure Middle School through purchases at Queen Anne Books during the Book Fair on November 23rd from 3:00 – 5:30 pm.  McClure’s spectacular librarian will fill a table with the school’s “Wish List.” If you buy a book from that table for the school, we will give you a 20% discount off the purchase price.

Anything you buy for yourselves during the book fair will be full price, but Queen Anne Books will donate 20% of your purchase price to McClure so the school can buy more books for its library. Everyone wins!