The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction awarded Pioneer Elementary School a five-year $600,000 21st Century Community Learning Centers competitive grant.

The grant will fund the creation of the school’s Extended Day Program that provides academic, artistic and cultural enrichment opportunities for students and their families.

Pioneer will target approximately 120 at-risk students for before and after school, two intersession (winter and spring breaks) and summer school programs. The extended time will afford students the opportunities for academic and enrichment activities and increase parent involvement.

Pioneer’s Extended Day Program enrichment activities will provide motivation for students to attend school above and beyond the regular school day. The fun and engaging enrichment activities include technology, music and recreational physical fitness experiences. Parent involvement activities include parent program communications and three family literacy night events.

The enrichment and parent involvement activities will be supported by the Auburn School District as well as three community partners: Auburn King County Library, Kiwanis Club of the Valley and Green River Music.

Head Start awarded outdoor play grant

The Auburn School District’s Head Start program was awarded a $5,000 grant by the Head Start Body Start National Center for Physical Development and Outdoor Play to improve the outdoor play space at Auburn’s Head Start location off K Street SE.

“We appreciate Head Start Body Start for helping us evaluate our play spaces and educate our children and their families about the value of physical activity and playing outdoors,” said Auburn Head Start Center Director Fran Russum. “This grant will enable our Head Start Center to create a safe and fun outdoor learning environment, rain or shine.”

In addition to the play space improvement, each award-winning Head Start Center will have targeted training, technical assistance and the expertise of a physical activity consultant, as well as access to online courses, webinars and resource materials.

Auburn DECA Chapter hosts ‘Cash Camp’

The Auburn High School DECA Chapter, a student leadership organization for marketing and business students, held a financial literacy day camp called, “Cash Camp,” for elementary students on Aug. 31.

Auburn DECA members have made financial literacy a top priority for the past two years staying true to their mission of sharing knowledge of business and finance with other students. By incorporating personal finance education into the Auburn School District curriculum, the Auburn DECA Chapter hopes to make the integration of financial literacy a reality in K-12 school curricula statewide and eventually nationwide.

Cash Camp was led by co-chairs Hailey Hansen and Amber Valenzuela. Twenty elementary students ages 6-12 attended the day camp in the Auburn Performing Arts Center. Campers were separated into two age groups: 6-9 years and 10-12 years. DECA members led the campers through a variety of financial literacy games and activities focusing on the three S’s: Save, Spend and Share.

All camp participants received certificates, banks, and pass books to track their saving, spending and sharing. Campers also took a pledge to be “Money Smart.”

The camp was a great learning opportunity for the elementary students and the DECA members. Both groups benefitted from the student-to-student teaching and learning about personal finance.

“Imagine how different the economy would be today if every child knew the basic pillars of financial money management: saving, spending and sharing,” said Auburn DECA advisor Lori Jacobs. “This is just the first of many financial literacy projects we have already planned for this school year.”

Elsewhere

The Auburn School District achieved a perfect score on the 2009 Athletic Liability Risk Assessment Survey administered by the Washington Schools Risk Management Pool. District staff worked with members of the pool to review athletic policies and procedures for all sports. The district scored perfect in all areas including facilities inspections; equipment replacement schedules; personnel training; parent communications; medical insurance forms; supervision; and transportation. The award also earns the district a cost savings on its annual insurance premium. …

Auburn’s Rebekah Teusink graduated from Spring Arbor (Mich.) University. Teusink, daughter of Timothy and Muriel Teusink, received a degree in elementary education. Spring Arbor is a private, four-year, Christian liberal arts university. …

The Washington CPA Foundation, the benevolent arm of the Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants, awarded Auburn’s Pitichoke Chulapamornsri an accounting scholarship for the 2010-2011 academic year. Chulapamornsri will be an accounting major the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business this fall. He anticipates a June 2011 graduation date. Chulapamornsri, an Auburn Adventist Academy graduate, is active in many campus activities and clubs at the University of Washington. He is a member of the Beta Alpha Psi, the international accounting honors organization, the Alpha Kappa Psi Business Fraternity, and the Asian Business Student Associations. …

Auburn Way Self-Storage, located at 4425 Auburn Way N., will serve as a drop-off location for school supplies, gently worn and new clothes for kids from pre-kindergarten to high school. Donations can be dropped off between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. during the week. It is part of a drive held in conjunction with the Communities in Schools of Auburn program. …

The Auburn School District has refinanced a portion of its outstanding bonds in order to take advantage of lower interest rates. The recent refinancing will save the district’s taxpayers a total of $3,052,194 during the next 11 years. These savings will flow directly to taxpayers through reduced tax levies and are not available for district expenses. The Auburn School Board of Directors accomplished these savings by approving the issuance of $36,025,000 in refunding bonds at the school board meeting on September 13, 2010. The district has been monitoring bond market conditions over the past year. Recent low interest rates allowed the district to exceed its savings target. Interest rates averaged 2.74 percent on the new bonds compared to 5 percent on the old debt.