Thank you for your support of ABC and our QUEST and PAGE students.  This has been a critical year for advocates for highly capable learners in Washington, and your involvement and support has made the difference for our kids.

Parents saved the highly capable program. Hundreds and hundreds of emails to legislators from parents statewide made the difference.

The House Ways and Means Committee took the first step toward restoring state highly capable program funding late Wednesday night.  The final vote on the supplemental budget is currently slated for Monday, though that may still change.  The Washington Coalition for Gifted Education wrote today that

The House vote on the Supplemental Budget (SHB 1086) has been rescheduled for early next week, perhaps on Monday, January 24th, perhaps not.  That means there is still time this weekend to contact your District’s Representatives to ask their support for Highly Capable Program Funding.

Your calls and messages are still necessary as committee action was only the first and essential step in a long process.

ABC will continue to work with the Coalition and other parent groups across the state to monitor the situation in the legislature.  The Senate has yet to act on their version of the supplemental budget, but when they do, we’ll be ready.

Outside Olympia, we hope that you’ll be able to join us on Saturday, January 22nd from 10:00am until noon at Rogers High School Pool for our annual pool party.  The pool party has been very well attended in the past and we expect to see many smiling faces in the pool tomorrow. 

We also want to remind you of a fantastic opportunity for parents that is coming up next weekend.  On January 29th, Northwest Gifted Child Association is holding its Connections Conference.  This is an amazing opportunity for parents to hear from nationally known figures on important topics facing gifted learners and their families.  There will also be small group opportunities, including one led by PAGE teacher Lisa Kreiger, that will provide parents the chance to share their experiences and ask questions of others in similar situations.  We hope to see you there.

Thank you for your support and involvement with ABC!

We entered last week unsure of what would happen in the legislature, but quickly learned that Governor Gregoire would call a special session.  ABC called on you to speak up for our kids, and parents and advocates across the state joined us in urging our representatives to protect state funding for highly capble students.  Saturday evening we learned that our voices were heard, and state highly capable funding was spared in the most recent attempt to solve the state budget crisis.  Thank you for your involvement!  This will not be the last time we call on you to stress the importance of gifted education programs like QUEST and PAGE.  Work on the next budget cycle is already underway, and the initial proposal from the Governor for the 2012 – 2014 fiscal years is due out this week.  We will continue to work with organizations like the Washington Coalition for Gifted Education to monitor the situation in the legislature and we will let you know how you can help.

ABC is involved in more than just legislative advocacy.  Last week we had an amazing Gingerbread House Night at Zeiger Elementary.  Thank you to Jen Dewey and to all of the volunteers who helped prepare for the event, donated candy, and helped us clean up the gym.  Our kids showed some incredible creativity (when was the last time you built a two story gingerbread house, or one with an attached garage?) and artistry.  I hope you had a chance to see some of their completed projects.

We also shared news of some educational opportunities for our students and our parents.  The University of Washington is offering some special math enrichment classes for gifted children that some of you might want to pursue.  Northwest Gifted Child Association opened registration for its annual Connections conference on January 29th for parents of highly capable children.  The last Connections conference received great reviews from participants and we hope that you’ll be able to join with other parents from around the area at this one.  In advance of their National Conference in Seattle in July of 2011, SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of Gifted) announced a special opportunity for 40 Seattle area parents to participate in a free SENG Model Parent Group discussion on January 13th.  ABC helped to facilitate our own SENG Model Parent Group a few years ago, and is looking into doing it again soon.

ABC will continue to look for other opportunties for our parents and students and will bring them to you.  We’re connected to other parent organizations across the state who are looking for ways to help us build a stronger community for our families.  This is an exciting time for gifted in Washington.  Thank you for being a part of it.

This ThursdayABC is hosting our Gingerbread House Night at Zeiger Elementary.  We’re looking forward to adding this event back to our offerings for families after several years of severe weather that resulted in last minute cancellations.  ABC will provide the graham crackers and icing, you bring a small bag of candy to use to decorate your house and to share with others.  After construction is completed, look forward to a tour of a gingerbread house “Street of Dreams.”

This week may also shaping up to be an extremely critical one for gifted education funding from the state.  Just after Thanksgiving we shared the news with you that highly capable funding from the state was at risk of elimination.  For any cuts to happen, the Governor will need to call a special session of the legislature.  Going into last week, that looked to be a very real possibility.  As time passed the threat, though still very real, decreased.  By the end of the week, public responses by the House Democratic Caucus and the Senate Republican Caucus included many cuts to education, but preserved highly capable funding (see the Washington Coalition for Gifted Education website for more information). 

The situation continues to be one filled with risk and is in a constant state of flux.  Puyallup currently receives about $160,000 from the state to help fund the QUEST and PAGE programs.  It’s not clear exactly what the impacts of state cuts would be to the Puyallup programs, but that’s a significant amount of money in what is still a tight District budget.  Be sure to subscribe to our Urgent News mailing list (available on the right side of this page) or become a fan of ABC on Facebook to get the latest news as it happens.

• Have you joined ABC yet?
• Here’s a great Christmas gift idea
• Washington State Highly Capable Technical Working Group
• Free SENG Webinars Now Available
• Usborne Books & More

I hope that our students and parents all enjoyed their 4 day weekends, and that our teachers picked up a few new ideas to keep our kids on their toes.  Several of our teachers will also be spending part of next weekend learning about the best ways to reach our highly capable students at the annual WAETAG (Washington Association of Educators of the Talented and Gifted) Conference.  Some ABC parents will also attend WAETAG.  It’s not too late for you to join us.  Registration information is available on our website, www.questabc.org. 

Your support of ABC allowed us help pay a portion of the registration fees for those educators.  Our thanks go to you for your support of ABC, and to our teachers for their dedication to the unique educational needs of our gifted students.  To learn more about how you can become involved in ABC, and to hear what we have planned for the coming year, please join us on Tuesday night, October 12th, from 6:30 to 8:00 at Stewart Elementary for our Annual Ice Cream Social.  More information about the Ice Cream Social is linked below.

Here’s what else has been posted on our website this week:

• We Need Your Participation
• ABC October 2010 Newsletter
• October ABC Board Meeting Rescheduled for October 14th
• Join us for our Annual Ice Cream Social
• October 9th Update from the Washington Coalition for Gifted Education

This is our first update message of the 2010 school year.  If you expected to see this message in your inbox, but had to go to the website to find it, please make sure to sign up for one of our mailing lists using one or both of the sign up options on the right side of the page.  Our weekly digest messages will typically be sent out once at the end of the week, while urgent messages may go out daily depending on the nature of the news.  We expect this to be another very important year for gifted in the state legislature, and want to make sure we can keep everyone informed on any possible changes that could affect highly capable programs in our state. 

This message was sent to both mailing lists to allow our readers to make sure their subscriptions are working as anticipated.  You’ll be able to tell which list you registered for by checking the subject line on this message in your inbox.  You can also keep up with ABC on Facebook.  Be sure to “Like” us on Facebook to receive our updates.

Here’s what’s been posted at www.questabc.org recently:

• Come Play with Us
• Register Now for the WAETAG Parent Track
• Free SENG Webinar on Thursday, September 30th
• September 2010 Newsletter Now On-Line
• We Need Your Participation

Thanks for being a part of ABC.  We’re looking forward to seeing you soon!

On Tuesday, July 27th, the Northwest Gifted Child Association, http://www.nwgca.org, and SENG (Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted),  http://www.sengifted.org, are hosting a free presentation, Eleven Key Parenting Issues, with Dr. James Webb, author of  A Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children and other books, in the Lake Washington School District this summer.  Dr. Webb will be in town preparing for next year’s SENG Annual Symposium in Seattle in July 2011.
  
Eleven Key Parenting Issues, Presented by Dr. James Webb
 
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
7:00pm – 9:00pm
Redmond High School Performing Arts Center
17272 N.E. 104th Avenue, Redmond
 
This is a FREE EVENT — there is no RSVP required!!
  
Eleven issues are common concerns for parents of gifted children — from tots to teens:
           
♦ Communication and relationships
♦ Motivation and underachievement
♦ Discipline, power struggles, self-management
♦ Intensity, stress and perfectionism
♦ Acquaintances, friends and peers
♦ Siblings and only children
♦ Values, traditions and uniqueness
♦ Idealism, unhappiness, and depression
♦ Complexities of modern parenting
♦ Misdiagnosis
♦ Finding a good educational fit
 
Information will be given about each, along with how four major factors – range of ability, asynchronous development, over excitabilities, and thinking styles — influence these issues.

James T. Webb, Ph.D. has been recognized as one of the 25 most influential psychologists in gifted education. In 1981, he established
SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of Gifted), a national non-profit organization with programs that support gifted individuals and the parents, educators and health professionals that support them. He is the lead author of five books including A Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children and Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults.
 
This event is sponsored by the Northwest Gifted Child Association and Social & Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG), hosted by the Lake Washington School District and the Gifted Education Advisory Council (GEAC).
 
For questions, contact Pauline Bowie, 206-715-5261, Pauline@RaisingTheGifted.com

On Thursday, July 29th, Seabury School in Tacoma will be hosting Amy Price, Executive Director of SENG from 7-8:45pm at its middle school campus, 925 Court C, Tacoma, WA 98402.
 
Amy will do a general presentation on characteristics of gifted children with resources and tools for parents and educators.  This event is open to the general public.  From 8:15-8:45 we would like to give local district representatives/leaders an opportunity to talk about what is happening with gifted education in their districts.

This is going to be a unique opportunity for advocates of gifted ed in the South Sound to come together and create a stronger partnership with each other and SENG.

For more information call  253-952-5944.

The ABC Read-A-Thon kicks off March 26th and runs through April 4th.  The Read-A-Thon is our largest fundraiser of the year.  Where ever your Spring Break may take you, we hope you’ll bring along plenty of reading material for your kids and challenge them to read all they can.  Ice Cream parties, gift certificates, and much more are on the line for out participants.  For more information about the Read-A-Thon, including our rules and extra pledge sheets, please be sure to read all about it on our website.

On April 15th, ABC is joining with SENG, the national organization dedicated to supporting the emotional needs of gifted, to share a webinar titled “Navigating the Quest for Help:  Understanding Your Gifted Child’s Puzzling Behavior.”  Puyallup parents are invited to join us at Stewart Elementary at 7:00 to view the webinar and discuss what we hear with other parents in your situations.  For full details and to reserve your spot, see here.

Stewart was selected as the site of our discussion because the QUEST Regional site currently hosted at Meeker, serving students from Stewart, Karshner, and Meeker elementaries, will be moving to Stewart beginning in the 2010 – 2011 school year.  Meeker has been an amazing host school for our students for a number of years, but physical limitations have forced a move.  The number of kids who need highly capable services has grown beyond what Meeker can accomodate.  Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Franks will bring their years of experience teaching highly capable students along with them as they join our kids in making the move to Stewart.  Mrs. Hoban, Principal at Stewart, worked with our highly capable students during her time at Meeker, and is looking forward to working with all of us on making the move a success.

A little bit further out, SENG has recently committed to bringing their national conference to Seattle in July of 2011.  Some ABC volunteers have already met with SENG representatives to begin the planning process and we’re very excited about working with other gifted advocates from around the region to make this conference a valuable experience for you and your children.  ABC has been looking for ways to improve the services we can offer our parents, and we’re looking to introduce some SENG concepts and tools to you as we build toward next year’s national conference.

Thank you for your support of ABC, and our highly capable students.  We welcome each of you to participate with us as we continue to support excellence in the Puyallup School District, and increase awareness of the needs of our academically talented students.

Now, it’s time to put in a little more work to make sure that all the things we enjoyed will still be there for us next year.  If you’ve not yet returned your YES vote for the renewal of the Puyallup programs and operations levy, we urge you to do so today. 

We’ll also be headed to Olympia on Friday, February 5th, to meet with our legislators and policy makers from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.  Gifted Education Day is a fantastic opportunity to meet with other highly capable families and advocates, and to demonstrate the value that programs like QUEST and PAGE have for our kids.  If you’ve not yet been to Gifted Education Day, I strongly encourage you to find a way to make it.  I’ll be there with my two QUEST students, and the Washington Coalition for Gifted Education has said that this year may be the largest turnout they’ve had for this event.  Don’t miss it!

Here’s what’s been posted on our website at http://www.questabc.org during the past week:

• Gifted Education Day – February 5th
• Thank You to Our New and Renewing Members
• February ABC Board Meeting
• and if you’ve not yet done so, be sure to check out the District’s Budget Priorities Survey