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Old Donation Center PTA
1008 Ferry Plantation Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23455
Office: 757-648-3240    Fax: 757-473-5144
Principal: Gloria Harris
Assistant Principal: Babette Brinkley

PTA President: Yoon Do
Membership: Rosemary Harker            VP Programs: Deedra Dills & Christy Marscheider
Treasurer: Chikako Loree                     Secretary: Kim Garrett
VIE Coordinators: Grace Marks and Roneiko Beasley
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From the PTA President

Dear ODC Families,

By now, I'm sure that you are aware of the recent budget proposal for the 2012-2013 school year made by Superintendent James Merrill at Tuesday night's school board meeting. This "Superintendent's Estimate of Needs (SEON) Budget 2012-2013" has outlined a very drastic plan to account for the $40 million dollar budget shortfall the school division is anticipating for next year. His plan has outlined various deep and drastic cuts to be made throughout the division from schools to central office. One of these proposals affects our school community directly: to cut transportation to ODC, Kemps Landing and the other academy programs in order to save approximately $2.9 million dollars. This is a very real and very possible cut that will begin this Fall.

This affects us all. Our students come from all corners of the city and most would not be able to attend ODC without transportation. Not only would our enrollment decline but that would also affect our faculty, programs and the money allocated to gifted services as a whole. The benefits of full-time, dedicated gifted education schools at the elementary and middle school levels are without question. We also want to ensure that ALL students are afforded the opportunity to attend ODC. This is not the first time that we are having to defend our school and its programs. ODC was on the shortlist of potential schools to be closed as well as our continual requests for building repairs and updated facilities both at ODC and Kemps.
There are several courses of action that will be necessary for us to take:

Stay informed. Please continue to visit the school division website in order to get the most current/accurate information. "The Lowdown on Your School Dollars" page has all of the links with the budget, Q&A's, and official documents. It is updated frequently. The Fiscal Year 2012-2013 page has a specific breakdown of all of the cost-cutting proposals by program and dollar amount.

Contact our local leaders. We must make it clear to Mayor Sessoms (wsessoms@VBgov.com) and City Council that we are unhappy with their diversion/allocation of school division funds. Their appropriation of our school funds is directly and negatively impacting our children's ability to receive the best education possible. To send an email to ALL City Council members the email address is: ctycncl@vbgov.com. Here is the link to contact City Council members directly via their individual email. They may try and direct you back to the School Board insisting that the proposals are made from their end but we must continue to insist that this is a FUNDING issue. Our school division is making drastic cuts because there is NO money and core programs that focus on English/Math/Science/Social Studies are naturally a priority. We must insist on the proper funding from the local and state levels in order to keep our other vitally important programs in place. You can also contact our State Representatives.

Be heard. We are planning to attend all City Council, School Board meetings and public hearings until our budget (and transportation) are restored. The next School Board meeting is 2/21 (Tuesday) at 6pm, School Administration Building #6 at the Municipal Center. We will also be attending Superintendent Merrill's special community forum, Future Focus on 2/27 (Monday) at 7pm at Landstown High School.

We are sending out updates via email on a regular basis to make sure our families are staying informed. If you have not been receiving emails or would like to be added to our list, please contact odcpta@gmail.com.

Thank you!
Yoon Do
ODC PTA President