Our work continues to support the students and staff of Cedar Park.
Check out this month's newsletter to learn more about :
Recent PTC news (October & November Community Meeting recaps, including the Student Stress presentation, team email directory update)
Fundraising (Fuss Free Fundraising, Matching Funds & Sponsorship opportunities)
This year’s Cedar Park PTC fundraiser may be greatly simplified, but corporate sponsorships are still available to support the students and staff of Cedar Park Middle School.
Since our marketing is subsequently simplified, our offer to sponsors is streamlined as well. To account for that, please note that sponsorship amounts have been reduced by 30% than in previous years. Valuable banner space on Cedar Hills Boulevard will still be provided, and sponsors will be named in all our emails to our community and social media.
See below for sponsorship levels. Contact Bettina (president@cedarparkptc.org) if you are ready for your business information to be seen by 20,000+ vehicles per day!!
4’ x 6’ sign hung along Cedar Hills fence line
Logo/name on all outreach and social media
½ of a 4' x 6' sign along Cedar Hills fence line
Logo/name on all outreach and social media
¼ of a 4' x 6' sign along Cedar Hills fence line
Logo/name on all outreach and social media
Business name on fence signage
Logo/name on all outreach and social media
PTC funds are still vitally important in this new landscape. Now, more than ever, we need to reach out to students and support their middle school experience. We’re working hard to stay responsive to the needs of our community, and your support would be invaluable to us as this time.
Find out more about our No Fuss Fundraising campaign at www.cedarparkptc.org/fundraising.
No games. No gimmicks. No fuss.
This year, Cedar Park PTC is launching the easiest fundraising campaign ever: a link to PayPal.
Use your PayPal account or any debit/credit card to support the CDL efforts of Cedar Park in as little as 30 seconds. Let's come together to KEEP CEDAR PARK AWESOME!
Any level of giving is welcome & appreciated. Let's work together to fund this unique year!
In this school semester alone, the PTC has already purchased:
900+ science kits (for every student)
400+ art kits (for every art student)
Student Whiteboard/marker sets (for Math enrichment)
6th Grade welcome t-shirts
Additional OBOB books
Looking into 2021, the PTC is projected to purchase another round of science and art kits, carts for teachers and additional PE supplies (should we move into hybrid), and continued library, staff, and student support.
Looking for the nitty-gritty financial details? Check out our revised 2020-21 budget.
Wanting to dive even deeper into where the money is spent? See it all right here.
Inspired? Take 30 seconds to donate now.
Last Wednesday, the Cedar Park PTC welcomed Kristopher Damiano, BSD TOSA for Socio-Emotional Learning to present on ways to identify & manage student stress (recap below).
Additionally, Dr. Anderson provided a quick CPMS update, Bettina Jeszenszky, PTC President, ran through several PTC items and Skye Kutansky, Treasurer, presented our YTD numbers.
Items of note included:
Principal’s Report
Thank you to Staff Appreciation Donors
2021-22 Cedar Park PTC Board needs you!
A full recap of the night's info & presentation is available HERE or in a translatable smore.
**A video of the night’s presentation will be available soon on Cedar Park’s YouTube channel.
Kristopher Damiano, BSD TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment) for Socio-Emotional Learning, began his presentation asking attendees to write in the chat how they are feeling. Responses ranged from stressed, drained, overwhelmed, done etc.
Kris shared that a recent international poll found the same thing-- when asked that same question, over 95% of responses were negative. That’s telling of the emotional and mental strain our world is currently experiencing.
Change in Routines: Adolescents coming into a social tension stage are now being asked to be socially distant; day-to-day routines are drastically different from usual school routine
Break in continuity in learning: No after school activities/programs, change in structure, inequity of resources and access/connectivity
Break in continuing in health care: Kids/families are missing well checks/immunizations/oral health care, creating downstream effects, such as speech therapy or OT; loss of momentum in development
Missing in Life Events: Zoom birthdays, vacations, homecoming, 8th grade celebration, no first day of school for 6th graders (fun experience missed)
Losses of security/safety: Students now online all day; adolescents gravitate to risky behavior (needed to calibrate well-being in life); developments surrounding them creating insecurity, disorientating landscape
Withdrawal: Moody teens are the norm, but when we start to see them withdraw (spending little time with us) that creates bigger challenges
Stress is a catch-all description (even for adults). For tonight, we’ll define stress as a response to too many demands and not enough resources to meet those demands. Students are being pushed up against increasingly adult issues and they don’t always have ability/resources to deal with them.
This is opposed to pressure, which is the perception that something is dependent on their performance. Students may often say that they are stressed by school work, but more accurately defined as pressure.
Stress can manifest itself in behavioral changes (moody, rude, cranky, acting out, withdrawing), emotional changes (increase or decrease throughout the day), physical changes (stress eating & less active, getting sick more often) and thinking (negative thoughts, less optimism).
Parents are being tasked to be clinicians to recognize so much, but it’s okay to not to be perfect, but keep trying.
Some symptoms of stress that you may notice include:
Perseverating fear and worry
Changes in sleep or eating patterns
Difficulty sleeping or concentrating
Difficulty making decisions
Chronic health/mental health problems worsen
Substance use/abuse
Educational issue and/or change in socialization
Kris shared the powerful YouTube video (above), “Student Reflections on Remote Learning.” (Yes, the screen is meant to be black). After listening to the video, Kris challenged attendees to imagine our own children saying these statements. What is one step you’d take to provide support? Answers ranged from “listen, remind them we’re on a team, ask them to walk away, have them set boundaries, etc.”
Though adults and adolescents are going through these world experiences in similar ways, our adult brains are fully developed. An adolescent brain is still under construction, including the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for much of our reasoning & ability to avoid thought distortion. Students are relying on parents as a teammate to bring to them what they need, and to do that, parents need to listen, listen, listen.
Talk: Answer questions & share facts about COVID-19 in a way that children can understand; No need to pretend to be an expert
Reassure them in an honest way to their concerns (and not just our own); share how we deal with our own stress
Social Media: Limit exposure to current events/information; however, have a replacement for the time they might have spent on social media (such as video games, which are providing a social aspect & a collective time together virtually). Don’t take away something without having a plan on how to replace it.
Routines: Create a visual schedule for learning and relaxing that provides boundaries and structure to the day, as humans thrive on predictability (schools provide visual cues in hallways/classrooms); Possibly have a checklist/whiteboard with goals for the day.
Model effective coping skills by taking breaks, getting enough sleep, having healthy habits & connecting with family & friends; easier said than done. Set up reminders to call/connect with friends & family.
Time together: Meaningful activities like reading, walking, board games, etc. Find something that works for your family & their personalities.
Kris shared the video (above) “PxR= Suffering: Brad Chapin,” which discusses the idea that Pain multiplied by [our] Reactivity equals Suffering (PxR=Suffering). When we improve our self-regulation skills, we can greatly reduce reactivity, therein reducing suffering.
Similarly, the Cedar Park staff have been reading the book Onward by Eleanor Aguilar that touches on the importance of the space between a negative experience and our reaction to it. The greater that space, the more we can reduce the gravity and strain of our reaction.
Ultimately, when parents give good counsel and provide effective coping strategies to adolescents to deal with pain or negative experiences, our students can see improvement in their amount of suffering.
Here are some examples:
Care: For ourselves & for others, showing care can reduce stress; taking care of a sibling or participating in outreach can alleviate stress.
Regulation: Is just a fancy word for calming down; development of emotional regulation means keeping yourself as calm as possible in a “socially tolerable” way. It’s okay to be angry, but not screaming out of control etc. (Obviously this is a much larger topic and a quick google search can provide additional resources).
Parry: A martial arts metaphor describing how you move to allow a stressor to go past you; a cognitive strategy of “dodging a bullet”
Mental Health readiness: This can be a range from the smallest area (knowing your feelings) to extreme (getting your adolescent therapeutic help) and everything in between.
Optimism: Cultivating a positive attitude is an underrated skill in combating stress; thinking three good things, however simple, even putting a visual reminder on a mirror to think of three good things.
Recreation: “Winter is coming,” so find whatever we can do to help.
Three specific actions are better than 1000 intentions: When things around you are crumbling, it’s way better to have three tangible actions that you KNOW will make you feel better (example: running, playing guitar, skateboard). Knowing these items ahead of time (for you and your adolescent) will help in stressful moments and make it easier to cope.
Keeping up your pandemic hygiene: (Wash hands, wear masks, avoid close contact, stay active, & hydrate) Remaining vigilant and continuing to support our health and our community’s health will only be positive.
BE THE SQUIRREL THAT SAVES ALL THE NUTS-- it’s getting nutty (with winter coming). Get strategies organized now, so that when we need them, we are ready to cope and help our students.
If your student is experiencing stress and you would like additional resources: Contact our Cedar Park counselors
Next PTC Meeting: January 13, 2021 @ 6:30 PM
The Cedar Park Team Email Directory is in the works! The Directory will be distributed to all parents within a particular "team" (eg. Team Lux). It will include your student's name and each parent's name & email address.
Use this form to request changes to your student's entry in their Student & Parent Directory. Please submit changes by November 12th, 2020.
This change request form is only needed if:
You have previously indicated to the District that you wish to not share data about your student, but you would like to ensure your information is included in this Directory (this will not change your preference for being unlisted with BSD)
Your email information has changed and you would like the updated info included
You do NOT want your student’s info included
You have a special modification (such as only printing Mom’s address, etc)
Questions can be sent to Lianne Yarvis, Directory Chair ( directory@cedarparkptc.org).
Join us via zoom for November's PTC Community Meeting on Wed, 11/4 at 6:30pm.
Dr. Anderson and your PTC Board will be on hand to give a short overview of school and PTC updates, followed by a presentation by BSD TOSA for Social Emotional Learning, Kris Damiano, and Cedar Park social worker, Dana Sexton. They will be offering some social-emotional ideas/strategies for students during the winter and can answer questions on how parents can boost/support their student during CDL and beyond.
Don't miss this valuable resource!
Zoom link to be sent via email on 11/4.
Check out the latest Cedar Reader below, with updates on:
Counselor Corner
Note from Cedar Park’s Social Worker, Dana Sexton
Cedar Park Book Bus & Outdoor Library
Fall Play Audition Info Session
How to Submit Photos to the Yearbook