Dear Grand View families and friends,

With much anticipation, I am looking forward to another fabulous year at Grand View as your PTA President.  Grand View remains one of the top schools in the state thanks to the continued support and collaboration from the parents, teachers, PTA, and Manhattan Beach Education Foundation.  Our main objective is to make your child’s years at Grand View the very best!  We accomplish this goal through building a strong sense of community at Grand View and by maintaining top notch educational programs designed to benefit the children.

In our Grand View circle, we have over fifty PTA committees with volunteer opportunities big and small.  What better way to get involved than to spend some time helping out around campus.  I am asking each and every parent under a national PTA program, Three for Me, to pledge a minimum of three hours during the school year towards an event or activity.  Some activities to consider include:  Pride Day, Pancake Breakfast, Family Fun & Movie Night, SCRIP, Science Learning Lab, Hometown Fair, Library, Science Expo, Wrapping Paper, Grades of Green, Parent Party, Spring Fair, and the Gator 5K Run!  Your time and energy will enhance the educational experience of your children, and you will make new friends, make your child proud, and find your volunteer experience fun and rewarding!

All of the above volunteerism opportunities translate into a win-win at Grand View.  Among other things, your PTA funds books for the library, purchases new computers and teacher supplies, pays for teacher and staff development (seminars and conventions), supports class field trips, and supports the Visual and Performing Arts instruction as per the California State Standards.

Some of of the PTA’s most recent and proud accomplishments over the last couple of years are our Performing Arts Center (“PAC”), the Science Lab, and most recently, SMART Boards in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classrooms and in the Science Lab.  With a great deal of pride, the PAC has become the showcase for the wonderful theater arts productions starring our very own Gators, the Science Lab has become the perfect place to ignite the minds of our future rocket scientists!

Along with the great contributions from our PTA, the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation plays a vital role in the support of our schools.  However, the PTA and MBEF differ in several ways.  MBEF can pay for salaries and long term commitments; whereas, the PTA cannot.  The MBEF funds all the MBUSD schools; whereas, the PTA serves the Grand View community.  For example, the MBEF currently pays in our district the salaries for the library media specialists, the physical education teachers, instrumental music teachers, and science specialists; a benefit our children would not have without MBEF!

I hope to meet all of you during the school year.  Please stay informed and involved by attending the PTA membership meetings and reading our emails to you and the weekly Gator Gazette.

Looking forward to another fantastic year at Grand View!

Sarah Geller
PTA President

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