If you have a 3.0 or above, attended Barton Hills Elementary for at least two consecutive years, and plan on pursuing a higher level of education after High School, you can apply for the Nick Akery Scholarship. The PTA awards this $1000.00 scholarship in honor of a much beloved former Principal.

Applications are due April 28th, 2017.

You can follow this link for the application, further requirements and deadlines:

Nick Akery Scholarship Application

(Please note that depending on your browser, the application may appear in your downloads folder.)

Please contact April Smith with questions at (512) 693-2665 or apsmith926@att.net.

If you have a 3.0 or above, attended Barton Hills Elementary for at least two consecutive years, and plan on pursuing a higher level of education after High School, you can apply for the Nick Akery Scholarship. The PTA awards this $1000.00 scholarship in honor of a much beloved former Principal.

The application can be found at the BHEPTA website, http://bhepta.com/nick-akery-scholarship/, or you may contact Sharon K. Davis-Peurrung for more information at skdprocks@aol.com.

Application deadline is April 29, 2016.

Friends, if you have or know of a graduating Senior that attended Barton Hills Elementary for two consecutive years, they may be eligible for the Nick Akery Scholarship. This Scholarship is named after a beloved former principal at BHE and is to be used for higher education.

The application can be found at the BHEPTA website, http://bhepta.com/nick-akery-scholarship/, or you may contact Sharon K. Davis-Peurrung for more information at skdprocks@aol.com.

Application deadline is April 30th.

A group of neighbors have combined efforts with BHE parents to formulate a park improvement plan for the park grounds adjacent to the elementary school. This plot of land is co-owned by the city and the district which makes for an interesting predicament of not much ownership by either entity. It’s been in decline and is now really suffering due to erosion issues caused by our recent drought.

We surveyed the community in June 2011 and held multiple focus group sessions in the fall of 2011 to get a bottoms-up list of ideas to improve the park. Many, many ideas have been tossed around and we are now ready to start the planning phase. This will be a very exciting project partnering with the city through the Public Works Neighborhood Partnering Program.

Let’s build a park that students can enjoy during the school day and that the community can enjoy after school hours. Gatherings in the park are just around the corner … Let’s make it happen!

Please see the attached PDF version of our presentation for details.

Contacts:
Cherylann Campbell – TCampbell19@austin.rr.com
Kathleen Schneeman – Kathleen.Schneeman@gmail.com

Barton Hills Elementary PTA 5 Year Plan Focus Group Sessions

(Coordinated and sponsored by the BHE PTA in response to the May 2011 PTA Survey Results)

Our intention: to gather the input of our savvy neighborhood, community partners, passionate parent community and dedicated Staff at Barton Hills Elementary.

Your input will kick-off a process to develop a PTA 5 Year Plan addressing collaborative uses of our PTA budget as well as other revenue sources.

Please join us to brainstorm ideas on how to best utilize and enhance our facility, school grounds, and programs.

Wed. Sept 28, 7-9pm St Mark’s Parish Hall
Wed. Oct 5, 7-9pm St Mark’s Parish Hall
Thurs. Oct 6, 7-9 pm BHE Library 

Please RSVP at http://doodle.com/m8wmzte9bbebb29m or Kathleen.schneeman@gmail.com

Posted below is the text of the letter I mailed and e-mailed yesterday to AISD Superintendent Carstarphen and the school board members on behalf of the Barton Hills Neighborhood Association.

Craig Smith
President, Barton Hills Neighborhood Association

Dear Superintendent Carstarphen and School Board Members:

I am enclosing the resolution Save Our Strong Neighborhood Schools! that was adopted by the membership of the Barton Hills Neighborhood Association on January 25, 2011.

Barton Hills Elementary has been a vital part of the Barton Hills neighborhood since it opened in 1964.  It would be devastating to our neighborhood, and to the Austin Independent School District as well, if the school were closed, as the Facilities Task Force has tentatively recommended.  It would not only be a blow to the many young families whose children attend or hope to attend Barton Hills Elementary, closing the school would gravely undermine the support for AISD in one of the highest-voting precincts in Austin.  I cannot imagine that our voters would continue to back the issuance of school bonds or participation in District activities if Barton Hills Elementary were closed.  That would be a setback to AISD as a diverse successful urban school district and to public education in general.

You are certainly aware that Barton Hills Elementary is rated academically exemplary – in the top 20% of all schools in the state.  Many parents have transferred their children into the school so that they can have the benefit of the good educational environment.  Yet the Facilities Task Force deemed the school’s academic success to be irrelevant and took the fact that the classrooms include transfer students to be a sign of inefficiency.  Such a wrong-headed analysis, one that ignored the educational result, was bound to produce a wrong answer.

While we all understand the necessity of coping with anticipated cuts in state education funding and appreciate the need to be efficient in utilizing AISD’s existing facilities, it makes no sense to close successful schools such as Barton Hills Elementary in order to save money.  That would like cutting off your foot in order to lose weight.  Education is AISD’s core mission, and the District cannot sacrifice that mission in the name of “efficiency.”  There are bound to be other ways for the District to save money besides closing one of its best elementary schools, the first step in a good education.

The Barton Hills Neighborhood Association has a history of both moral and financial support for Barton Hills Elementary.  The Association has used its resources in the past to pay for improvements to the school playground, which is jointly owned by the City of Austin .  We are ready to make additional contributions of funds, knowledge, and work to address the facilities issues identified as problems in the Task Force report.  I have asked Principal Katie Achterman to point out some of the problems that the Association could help to solve.

If the proposal to close Barton Hills Elementary, Zilker Elementary, and other successful central city schools was intended to a be test of the community’s support for their schools, I think you have already seen that the support is strong.  We in Austin , if not those folks at the Capitol, understand that the education of our children is the key to our future.  We are prepared to do whatever it takes to assure it.  And we hope that you are on our side.

Thank you for your service to our children and Austin ’s future.  I am,

Yours truly,

BARTON HILLS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

By: /s/

Craig Smith, President

Enc.:     Resolution

cc         Mayor Lee Leffingwell

Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez

City Councilmembers Sheryl Cole, Laura Morrison, Randi Shade, Bill Spelman, & Chris Riley

In the weekly email to parents the Barton Hills Elementary PTA included the following salute to our Neighborhood Association yesterday:

A special shout-out to the Barton Hills Neighborhood Association for unanimously passing a resolution to save our elementary school!  A pledge of $2000 was also made for use by the PTA.

Also, 100+ local businesses signed a joint petition for BHE and Zilker.  Last week, this was sent to the Chamber of Commerce, City and AISD officials.  Please thank these businesses when you get the chance.

Click here to see  the specifics and learn more about how you can help.

Be sure to keep up with PTA’s efforts at their web site, http://bhepta.com

The book fair is held at the Barton Hills Elementary School Library (2108 Barton Hills Dr.). The book fair will be open for viewing only (no purchasing) on Monday, Dec. 4 (after 12:00 p.m.) and Tuesday, Dec. 5. On Wednesday, Dec. 6, and Thursday, Dec. 7, the book fair will be open for shopping from 7:15 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. We will have activities for children from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on both shopping days.

Because we will be open longer this year and we will be offering a gift-wrap service, we need lots of volunteers. If you want to volunteer, contact Trish Parker at 442-4713. To help with decorations, call Jean Drew at 917-0792 or sailordrews@peoplepc.com. We need volunteers to help with decorations, set up, clean up, gift wrap, and running the cash register.

We are also looking for corporate sponsors and small business owners in the neighborhood to sponsor the book fair. There are three ways you can sponsor:

1) Sponsor a kid: Not every BHE child can afford to buy books. For as little as $7, you can help purchase a book for a needy child.

2) Sponsor the “$1 for Books” campaign: For every $1 we raise, Scholastica (our book fair vendor) matches it and donates the funds to a worthy cause.

3) Feed our volunteers: We need donations of cash and/or coffee & pastries to nourish our wonderful volunteers during set up and clean up.

Please contact Celia Hagert at 707-2762 or hagert@cppp.org if you want to be a sponsor.

Remember, the BHE library receives 25% of all sales from the book fair, so please spread the word with friends and family about this great way to fulfill your holiday shopping needs while supporting the BHE library.

(AUSTIN, Texas) Barton Hills Elementary School located in southwest Austin will celebrate its 40th anniversary Sunday, September 12 from 2 – 4 p.m. Former students, teachers, parents, friends and neighbors are invited to attend the open house and reception.

PTA members, school faculty and staff are planning an afternoon of activities with memorabilia on display, a time line and scrapbooks for viewing. Current students will be performing during the open house and artwork will be highlighted throughout the school. Refreshments and a ?Birthday Cake? will be served during the reception.

To help commemorate the 40th anniversary friends of Barton Hills are encouraged to make a donation to the school library. Their donation will go towards purchasing a book selected by the school and will be recognized with a Special 40th Anniversary Book Plate.

Invited honored guests include past school principals, past PTA presidents; AISD School Superintendent Pat Forgione, AISD school board trustees; Nick Akery Scholarship recipients and Partners in Education businesses.

Barton Hills Elementary – http://www.austinschools.org/bartonhills/

Barton Hills Elementary located at 2108 Barton Hills Drive opened its doors the fall of 1964. Currently the school has over 300 students pre-K through 6th grade.

Contact:

Karen Dulaney Smith

512-479-6020, kds@io.com

Monica Blackburn

512-454-9656, ext, 7020, blackburn@austin.rr.com

Thank you,

Christine Stueve

PTA President – Barton Hills Elementary