Dear Rockridge Community,
In 2013, Claremont Middle School on College Avenue will celebrate its 100th anniversary. We all know that the school has had its ups and downs over the years, and its relationship to the surrounding neighborhood has been rocky at times. But many of us in the Claremont community – including parents, teachers, and the new co-principals, Ronald and Reginald Richardson – are working hard to make great things happen at Claremont during our centennial year.
As part of that effort, the Claremont PTA has launched the Claremont Fund, a campaign that will directly support improvements to the educational environment at Claremont. The money we raise will pay for things like music, art, the computer lab, field trips, reading intervention, and on-campus conflict resolution and mentoring – programs and activities that will have a strong positive impact on student learning and behavior.
In the first month of this school year, CMS families and other community members have raised over $13,000 for the Claremont Fund. Kids have given dollars directly from their pockets. Parents have made contributions of up to $1,000. And families who don’t even have kids at Claremont yet have stepped up from Chabot and Peralta, two of our feeder elementary schools.
Now we are expanding the reach of our fundraising efforts by asking local merchants and the wider Oakland community to consider giving to the Claremont Fund. Donations can be made by going to the school Web site, www.claremontms.org, and clicking on the “donate now” button. Or you can download a donation form and drop it off at the Claremont front office at 5750 College Avenue (right across from Trader Joe's and the Rockridge BART station).
Donations of any amount are accepted and appreciated, and can count as tax-deductible contributions as allowed by the IRS. And best of all, your support will help Claremont continue to improve and flourish as a great neighborhood school.
-Paul Kagiwada
About this column: Rockridge Patch will post letters to the editor of up to 300 words on topics of interest to local residents. Send your letters to laila.kearney@patch.com.
