FAQ #5: How can I help with this CSR pledge campaign?

(a) Submit your pledge amount. Prior to the creation of this blog, I asked individuals to send me emails with their names, pledge amounts, affiliated school sites, and whether or not it would be okay to publish their names as CSR supporters.

However, thanks to my husband, I can now direct would-be supporters to fill out an online pledge form.

(b) Please spread the word about this pledge campaign by forwarding the URL for this website (http://pleasantoncsr.blogspot.com) to other parents and concerned community members:

1. Parents of current 1st graders.
2. Parents of current kindergarten students (I have a special message for them below).
3. Parents of current 2nd graders who might be interested in pledging for 3rd grade CSR (even though we will not be able to act on 3rd grade CSR until 2nd grade CSR is achieved)
4. Parents of incoming kindergarteners who might be interested in pledging for K CSR (even though we will not be able to act on K CSR until 2nd grade CSR is achieved)
5. Parents at other elementary school sites. (Some of you have noted that Walnut Grove has been heavily represented at the board meetings; we would love to see increased representation--both in this CSR pledge campaign and at board meetings--from the other elementary schools.) Please use your connections through sports/dance teams, scouting, coworkers, neighborhoods, and other community organizations.
6. Business owners, especially realtors, and homeowners in our community who have a vested interest in sustaining property values through high-quality schools.
7. Grandparents, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and anyone else you can think of!
8. Parents of older students (I have a special message for them below as well).

Special message for current kindergarten parents who have not already contributed to PPIE

I want to especially encourage current kindergarten parents to pledge towards the 2nd grade CSR campaign. Perhaps you did not contribute to the PPIE Giving Fund because you were unsure of where the money would go. Perhaps by the time you realized that 1st grade CSR was a true possibility, the deadline for the Giving Fund had already passed. I understand--really, I do!--but I am going to be brutally frank: If you are a parent of a current kindergarten student and did not donate to the PPIE Giving Fund this year, other people paid for your child to have smaller class sizes in the fall. You now have an opportunity to pledge to do the same for the current first graders. Please do so if you are able.

Special message for parents of older students

While I know that for many of you, CSR is no longer on your radar as your children grow older, I would like to encourage you to make a pledge for 2nd grade CSR.

During the 1st grade CSR efforts, I was most impressed by the parents who donated their time and funds even though they do not have children entering 1st grade in the fall. One parent told me, "Well, my kids had class size ratios of 25:1 in 1st grade, and I would like to help other children have that same opportunity."

Would you consider making a pledge for 2nd grade CSR so that other children can have the same 25:1 class size ratios in 2nd grade as our children did? And would you consider forwarding the URL for this website to other parents of older elementary children--especially those at other school sites--and asking them to do the same?