---

Membership Update

The Bowman PTO continues its community-building tradition, by bringing together families in the RLA and Hybrid learning models, with the majority of events delivered remotely for the 2020-21 school year. In addition, we will be providing learning aids and materials to make the hybrid/remote transition run more smoothly. We have already purchased individual whiteboards for every student and staff member, and we will be continuing teacher reimbursements for classroom supplies, providing online tools, and regularly using staff appreciation funds to stock the staff room.

Thanks to your support, we are able to make most of our programs and events free this year, with no fees to participate in Bowman Math Team and BOKS. 

We are currently at 36% enrollment. Help us get to 100%!

Please support enrichment and community programs at Bowman by joining or renewing your PTA membership. We have extended the deadline to sign up and receive Bowman swag to October 31.

Check out our new membership levels on our web site at https://bowmanpto.org/membership. Join or renew online at https://bowmanpta.membershiptoolkit.com.

Please support your PTA! We support YOU!

Questions? Email Christina Chang at [email protected].

The PTA exists for every member of the Bowman community regardless of financial ability. The Bowman School and the Bowman PTO are committed to ensuring that cost is not a barrier to becoming a member of the PTA or participating in any of the PTA events throughout the year. Please feel free to reach out to Principal Jenny Corduck to privately inquire about financial assistance.

Thank you for your support!

---

Bowman Spirit Wear!

It’s Spirit Wear time! Show your school spirit with colorful shirts, sweatshirts, pants, scarves, and hats. Sale ends on Sunday, October 25th.

The Bowman PTO is offering your favorites! Children and adult sizes available.

• Plaid flannel pants
• Long and short sleeve t-shirts
• Hooded and zip up sweatshirts
• Tie dye t-shirts
• Knit pom-pom hats
• Baseball hats
• Scarves
• Dri-fit T-shirts!

NEW FOR 2020/2021!

• Bowman soft cotton joggers
• Bowman color block beanies
• Bowman ultra-plush blankets
• Bowman face masks (youth and adult sizes)

PLEASE NOTE: face masks are in limited supply* 

Due to the custom nature of these items, there are NO exchanges or returns so PLEASE be sure of sizes when ordering. Orders will be delivered directly to the purchaser, there will be NO DISTRIBUTION THROUGH BOWMAN SCHOOL this year.

STORE NOW OPEN! Visit the following link to make purchases. Deadline to order Sunday, October 25th. https://bowman20.itemorder.com/sale

*Orders are processed when this store closes NOT after individual orders are placed.

Questions? Email [email protected] (please do not contact Tricon directly.)

---

BOKS Starts This Week

BOKS (Building Our Kids’ Success) is a physical activity program designed to get kids active and establish a lifelong commitment to health and fitness. Built on the science and research documented in the book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, BOKS provides free physical activity curriculum, training and support to communities looking to establish and maintain impactful fitness and nutrition programs serving the whole child.

Bowman’s BOKS (Building Our Kids’ Success) program is going remote on Zoom this year! BOKS will start on Monday October 5, and meets from 8:00-8:30am (NEW time!) on Mondays and Thursdays, for 12 weeks. Sign up now!

---

Amazon Smile Shopping

Amazon Smile is an easy and effortless way for you to help us raise money for Bowman without spending anything extra! Please support Bowman while you shop on Amazon.

Here’s what to do:

• Go to smile.amazon.com/ch/23-7065984
• Log-in to your Amazon account (if prompted)
• Bookmark “smile.amazon.com” for future reference. Purchases made through the regular Amazon website (Amazon.com) are NOT eligible for the program. Make sure to use smile.amazon.com to participate.
• **New!** Update your phone app settings to automatically use Amazon Smile and donate to Bowman every time you use the Amazon app. You must update your settings every 6 months.
• Spread the word to family, neighbors, and friends! Anyone can go to the link smile.amazon.com/ch/23-7065984 and support Bowman!

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

---

Volunteers Needed!

The Bowman PTO is a parent-run volunteer organization, and we need parent volunteers to help organize and run our programs. This year all of our programs and events will be online or on zoom. Want to help? Here are just a few of the volunteer opportunities at Bowman this year. You can also view the full list of open positions here. We hope you will join us!

Social Media Communications

We’re looking for an active Facebook user to help keep us up to date on social media. We have a Facebook page and a Twitter account and you would work with our communications team to keep posts up to date. Ideally, we’re really looking for a person who spends a lot of time in local groups who can be our eyes and ears, and respond quickly to tags and requests.

Disco Bingo Event Coordinator

Are you a party planner? Bingo Night is a fun-filled night for the whole family with teacher and student Bingo callers, a DJ, and prizes! Organizers focus on publicizing the annual event (Early April), obtaining prizes, and recruiting Bingo callers. The coordinator works in conjunction with the Class Basket Raffle organizers, for this fun-filled fundraiser evening. This is a good position for one or two volunteers. We would like to reinvent this event for the 2020-21 school year, and we need an organizer to help pick up where we left off after that. Our current organizer will be graduating soon and we would love to pass this event on to a new team of volunteers.

Class Basket Raffle Coordinator

We are in need of one or two parent volunteers to help with the Class Basket Raffle for the 2020-2021 school year and beyond. Raffle Baskets are usually on display in the school for two weeks, and the Raffle is held during Disco Bingo Night. Organizers communicate with room parents, create a signup for baskets, promote and sell raffle tickets before and during the event, and coordinate with Disco Bingo organizers on the evening of the event. This is an important fundraiser for the PTA and is ideal for a team of 2-4 volunteers. We are trying to reinvent this event for the 2020-21 school year, and we would love to do a similar event remotely, or have the raffle off-site, socially distanced and/or broadcast live on zoom. We need your creative ideas on how to make this event a success.

We welcome your ideas and feedback! If you would like to get in touch, or are curious about what we’re doing please email [email protected].

---

Bowman Site Council News

A big welcome to our newest Bowman Site Council members. Suman Murali and Tracey Dawson will be joining Valerie Machinist and Stacey Caravella on Site Council this year.

As part of the Education Reform Act of 1993, Site-Based Councils were mandated as part of the Act’s decentralization of decision-making. The Site Council is composed of equal numbers of elected teachers and parents, together with the Principal and a community representative. The role of the Site Council is to advise the Principal. At Bowman, Site Council members meet once a month with Bowman teachers to plan ways to meet the diverse learning needs of students; establish a school climate of tolerance and respect for every individual; involve parents in the life of the school; impact safety and discipline; enhance extracurricular activities; and more.

Suman Murali has a fourth-grader and a tenth grader in the Lexington school system. She co-leads the Bowman Writes team and has volunteered as Bowman Broadside Editor and Room Parent in the past. Suman works for a Data and Analytics company as a senior analytical consultant. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, writing, and volunteering for causes close to her heart. She is currently a board member at the Cary Memorial Foundation. She is looking forward to working closely with the school as a Site Council member.

Tracey Dawson Tracey has lived in Lexington for 6 years with her husband Andrew and her children Sophia and Aiden, 2nd and 1st graders at Bowman. She is a working mom and is the Chief Commercial and Business Officer of a startup Biotech. Tracey has a PhD in Chemistry and considers herself a science geek at heart. She is passionate about diversity and has led diversity groups in several organizations. She believes leadership is a privilege and her job is to do right by her team and colleagues so they can be their very best self – Tracey wants to bring that passion and skills to the site council and children of Bowman. She has taken on Room Parent roles for her children’s classes and loved it – the site council will be a great expansion of involvement at Bowman. Tracey and her husband are UK natives and came to the US 14 years ago and in 2014, they became US citizens.

Thank you to ALL of Bowman’s Site Council members for your service!

---

Thank You!

Thank you to Brandy Hartford and our teacher appreciation team for stocking the Bowman teacher’s lounge with k-cups and goodies for back to school! We appreciate you and everything you do for Bowman!