September 2005 vol. 42 no. 1

::PRESIDENT’S CORNER

Dear Students, Parents, Teachers, and Friends,

Welcome back! On behalf of our School Board, I would like to invite you all to join us for another successful school year. Begin of classes is September 17. We are very pleased to be able to continue at Willow Glen Educational Park at 2105 Cottle Avenue in Willow Glen, San Jose. Note, however, that our office has moved. Please go to room C-111 which is in the Middle School section. (See attached map in pdf format) Again, welcome back and with best wishes a new school year I remain,

Josef Hellebrandt, President


Class times: Saturdays from 9:00 - 12:00 a.m.

Tuition:

1st student / family $250.00 / semester
2nd student / family $210.00 / semester
3rd student / family $180.00 / semester

Note: As in the previous year, there will be an annual membership fee of $30.00 per family.

Parent Participation: Parents of children are required to sign up to assist with yard duty and snack shop. A sign-up sheet will be available when registering. As you know, our school's success depends upon everybody's active participation.

Calendar: Fall Semester

Sep. 10:GASANC Teacher Workshop - first day of work for teaching staff - no school
Sep. 17: First day of fall semester - registration, placement and orientation
Sep. 24: School

Oct. 1: School
Oct. 8: School
Oct. 15 School
Oct. 22: School
Oct. 29: School:Eltern-Morgen/Parent Morning

Nov. 1: School
Nov. 5: School
Nov. 12: School: St. Martin Lantern Parade
Nov. 19: School
Nov. 26: No School: Thanksgiving

Dec. 3: School
Dec. 10: School
Dec. 11: Christmas Party - location TBA

Jan 7: School
Jan 14: School
Jan 21: School : First semester ends



::Notes from the Head Teacher

On May 1st of this year I had the honor of recognizing SBDS' best students at the annual AATG Northern California Chapter Awards Ceremony held at Sequoia High School in Redwood City. Our school's top scorers on the AATG National High School exam for the year 2004/05 were David Yun (99th percentile), Jana Weller (99th percentile), Sophia Weller (97th percentile), Ben Jubelius (94th percentile) and Gabriel Rath (91st percentile). I would further like to note that at the time the tests were taken, three of our top scorers were not yet in high school. These tests are not only an important measure of our success as a language school, but a reflection of the excellence for which we strive. Again, congratulations to our hard working students and a big thank you to our dedicated teachers.

Linda Yarritu


::ANNOUNCEMENTS

Just a brief reminder to our German ex-pat members of the upcoming special elections in Germany. For more information please refer to the German Consulate web site in San Francisco. > German Consulate of San Francisco

Call for volunteers to serve on the PTA Board and special assignment positions. SBDS depends on the active participation of its members to ensure that operations run smoothly. We welcome your knowledge and expertise in a variety of areas. For those interested in volunteering feel free to approach a board member during school hours or e-mail: pta-board@sbds.org.


::NEWS

David Yun, writes for NEUE PRESSE: High school student David Yun wrote two articles in German which were published in the Neue Presse last spring. The first of the two articles discussed life as a high school student preparing for college; the second took on the theme of Germany hosting the 2006 World Cup Soccer. We are proud to have such an aspiring young journalist coming from our school and look forward to reading future articles in the Neue Presse written by David. LY


E-Scrip Fundraiser

Please remember to sign up for our E-Scrip program! This is also an important avenue to raise money for the school. Signing up is easy, simply follow the link below and register. Every purchase you make at any of the major grocers and retailers sponsoring E-Scrip will generate a percentage of the sales towards our school. Details can be found at: http://www.sbds.org/fundraising.htm or simply sign up at http://www.escrip.com

Albertson's Fundraiser:

To participate and earn money for the school, participants need to sign up their Albertsons' Preferred Savings Card. This can be done either Albertson's online or through a mail-in registration form. We will make these forms available at school. If supporters have been issued a replacement Preferred Card after registration, they will need to re-register in the Community Partners program with the new Preferred Card.

On behalf of the Board and Teaching Staff, THANK YOU to our members for continued support at SBDS.