Orono Alliance for Education

For years, we have been the center of our children’s lives.  But now that they are getting older, they have their own ideas about how they want to spend their weekends.  “Weekend Temptations”, an informative talk for teenage parents, will focus on issues that our teenagers face on weekends. You will learn:

• Why our kids often feel entitled to every ounce of fun imaginable.
• The data on how Orono students rank according to state averages on substance abuse.
• Useful tools on how to support and manage your teenager through these challenging times.

Dr. Kahn, a psychologist in the Twin Cities for more than 30 years, will give realistic examples what kids really do on weekends, share  “what parents did not do that they wish they had done,” and the advantages of being appropriately paranoid.

Dr. Steve Kahn

Dr. Kahn provides family counseling, assessment services and presentations on parenting to schools, businesses, and church groups.  (www.drstevekahn.com)

Come join us on the morning of January 31 at the Orono High School Auditorium and participate in this lively discussion.  Coffee available at 7:30am.  Program starts promptly at 7:45am.  (Adults only please).

Brought to you in partnership by the Orono Alliance, Spartan Parent Association and Orono High School.  This speaker was privately funded by individual Orono parents.

This year, give your children the gift of education with a financial donation to the Orono Alliance for Education. Orono Schools, established in 1951, are celebrating their 60th Anniversary this year. Your gift will help the Orono Alliance to continue the tradition of excellence in Orono Schools for the next 60 years. We thank you for your continued support and generosity.

Click here to make your 2011 tax-deductible contribution today.

2011 represented the 10th anniversary of the Orono Alliance. To mark this important milestone, the Alliance engaged an outside consultant to better understand your awareness and expectations of our organization. Through 52 personal interviews, several focus groups and 450+ parent surveys, we now have a better understanding of how you, our supporters, would like to see the Orono Alliance develop in the coming years.

The research, completed in June 2011, indicated the following information:

• The Orono community has extremely favorable opinions of the Orono School District (See Chart A). Greater than 90% of respondents felt that academics, faculty and administration were excellent or very good.

• The Orono Alliance needs to better describe how contributions are being used to benefit our children. The current annual report demonstrates how your contributions have made a significant difference for the education of our children at Orono.

• We learned that the Orono community is encouraging and might support, with monetary contributions, efforts to enhance the education of our children in several areas (See Chart B). The Orono Alliance will reach out to engage our community in seeing how these efforts may come to fruition.

• The Orono Alliance should work more closely with the Orono School Board and Superintendent to better serve the needs of our children. As a result, the Orono Alliance will work closely with the School District to help in funding programs which were identified by both the District and our community as important for our students. We already began this effort with the Fund-a-Need thrust in the spring of 2011 and successfully raised $100,000 for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) needs of our students.

• The Orono Alliance needs to realign the staffing model to gain efficiency and capacity to respond to the community’s desire for future focused capital campaigns. As a result, The Orono Alliance has re-organized the internal staffing structure to accommodate two part-time employees with unique roles: Jeanne Cook (Director of Development) and Sheila Ross (Marketing and Administrative Coordinator).

If you would like additional information about the Orono Alliance, you can email your request to: Sheila@oronoalliance.org.

After an extensive search process, the Orono Alliance welcomes two new part-time members to their staff.  Jeanne Cook (left) will serve as the Director of Development and will work with the Orono Alliance Board and the Orono school administration, to determine the overall vision and strategy for the Orono Alliance.  Sheila Ross will serve as Marketing and Administrative Coordinator and will work alongside Jeanne and the Orono Alliance board members to implement the future plans of the Orono Alliance.

Sheila, married to John Ross, is also an active mother of four children in the Orono schools.  She is a regular volunteer in our schools and in her church.  She brings her experience of organization and community event planning through her involvement with Light of Hope Home & School in Naivasha, Kenya.  She is looking forward to being a part of such a dynamic team of local parents and community members in the Orono Alliance.

ORONO ALLIANCE GALA

APRIL 14, 2012

Looking to make a difference for Orono Kids? The OAE wants YOU and your talents to help with marketing, event planning, organizing, campaigning!

Please e-mail us to get involved!