WOW! WHAT AN AMAZING EFFORT!

The school is open, and the school year is underway. The new buildings are absolutely amazing; the space created for the classrooms is just wonderful. The teachers have said more than once that the space is just perfect for Swan and how we work and teach. Creating a music space, art space, library, new office soon, and parent lounge are all things that we have dreamed about for many years, and now it's all reality.

The Board would like to take a moment to acknowledge the many signifigant contributions of time (and money!) that were made in the course of getting the buildings finished this summer.

Throughout the summer we had several work parties. Some came to one, some came to all. We had some parents that spent most of the summer here, and others that came in at the end and did a tremendous amount of work to finish off the project. We had people involved in so many very wonderful ways. Parents that paid for others to come work, parents that donated money towards environmentally friendly flooring (more on this later), a board that has dedicated years to getting the new classrooms. It's hard to know where to start!

We'll start with the teachers who worked all through Labor Day weekend setting up their classrooms, as they had spent most the summer helping with the building process. All the teachers - Russ, Lowell, Karen, Marcy and Loida - put in a huge effort to make the whole school ready. Russ spent countless hours painting, pruning, assembling furniture, watering, digging-- anything that needed to get done-- and was here more days than not. Russ even got his wife Linda involved, and among other things, she set up the entire school library! They are a great team, and we are lucky to have them. Lowell led the painting team; having the old building match the new building suddenly gave everyone a needed morale boost-- it felt like we were really getting things done!

We need to thank the past and present Board members, who have worked so hard to make this happen. Past board chairs that began in earnest the process of expanding the school include Soozie Nichol, Eric McRae, Stephanie Gale and Terry Persun. Past board member Betsy Carlson and her husband Erik Wennstrom figured out the whole manufactured building idea, and then helped throughout the entire project, sometimes by leading, sometimes with financial support, sometimes with manual labor, but always involved somewhere and always supportive, FOR YEARS!

The current Board of Swan School has been dedicated and each as involved as possible to make this happen, it would not have happened without that dedication, drive and support from start to finish. Board members have contributed tremendously to this project, directly and indirectly.

Traci Tanner (with husband Bruce Solly) not only put on the garden party fundraiser which is the most successful fundraiser Swan Scool has ever done, but she stepped in and finished up the building project, spending the last couple weeks of summer at Swan with her girls, making sure it all got done. Total dedication and focus to make sure we got occupancy, all with huge smiles and kindness. Bruce did his part to help: building fences, trenching, etc. Traci got non-Swan friends come help as well.

Karmen Meier, with Eveleen Muehlethaler, worked night and day at Swan helping in every possible way, from building fences, to ramps and decks, installing floors to shoveling rocks and backfilling cement work, and Karmen did all the contracts for the teachers!!

Melinda Bower spent all last year re-vamping Swans bookkeeping system, and setting up a more efficient system for billing etc. She also did all the homework on the cork flooring, and made that all happen through her dedication to an environmental healthy school. She worked with a committee that explored all the options and the toxicity of all, then helped get the financing started towards funding the floors, and her husband Christopher Cates helped install the floors.

Sorcha Ashling is new on the board this year, and has jumped in with both feet. Her husband George Gerczak designed and oversaw the building of the fence. They got the gutters installed, and numerous other jobs from cleaning the entire school during the summer, to shoveling, etc. George also took on some plumbing and helped with the ramps and railings. They are now researching heat alternatives for the old building.

Tina McCleese is our new treasurer and has worked with Melinda on setting up the new accounting systems, but she also is a workhorse on the jobsite. Every workparty she would be there working hard. She gets in and gets the jobs done, painting, raking, cleaning, whatever needs to get done she is there. Her husband Al helped many days with cement work, painting etc. Grandma also helped by watching the kids.

Being the Board Chair's husband wasn't an easy job this year. Joe Trailer worked all of July, nights and weekends, getting the plumbing trenching done, the grading, the clearing, etc. None of that was easy or glamorous work, and we appreciate tremendously the time and effort he spent on those huge tasks.

There are core families that have been hugely supportive with time and money and every other resource.

Todd and Rebekah McGuire were instrumental in this all coming together. Todd started out as helping us get the financial side of the project organized, setting up a spreadsheet to lay out the estimated costs etc. This turned into Todd taking the lead on getting the subcontractors lined up; he worked with the inspectors to make sure we were on track with the city, he got us through most of the inspections and kept all the volunteers organized throughout the summer. Rebekah helped on all the work party days, oversaw the Graywolf crew when they did the grass planting, and at the end, helped get the final inspection work accomplished.

John Shortess has helped with so much! He built beautiful cubbies and coat racks for the teachers' classrooms, he helped install the floors, he hung all the teachers' white boards, he put in all of the trim, and much more. His quality of work and his dedication to staying with the job until it is done is so appreciated, we wouldn't be where we are today without his dedication.

Lisa Crosby and Paul Becker have dedicated and donated so much throughout the years: time, effort, music, support in every way. They have been an inspiration for many of us. This year Lisa worked with the landscape committee to make a long range plan for the school. She is helping with the ongoing effort of implementing it (and would welcome additional involvement) and also was hugely responsible for making the cork flooring a reality.

Jude Rubin and Peter Bahls have been very dedicated to Swan, creating the tree planting fundraiser which is hugely successful financially, but also a tremendous community building and environmentally educational project. Peter worked on the landscape committee, but also came in at the last minute for us and created a rain garden plan that got us through the permitting process, and then they donated the rain barrel and many hours of labor to organizing the installation of the rain garden, as well as much of the manual labor. Jude helped with all the work parties as well, painting, helping get food organize, weeding and watering, etc.

Walt Trisdale was a huge help. He was instrumental in getting the whole project up and running, he organized many of the other workers, did much of the cement form work, he designed and built most of the ramps and railings. Walts efforts were huge, the dedication and time he donated to the school, and his care and level of help was extraordinary.

Joe Niichel was a tremendous help. He came in towards the end of the project, and he just stayed on until all the jobs that needed to be done were done. He worked so hard and so fast to get the final inspection so school could open on time! He did cement work, ramp and railing work, painting, he built the walkway between the buildings, he installed the signs around the parking spaces, he did the work of several men for several days. We couldn't have gotten open on time without his tremendous effort.

While we value tremendously the efforts of these folks, there were hundreds of smaller jobs that all needed to happen to get through the inspections and get the school open on time. Many parents helped on work party days, or came over and got a job done when they found themselves with a few hours of free time. It's harder to track down who all these people are, since people came and went throughout the summer. It was ALL appreciated and helped get the school open!

• Eric Clark helped get the deck and rails project underway, ordered building materials for us at a discount, and got us hooked up with our drywall contractor.
• Eric McRae came and installed the phones in the new classrooms.
• Joe Mattern came to help a couple times. His wife Katie came with the brand new baby, helped watch other kids and even brought us food!
• Woody Scanlon built the new countertops for all the classrooms, they are great!
• Jake Rodeghier helped with all the cement work.
• Jon Muellner spent several grueling hours/days digging trenches.
• Dale Fountain helped on many occasions, painting, cleaning, and organizing.
• Bruce Fountain helped with the huge trenching job, this was not an easy or fun one, and they stayed into it for days!
• Mariko Willenhag and Tim Roth donated food to the work parties, it was much appreciated and delicious!!
• Kris Leet spent a long time getting the art room ready, as well as helping at other work parties.
• Steve Sullivan came and helped rebuild some playground equipment.
• Gordon King helped prep for all the plumbing work.
• Claudia Olney spent several days helping from cleaning the art room floor, moving, general cleaning and organizing.
• Elli Tatham, Amy Martin, Deb Neville, Laura Flannigan, Kit Pennell, Kim Benson, Matt & Karen Tyler all painted, cleaned, organized, etc.
• Ron Reda, Marya Shapiro, Christine Burnell & Ken Uphoff all worked hard for a couple days getting the classrooms ready.
• Finally, Flossie Bode was in and out all summer, often bringing food, taking an extra run to the dump or recycling center, and quietly doing odd jobs. She's worked tirelessly these first few weeks before and during school to create order out of chaos and help us get out of construction mode and settle into the business of being back in school.

Our sincerest apologies if we've left someone out or are unaware of your contribution! Please let us know if you know of someone we're forgotten.

We are so lucky to have such an exceptional group of teachers, staff and families here at Swan School! Here's to great year ahead!

For the Board,

Barb Trailer & Carrie Muellner