PORT TOWNSEND — Walk the halls at Grant Street Elementary School and you’ll find evidence of the Parent Teacher Association, or PTA, everywhere.
Posters inspired by field trips adorn the walls.
Classroom shelves at the school at 1637 Grant St., Port Townsend, hold sets of new books and magazines — National Geographic for Kids, Time for Kids — that spark the interest of young readers.
In the Eagle Room, students receive small-group instruction in reading using innovative program materials and software.
“Without the PTA, we couldn’t teach reading the way we do,” said Principal Steve Finch. “Everywhere we turn, our PTA is doing something that makes the school tick.”
First school auction
On Saturday afternoon, the halls of Grant Street School will be filled with opportunities to put more resources at the students’ fingertips through the first-ever school auction, which organizers hope will raise $10,000.
Admission to the auction will be free. It will include live music and hors d’oeuvres.
Doors will open at 4 p.m., with three silent auctions set up in the hallways, ending at 4:40 p.m., 4:50 p.m. and 5 p.m.
The live auction in the gym, with professional auctioneer Kevin Benedict wielding the gavel, will start at 5:15 p.m. and is expected to conclude at 6 p.m.
Sponsored by the PTA, the fundraiser is a way for the community to step up and help students connect to the world.
Theme is circles
“The theme of the auction is circles,” said Melissa Love, PTA president. “We’ve got the whole preschool making colored dots.”
Students from all the grades are contributing — one class is making a quilt, another is putting together a “Dad’s Tool Bucket.”
Organizers have also been soliciting donations from area businesses, then writing the items on paper dots suspended from the ceiling of the entry hall.
Many are gift certificates for shopping and dining — weekend brunch for four at the Resort at Port Ludlow, wine tasting at the Wine Seller, a silver salmon from Cape Cleare, salon services from POSH.
Others are “outings” — a hotel/park pass package to Disneyland, a day cruise around Bainbridge Island, a night at the Quileute Oceanside Resort and lodging, dinner and limo service from 7 Cedars Casino.
“Two of my favorites are a day of making cheese at Mt. Townsend Creamery with bragging rights — you take the cheese you make home — and a birthday party from East Jefferson Fire and Rescue,” Love said.
Violin, dance, tennis and gymnastics lessons, along with an eight-week class for young actors from Joey Pipia, are among the instructional items.
Memberships in the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, Bainbridge Island Kids Discovery Museum and the PT Athletic Club are also up for bid, as are a landscaping consultation, computer consultation, a house-painting package and a worm bin — complete with worms.
Teachers and staff, as well as parents and students, are on board.
Peter Braden and Bonnie Stenehjem are auctioning the chance to attend their end-of-the-year class sleepover, a 17-year tradition, for a Grant Street student.
Steve Finch will concede his chair to the highest bidder for the chance to be “Principal for a Day.”
Tickets to Centrum concerts, Rock-n-Bowl and the Seattle Museum of Flight also will be offered.
Unique items
“We know there are other auctions in town, but we feel we have some unique items,” said Julie Jablonski, an instructor and parent who is donating family tennis lessons.
Love said the PTA decided to hold the auction at the school instead of another venue to emphasize that it is a family- and community-oriented event.
Some of the funds raised will be used to sponsor the school’s annual writing and poetry conferences, where a visiting author speaks at an assembly, then conducts classroom workshops.
Students have been so inspired by the authors’ visits they asked to publish their own collection of poems, which the PTA published.
“It’s changed the language we use,” Finch said of the author visits. “Instead of writing papers for assignments, the students are writing books.”
Field trips
The PTA also pays for bus transportation for each grade level to go on an annual field trip to Seattle to see a play or visit a museum. This year, students saw “Peter Pan” at the Seattle Children’s Theater.
The PTA sponsors the annual school science fair, providing the tri-fold boards for exhibits as well as reading curriculum materials.
“With state funding decreasing and class size increasing, the need for instructional material and instructional support increases,” Finch said.
People who are unable to come to the auction but who wish to support the school can stop by Grant Street and chose a leaf from the giving tree on a wall in the entryway. Checks can also be mailed to the school, at 1637 Grant St., Port Townsend 98368.
“With community support, we can reach our goal,” Love said.
Jablonski said the “circles” theme of the auction is appropriate.
“Everything comes full circle,” she said. “These kids are going to be the adults someday.
“We want to do everything we can for them.”
Child care will be available during the auction, with pre-registration.
The PTA can accept cash or checks for auction items but not credit cards.
For more information, see www.grantstreetschool.org.
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Port Townsend/Jefferson County reporter-columnist Jennifer Jackson can be reached at jjackson@olypen.com.