December 2009

Dear Morris Brandon Families,

We hope you all are having a great school year, and have had a chance to visit our beautiful new Primary Center facility. As the kids have settled into their classrooms, the walls are coming alive with inspired artwork from our little Picassos!

The construction of the Primary Center auditorium / cafeteria wing is complete, and we anticipate opening the new wing when the children return from Winter Break in January. The food warmers and tables will be moved out of the Art and Music rooms, so that those spaces can be used as originally designed. The only thing missing from our incredible facility is a playground!

For the past year, the Brandon PTA has been developing plans for a fabulous new playground for the Primary Center. The empty field to the left of the school (the baseball field) has been designated as our playground area, and the plans include age-appropriate play equipment, swings, a basketball court, 4-square court, a track and an open field play area. All areas will be wheelchair-accessible and scaled appropriately for our Primary Center kids.

As many of you are aware, Atlanta Public Schools provides no funding for playgrounds. Therefore, the PTA must provide all funds necessary to install the playground. Since the scope of the project is quite large, we have broken the elements into phases, which will allow us to complete the project as funding is secured. The first phase will include necessary grading and site work, the installation of a drainage system, a turf field, and the play equipment and safety surfacing. The track and court areas will be included in Phase 2.

With the great success of the auction last spring, the PTA has allotted $70,000 to go toward helping to install Phase I of the playground. However, we still need to raise approximately $90,000 for Phase I. We are asking you, our Brandon families, to consider making a donation to our playground fund so that we can complete the installation of Phase 1 as soon as possible. Once our funds are secure, we can begin the site work and grading in January. The play equipment will be installed immediately thereafter - possibly as early as late January - but we need your help to make that happen!

You may make a donation online or by printing the pledge form for the Primary Center playground fund. Please thoughtfully consider if your family can make a donation to the fund, and return the pledge card in an envelope to the main campus (or in the Bee Box at both campuses). Checks should be made payable to the "Morris Brandon Foundation," and all donations are tax deductible. All families who donate $250 or more to the playground fund will be permanently recognized at the Primary Center. All gifts of $1,500 or more will also be permanently recognized at the playground entrance.

Thank you for your continued support of Morris Brandon. We are so fortunate to be part of such a generous, enthusiastic and involved school community! If you have any questions about the plans for the playground, please feel free to contact either one of us.

Sincerely,

Margaret Warren PTA Primary Center Co-Liaison magswarren@mindspring.com

Kimberly Lacour PTA Primary Center Co-Liaison kimberlylacour@gmail.com