Redwood Heights Neighborhood News

by Denise Davila

Neighborhood Picnic Enjoy picnic food, fun, games, and prizes from noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday, September 17, at the RH Recreation Center. Hosted by the Redwood Heights Neighborhood Association (RHNA), the picnic is a wonderful opportunity to meet Redwood Heights neighbors. The RHNA hopes that this year's picnic will encourage greater interaction among Redwood Heights residents and neighbors. All are welcome. Free for RHNA members and children; $5 suggested donation for others. Volunteers are needed and would be greatly appreciated. Call Steve Stept at 220-2175. Board Positions Open RHNA is looking for residents to join its all-volunteer board of directors. Directors help to facilitate events, projects, and activities that benefit the community, such as the above neighborhood picnic. Board meetings are held the third Wednesday of each month at Redwood Heights Recreation Center, beginning at 7 p.m., and are open to the public. To learn more about the organization, pick up a copy of the RHNA newsletter at the recreation center, attend the neighborhood picnic, visit the RHNA Web site at www.redwoodheights.org, or sit in on a board meeting. Hope to Send a Child to Redwood Heights School? RHNA wants to ensure that there will always be room at Redwood Heights School (RHS) for neighborhood children. For this reason, RHNA is conducting a survey to better understand how many neighborhood families plan to send their children to kindergarten at RHS over the next three years. RHS is known for strong test scores and active involvement of parents and the community and has attracted many families to move into the neighborhood in recent years. More children are living in the RHS district than ever before, not only because of the influx of younger families, but also because in 2004 the boundaries of RHS were expanded to accommodate areas formerly served by John Swett School. In the past couple of years, RHS admitted to school all of the neighborhood kindergartners who applied for school in advance. In general, neighborhood children receive highest priority when they enroll approximately six months ahead of the school year. Unfortunately, it is unclear how OUSD might handle a future surplus of neighborhood children. While RHS is planning to expand to make room for additional students, an OUSD administrator says there is no guarantee that future kindergartners who live in the Redwood Heights neighborhood will receive a spot at the school. The results of the survey will be shared with the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) to help gauge future enrollment. With some advance planning, RHNA hopes that all neighborhood children who wish to attend RHS will be admitted. View a map of the RHS district boundary at http://mapstacker.ousd.k12.ca.us. Information on the enrollment process for public schools in Oakland is at http://enroll.ousd.k12.ca.us. The survey is available on the Redwood Heights Yahoo Group Web site, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RedwoodHeights. It is located under "Files."