Dear Friend of Patterson Park Public Charter School, Thank you very much for your support of our school! Your partnership is essential to realizing our vision of life-long learners, healthy families, and strong neighborhoods. This Annual Report includes some highlights from this past school year and some of our plans for the coming year. In Fiscal Year 2013, individual donors and family foundations gave PPPCS $158,000, which amounts to over 2% of our annual budget. This 2% is neither small nor futile; it is extraordinary! With this 2%, we are able to sustain programs that make PPPCS special and to continue to innovate. With these gifts, we were able to host a healthy lifestyle club, send students on a field trip to Spain, offer summer programs, start a running club, continue School Readiness Camp and Learning Parties, and become a certified Green School. We also continued our science lessons with Audubon, ice skating in December, and enriching field trips—all of which we hold sacred to the hands-on learning experience we offer. We hope we can count on you to continue your support. Your gifts will move our vision to reality. Sincerely,

Stephanie Simms, President Charles Kramer, Principal Ed Rutkowski, Executive Director

Annual

Report

2012-2013

Charter Renewed for 5 Years PPPCS received a five-year renewal of its charter from Baltimore City Schools this year. The charter renewal process is very challenging, but PPPCS was found Highly Effective in the Academic Success category of the Renewal Report, which is the highest rating a school can receive. Certified a MD Green School PPPCS achieved certification as a 2013 Maryland Green School. This is a significant accomplishment, representing a whole school commitment to environmental literacy for staff, students and the community. Review, Renew, Retool

Through community forums and hundreds of interviews and survey responses, PPPCS engaged in a stakeholder process in which over 200 school parents, families, staff, and board members examined what it will take for us to become the best school we can imagine. In the process, the PPPCS community created and ratified core values and identified critical issues to be strategically targeted over the next few years. Inaugural Field Trip Abroad Over Spring Break, a group of middle school students, staff, and parents, traveled to Spain and France to experience different cultures, explore famous sights, and meet students from our buddy classroom in Toledo, Spain! Student travel is important because it enhances academic interest, increases independence, and provides opportunity for cross cultural communication.

Matching Grant Success PPPCS specially thanks the Joseph and Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds for supporting us with a $25,000 matching challenge grant during the 2012-13 school year. The Meyerhoff Funds matched dollar-for-dollar all donations to PPPCS from new donors and increased donations from continued supporters. The Meyerhoff Funds have been partnering with PPPCS since 2010, and we are so grateful for their support as we continue to progress and innovate! Historic Field Day Throughout the year, the 5th grade learned about the War of 1812. The classes worked with the National Park Service to do the research for a historical marker on the Star Spangled Banner National Historic Trail in Patterson Park and made a movie reenactment of the Battle of Baltimore. On May 20, 5th grade hosted the community to PPPCS for a Historic Field Day to see their work, including their homemade uniforms and muskets. The event was a “stop and stamp” place for Baltimore’s Bicentennial Celebration of the War of 1812 Passport. 5th grade teachers shared the students’ work with teachers from around Baltimore City and Baltimore County and look forward to expanding Historic Field Day to 10 schools with displays all over Patterson Park next year!

We Are A Community School! PPPCS partners with over 50 organizations throughout the year to provide academic enrichment, mental health support, health education and services, youth development, family education and support, and workforce development for our students, families and community members. After-School Programs PPPCS students participated in a rich variety of after-school programming. With funding from 21st Century Community Learning Centers and the Family League of Baltimore, 250 students received daily academic support and enrichment after school. Programs offered students the opportunity to create art, make films, learn about the environment, perform service learning, sing, dance, make crafts, and enjoy physical fitness. PPPCS also hosted a diverse offering of after-school clubs. Over 150 students participated in sports programming, which included soccer, tennis, running, volleyball, baseball and basketball. Other enrichment—including PageTurners, National Academic League, Girl Scouts, Garden Club, Chess Club, and Tap Dancing—served 80 students. Adult Education Through a partnership with Baltimore City Community College, PPPCS offered evening classes that were free and open to the community. Over 50 adults participated in pre-GED, Computer Literacy and Spanish. The school also offered Computer Literacy in Spanish, in partnership with the Featherstone Foundation, and hosted the Patterson Park Audubon Center’s workshops on urban gardening. Mis Raices Program Highlight PPPCS hosted the Mis Raices (My Roots) educational and support group for Latino immigrant parents for the 7th year. Participants worked on group projects, visited regional organizations and businesses, and participated in workshops given by community agencies. They also made over 50 piñatas for community events, visited Washington, DC with their families, gave workshops in the neighborhood, and participated in block clean-ups and arts projects.

Highlights: School Year 2012-2013

Cheers for Volunteers PPPCS thrives, in part, due to a vibrant community and family volunteers. During the 2012-2013 school year, 730 volunteers served 11,170 hours. Volunteers contribute to PPPCS in so many valuable ways.

Alphabet Crew Program Highlight The Alphabet Crew (ABC Crew) is a team of community and family volunteers that work to help kindergartners improve their reading skills. During the 2012-2013 school-year, 12 ABC Crew members volunteered over 176 hours with 24 kindergarten students who needed extra support in reading. The contribution was incredible – on average, students learned 24 more or new letters, sounds and words thanks to the team effort of ABC crew volunteers, Mrs. O’Connor and our fabulous kindergarten teaching team!

Welcoming a Second Pre-Kindergarten As part of our commitment to Early Childhood Education, we are welcoming a second classroom of pre-kindergarten to PPPCS. We are so excited to be able to prepare more children for success at an early age! Becoming a Tribes School To prepare our students to be successful in the 21st century, we believe elements of character and civility must be taught alongside academic skills. As a result of this year’s stakeholder process, we are taking steps to strengthen our character education program by implementing the Tribes process in our classrooms. Tribes is a process that fosters the development of collaborative and academic skills to assure the healthy development of every child so that each one has the knowledge, skills, and resiliency to be successful in a rapidly changing world. A parent information session will be offered in September to show how to integrate the Tribes process at home.

Increasing Arts Partnerships PPPCS is looking forward to new partnerships with Muse 360 Arts and Music Together to provide some of our students with dance, theater, music, and videography programs. This addition will increase the diversity and sophistication of programming offered to our students during the school day. Supporting Access to Healthy Foods PPPCS is starting a partnership with Relay Foods in an effort to support our community’s nutrition and access to healthy foods. Relay Foods is a grocery delivery service which offers full-service groceries, including many local vendors and farmers. PPPCS will be a pick-up location where residents will be able to have their groceries delivered without a delivery fee!

Our Vision…

...life-long learners, healthy families, and strong neighborhoods.

Looking Forward to

School Year 2013-2014

Test Scores Level with State This chart compares the Maryland School Assessment Math and Reading scores of PPPCS middle-school students with scores of students in Baltimore City and Maryland. The charts show that PPPCS students’ scores exceed those of Baltimore City overall, exceed those of the state in Math, and are almost level with the state in Reading. Data from http://mdreportcard.org/

About Our Students PPPCS is a tuition-free public school, so all Baltimore City students are eligible to apply. The race and ethnicity of PPPCS students reflects that of the diverse neighborhood of the school. We celebrate and cherish this diversity because we believe children learn best surrounded by people from many different backgrounds.

%

Race/Ethnicity

Limited English

Proficiency

Receive Special

Education Services

Eligible for Free/

Reduced Price Meals

Foundation and Grant Supporters Action for Healthy Kids Baltimore Community Foundation Baltimore Commission on Sustainability East Baltimore Community Affairs, Johns Hopkins Medicine Family League of Baltimore Goldsmith Family Foundation ING Run for Something Better Johns Hopkins University Urban Health Institute Kent Family Foundation Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation Legg Mason Macht Fund of the ASSOCIATED Maryland State Department of Education Joseph and Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds M&T Charitable Foundation Ravens ACT Foundation T. Rowe Price Foundation Wright Family Foundation Business & Organization Donors Advance-The Document Specialists Arc Environmental Bernard R. Wolfe & Associates BET Networks Bistro RX BodyBack BPAI, LLC Butchers Hill Association Inc Canton Car Wash Charm City Fitness Chesapeake Community Advisors Cinco de Mayo D'Anthony Property Management Flynn & O'Hara Uniforms Friedman Computer Solutions, Inc. Friends of Patterson Park Friends of Peter Hammen Geckos Hands on Patterson Park Public (HOPPP) Handy Maven Koopers Chocolates M&T Bank Neuroimaging Research Branch Nightmare Graphics Northrup Grumman Pinchona Properties Inc. Ricardo Grocery Riverside Advisors, LLC Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Sagesse Inc. Southway Builders Su Casa T&D Plumbing & Heating Co. The Green Turtle The Life of Reilly Todd Conner's TR Klein & Company Trace Architects Vargas Bakery Defender Champions (The following individuals supported PPPCS with contributions of $500+ in FY2013.) Jennifer and Robert Amann Bob and Bradley Anderson Tom and Cheryl Atkins John Claster Sue Colley Claudio Delfino Barry Glassman and Dorothea Lundelius Grant and Charlene Heslin Frank Jannuzi and Jennifer Martin SungWoo Kahng and Lisa Toole Timothy McMillin Bill and Mimi Mules Pat Murray Kevin and Catherine Pascale Harold and Janet Player Ed and Kay Rutkowski Michael Rutkowski Stephanie and Dale Simms Alan Sun

(The following individuals supported PPPCS with contributions of $100-$499 in FY2013.) Luisa and Michael Amann Sara Bahr Raymond Bahr Robert Bellman and Carole Osterer Beth Franksmann Steven Buckman Jenny Cabana and Maribel Costa Suzanne Cohill Arthur Costas Ginny Dobry Suzanne Gutting Gregory Heid Buzzy and Myra Hettleman Eric and Hope Jones Ryan Kaiser Dennis Kane Bess Keller Robert and Townsend Kent Jeffrey Keyser James and Tammy Kraft Charles Kramer Mark Lancaster David Levy Albert Lietzau Michelle Lolli and John Dierker John and Tiffany Lundquist Martha and Billy McGriff Jessica Munch Christina Pollack Leslie Premo Lori Raxenberg Terry Ringle Charles Schomann Edward Sharp William Simms Ian and Rebecca Smith Steve Sobelman Jeffrey Stern Randal Telfer and April Wuensch Michelle Tracy and Mike Otto VanAn Tranchi Wilson and Sada Vandiver Chuck Weum Lorraine and Markell Whittlesey Peggy and John Workman Joseph David and Janet Rivkin Zuckerman (The following individuals supported PPPCS with contributions of $1-$99 in FY2013.) Sofia Acho Naomi Alleyne Amanda Ashe Emily Augustine Oscar Barragan and Paulina Ozuna Lida Bates Jodi Blake LaiDonna Bulls Joshua Carpenter Luja Goldberg and Catherine Wolkow Ana and Gerardo Cervantes Bob and Amanda Choflet Vernae Church-Hawkins Matt Clark and Isabel Lipman Kimberly Coleman Conall Murphy Brigid Cook Kathleen Corey Martha Corrales Deborah Costas Paul and Rosario Currie Megan Diffenderfer Mark Eltiste David Epstein Elizabeth Ernst Felicia Ernst Mary Ernst Yaaqobah Evans David Fawley and Amy Kakitis-Fawley Charles and Marlene Fertsch Kathleen Filkins Victoria Fitch Patrick Flood Eric Fromm

Tamela Gaylord Georgia Holland-Pence and Tim Pence Sharon Glass Philip Goodwin and Randy Sue Wase Elizabeth Gutting Diya Hafiz Jason Heard Heather Hurley Mike and Anne Hendrick Christa Huber Christina Hughes Andrew Ibrahim Roger Jaffe Al and Barbara Jasinski Margaret Jimenez Joyce Kane Zuzana Justinova William Kane Sharon Kane Mary Kennedy Angela Lamas-Martin Paula Lavelle Michael Lawson Jennifer Leauby Sara Leitner Linda Lewis Hua-Shan Liu Ryan and Gabrielle Livingstone Hannah Loring-Davis and Jason Buc Helene Luce Tania Luna-Murillo Deborah Mattera Robin McCullum Diaz Phillip McLaughlin Melanie Hood-Wilson John Mele Charles Moore Christine Murphy Lori Anne Nicolle and David Good Steven O'Connell Kelly O'Connor Orville Hayford Nina Osborne Jess Pegorsch Geraldine Pettus Epigmenio Ramirez and Consuelo Correa Kathryn Reissner Evan Remington Mark Riccobono Virginia Rosell Gavin Rumbaugh Ghazaleh Sadri Ben Saeli Marie and Raymond Shipley Afonso Silva Heather Silvernail Shawn Simon Kim Smeltzer Sherry Smith Shannon and Ramond Sneed Lorna and Richard Solomon Elizabeth Stewart Eric Strain and Grace Serafini Julia Toole Missroon Jason Tull Sharna Vandiver Oscar Villavicencio and Fabiola Lopez Beverly Wall Susan Witty Gillian Zapata Howard Zuckerman Jennifer and Brian Zuckerman Gifts in kind are greatly appreciated and fulfill many of our diverse needs, including fishing rods for our fishing elective class and a drum set for our music classroom. We thank all of our friends and family members who give to PPPCS in such generous and imaginative proportions.

Thank you for your Support!

The city is our classroom; the world is our future!

Patterson Park Public Charter School 27 N. Lakewood Ave.

Baltimore, MD 21224 410-558-1230

www.pppcs.org

Board of Directors Stephanie Simms, President Patrick Murray, Vice President Lisa Toole, Secretary Alan Sun, Treasurer Sara Bahr, Parent-at-Large Alex Clough, Parent-at-Large Jenna Shaw, Teacher-at-Large Kim Smeltzer, Teacher-at-Large Charlene Heslin Helene Luce Bill Mules Shannon Sneed John Wesby Kara Wilkins HOPPP* Leadership Robert Amann, President John Lundquist, Vice President Marjorie Smith, Secretary Ana Cervantes, Treasurer John Murphy, Assistant Treasurer *HOPPP is short for Hands On Patterson Park Public, which is the organized parent group at PPPCS.

2012-2013 Financial Information