Jackson, NJ – 7 Jackson Township Schools have participated in Artsonia, an online art gallery in which parents, relatives and friends can browse through their children’s artistic creations in school and have them printed onto a very large selection of gift items from coffee mugs to holiday ornaments to mousepads.  

15% of all sales goes directly back to the child’s school in just another way local school teachers are establishing creative revenue streams to compensate in the reduction of state funding our town receives and to offset years of budget cuts by the Board of Education.

Since 2007, nearly 30,000 works of art by Jackson children have gone online in Artsonia’s virtual online art gallery.   The gallery now has over 5,000,000 works of art for purchase from students nationwide.

Six of the district’s schools currently participate in this fundraiser.  Two of our schools are ranked in the top 5 schools in New Jersey.  Remarkably, our very own Howard C. Johnson Elementary School is ranked #1 in New Jersey and  17 Nationwide. while the students at Lucy N. Holman Elementary are ranked #4 in the state and #29 in the nation overall in generating sales and members.

The program allows parents, friends and relatives to purchase artwork on many items including sweatshirts, t-shirts, holiday ornaments,  keychains, mousepads and more. 

See what our kids have been up to…

Here are some sample works of art from district children at Artsonia.com

Kindergarten Sunflowers taught by Lia Thomas.  Art by Erin, a kindergarten student at Lucy N. Holman Elementary School.

Mixed Media Landscapes, taught by Megan Genz. Art by Rebecca, a student at Jackson Memorial High School.

Op Art, taught by Karen Blenner.  Art by Mary, a student at Johnson Elementary.

Soft Pastel String Instruments taught by Maria Galang.  Art by Katie, a Switlik Elementary School Student.

Be sure to visit http://www.artsonia.com/schools/list.asp?city=Jackson&state=NJ to check out the artistic talents of Jackson Township students.

Target Stores have donated over $45,000 to Jackson Township schools to date with their Take Charge of Education program.   Through this program,  parents can register their target card or checking account to automatically donate 1% of their total purchase directly to their child’s school at no cost to the parent or cardholder.    So, for every $100 you spend, target will donate $1.  

In these troubling economic times which have seen programs and services fall to the axe of budget cuts, this is just one way to raise money for your child’s school without a cost to taxpayers.   In our district, Jackson Liberty High School parents have far out paced all other schools with over $13,500, or 30% of contributions donated since joining the program.  

As Jackson residents, all of your target purchases currently help the districts of Freehold, Toms River and Howell, but this is a great way to take some of that money back for our own children.   By encouraging parents, senior communities, members or sports and political organizations to sign up for the Red Card program, we can help alleviate some of the tax burdens and cuts we have had to face over the years in regards to public education. 

Currently 458 people have signed up for the program which directly benefits Jackson Township Schools averaging $100 in contributions per person.    Lets see if we can double this number and get the entire community involved.   We all shop at target, there’s no reason not to enroll in this program.

How can you promote this program?
Click the following link for tools necessary to generate flyers, information to present the program, clipart and website banners to be used to help children in Jackson.

https://sites.target.com/site/en/corporate/page.jsp?contentId=PRD03-001848

How can local organizations help raise money for our schools through the Take Charge of Education program at Target?

• Visit http://target.com/tcoe to learn more about the program.
• Include information about Take Charge of Education in your next PTO, Sports, Political Club, Business or fundraising newsletter or memo and encourage your members to sign up.
• Make it easy for members to designate your school of choice by providing them with the school’s 5 digit school ID.  Jackson Schools are all listed below.
• Offer information for members who do not have or want a target card that the program can link directly to a checking account while the rewards still go to your school.
• Include a Take Charge of Education banner or link on your school, organization, business or charity website.
• Encourage members to speard the information to family members and friends, including aunts, uncles and grandparents.
• Encourage our board of education to promote this program along with other fund raising programs for our children.

School by School Breakdown as of May 21, 2009

CARL GOETZ MIDDLE SCHOOL
School ID:73070
The most recent Target donation to this school (March 2009): $260.46
Total of all Target donations to this school through March 2009:  $4939.76
Amount accumulated toward the next Target donation:* $111.33
Number of REDcard holders who have designated this school: 44
CHRISTA MCAULIFFE MIDDLE SCHOOL
School ID:73064
The most recent Target donation to this school (March 2009): $314.47
Total of all Target donations to this school through March 2009:  $3936.64
Amount accumulated toward the next Target donation:* $111.56
Number of REDcard holders who have designated this school: 37
CRAWFORDRODRIGUEZ ELEM SCHOOL
School ID:116776
The most recent Target donation to this school (March 2009): $480.0
Total of all Target donations to this school through March 2009:  $5279.49
Amount accumulated toward the next Target donation:* $188.62
Number of REDcard holders who have designated this school: 61
ELMS ELEM SCHOOL
School ID:119558
The most recent Target donation to this school (March 2009): $499.5
Total of all Target donations to this school through March 2009:  $4448.43
Amount accumulated toward the next Target donation:* $186.52
Number of REDcard holders who have designated this school: 46
HOLMAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
JSchool ID:73068
The most recent Target donation to this school (March 2009): $303.93
Total of all Target donations to this school through March 2009:  $3904.13
Amount accumulated toward the next Target donation:* $84.12
Number of REDcard holders who have designated this school: 38

JACKSON LIBERTY HIGH SCHOOL
School ID:123979
The most recent Target donation to this school (March 2009): $216.23
Total of all Target donations to this school through March 2009:  $827.02
Amount accumulated toward the next Target donation:* $87.28
Number of REDcard holders who have designated this school: 37

JACKSON MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL 
School ID:73065
The most recent Target donation to this school (March 2009): $959.38
Total of all Target donations to this school through March 2009:  $13640.41
Amount accumulated toward the next Target donation:* $300.07
Number of REDcard holders who have designated this school: 129

JOHNSON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
School ID:73067
The most recent Target donation to this school (March 2009): $613.68
Total of all Target donations to this school through March 2009:  $9264.57
Amount accumulated toward the next Target donation:* $197.67
Number of REDcard holders who have designated this school: 66

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Here are our available choices:

Gypsy Moth Caterpillar
The Gypsy Moth is our town’s most high profile creature.  This caterpillar is front page news every spring and summer and has become a local celebrity.   Each spring and summer they descend upon the Jersey Shore and consume our wonderful resources without a care for their effects on our local environment.  Sounds familiar, eh?

The Roadside Deer Carcass
Our most visible roadside mammal is the white tail deer carcass.   These guys can be seen on any day napping along side most any county road disecting our town.  These carcasses are sometimes mistakenly confused with county maintenance workers.

Canadian Goose
Our thriving Canadian Goose population is a good thing.   As long as we keep our geese in Jackson’s many lakes and grassy fields they don’t pose a risk to regional air traffic because commercial airliners are usually way above 20,000 feet when they fly over Jackson.   Unfortunately they may still pose a threat to the 500 ft. navy cargo pilot in training.    They also provide free fertilizer to the remaining non-turf soccer and football fields in the area.

Turkey Vulture
The turkey vulture can be called an accurate representation of the political landscape in Jackson.  These birds can sense a dead issue from a mile away and know how to pick it apart piece by piece until there’s nothing left but a withering pile of bones.

Gall Wasp
The gall wasp is one of the most prolific of nature’s local engineers.  Each spring they are hard at work building unsightly masses on our oak trees.  These critters just don’t get the attention they deserve.  They are similar to local residential and commercial developers, building their nests wherever they see fit, not worrying about future consequences, such as falling tree limbs or unsightly housing in our oak trees.

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