Menlo Park Lyceum offers online registration Menlo Park Lyceum offers online registration (January 21, 2004)

Parents can register for children's events and family field trips from computers at home.

By Marjorie Mader
Almanac Staff Writer

The parent-run Menlo Park Lyceum, which organizes educational adventures for kids and family field trips, is taking a leap into cyberspace this year. It's offering online registration.

Instead of people freezing while standing in lines outside Hillview School, parents can register at www.menlopark-lyceum.org.

Online registration opens at 8 a.m. Saturday, January 24, and continues through February 8. Lyceum events usually begin after the February school break and continue through May.

Parents can pay online by using a Visa or MasterCard. In addition to the registration fees, there is a 2.95 percent credit card handling fee.

On January 24 at the Menlo Park Library, Lyceum volunteers will offer assisted registration for families without access to a computer. People must sign up in advance for this assistance by calling 361-0221.

Lyceum members coordinate and administer about 75 programs per year, with a total enrollment of about 2,000 annually. Children's events cover topics from rocketry and computers to the theater, ceramics, knitting and sports. Family field trips include guided nature hikes, visits to museums, and behind-the-scenes tours of local businesses and attractions.

Right now, people can browse the Lyceum Web site to preview the 44 "school age events," formerly called after-school classes and workshops, and the 39 family field trips. The online catalog has 67 pages of information. People can narrow their search by choosing grade or age, subject and month of offering.

No longer will the traditional printed brochure of Lyceum offerings be printed and sent home with students at eight elementary schools in Menlo Park and Atherton. A limited number of copies will be downloaded from the Web site and made available at the Menlo Park and Atherton libraries.

The Lyceum was formed 25 years ago in response to severe school funding cuts that pared down or wiped out such programs as music and arts in the schools.

Since last March, a core group of parent volunteers devoted "a tremendous amount of time" to re-inventing and streamlining the Lyceum's operations, said the group's president, Sally Cooper. The new system, she said, is more efficient, can handle hundreds of requests at the same time, and can reach a wider community.

Volunteer time, she said, can be better spent on "the creative part, researching new activities and making new contacts," rather than on time-consuming, administrative details.

The Lyceum saves about $5,000 by not printing the brochures that had been distributed to 3,000 families, said Ms. Cooper. "It took a lot of paper for a little return, and was volunteer intensive."

"This is a transition year," said Lyceum volunteer Barbara Windham. "We had to invent a system that is user-friendly and research online registration companies."

"Some new ideas already are percolating for next year's offerings," said volunteer Nancy Ryde.

Fees for the children's events and family field trips range from $7 per person for a tour of the Intel Museum in Santa Clara to $126 for "Cartooning for Kids," weekly classes offered by an artist from the Pacific Art League. The family "White Water Rafting" class is $74, but organizers said it's still cheaper than doing the adventure on one's own. Most events range in price from $10 to $40. Scholarships are available on request by calling 361-0221.

When organizations offer their programs free, Ms. Cooper said, the Lyceum charges a minimum fee of $8 per person and makes a donation to the organization.

Lyceum volunteers, who developed and organized this year's program, are: Muna Alzughoul, Gigi Babcock, Ann Barhoum, Carol Cleary, Sally Cooper, Gretchen Flanagan, Lil Johnson, Kim Grace, Carol Krause, JuenAn Lanigan, Diann Lewis, Sally Longyear, Joanne Margalit, Laura Purpura, Diane Regonini, Nancy Ryde, Colleen Sullivan, Caroline Wang and Barbara Windham.

INFORMATION

Here's how the new system works:

** Parents browse the Menlo Park Lyceum Web site -- www.menlopark-lyceum.org -- for information on offerings for children, from preschoolers through eighth-graders, and family field trips. The Web site replaces the traditional printed Lyceum brochure.

** Parents identify activities most interesting to them, and set up an account to simplify the registration process. ** Starting at 8 a.m. Saturday, January 24, and running through February 8, parents return to the Web site and click on the "Register NOW" button. They choose the activities they wish to enroll in.
(Note: Events fill up, so the earlier parents register, the better chance they have of securing the offerings they prefer.)

** For more information, call the Lyceum hotline at 361-0221. To volunteer, call Lyceum President Sally Cooper at 233-9774.

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