Weekly Blog 1/15

Dear Wines Families,

Now that we are finally back with a full week of school, there is a lot of information to share this week. Mainly I want to share a number of important dates coming up over the next few days and weeks.

Tomorrow, 4:00 PM
Art Night Committee Meeting
Art Night is April 25. If you are interested in helping with this fun event, join us at the Art Night Committee meeting on Thursday, January 16th, at 4:00 in the Art Room. Come by and enjoy a cup of tea while we lay out the game plan. If you have questions, please contact our co-chairs Margaret Compton bagladycompton@yahoo.com or Linda Peppin qpep@comcast.net.

Friday, 1:15 PM
Martin Luther King Jr. Assembly
All students will be performing. Parents are welcome to attend. Please note that this is an all school assembly so there will be very limited seating for parents.

Monday, January 20th
No school—Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday

Wednesday, Jan. 22nd 
Newport Public Meeting
It appears that the long awaited sidewalk from Wines to Riverwood is becoming a reality. There is a public meeting about the proposed project next Wednesday at Forsythe Middle School at 7:00 PM. For more information please visit: http://www.a2gov.org/government/publicservices/project_management/Pages/newport.aspx

Tuesday, Jan. 28th
No school—Professional Development Day

Thursday, Jan. 30th 6:30 PM
“Listen and Learn” feedback meeting at Forsythe Middle School 
Our Superintendent, Dr. Jeanice Swift, has finished facilitating nearly 90 public meetings this fall. At the feedback meeting, Dr. Swift will be sharing the findings from these meetings. I encourage our community to attend.

Jan. 31st
International Night. (Please note that this is a date change)
The original date was January 30th, but we did not want to conflict with Dr. Swift’s meeting at Forsythe. There is a paper form coming home today in the Wednesday Folder. That form has the former date on it. We need volunteers for International Night. If you are able to help, please visit http://vols.pt/SAa9id. If you have any questions, please contact Annemarie Dolan akilburndolan@comcast.net or Shireen Syed shisy786@yahoo.com.

Feb. 5th 
Kindergarten Round Up
If you have a child who will be 5 by October 1, 2014 please bring your child to Round Up at 6:30 on February 5th. If you have friends and neighbors who have children eligible for kindergarten, please help us get the word out to families.

Feb. 10th
Parent Involvement Day
We hope you can find time to spend some or all of your day with your child here at Wines. A formal invitation will be coming home very soon.

Finally, just another reminder about the parking lot. I’ve had a number of parents come to me recently with significant concerns recently about folks in the lot engaging in dangerous behavior. Please use extreme caution at pick up and drop off, as there are lots of cars and kids walking. The Cooley lot should only be used by Kindergarten families and siblings. Do not drop kids off and allow them to cross the parking lot. Kids need to be dropped at the sidewalk or accompanied by an adult if crossing. If you are at either the front lot or the Cooley lot, be sure to remain in your car and pull forward as far as possible. Nearly everyone does a perfect job. However, it only takes one mistake for something regrettable to happen.

Please also remember that our first bell rings at 8:45 and school officially starts at 8:48. Please make sure you are doing everything you can to have your children arrive to school on time. Also, school is dismissed at 3:45. Please be in the pick up line no later than 3:50. We have far too many students waiting for their rides at the end of the day. At 4:00 we will begin placing children in childcare and you will be charged the drop in fee.

David