Dear Wines Families,
Welcome to the 2018-2019 school year! While
Sept. 4th is right around the corner, I hope you are enjoying the
last days of summer. My family had an amazing summer. The highlight was a
two-week trip to Spain in July where we were able to visit Trish’s large
extended Spanish family and enjoy one of our favorite places in the world. We
were also able to spend a good deal of time up north (though not as much as
most summers). The highlight of our time up north was a big party we held in
Northport to celebrate my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary and 75th
birthdays.
Staff Changes
We have just a couple of new faces to our staff
this year. We welcome Bryan Parsons as our new 3rd grade teacher. Bryan
hails from a small town in central Iowa and studied English and Music at Drake
University in, as he calls it, the “sprawling metropolis” of Des Moines, Iowa.
Bryan then left Iowa for a great adventure in South Korea where he taught
English for six years. He then returned to the U.S. where he entered the
University of Michigan’s Elementary Masters and Certification program. Upon
completion, Bryan was hired at Pittsfield where he served as a Title I tutor
last year. Byan’s partner Chelle is currently in Korea finishing up her
doctoral research. We welcome Bryan to our team!
Making room for Bryan in 3rd Grade,
Samantha Shanteau has moved to Kindergarten and Shanna Middleton will be taking
on the role of our Young 5’s teacher as we launch this exciting new program at
Wines!
We also welcome Rosana Lubara-Steuer as our new
Spanish teacher for both 4th and 5th grades. Welcome
Senora Steuer!
Modular Building Update
As you may know, this year marks an exciting new
beginning to the physical space at Wines. Our new modular building has recently
been installed and they are working day and night to try to have it ready for
school to start. I can’t wait for everyone to see inside of the new building.
In a word, it is extraordinary. The interior design and layout is far
superior to what I imagined. Our entire 5th grade will be moving to
the modular building this year along with various staff members who have been
creatively sharing space for many years. We are extremely excited for this
move!
While the project is going well, I have shared
with our staff that there is a possibility that the building will not be ready
for the start of the school year. While this is disappointing, it is a mere
bump in the road and we will have a contingency plan finalized soon in the
event that there is a delay. Please look for updates over the next few days.
Meet the Teacher Events!
Mark your calendars for our annual Popsicles and
Meet the Teacher Events.
• 1st-5th
Grades: Tuesday, August 28th at 4:30 PM.
• Kindergarten/Young
5’s: Wednesday, August 29th at 5:30 PM.
Each event will take place on the back
playground. Kindergarten/Young 5’s students will also spend time in their
classrooms. The 1st-5th grade event is outdoors only. If
you are not able to attend the gathering, we will be emailing class assignments
on those same days. You can also call school beginning on Thursday, August 30th
to inquire about placement.
Bell Schedule
First
Bell: 8:53
Second
Bell 8:56 (classroom instruction begins)
End of
day: 3:59
School Bus Schedules
Please monitor the AAPS website (www.a2schools.org) as bus schedules will be
posted likely the week of Sept. 27th.
Snack Policy
The Wines snack policy is that only fruits and vegetables
can be brought to school as a snack. This policy aligns our school with state
guidelines for healthy foods and also addresses many allergy concerns in our
classrooms. So again this year we ask that your child’s snack be only fruit or
vegetables. This policy is consistent with numerous other AAPS elementary
schools.
Kindergarten/Young 5’s families, please look for
communication from your child’s teacher regarding the “Community Snack” that
takes place in Kindergarten. There may be some minor variation in the policy
due to the unique snack system in Kindergarten/Young 5’s.
We realize that some students have special
dietary considerations and we will certainly allow for flexibility with this
policy to ensure the health and safety for each student. Please note that this
policy does not apply to student lunches.
Other Important Dates
In the first day packet, you will receive a
calendar with our various events for the school year. However, I do want to
point out a few early in the year events so you can have them on your
calendars.
• New
Family Orientation: Monday, August 27th 6:30 PM at Forsythe MS
Auditorium.
• First
Day of School: Tuesday, Sept. 4th Full Day.
• Opening
Day PTO Coffee: Tuesday, Sept. 4th (9:15 AM)
• Back
to School Family Picnic: Thursday, Sept. 6th (6:30 PM)
•
Curriculum Night: Thursday, Sept. 20th (6:30-8:00 PM)
Keep Up To Date with Wines!
As always, we strive to always keep everyone in
the loop about what is happening at our school. There are multiple ways to keep
up! I will continue to send my weekly “Wednesday Email” and the same
information from my emails can be found on my blog at www.winesprincipal.blogspot.com. I
will also continue to use Twitter. Twitter users, please follow me @winesprincipal. Please also follow us
on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wineselementary.
Annual Traffic Reminder
I want to repeat my yearly reminder about our
parking lot. These reminders are more important than ever as our school reaches
capacity with students and cars! The area along the main entrance of the
building from the beginning of the sidewalk until the gate is an active
drop-off/pick up zone. Please pull as
far ahead as possible and stay in your car. Do not park in front of the
gate. In the Cooley lot, the area from the end of the gate to the end of the
modular building is a similar pick up/drop off zone. There are signs marking
these areas. We ask that the Cooley
lot continue to be used by Kindergarten/Young 5’s families (and siblings) only.
5th grade parents, when
the Modular building is ready, you will continue to use the front of the school
and NOT the Cooley lot for pick up/drop off.
At the end of the day, our pick up line often
extends along our entry driveway all the way to the soccer fields. Please note
that you may not park your car along
this driveway for any reason. Please stay in your car and continue to
pull ahead (it seems like a long line but if everyone follows the system, it
moves pretty fast!).
As a reminder, our school was never designed to
accommodate lots of car traffic so please utilize the bus if your child is on a
bus route and we always encourage a healthy walk or bike ride to school too! If
you are driving to school and wish to park and come in, please make sure you
are parked in a designated area. As always, a great option for parking is the
Forsythe overflow lot near our Newport entrance where there are always open
spots.
Enjoy the final days of summer and we’ll see you
soon!
Sincerely,
David DeYoung
Principal
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