Dear Wines Families,
I hope this message finds you well and ready for the 2019-20
school year! I’ve had an extremely relaxing summer. We spent most of the summer
up north with my dad. As many of you know, we lost my mom last February so we
decided to simply “move in” with my dad and fill the house with friends and
family this summer. Of course, being on Lake Michigan is a pretty easy place to
spend a summer! Trish was able to get away for a lot of time as well and while
she had to work remotely quite a bit, working remotely from Northport is not a
bad option! Our boys are still up there with Grandpa and we’ll have to drag
them back to reality eventually. Simply put, it was a great summer for my dad
and our entire family.
Staff Changes
This will be an exciting year for many reasons. Not least of
which is the fact that we have lots of new faces on our staff.
Lexi Fata joins our Kindergarten team this fall. Many of us
know Lexi well as she student taught in Kindergarten last year with Samantha
Shanteau and took over during Samantha’s maternity leave. We are so thrilled
that she is with us!
We welcome Jennifer Puente who is joining our 4th
grade team. Jennifer is an Ann Arbor “lifer” and has spent 20 years in AAPS at
Bryant Elementary mainly in 2nd grade. I’ve known Jennifer for many
years having first crossed paths in 1995 while I was student teaching at
Northside Elementary and she was beginning her career as a Teaching Assistant
there.
We welcome Paige Wittman to our growing Kindergarten team.
Paige has spent the last four years at Bryant teaching Kindergarten. From the
small world department, Lexi spent some of her pre-student teaching time in
Paige’s room.
We welcome Alicia Maans who is taking over our K-2 self-contained
special education classroom. Alicia previously taught in a similar classroom in
our district. Her classroom was closed at the end of last year and with Beth
Hospadaruk’s retirement, we were able to find a perfect fit to replace her!
We also welcome Kate Leite to our school half time joining
Ms. Brock as special education teacher. Some of our students currently on Ms.
Brock’s caseload will transition to having Kate as their case manager. We will
be working together in the days to come to make these changes and we will
contact families as soon as we have it set up. Kate has served as a Title I
teacher in our district for the past few years.
I’m also excited that our strong partnership with U of M
continues as we welcome seven student teaching interns. Please welcome Torie
Harmon with Samantha Shanteau, Jackie Segel with Derek Toohey, Jennifer Pruss
with Shanna Middleton, Carina Huang with Paige Wittman, Lily DiLorenzo with
Marcia Gibbs, Lexy Verhil with Anna Milanowski, Gabrielle Amato with Nick
Mosher, and Anabell Waterford with Janet Heaton.
Meet the Teacher Events!
Mark your calendars for our annual Popsicles and Meet the
Teacher Events.
• 1st-5th
Grades: Tuesday, August 27th at 4:30 PM.
• Kindergarten/Young
5’s: Wednesday, August 28th at 6:30 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 29th 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 August 27th. At the conclusion of this
letter, I have some annual reminders about traffic. One of the best ways to
help with traffic—and thus keep our kids safe—is for students who are assigned
to a bus to utilize the bus as often as possible. The first few days on the bus
often find delays and schedule snafus. We ask that you are patient as things
get sorted out and continue to use the bus.
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 those classrooms. There may be some minor variations 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: Thursday, August 29th (6:00 PM)
• First Day of
School: Tuesday, Sept. 3rd. Full Day.
• Opening Day PTO
Coffee: Tuesday, Sept. 3rd (9:15 AM)
• Back to School
Family Picnic: Thursday, Sept. 5th (6:30 PM)
• Curriculum Night:
Tuesday, Sept. 17th (6:30-8:00 PM)
Keep Up To Date with Wines!
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 @wineselementary (please note
@winesprincipal is no longer our Twitter address). 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, although
our 5th grade classrooms are in the modular building, your students
will still enter school from the front door so please do not use the Cooley lot
for pick up and 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.
We’re Hiring!
Finally, due to the growth of our school, we have expanded
our lunch times this year in order to have fewer students on the playground and
lunchroom at the same time. As a result, there are more lunch supervisor
employment opportunities. The job is flexible (applicants can work one day a
week or every day) and we can guarantee two and a half hours or more in some
cases. It is a great job for anyone who loves kids, has energy, and has time
between approximately 11AM and 1PM. If you are interested or know anyone who
might be, please contact me directly. I know many of you have connections with
UM students. This is a great job for college students (I worked lunch at Angell
Elementary as an undergrad at Michigan). Lunch is also a great volunteer
opportunity and I’ll share information on volunteering at lunch as we get
closer to school.
Enjoy the final days of summer and we’ll see you soon!
Sincerely,
David DeYoung
Principal
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