Romona Review: Back-to-School

Dear Romona Families,

Welcome to the 2022-23 school year at Romona. We hope you have had a fabulous summer! We are looking forward to a fantastic year and partnering with you to support your mustang.

Our team worked tirelessly this summer to get Romona ready to welcome back your students! We installed new windows in the entire building, added a shade structure to our blacktop, and did lots of painting and updating around the building. It looks great!!

Now, we are getting ready for the year and have a lot of important information to share with you below. We hope you enjoy these last weeks of summer & look forward to seeing you on Monday, August 22nd!

Warmly,

Cindy & Lisa

Please click here to learn more about all of our Romona staff members.

Grades 1-4 & KEEP39 School Day: 8:35-3:15 (2:15 dismissal on Friday)

Kindergarten: AM 8:35-11:10

LEEP: AM 8:45-11:05, PM 12:10-2:30

Please refer to this District 39 Calendars for information about days when we have no school. Please visit our Romona website for the online calendar.

You will be getting an email from the District on August 17th with your child's teacher assignment. These emails come throughout the day, so please let us know if you do not receive an email by the 18th by calling our office at 847.512.6400.

Our first day of school is Monday, August 22nd. This is a half day, so dismissal for grades 1-4 is at 11:55.

Kindergarten and LEEP students will be having a meet & greet with their teacher on this day. These events are intended to offer our youngest children a time to meet their teacher with their special adults. Please click here for the timing of the meet & greets.

This year, arrival and dismissal is a bit different, so please read carefully!

Arrival

Kindergarten: Students will arrive in the doors near the kindergarten playground. Supervision begins at 8:20 and doors open at 8:30.

Grades 1-4: Students can come in through the front door and will be supervised in the auditorium from 8:20-8:30. All students will go to their classrooms at 8:30 for our 8:35 start time.

Dismissal

Kindergarten:

• Kindergartners will meet their parents outside of their classroom doors in the garden.
• Bus riders will gather in the auditorium.

Grades 1-4:

• Students going to the car pick-up line will go out the front of the building.
• Students meeting their parents will meet them outside of the grade level doors.
• Bus riders will gather in the auditorium.

We are excited to be working our way back to a more typical lunch experience for our mustangs this year! Due to staff constraints, we will still be serving a brown bag lunch. However, all of our students will be eating in the cafeteria together! We also will be needing parent volunteers to help us in the lunch line, so please look out for a sign-up from the PTA! For more information about our food service, please click here.

The safety of our students and staff remains our top priority. We have a comprehensive safety plan in place that is reviewed and updated annually in partnership with the Wilmette Police Department. As a part of this plan, please know that all exterior doors at Romona are locked at all times and visitors can only enter Romona by being buzzed in through the main entrance. Our team will be reviewing safety plans with staff during our upcoming Institute Days and we will practice our plan in partnership with our WPD this fall.

Thursday, August 18th

• New Family Orientation (6:00)

Monday, August 22nd

• First Day of School
• 11:55 Dismissal for grades 1-4
• Meet & Greet for LEEP & Kindergarten

Monday, September 5th

• No School: Labor Day

Wednesday, September 7th

• Curriculum Night

Sunday, September 18th

• Rockin' Romona (4:00-6:00)

Friday, September 23rd

• No School: Staff Institute Day

Monday, September 26th

• No School: Rosh Hashanah

Tuesday, September 27th

• Picture Day

Wednesday, October 5th

• No School: Yom Kippur

Make sure all of your health forms are ready to be turned into our nurse, Mary Ann Roche. Please contact her at rochem@wilmette39.org with any questions.

• Kindergarten: Vision, dental, & medical forms
  
• 2nd Grade: Dental form
• Lechner Early Education Program: Medical forms
  
• All: Medication & health updates
  

Students will be allowed to bring a snack to school every day this year. Please make sure that all snacks are fresh fruits and vegetables.

Please call the attendance line before 8:30 any time your child is absent from school.

Romona Attendance Line: 847-512-6450

This year, we are working with the Wilmette Park District for our before and after care programs at Romona. If you are interested in more information, please visit the WPD Website. The PTA will also be offering some special after school clubs, so please keep your eye out for those offerings.

District 39 aggressively investigates bullying. Please refer to page 18 in our handbook to see our practices and Board of Education policy on bullying and teasing.

Starting today, we will write to you each Friday during the school year. These emails will contain information from the school and from the PTA. We hope these emails keep you well informed of all of the happenings at Romona.

This year, our 4th grade students will visit Boundless Adventures in Wisconsin for their annual Outdoor Education experience! Although it will not be an overnight excursion, we know it will be a fun and educational trip and it is just one of several fun experiences in store for our 4th grade class this year. More information about Outdoor Ed will be coming this fall!

Cindy Anderson, Principal

Lisa Anderson, Assistant Principal

Website: http://romona.wilmette39.org
Phone: 847.512.6400