GVES Weekly Announcements
January 3, 2020
Principals' Message
Happy New Year GVES families!
Although it was a short week, it was filled with new year activities, resolutions, and quick assemblies to review school routines and expectations. Specifically, we addressed the importance of Digital Citizenship when using technology both at school and at home. We've included those expectations below for your reference. The students did a wonderful job jumping back in! We look forward to our preliminary rounds of the Spelling Bee and Geography Bee next week in addition to 4th grade band and orchestra concerts.
Go birds!
Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Conley
Upcoming Events
1/7: 1st Round Geography Bee 12-1pm
1/8: 4th Grade Band Concert 7pm GVHS
1/9: 4th Grade Orchestra Concert 7pm GVHS
1/10: 1st Round Spelling Bee & GVES Spirit Day
Welcome Mrs. Centone!
Please join us in welcoming Mrs. Terri Centone to our main office team. Mrs. Centone is stepping into the secretarial position held by Mrs. Kennish for many years. Terri will be your point of contact when you buzz our front door, enter our building for Raptor services, late arrivals, early dismissals, and overall attendance administration. Terri is a resident and former Garnet Valley parent and has worked at Concord Elementary since 2004. We are excited to reacquaint her to Garnet Valley Elementary School!
Welcome Terri!
Carline Information & Reminders
Morning: Carline stops accepting drop-offs and is unsupervised at 8:50 AM. If you arrive at 8:45 or after please drive around to the front of the school and drop off. Our buses have cleared the parking lot by that time. We have an attendant at the front door until 8:55 that will pass students through. Students are not considered formally late until 8:55. If it is past 8:55 we ask you to please escort your child into the building to fill out a late note. Afternoon: Carline dismissal begins after 3:05 PM. Our school day officially ends at 3:15 so please arrive by 3:20. If you arrive at 3:20 or after please drive around to the front of the school to sign out your child from the main office. Our buses have cleared the parking lot by that time.
Nurses Notes
NURSE’S OFFICE NOTES: SNAP (STUDENT EMERGENCY INFO)
If you have not yet completed your child’s emergency information on our SNAP portal~~PLEASE take a moment to do so. For those of you who DID complete the info~~please check to see if you completed the ‘Medications’ portion of the program. The following directions will hopefully be helpful:
Log onto Studentehr.com If you do not remember receiving an email, enter your email then hit “forgot password” and follow the directions to log back in.
Select child on the left side.
Update any Allergies/Conditions that you would like us to know about.
Provide consent for over the counter medications (OTC). Click on “Medications, OTC”
and click on any medications that you give permission for us to dispense to your
child. Then click SAVE. If you do not hit SAVE, we will not be able to see what medications you would like your child to be able to receive.
***THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS HEALTH CONCERN!!!***
OH NO! IT’S COLD & FLU SEASON… Tis the season for lots of cold and flu germs to ‘visit’ us.. Please keep your child home if they have a body temperature over 100 and/or a persistent cough. If you have any concerns regarding health issues please contact the nurse’s office. We always appreciate hearing from you especially if you have given your child OTC medication at home prior to school.
GVES NURSE’S OFFICE #610 579-4146
GVE HSA Weekly Announcements – 1/3/2019
First Annual GVE Online Auction a SMASHING SUCCESS!
Thank you to everyone who participated in the GVES HSA Online Auction!!!! We couldn't have done it without you! Your purchase of sponsorships, auction items, and raffle tickets allowed us to meet our goal of raising $15,000 to benefit all students at GVE!!! If you have any questions about redeeming winnings or payment please contact gveshsa@gmail.com.
HSA Raffle – AND THE WINNERS ARE…
1st prize: $300 - Matthew Tront
2nd prize: $200 - Laurie Harding
3rd prize: $100 - Ahyaan Pawnikar.
Our raffle was sponsored by Realtor John Williams RE/MAX Excellence.
Upcoming HSA Meetings
We have two upcoming HSA meeting in January:
- Monday, January 6th - 7pm – in Room 148 Guidance Room (off main lobby)
- Wednesday, January 15th – 9am-LGI
MLK Week of Service – Jan 21st – 24th – Collecting donations NOW!
This year we will continue with our students preparing “blessing bags” to be donated to City Team in Chester. What’s a little different this year is that we’ll be partnering with Concord Elementary to make even better bags than last year! Concord’s MLK week of service is the week before ours and Concord’s students will be providing socks, gloves and toiletry items. GVE students will add small, non-perishable food items to the bags when we get them the following week! We are trying to fill 470 bags – so BULK quantities are much appreciated!
Items needed include:
- Protein: Slim Jims, jerky, other meat sticks (must be non-perishable)
- Starch/Carb: Cup of Noodles, Instant Mac & Cheese, Oatmeal (must come in a ready to make bowl)
- Fruit: applesauce or other fruit pouch (no cups please, too heavy!), raisins or craisins or other dried fruit
- Snack/Treat: Rice Krispy Treat, granola bar, gummy fruit snacks
- Gum or mints: TicTacs or gum
We have created two SignUp Geniuses:
There is also an Amazon “Wish List” for the food – you can purchase any brand from anywhere you’d like…we just thought we’d make it easy by providing this list with items we think are a good fit and cost effective.
You can also contribute money toward the purchase of the food items by sending:
- Cash or check in an envelope with your child – LABELLED GVE HSA MLK DONATION (checks made payable to GVE HSA)
- Venmo: @GVESHSA
PLEASE NOTE: WE MUST HAVE ALL DONATIONS ARRIVING TO THE SCHOOL NO LATER THAN JANUARY 16TH! If Amazon can't guarantee delivery by that date, please DO NOT PURCHASE!
School Store – Wednesday, January 15th
Our next school store is Wednesday, January 15th! Students can shop at recess for items ranging from 50 cents to $3.00.
School store needs volunteers at all recesses to assist students with shopping and check out. This is a great opportunity to see your students in action with their friends! Please click HERE to sign up to help. There are tabs across the top for the different recess times, so click the tab for the time you can assist.
Lunch Buddies – Friday, January 24th
If you have signed up to be a Lunch Buddy for January, your time is coming! Friday, January 24th is our next Lunch Buddy opportunity. There is one day identified for Lunch Buddies every month between October and March and spots are available on a first come, first served basis.
This SignUp Genius is broken out into tabs across the top for different lunch periods, listed out by grade and classroom. Find your child’s grade/class on the appropriate tab…. select from the available dates…and MARK YOUR CALENDAR to enjoy lunch with your student!
PLEASE NOTE: Only one guest per student per school year can sign up.
MLK Week of Service
Garnet Valley CTC Quick Tip #16 – Juuling?
Did you know? If you know what Juuling is, chances are you have a young person in your home. Juuling has become a hot topic in high schools and on college campuses. “Juuls” are one of the most popular vape brands. Would it surprise you to know that the statistics collected on young people using e-cigarettes (vaping) rose significantly in 2015. That was the year, Juuls hit the market.
The FDA is banning some pre-filled flavors, does it go far enough? What about vape pens that can be filled, there is no ban on E-juice flavors that need to be filled by the consumer. See article below.
Call to action… Save the date, Wednesday, 1/8/20, 7:00 - 8:30 pm at GVMS. New Realities of Parenting will tackle Vaping with a panel of experts. Learn the facts about Vaping/Juuling. Find out where to turn for resources and how to stop this dangerous trend. Get tips on how to talk to your children. Free childcare is available. Look for the flyer in your principal’s e-alerts for more details. Find more information from the American Lung Association (ALA) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) below.
Elementary Handbook & GVSD Procedural Manual
Communication Procedures
Early Dismissals - Early dismissals due to weather or unforeseen circumstances will be announced through the phone number you provide in Alma, email, district-level social media, and websites. Please keep your Alma contact information current. You can update this information in your account.
Absence Reporting - Launched at the end of the last school year, the new School Messenger (Safe Arrival) Absence Reporting System makes it easy for parents/guardians to report their child's absence, reduces the time it takes to verify student attendance and will allow our staff to respond to unexplained student absences more efficiently. Please click here for directions on how to use your phone, app, or computer to report an absence.
Social Media - GVES is on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram! Our handle is @GarnetValleyES on all three platforms. We also podcast on iTunes. Just search iTunes for "Jaguarmax."
GVES Calendar
The view the full calendar on our website, click here or go to https://gves.garnetvalleyschools.com/calendar.
Attendance Information
State law establishes conditions under which any child may be excused from attendance at school. In keeping with these statues and recommendations of the State Department of Education, pupils in the Garnet Valley Schools may be excused temporarily from school attendance for the following reasons:
Sickness
Quarantine
Death in the immediate family
Weather so inclement so as to endanger the health of the child or make roads impassable
For observance of a major religious holiday
College visits, pre-approved educational trips
In order for an absence to be excused, a parent/guardian must respond to the Safe Arrival phone call, use the Safe Arrival app to report the absence ahead of time, or submit a written note to the office within three days after return from an absence. The absence of any student failing to comply with this time period will automatically become unexcused and illegal, and the school laws of Pennsylvania shall be applied accordingly.
Raptor Information
The Raptor system is used to enhance our ability to monitor who enters our buildings by screening visitors, contractors, and volunteers. Upon entering a district building, visitors will be asked to present an ID such as a Driver’s License, which can either be scanned or manually entered into the system. If a parent or guardian for any reason does not have a US government-issued ID, the school staff member can use any form of identification and manually enter the person’s name into the Raptor system. The Raptor system will check to ensure that registered sexual offenders are not entering our school campuses without our knowledge. The Raptor system checks the visitor's name and date of birth for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders. The registered sex offender database is the only official database checked by the Raptor system. No other data from the ID is gathered or recorded and the information is not shared with any outside agency. Once entry is approved, Raptor will issue a badge that identifies the visitor, the date, and the purpose of his/her visit.
Please adhere to the following regulations:
1. Enter the building at the main office door.
2. Go directly to the office, sign in through Raptor and inform the school secretary of your
destination.
3. PLEASE DO NOT GO to any area of the building without receiving permission from the office.
4. Do not attempt to go to a classroom to pick up a child. Students who are being dismissed early
will be sent to the office.
5. Return the visitor badge at the conclusion of your visit to sign out.
Volunteer Clearance Information
Legislation in Pennsylvania requires community members and parents to obtain clearances in order to volunteer in our schools. If you have previously submitted your clearances to the Human Resources office, they are good for five (5) years from the date of the clearance.
Governor Wolf has waived the fees associated with the Pennsylvania State Police—Criminal Background Check and the Child Abuse History Clearance. Since the FBI clearance is a federal program, those costs still remain; however, the district has decided to permit individuals who have resided in Pennsylvania continuously for ten years or more to sign a certification form that saves the volunteer the expense of the fee, ensures compliance with the law, and allows the district to maximize student safety.
Jaguarmax Radio Podcast
Jaguarmax Radio is changing formats! We will be a student-run podcast created through the after school club program starting in the fall. Check us out on iTunes!
Jaguarmax Radio Podcast on iTunes
Important Links
After School Activity Dismissal Procedures - Dismissal Locations
VEFLS - Foreign Language Contact Person, kgardler@yahoo.com or 610-717-2755
Cafeteria Information - Menus and Payments
GVES Yearly Calendar - Important Dates
Safe Arrival - Attendance Reporting App
GVSD App - Download app here
MySchoolBucks - Online Payments
District Text Messaging Opt-In - Registration Info
Handbooks & Manuals - GVSD Resources
Parent Right to Know Information
Connect with GVES!
Garnet Valley Elementary School
"A Caring Community of Learners"
Est. 1997
The mission of our learning community is to maximize the potential of all students by empowering them to do their personal best.
Website: gves.garnetvalleyschools.com
Location: 599 Smithbridge Rd
Phone: (610) 579-4150
Facebook: facebook.com/GarnetValleyES
Twitter: @GarnetValleyES