SES Dolphin News
May 26, 2021
Dear Stafford Elementary Community,
The end of the school year is almost here! Time sure has flown and we have very little time left before summer begins. As the 2020-21 school year comes to an end, we wanted to share with you some information regarding the end of this year and the beginning of next.
First, all students who are returning to a Stafford County Public Schools school will keep their Chromebooks over the summer. This summer, Lexia and Dreambox will continue to be available for our students. So please utilize the Chromebooks for summer reinforcement and enrichment with those two programs.
It has been so exciting for our students to be able to checkout books from our school library. We hope they have enjoyed the stories, but all library books need to be returned no later than June 4. So the children have a little time left to finish reading the books they currently have and get them returned to us.
Parents, if you know that your child will not be returning to Stafford Elementary School next year, we ask that you please reach out to Mrs. Celeste Dozier, our office manager, to inform her of where your child will be attending school next year. We want to be sure to have everything prepared for when your child's new school requests records from us.
Speaking of next year, we are very excited about the upcoming school year and having all of our students back in the building five days a week! We know that in-person learning is so important for the students' academic careers, as well as their social-emotional well-being. Please review the Question and Answer Document for our Return to Learn next year. (English version and Spanish version) It answers many of the questions you may have about next year, to include some answers to your virtual questions. After reviewing this document, if you have questions regarding the virtual option, please reach out to us. We are happy to discuss the options with you.
As we begin preparing for the 2021-22 school year, we always want to offer you the opportunity to provide input into your child's education. If you are interested, please use this link to complete a Parent Input form for the 2021-22 School Year. We will certainly take your input into consideration as we group our students for next year.
We also strongly suggest that you log into ParentVue, the program you use to check your child's report cards, and update your email and cell phone numbers. Once you login, choose My Account, then the blue Update Account button. Then you are able to update your account, as needed. This will help ensure that you get any emails or text messages we send over the summer and next year.
We look forward to ending the year on a high note.
Have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day Weekend.
Take care,
S. Sanders, Principal
K. Hardman, Assistant Principal
SOL Testing Information
Mrs. Hardman and I are working to schedule and test any child who was absent during our regular testing window. If your child was absent and needs to complete a make up test, please know that your child's teacher or one of us will be calling you soon.
SOL scores will be sent home with the children on the last day of school. If your child is a learning virtually, we will be mailing their scores home. However, if you would like to come up to the school to pick them up, please feel free to call the front office to set up a time to come get them.
Fifth Grade Promotion
This year has been full of changes and we want to be able to celebrate our fifth grade students who are being promoted to middle school. We have gone through many different ideas and have landed on one that we think will satisfy our desire to celebrate our fifth graders and have you be able to enjoy the celebration as well.
We have planned for an outside celebration of our students! As we stay within the guidelines of our county requirements for social distancing, we will continue to have three separate promotion ceremonies each beginning at 8:45 a.m.:
June 2 - Ms. Ayers and Ms. Amfo-Koranteng Classes
June 3 - Mrs. Dent and Mrs. Rigmaiden Classes
June 4 - Mrs. Kral and Ms. Willard Classes
All students from both classes, face-to-face and virtual, are being invited to these ceremonies. In addition, we are inviting 2 family members per child to join us. We MUST keep the numbers to only 2 family members per student to stay within our social distancing requirements. As you complete the Google Form sent by your student's teacher, you will be sent 2 tickets for your family to use for admittance to our ceremony.
The ceremonies will begin promptly at 8:45 a.m. This will give us time to set up the bus loop for the celebration. Please do not start arriving before 8:35 a.m. or you will need to stay in your car until we are ready. Please make sure that you continue to wear your mask and we will social distance at 3 feet. We will still have a Google Meet available for the students who want to attend virtually.
As we stated before, we want to make this exciting time for the children special and therefore, want to be able to have 2 family members per student attend in person. However, as you know the weather is ALWAYS a factor here in Virginia. Therefore, please keep in mind that if we have any rainy weather (keep your fingers crossed for sunshine and low humidity), we will have to go back to our original plan and have a totally virtual ceremony where the students will be the only ones inside and families will watch virtually.
Again, we hope that the days will be sunny and warm and that our promotion ceremonies will be a huge success.
Reach out to your child's teacher if you have any questions.
Thank you and we look forward to seeing you in person, weather permitting, for our fifth grade promotion ceremonies.
Car Rider Reminders
As many of you have seen, we have made another change to car riders in the morning. If you arrive on school property at 8 a.m. or after, we have been asking you to park and take your children up to the office to sign them in. Please remember that morning car riders closes at 8 a.m. and the staff return to the building to begin their duties inside.
We appreciate how well everyone seems to have transitioned into four lanes of cars for the car rider line in the afternoons. We do our best to keep the traffic moving as swiftly as possible on our property. We ask that you please stay off your cell phones as you move through our car rider lines.
Arrival Reminders:
- Students need to be in their seats at 8 a.m., otherwise they are tardy and you will need to bring them in through the front doors.
- Please make sure that your children are prepared with their masks on and belongings ready when you pull up to the car rider line.
- All children need to be let out on the sidewalk side of the car. It is safer for everyone - children and staff.
Dismissal Reminders:
- Stay off your phones and follow instructions of the staff directing traffic.
- Make sure you hang the car rider tag from your rearview mirror. Please leave it up until all of your children are in your car.
- Load your children from sidewalk side of the car. It is much safer for everyone - children and staff.
Breakfast and Curbside Meal Service
Breakfast Servings
- Each Tuesday, students will take home Wednesday's breakfast. Wednesday for Thursday, Thursday for Friday and Friday for Saturday. On Monday, parents will pick up (2) breakfasts at one of the participating curbside or bus distribution sites. These two breakfasts are for Monday and Tuesday.
Hybrid Families
- Will receive one breakfast and one lunch on each of their regularly scheduled in-school days (Tuesday through Friday). Stafford Elementary will send home a to-go breakfast one day in advance. The breakfasts will be frozen and need to be heated the morning when you serve them. Click here for the directions for heating the meals.
- Will pick up two additional breakfasts and lunches on Monday at curbside and bus distribution sites from 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. or Wednesday evening from 5-6:30 p.m.
- Will receive six breakfasts and six lunches on Monday at curbside and bus distribution sites from 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. or Wednesday evening from 5-6:30 p.m.
- Morning curbside service will take place on Mondays only from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at North Stafford HS, Mountain View HS, Colonial Forge HS, Shirley C. Heim MS, T. Benton Gayle MS, and Dixon Smith MS only. (Curbside and bus service is no longer available on Wednesday or Friday mornings.)
- Bus distribution will take place Mondays only from 10:30 a.m. -1 p.m. New bus distribution sites and times will go into effect on Monday, April 26, 2021.
Mark Your Calendar
- May 26 - Gr. 3 Math SOL
- May 27 - Gr. 5 Math SOL
- June 2 - Gr. 5 Graduation - Ms. Ayers and Ms. Amfo-Koranteng @ 8:45-9:30 a.m. - *Weather Permitting
- June 3 - Gr. 5 Graduation - Mrs. Dent and Mrs. Rigmaiden @ 8:45-9:30 a.m.- *Weather Permitting
- June 4 - Gr. 5 Graduation - Mrs. Kral and Ms. Willard @ 8:45-9:30 a.m.- *Weather Permitting
- June 7 - Regular Day of School - In Person School Day
- June 8 - Asynchronous School Day - Gr. 5 Virtual Math; Gr. 5 Celebration Caravan @ 6-7 p.m.
- June 10 - Last Day of School
* If we have rainy weather we will move back to an indoor virtual ceremony...keep your fingers crossed for good weather!
Kindergarten Registration is OPEN
In order to register your child for Kindergarten, please visit the SCPS website for Online Registration. Here you will find instructions on how to register online. You can find all enrollment requirements to include proof of residency listed here.
If you have any questions, please reach out to our Office Manage, Celeste Dozier at 540.658.6340 or email her at dozierlc@staffordschools.net
We look forward to meeting all of our new Dolphins soon!
Yearbooks
Any extra yearbooks will be available for purchase. If you are interested in a yearbook but did not pre-order one, please reach out to us at staffordelementarypta@gmail.com.
Teacher Wish List
Have you ever wanted to purchase your child's teacher a gift, but were just not sure what they wanted? Well we have the answer for you!
Contact Us - 540.658.6340 or email us
Registrar: Celeste Dozier - dozierlc@staffordschools.net
Attendance: Renee Kuczka - kuczkard@staffordschools.net
Special Education: Kim Hardman (Assistant Principal) - hardmankj@staffordschools.net
English as a Second Language: Bonnie Williams - williamsbj@staffordschools.net
FOCUS: Tiffany Sharon - sharontr@staffordschools.net
Health Services: Nurse Marisol Maltes - maltesm@staffordschools.net
K-2 School Counselor: Melissa Akin - akinm@staffordschools.net
Gr. 3-5 School Counselor: Catherine Williams - williamsce@staffordschools.net
School Principal: Stefanie Sanders - sanderssd@staffordschools.net
SCPS Technology Help Desk: helpdesk@staffordschools.net
SCPS Instructional Helpdesk: SCPSIT@staffordschools.net
SCPS Now Hiring Substitute Teachers
School Mask Fundraiser
Stafford Elementary School
Email: sesfrontoffice@staffordschools.net
Website: https://www.staffordschools.net/Domain/21
Location: 1349 Courthouse Road, Stafford, VA, USA
Phone: 540.658.6340
Twitter: @SEDolphins