PEEK AT THE WEEK
GSRP Staff News September 19th-23rd
Off to a Great Start!
Thanks to our whole staff for making the first weeks of school a success. Your dedication to completing home visits and setting up detailed learning environments for our students helps to make a connection with families and lead to positive home/school relationships. Our Open House was a success with over 300 in attendance. Many comments were made by parents that they are fortunate to be able to place their children in our program. For many Davison families, this is their first experience with our school district. Thanks for making it a positive one!
Welcome to our Newest Staff
We have several new staff members this year. We welcome them and look forward to having a great year!
- Erin O'Connor is our new speech pathologist for our program and for the ECSE classroom. We are so happy to have Erin join our GSRP staff!
- Tosca Trout will be joining the staff as the ECS for our ECSE/GSRP classroom. Tosca is a GISD employee and serves several district in our county.
- Room 1- Joy Howard is our new child care provider in our ECSE/GSRP classroom. Joy comes to us with experience from St. John's Montessori preschool and Children's Garden in Grand Blanc.
- Room 2- Melissa Schwab is our new lead teacher in room 2. Melissa is a former kindergarten teacher in Mt. Morris and GSRP teacher in Livingston County.
- Room 4- Alicia Hoban is our new associate teacher in room 4. Alicia has lead teacher preschool experience from a tuition based preschool program in Grand Blanc.
- Jodie Spicko is joining our staff as a building child care provider. She has previous experience working in Davison as a Title I parapro. We are thrilled to have her back.
We also have two existing staff members taking on new positions. Mrs. Adrienne Vickerman is taking on the role of the associate teacher in room 2. Mrs Susan Clase is taking on the role of associate teacher in room 1.
Everyone is off and running and fitting nicely into their new roles. Please take a moment to welcome new staff and get to know them.
Transportation
We are fortunate to offer busing for our Davison GSRP students. Although arrival can seem like a challenge with buses arriving between 8:05 and 8:35, and parent transport arriving at 8:45, we need to remember that the transportation department does an amazing job considering the scope of their job. Keep in mind the big picture! I am sure you agree that transporting students to and from Gates, Siple, Central, Hill, Thomson, Head Start, and GSRP is no easy task. The important thing is that we can offer our students busing and that our students are getting a three hour program. Although busing and parent transport times are staggered and present a challenge, we need to do be patient with the process. The alternative is not offering busing as many district do. In this case, many of our students would not be able to attend our program. Remember that the lead teacher day begins at 8:00 and students that are taken off buses after 8:00 will be brought into the classrooms. Teachers are expected to supervise these students. Associate teachers are not expected to hold students outside the building while they are getting several students off buses with large time gaps in between arrivals. Thank you for your cooperation with transportation.
Arrival and Dismissal Valet
Valet for arrival and dismissal starts this week. Mrs. Tate has passed out the plan and everyone should be familiar with how this process will work. Remember that parents that do not have their valet sign visibly displayed must part and come in and show ID. There have been a few parents that have voiced concerns that they will not be able to fasten car seats fast enough for pick up valet. I have reassured them and also put in the parent newsletter that parking and walking in for pick up at the classroom is always an option. Make sure to have sign out sheets available for these parents. We will need to be most visible at the end of the day valet pick up and remind parents that they should not get in line to valet any earlier than 8:40. Mr. Harper and I have spoken and we may need to even push this back to 3:45. Our main concern is the safe dismissal of our students.
Early Release Day
This Wednesday, September 21st is our first of four early release days for the district. Thank you teachers for sharing in your classroom newsletters that there will be no p.m. classes and room 1 will dismiss at the a.m. dismissal times. We will have lunch from 12:00 to 12:50 and the afternoon session will start promptly at 1:00 and dismiss at 4:00. The following items will be on the staff agenda:
- MERT team- We will be going over our staff MERT team plan so that everyone is aware of the procedures that should take place in the case of a medical emergency.
- A word from our ECS- Heather will be sharing some information from the MDE and GISD regarding curriculum.
- Parent Advisory Meeting (curriculum night)- Our first of three required parent advisory meetings will take place next Thursday, September 29th. Our agenda will include curriculum, assessments, and schedules in the GSRP classrooms. All staff are expected to attend and will be compensated. Please see me if you are unable to participate. Child care and pizza will be provided for families. We will be planning specifics on Wednesday.
- Classroom Cooking Themes- Susan
- 2017 Field trip to William's property in conjunction with For Mar on the Road- Susan
- Preschool Intersession- Susan
- 2016 Michigan Early Childhood State Conference- Susan
- GSRP certified and non-certified staff PD- Susan
Staff Potluck
Don't forget that ALL staff have an opportunity to sign up and join in our fist staff potluck of the year. There is no theme for our first potluck. Don't miss out! We have some pretty talented cooks on our staff. It is a great way to socialize and get to know one another. The sign up sheet is posted in the lounge.