Titan Newsletter
#KnowNova #GrowNova
September 2019 / Volume 2
Nova Blanche Forman Elementary School
Russell Schwartz - Principal
Janet Calamaro - Assistant Principal
Email: Russell.Schwartz@browardschools.com
Website: novablancheforman.browardschools.com
Location: 3521 Davie Road, Davie, FL, United States
Phone: 754 323-6600
Twitter: @NBFelem
Nova Blanche Forman Elementary Attendance Line 754 323-6602
Broward County Homework Hotline 754 322-1970 4 PM-8 PM
Rumor Control Hotline 754 321-0321
Dates to Remember
Sept.- - - 10-13 - Book Fair
September 13 - Interim Reports Issued
September 30 - Schools and Administrative Offices Closed
Nova Blanche Families,
The school year is off to an Amazing start!!! To begin, I want to welcome our new to Nova families. We are so thrilled to have you join our Nova community!!!
A great, big THANK YOU to our amazing PTA and Volunteers. They worked extremely hard at getting the year off on the right foot and they were successful. We couldn’t have had such a smooth opening without their support. Thank you!!!
September has started off with a day off due to Hurricane Dorian. We might not have felt the brunt of the storm in our area, but we surely feel it knowing the suffering that our neighbors in the Bahamas have endured and are enduring. We are working in conjunction with all of Broward Schools to provide supplies for the people in the Bahamas. Please reach out to our PTA for more information about how you could help. Thank you!
Next, we want to extend a well-deserved congratulations to Ms. Fossas for being recognized by her colleagues as the Nova Blanche Forman Teacher of the Year. Also, Mr. Knut Hillestad, our Cafeteria Manager, has been recognized as our School-Related Employee of the Year. Congratulations to both! All of our educators are working really hard to meet the needs of their students and make meaningful learning experiences. We are so fortunate to have the greatest educators at Nova Blanche!!!
Have a wonderful September!
Mr. Schwartz, Principal
The Tip top Titan character trait for September is Cooperation: Working with others to accomplish a common purpose.
See family newsletter for more information on family activities relating to Cooperation: /https://www.browardschools.com/cms/lib/FL01803656/Centricity/domain/13726/curriculum%20images/character%20education/Cooperation_Elementary_FamilyNewsletter.pdf
Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15- October 15):
Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated every year from September 15th through October 15th and dates back to 1968. According to HispanicHeritageMonth.org, it is a time to “recognize the contributions made and the important presence of Hispanic and Latino Americans to the United States and celebrate their heritage and culture.” We will celebrate as a school learning historic and current facts about Hispanic Figures.
Choose Peace Stop Violence Week (September 20- 27, 2019): The mission is to educate, engage, inspire and empower youth to take action and bring about positive change for the purpose of preventing bullying, youth crime and violence. We have a Peace Pole outside near the cafeteria doors. Our students have been working on projects in Art Specials with Ms. Brown, to decorate the Peace Pole with.
Start With Hello Week: During the week of September 23–27th, 2019, thousands of schools and youth organizations across the United States will participate in Start With Hello Week and teach students, grades K–12, the skills they need to create a culture of inclusion and connections, and encourage them to reach out to and include those who may be dealing with chronic social isolation. Start With Hello Week raises awareness about social isolation and educates students and the community on how to prevent it!
PTA NEWS
Book Fair - September 10-14, 2019
All NEW volunteers should register online to become a volunteer at browardschools.com/getinvolved. To Volunteer or Chaperone a field trip in a Broward County Public School, you must be cleared first. Please fill out the online application browardschools.com/getinvolved and make sure you do it in a timely manner to considering processing, which may take several weeks.
Become a Member of the NBF PTA - membership dues $5
Box Tops collections, don't forget to clip!
PTA has a new email - - novablanchepta@gmail.com
SAVE THE DATE...
Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) is proud to announce the District will be celebrating “Dads Take Your Child to School Day” on Wednesday, September 25, 2019. Presented by the Florida Department of Education (FDOE), the statewide initiative encourages fathers and male role models to become involved in their children’s education as a means for increasing student achievement.
Research shows a child’s father or male role model can have a significant effect on enhancing a child’s educational experience. Therefore, we invite BCPS elementary schools to invite fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers, foster fathers and other male role models to bring their children to school on September 25, 2019 and plan an activity to engage them upon arrival.
More details to come.
TITAN CARE REGISTRATION
Registration times are 7 AM - 9 AM and 4 PM - 6 PM.
Parents interested in providing input into the performance evaluations of Nova Blanche Forman Elementary instructional and/or administrative evaluations may contact our office at (754) 323-6600 by April 10, 2020.
Please contact Employee Evaluations at 754-321-5067 should you need additional information.
Thank you.
ANNOUNCING A RECYCLING PROGRAM FOR MARKERS!
Nova Blanche Forman has partnered with Crayola Corporation to participate in marker recycling. Crayola has repurposed more than 70 tons of expended markers in the United States and Canada since 2013. The plastic is converted to make wax compounds for asphalt and roofing shingles as well as to generate electricity that can be used to heat homes, cook food, and power vehicles.
Students may bring markers from home and drop them into the art room Colorcycle box. All brands and types of markers may be recycled- even dry erase and highlighters. Crayola prepays the postage for students to send the worn-out markers to the repurposing center.
Through the Colorcycle program, Crayola keeps tons of plastic out of landfills each year, and our students have a concrete way to show they care for our earth. As well, there is an additional benefit. Before the markers are packed up and shipped out, the remaining ink is going to be collected and used by our students as watercolor paint!!!
Learn more at http://www.crayola.com/colorcycle
Direct questions about Nova Blanche Forman’s participation to pamela.k.brown@browardschools.com
Nova Cafeteria Information
· Breakfast is free for all students every school day
· Ice cream is $0.65 - served Wednesday’s / frozen fruit shape up’s are $0.50 - served Friday’s
· Free/Reduced applications are available online at www.myschoolapps.com
(The application must be completed each year.)
· Online payments and account monitoring is available at www.myschoolbucks.com
Arrival
School begins promptly at 9:30 AM. Students being transported to school by car must not arrive before 9:00 AM. Upon arriving late, after 9:30 AM, students must report to the front office where they will be given a tardy pass to be admitted to class. Parents must escort their children into the front office. Except in cases of a late bus, students will be marked tardy at 9:30 AM. As per the School Board of Broward County Discipline Matrix, habitual tardies can result in consequences such as time out, detention, social worker interventions and/or rescission of Nova placement.
Dismissal
Children are dismissed at 3:30 PM. If a student is to be picked up early, a note must be given to the classroom teacher in the morning. No child is permitted to leave the school at any time prior to the regular dismissal time unless he/she is signed out in the front office. Students will not be called to the office for early dismissal after 3:00 PM. Only persons listed on the registration form will be permitted to sign out a child. Parents are required to report to the office before visiting classrooms or any other school area. Parents attending after school conferences need to decide prior to the conference how their child is going home or if they will be attending the conference with them.
Per School Board Policy, there will be no dismissal after 3:00 PM. Dismissal begins at 3:30 PM. If your child is a car rider, please be on time, in an emergency call the office.
Children who are car riders at dismissal will be seated according to grade level. Parents who do not wish to park, must wait in the car line. Parents need to wait outside, not in the front office. Students will not be released to meet parents across the parking lot. Names of children and their grade level should be placed in the windshield of the passenger side of the car. It is of extreme importance that children be picked up on time or enrolled in the After Care program at Nova Blanche Forman. Parents who habitually pick their child(ren) up late will be referred to the school social worker.
To ensure the success of your children, it is important that they be in school on time and that they remain in school through the end of the day.
Nova Blanche Forman Unified Dress Code Policy
Students may wear the following:
Tops: Students may wear Polo-style oxford or turtleneck shirts or Peter Pan collar blouses for the girls. All tops must have sleeves and collars with the exception of "Nova Titan" t-shirts sold by PTA. The colors for tops are: solid white, navy, yellow and hunter green. It is not necessary to have emblems on the shirts.
Bottoms: Students may wear cotton twill long straight leg pants, knee length shorts, skirts, jumpers, Capri pants or skorts. Girls may also wear skirts and jumpers. A belt is optional as long as the pants are worn properly at the waist. Jeans may be worn on Fridays or the last day of the school week with a school shirt. The colors for bottoms are: solid khaki, navy, black, and hunter green.
Students can wear jackets, sweatshirts, vests or sweaters with an approved Nova shirt underneath.
Elementary students may NOT wear backless shoes. Sneakers are recommended.
No article of clothing or jewelry that may cause injury, such as belts, bracelets, wallet chains, collars with spikes or heavy link chains are allowed.
Children should be in their classroom by 9:30 a.m. Excessive tardiness as well as excessive early dismissals (early pick-up by parent or guardian) will result in the school initiating appropriate intervention(s) and consequence(s) as provided by School Board policies. If there are excessive tardies, a social worker can be assigned to meet with the family. If the tardies continue, we can request that an Investigator from the State Attorney's Office meet with you. If, after that, the tardies still continue, then charges may be filled by the State Attorney's Office and procedures will be initiated to rescind your child's Nova reassignment.
When a child is tardy to school, it is the parent's responsibility to escort the child into the front office. That way we make certain that your child is safe and in the building.
VOLUNTEERS
We welcome parents, friends, and community to become involved in educating students. Help build a strong future by becoming a Nova Blanche Forman volunteer. Volunteers can assist in classrooms, cafeteria, clinic, media center, field trips, PTA fundraiser, special events and even the office. Teachers determine the degree of volunteer assistance that is needed in their class. All volunteers must complete an online registration form and be cleared to volunteer as required by the Jessica Lundsford Act.
To apply on-line go to www.browardschools.com/getinvolved.
This includes parents who chaperone field trips. Volunteer must always sign in before going to their assignments. Younger children are not allowed to accompany parents on the volunteer’s activities in the school.