It's Getting Closer!
August 16th, Principal Newsletter
Glen Acres Elementary School
Ms. Donna Ryan
Principal
Email: dryan@wcasd.net
Address: 1150 Delancey Place, West Chester, PA 19382
Phone: 484-266-1700
website: https://www.wcasd.net/Domain/461
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WestChesterASD
August 17th, 2022
Dear Families,
We have missed the children and we are happy to have our students back at school on August 29th. When the students arrive on Monday, our team will greet, welcome, and direct our students to their classrooms. As a reminder, if you are walking your child to school in the AM, please walk your child to the main lobby or the recess doors. A staff member will walk your child into the building. If you are dropping your child off by car, please form a car line in the back of the building. We will help the students exit the cars in the car line. Buses will be driving through the front of the building.
Exciting news: You are able to see your child's homeroom teacher and busing information by logging onto the parent portal ( directions are below). You will hear from your new teacher at the start of the school year. Please complete the BACK to SCHOOL paperwork on the portal by August 26th.
Finally, one big change this school year is that if you do not pack a lunch for your child, your child will be able to purchase a lunch through ARAMARK. When your child goes through our lunch line, your child will need to type in his/her student id number into the pin pad. You can find that number on the parent portal page. Of course we will be helping our students with this as it will be new for many students. Feel free to mention this to your child at home so he/she can be prepared. If you want to apply for free and reduced lunch, here is the information as to how to apply.
Finally, there are a few things you can do to help your child with the transition back to school.
Please:
* remind your child that ALL of our staff members will help them with questions, directions and anything that they need. Reassure your child that we will help!
* let your child know how they will be getting to and from school
*label all your child's supplies
* pack lunch and snack items that your child could open
* send your child in with a snack and a water bottle
* review with your child his/her current grade and homeroom teacher's name
* let your child know that some of the outdoor areas of the school will look different due to our renovation project
As a reminder, our kindergarten and first grade Back to School Open House night for parents ( no children please) are on:
August 24, Kindergarten Open House, 6:30 PM at Fern Hill Elementary.
August 24, First Grade Open House, 6:30 PM at Glen Acres Elementary.
Please refer to the July newsletter for other important information and dates.
See you soon!
Donna
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
July 20, 2022
Dear Families,
I hope you are having a fantastic summer! We are looking forward to a great 22-23 school year! In order to prepare for school opening, here are a few important things to note:
- Within the next few weeks, you will receive an email regarding information about the parent portal and how to access it. THIS IS AN IMPORTANT RESOURCE FOR YOU TO USE as it is the place you will go in late August to find out your child's teacher and busing information. You can sign up for emails and update your contact information throughout the school year using the Back-to-School/Update sites that are accessible through the portal. If you already have an account and you have enrolled a new kindergarten student, you can add your new kindergarten child’s information to your existing account. All you need to do is click the Preferences link and then click on the Students tab and enter your Kindergartener’s access information there. If you do not have an account you will need to create one. The access information for your child has been provided by our secretary once the registration was completed. Once your account is created or you add an additional child, it will take up to 24 hours for your Back to School/Update site account to be active. Additionally, the parent portal is the place to fill out and/or update important back to school paperwork that includes your contact information, emergency contacts for your child, medical information and permissions, and other important information that we need.
- August 29th is the first day of school for students. As you know, our school is being renovated and Mrs. McVeigh and I are currently working from Fern Hill Elementary School. We are scheduled to be back working from Glen Acres on August 16th. We are looking forward to seeing our newly renovated classrooms ( 5 classrooms in the second grade wing) this August.
- The schedule for Our Back to School Open House meetings for parents/guardians is listed below. At Open House, adults/guardians (no students at this meeting please) meet their child’s teacher and hear pertinent information about the class, classroom procedures and grade- level curriculum.
August 24, Kindergarten Open House, 6:30 PM at Fern Hill Elementary.
August 24, First Grade Open House, 6:30 PM at Glen Acres Elementary.
August 30, Second and Third Grade Open House, 6:30 PM at Glen Acres Elementary.
September 1, Fourth and Fifth Grade Open House, 6:30 PM at Glen Acres Elementary.
- There is no school on September 5th ( Labor Day) and September 26th ( Teacher - In Service Meetings).
Besides the aforementioned, in this letter you will find :
- a list of our 22-23 classroom teachers
- a copy of the kindergarten letter for new kindergarten families
- the supply lists
- health information from our school nurse
- information about attendance, pick up patrol , and transportation
- forms needed in order to volunteer at school
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Donna
Our 22- 23 Classroom Teachers
Kindergarten- Mrs. Clayton, Mrs. Fryer ( Ms. McAliney), Mrs. Phillips
First Grade- Mrs. Besselman, Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Malikowski, Mrs. Primus
Second Grade- Mrs. Brunner, Mrs. Bolton ( Ms. Erbe), Mrs. Gulli, Mrs. Mountain
Third Grade- Dr. Alba, Mrs. Barnett, Ms. Pruitt, Mrs. Virtue- Baer
Fourth Grade- Mrs. Bowen, Ms. Tustin ( Mrs. Knoell ), Mrs. Runzer
Fifth Grade- Mr. Axt, Mr. Ousey, Mr. Rogers
Supplies for school
Each student is requested to bring basic supplies to school. You will find the list of supplies attached below.
Nurse's Notes
Important notice from the School Nurse:
PA State school health mandated immunization, physical and dental requirements for 22-23 school year:
- All students are required to be up to date with PA state mandated immunizations within the first 5 days of school in order to avoid being excluded from school.
- All kindergarten students and any student registering for the first time to GAE must submit updated physical and dental examination report to the school nurse within the first 60 days of school in order to avoid being excluded from school. Reports can be dated in/after September 2021.
**Kindergarten through 5th grade students must receive:
4 dtap (diphtheria/tetanus/pertussis) with the last dose given after the child’s 4th birthday
4 IPV (polio) with the last dose given after the child’s 4th birthday
3 Hepatitis B
2 Varicella (chicken pox)
2 MMR (measles/mumps/rubella)
- If you have questions about these requirements, please contact Mrs. Cassidy at mcassidy1@wcasd.net
If you registered your child(ren) through WCASD portal and did not upload all or part of the above PA state school health mandates, please send the information to Mrs. Cassidy at the above email address as soon as possible.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this very important notice.
Michelle Cassidy, BSN, RN, CSN
Certified School Nurse
Glen Acres Elementary (M-F – 484-266-1706)
Attendance
Our attendance secretary, Mrs. Theresa Weaver, will be your contact for all things related to attendance and the pickup patrol app. She can be reached at tweaver2@wcasd.net or 484-266-1712.
We will send you the updated district attendance policy at the start of the year. If you are requesting absences due to a family vacation, please submit the request a week before your trip by filling out the form below.
Pick Up Patrol
Glen Acres uses an application called Pick Up Patrol to report absences, late arrivals, early dismissals and changes in pickup procedure for your children. Prior to the start of the year, families will receive an email invite from Pick Up Patrol to download the app to their phone. In addition, we will communicate with you when the app is updated with your transportation information. Once downloaded it is very easy to report changes in your child’s attendance.
We cannot express enough how important it is for parents keep their child’s record updated. We use the application throughout the day and most importantly at dismissal time. At the end of the day, we use reports from the application for dismissal. The report allows us to track how each child is being dismissed that day, and gives us an alphabetical list of students being picked up, attending the aftercare program, after school activities, as well as which bus each child is riding. It gives us a student tally for each bus so we know that everyone is safely on the bus prior to it departing school. Please use the app. It saves paper, phone calls, and time for you and the Glen Acres staff.
A few things to note in Pick Up Patrol:
- Pick Up means you are driving through the car line to get your child after 3:05.
- Early Dismissal is for when you are signing your child out before 3:05pm for any reason
- Walker means you are walking to school or parking your car and walking up to retrieve your child.
- After School Activities will be listed. You will pick which club your child is attending after school to notify us that they will not be riding the bus or being picked up at school at 3:05 in the car line.
Car Line Info, Walkers and Bus Morning Drop Off & Afternoon Pick Up
Our car drop- off and pick- up location for our students (K-5) will be in the back of the school on the recess yard. Drop off times are from 8:10 AM- 8:35 AM. Our morning announcements will be at 8:40 AM. Please have your children use the passenger side of the vehicle.
If you have a late arrival ( after 8:40 AM), please enter the main office lobby to check in. If you are a kindergarten family, the bus will leave for FHE at 8:40 AM, if you are arrive after 8:40 AM, please report to the main office lobby at FHE.
If you are picking up your child at the end of the day, the car line starts to form at 3:05 PM. If you are a kindergarten family and you need to pick your child up early, please remember students will be in transit from FHE to GA between 1:45 PM and 2:10 PM. Therefore, if you are picking up early, please do so before 1:45 PM or after 2:10 PM.
Walkers may enter the front main lobby doors or the back recess doors. There will be a lot of traffic in the area. If you are not supervising your child who will be walking, please contact the office so that we can explain to you and your child the traffic patterns. If you are walking with your child and picking them up at the end of the day, a staff member will walk your child to the picnic tables on the recess yard.
Buses will enter and depart the school from the front of the building. Buses will leave school starting at 3:10 PM. You will receive information in August about the timing and location of your child's bus stop.
Please refrain from sending your child to school on their bike. There is a lot of traffic in the area. Thank you for your support.
Volunteer Information
We hope you would consider volunteering. Some volunteer opportunities that come up are opportunities to help in the library, lunchroom, as a homeroom party planner, and at field trips and school and district events. If you are interested in volunteering, please be sure to have updated clearances( good for five years) on file with the school.
Other important Information
In the links below, please find links to the WCASD website, WCASD calendar, GAE website ( you will find information about renovations on the first page of our website) , and Information about Padres Latinos.
Un puente cultural en la comunidad para las familias de habla hispana y nuestras escuelas.