Dear Simpson Superstars,
The school year is off to a wonderful start! I am very excited to be starting another school year with you as the very proud principal of Simpson Elementary School! The students, teachers, and support staff here work very hard to make every minute of the school day count! Parents, thank you for all you do to support our work. It is truly a team effort!
It was great to see so many of you during our Curriculum Night. I look forward to seeing you at our PTA Spirit Night “Picnic in the Park” at the Town Center on Thursday, September 22nd (5pm-7pm). Thank you to our PTA for sponsoring this event. We appreciate the support our wonderful PTA provides. It makes a difference! If you have not already done so, I strongly encourage you to join our PTA. They do so much to support our sweet school. Have a great September, and as always, don’t hesitate to let me know if I can be of assistance.
Proud to be your principal,
Dr. Taffeta Connery
September Calendar Dates
September 2nd: PTA Charleston Wrap Ends-Support our school with holiday gift wrap, chocolate, cookies and so much more!
September 5th: Labor Day-Student and Staff Holiday
September 7th: Bike Safety Class-4th and 5th Grade-4:30 pm
September 13th: All Pro Dads-Kick off in the café' at 7:00 am (Donuts with Dads)
September 16th: Digital Learning Day (DLD) for all GCPS Students
September 22nd: Simpson Picnic in the Park from 5:00 to 7:00 pm (Bring your toys, dogs and enjoy dinner at the town center from local vendors)
September 29th: Childhood Cancer Awareness Fundraiser for a day
September 30th: Fall Picture Day
September 30th: School Council-7:30 am
SCHOOL HOURS
Office Hours: Monday - Friday, 7:30 AM - 4:15 PM
All visitors must check in at the welcome desk and please be prepared to provide some form of identification upon request.
Students should arrive between 8:20 AM- 8:50 AM
Morning announcements and tardy bell rings at 8:50 AM
Dismissal bell rings at 3:20 PM
- If you are checking out your child early from school, please do so on or before 3:00 PM. This leaves our bus lanes open for bus arrivals. Also, please remember that picture ID is required for all student check-outs. Thank you!
simpson pbis
Greetings Parents,
Beginning this school year in 2022, we will engage in Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) at Simpson Elementary to have a positive behavioral expectation schoolwide. PBIS is an approach schools use to promote school safety and good behavior. With PBIS, schools teach kids about behavior expectations, strategies, and with a primary focus on having a positive prevention, not consequences.
What is PBIS at our school?
A unified set of school wide expectations for behavior in our school. We are Simpson Superstars, so to ensure that students can easily comprehend our expectations, we have established a 5-star approach for appropriate behaviors posted throughout the school. Your child has been learning these expectations since the first few days of school.
What are the 5-Star Expectations at Simpson Elementary?
- Be Respectful
- Be Responsible
- Be Ready to Learn
- Be Safe
- Be Kind
As part of our PBIS process, teachers and other staff members use evidence-based practices to increase student learning and decrease classroom disruptions. To keep students on the rules in a positive manner, we do the following when teaching academics and behavior:
- Constantly teach and refer to our school-wide expectations.
- Provide students with more praise than correction.
- Talk to students with respect using positive voice tone.
- Actively engage everyone in the class during instruction.
- Use pre-correcting, prompting, and redirecting as we teach.
- Look for the positive first and provide positive, immediate, frequent, and explicit feedback.
Please look forward to additional details as we unveil our STARBUCK incentives for recognition of positive student behavior beginning the week of August 29th.
The PBIS School store buying days are here! Please see the chart below for grade level buying days which will occur during morning arrival: 8:20-8:55 AM.
PBIS incentive carts from the school store start this week!
Digital Learning Day Meal Service Information
Save-the-Date- Digital Learning Day (DLD), September 16th for all GCPS Students.
- Meals will be prepped for bus delivery. Buses will follow middle school routes.
- Both breakfast and lunch will be offered.
- Buses will begin delivery around 10:45-11:00 A.M.
- Curbside service can be provided at Simpson ES from 11-12 P.M.
Important: Only registered GCPS students may receive lunches. Younger siblings cannot be served. This is due to the June expiration of the USDA waiver granting free lunches.
GCPS Students will have access to a meal (breakfast and lunch) throughout the year for each child. However, due to the expiration of USDA Covid-19 waivers, students will now be charged for meals based on their individual eligibility for 2022-2023 School Year.
Therefore, student meals will return to full price at this time or if desire, please complete a free/reduced lunch application on-line via our school website.
Meal prices for elementary students below:
Student breakfast -$1.50
Student lunch -$2.25
Adult Breakfast -$2.50
Adult Lunch -$3.75
*The adult bar is available to both adult guests and staff throughout the school year.
Parental lunch visitation will begin after Labor Day. We will utilize this time to make sure our PBIS cafeteria expectations are in place with student rituals and routines.
A gentle reminder that outside vendor food (per district policy) is not allowed for students. Please reinforce providing lunch from home or utilizing the school meal plan.
school safety updates-hot off the press
We will have a new security feature that will be installed in Simpson Square in the coming days. This new security feature is called, "glass vestibule" which will be an additional layer for visitor check-in at the front door. Construction will begin during the week of August 29th.
Also, please save-the-date for our 1st of 2, Lock Down Drills, which will be held on Thursday, September 22nd. School resource officers will be a part of this exercise drill to ensure that all safety measures are followed. Therefore, parents please feel free to discuss this drill ahead of time with your child(ren). Let them know that safety drills like lockdowns, fire, and tornado are needed to ensure that we keep all of our school stakeholders safe.
I thank you in advance for your support, flexibility, and positivity with the additional layers of security changes- from construction to our new drop off package system outside! Many thanks to all visitors for utilizing our Visitor Management System (VMS) and for submitting identification through RAPTOR. This increased security means that visitors have been screened prior to entering the rest of the building.
Health & Wellness Updates
GCPS schools have established reasonable and precautionary practices within the school to minimize the risk of infection and/or spread of COVID-19 and Monkeypox.
Guidance is subject to change based on updated recommendations from CDC/Department of Public Health and will be communicated to local school HRT members.
- Provide opportunities for regular handwashing.
- Implement the custodial schedule/processes to clean high-touch areas during the school day.
- Clearly communicate and follow COVID-19/Monkeypox criteria for return to work/school in consultation with county nurses.
- As of August 18th, masks are strongly recommended, but optional for staff in all GCPS facilities. In addition, at this time mask coverings are OPTIONAL for students, and visitors.
Action Items for School Plan
- Ensure each common area and classroom will have hand sanitizer available for use.
- Continue to provide ample time for restroom and handwashing opportunities.
- A custodial schedule will be utilized to ensure cleaning of high-touch areas is occurring throughout the school day.
*Protocols for reporting COVID-19/Monkeypox contact exposure will be followed and reported immediately to administrators/district health officials. Please see additional information regarding Monkeypox procedures and CDC Guidelines from GCPS.
* In addition, if you or anyone in your home is sick and has tested positive for COVID-19/Monkeypox, please contact our school nurse, Amy Norris immediately.
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YEARBOOKS ARE ON SALE NOW!
Yearbooks are on sale now! Be sure to order your yearbook now to guarantee your copy.
- COST: $40
- LINK TO ORDER: Simpson Elementary School - Class Rings, Yearbooks and Graduation | Balfour
- DEADLINE: March 1, 2022
Starburst T-shirts On Sale Now!
- Only $8 each
- Please be sure to pick your child's grade, teacher, and t-shirt size correctly
- Youth and adult sizes are available
Deadline to order is September 11
September Spirit Night: Picnic in the Park (Sept 22)
The following Town Center restaurants will be donating a percentage of their proceeds back to Simpson Elementary:
- Knuckles (brand new hoagie shop)
- Fire & Stone
- Taqueria Tsunami
We will send out a reminder about Picnic in the Park as we get closer to the date.
THANK YOU!
- Jordan Mallory for getting our wonderful class coordinators up and running for the new school year!
- Mallory Thorton for organizing and securing Sushi Osawa for our first Spirit Night! Simpson raised $400!
- And a BIG thank you to Leigh Anna Lang, who works brilliantly behind the scenes on PTA memberships, we cannot do it without you!
- Mwamba Haynes, the Custodial Staff, and the Technology Staff at Simpson for handling all of our PTA requests for curriculum night and class coordinator orientation.
