Hello RO Community! My name is Chris Getchell and I am the principal of our school. I am entering my 6th year as the principal of RO. Prior to that, I was the principal of Parkview School from 2010 - 2017. It is an honor and privilege to support such an involved, caring school school community and serve the Town of Easton. After 22 years as an educator, I am excited as ever to welcome our students back to school and remain passionate about the work of providing all students with a safe, engaging and motivating school experience.

The first day of school for our students is Wednesday, August 31! It is a full day of school. Students are dropped off, by bus or by vehicle, from 8:25 - 8:40am. Students walking into our school after 8:40am will be marked tardy. We strongly encourage all families to make sure their student is at school on time, ready to begin the day. Dismissal is at 3:00pm. We have three full days of school from August 31 - September 2. We do not have school on Labor Day, September 5, and we are back at school on Tuesday, September 6.

I highly recommend that our new third grade families and any new family to our school preview the RO Family Orientation videos linked below.

These RO Newsflash Newsletters will be sent to your email weekly to help maintain clear communication and to provide our families with more information about our school than you will receive from your student when you ask how their day was and they likely reply, "good". These "newsflashes" are meant to extend beyond "good".

Thank you for reading this and for caring enough about your child's education to keep informed!

Chris Getchell

Principal, RO

Below please find a link to help you navigate all that is "RO." These videos are intended for parents/guardians, particularly our new third grade families or any new family to our school.

Once you click on the link, you will see various areas of interest. These headings include: Our core beliefs as a school, arrival and dismissal procedures, safety, teaching and learning, communication, school supplies, summer learning, homework, etc. When you click on a heading of interest, you will be presented with a brief video providing information on that topic. These videos are anywhere from 3 - 10 minutes long.

We do not expect you to watch ALL of these videos in one sitting. The intent of this orientation is to provide families with a convenient reference point throughout the year as questions arise. This link is also posted on our website homepage for your convenience.

If you are driving your student to RO for the first time, please watch the 'Arrival and Dismissal' video ahead of your first drop off or pick up. Thank you.

Please click the link below for our video orientation. These videos play better on a laptop or desktop.

RO Orientation Videos

For our new third grade students, when they arrive at school on the first day, staff members will greet them right off of the bus or right when they leave their parent's vehicle at drop off. As pictured above, staff members will walk ALL third graders to the Richardson Playground, behind RO, where the third graders will find their teachers. Once all third graders are with their teacher, they will be walked into our school, by their teacher, and walked to their classroom. This routine will continue for third graders during the first three days of school, until our new students know where their classroom is and can walk there safely.

If you are driving your third grader to school on that first day, please drop them off in the front of the building, just as shown in the Arrival and Dismissal video on the RO Orientation video linked above.

Fourth and fifth grade students will walk directly to their classrooms on that first day.

Because of the volume of students and families we ask that parents take 'First Day of School Pictures' at home, not at school during drop off time. Thank you.

We are very excited to get back to in-person Get Acquainted Nights. These are parent/guardian events only, no students. Each event below begins at 6:30pm and will be approximately 45 minutes. There will be staff in the lobby to show you where your student's classroom is when you arrive. This is a great opportunity to meet your student's teacher and learn more about the school year ahead. The schedule is as follows:

Thursday, 9/8 - Grade 3

Thursday,9/7 - Grade 4

Tuesday, 9/21 - Grade 5

There will also be a PTA member in the lobby to provide information on the PTA and the various ways you can get involved at RO.

We look forward to seeing you then!

RO is actively seeking a few additional PTA board members as well as leaders for various activities to support our students.

We are looking for a PTA President or Co-President and a Treasurer to learn and shadow our current treasurers to take over next year. Our PTA Leadership Board meets with Chris Getchell (principal) each month, virtually or in-person, and coordinates student enrichment programming, field trips, field days, teacher appreciation initiatives, and more.

We are also in need of leaders for the following events:

Book Fair

Grade 3 & 4 Field Day

Grade 5 Final Farewell

Staff Appreciation Lunches

Enrichment Programs

We also would like to add an additional playground aide to our team. The position requires 2 hours per day from 11:10am-1:10pm and the hourly rate is $14.50.

If you are interested in any of these positions, please reach out to Chris Getchell cgetchell@easton.k12.ma.us.

Thank you in advance for your willingness to support our students, staff and school!

At RO, we facilitate wonder and curiosity within students. This is what we do.

As a reminder, summer reading and math activities were given to students at the end of year but are also posted on the RO website. Please see the links below:

Summer Reading and Math Intro Letter (2022 - 2023)
Summer Reading
Summer Math

Over the summer, we have also posted classroom teacher welcome letters and supply lists. These can also be found on our website. Please see the following link below:

Supply Lists and Welcome Letters (2022 - 2023)

If you need to change your student's transportation, request an early dismissal, report an absence, etc., please use the following email address and cc your student's teacher. roattendance@easton.k12.ma.us

This is the most efficient way to communicate with our entire office team.

As school begins, please remind your student to bring a fully charged Chromebook to school every day. We have a very limited supply of Chromebooks to loan students so if they forget, there is a good chance you will be called to deliver your student's Chromebook to school.

Thank you for your support with this.

RO loves having volunteers for events and in classrooms throughout the year. In order to do this, volunteers must have a CORI background check completed. CORI checks are valid for 3 years,

If you have a returning student and are not sure if your CORI has expired, please feel free to call the RO main office.

If you are new to the district or need to submit another CORI form due to expiration, please see the following link: CORI ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FORM.pdf. It needs to be filled out completely along with a copy of the front of your driver's license and returned via email to jcanty@easton.k12.ma.us or brought to the school department at 50 Oliver Street.

Thank you.