The Leighton News

Dear Leighton Families,

We have officially kicked off the school year with the first week of school underway. This will be our first edition of the Leighton Newsletter followed by bi-weekly communications throughout the school year as well as frequent final forms communications for any important reminders and information. It was such an amazing first few days of school!!! The excitement and joy of learning are some of the best sounds in the world! It has been such a smooth start to the school year and students are already so hard at work earning "pom poms" for demonstrating our 3 Leighton Elementary Pillars of being respectful, being responsible, and being problem solvers. These three pillars are the hallmark of our PBIS or Positive Behavior Interventions Supports Programming and aligns with the six competencies and design specifications encompassed in our Strategic Vision.

Through PBIS we have developed a school-wide token economy of earning poms for demonstrating our three pillars. When students fill up their classroom jars, they celebrate that success through a whole class reward. Students then empty their classroom jars into the "Building Wide Pom Pail" in the main office. When we work as a building to fill it, the whole building celebrates with a building wide event. We are so excited to start filling up our Pom Pom Pail!

We are looking forward to our building-wide PBIS kickoff where students and staff will participate in fun skits demonstrating expected and unexpected behaviors in all areas of the school. Anytime throughout the day, students are exhibiting these pillars in the classroom, hallways, recess, lunch, etc they can earn poms. Likewise, while the platnium platter has left the lunchroom this year, the "silver spoons" made their' first appearance. Classes in each grade level have an opportunity to earn the "silver spoon" for earning the most positive compliments at lunch and recess. Leighton Pride is always Building Wide!!

The beginning of each school year is always so special but it was particularly special this year because we welcomed several new staff including:

Mrs. Lynette Schoenman, Building Secretary

Mrs. Randi Jordan, Grade 3

Mrs. Gwenn Tierney, Grade 4

Ms. Adriana Changet, Intervention Specialist

Reading Specialist: Rachel Gardner (joining us from Craddock)

Reading Specialist: Chelsea Langston (joining us from Craddock)

Mrs. Lindsay Ambrosia, Counselor for Miller and Leighton

Mrs. Mandy McClendon, Paraeducator

Mrs. Stacey Biscutti, Paraeducator

I am one proud principal each day as I get to work with the most amazing, caring, dedicated, and hardworking staff who go above and beyond for our learners each day to ensure the best possible learning environments and education possible. Likewise, we value the support of our parent community and the blessing we are given each day to support such wonderful children and help mold their futures. Thank you for your continued support, teamwork, and partnership as we embark on another fantastic school year together!

As always, please don't hesitate to reach out to us with any questions, concerns, or feedback!

Enjoy the weekend!

Kind Regards,

Michelle Nizen, Building Principal

Ben Lehman, Assistant Principal

We are so excited to welcome Mrs. Schoenman to our Leighton Family. Mrs. Schoenman comes to Leighton from the Kenston School District where she served as the accounts payroll Secretary while previously holding building secretary and special education secretary roles. Mrs. Schoenman is overjoyed to be apart of our team and help our families with anything needed. Please be sure to stop in the main office anytime and say hello!

A Note from Mrs. Mazzella..........

Hello and Welcome Back to School!!! Can you even believe we have started yet another school year already!?!?!!

Please be sure to visit my Google Site (link below) often. I am constantly updating it with resources, class visit information, etc, and always want to make sure you know where to find that information.

I am excited to share that Mrs. Lindsey Ambrosia, School Counselor, will be joining me at LES a couple days a week to help support our kids. We are still working out all of the details how this support will look, but we are super excited to get to work together in helping our kids and families together!

Please let me know if you need or know of a family that might need a little extra help right now with school supplies and such.

THANK YOU and I look forward to an amazing year with all of you!!!

https://sites.google.com/aurora-schools.org/leightonschoolcounselor/home?authuser=1

Tami S. Mazzella

School Counselor

tmazzella@aurora-schools.org

330-562-2209 Option 3

A Note from Mrs. Ambrosia…............

Hello Leighton! I am honored to be working alongside Ms. Mazzella as a school counselor to support students in grades three through five this school year. I am available to support students, families and staff at Leighton with a focus on social emotional learning, academic support and career exploration. There is no question too small to contact me about. I encourage and welcome open-communication as we all have the same goal: school success for your students! Each week, I will be at Leighton two days, which will typically be Tuesday and Friday. The 2023-2024 school year will be my nineteenth year in education. I have spent the previous years working as a classroom teacher, middle school counselor and most recently, an elementary school counselor. Helping students is what I love to do! When I am not at school, you can usually find me at a sporting event for one of my three children: Dominic (12), Daniel (10) and Elle (10). We live right around the corner in Hudson with my husband, Brian and goldendoodle, Lila. If there is anything you need, I am here to help, please reach out!

Lindsay Ambrosia

School Counselor

lambrosia@aurora-schools.org

Miller Elementary School/ Leighton Elementary School

330.562.6199, extension 5414.

AEPTO

Welcome back Leighton families! The Aurora Elementary Parent Teacher Organization (AEPTO) would like to welcome you and your family to our community.

This organization supports our elementary schools to provide rich and meaningful activities and events for our students and teachers.

We encourage you to join the PTO as we kick off the new school year. Join by Friday, August 25th to enter our raffle to win a $25 Target gift card.

Click to Join

PTO Kick Off Meeting

Date: Wednesday, September 6

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: Aurora Inn, 30 Shawnee Trail, Aurora

Greenmen Gear

$8 Aurora T-shirts available until September 8th

Click to Order

Each class has an assigned color

*Purchase of the class t-shirt is not mandatory.

PTO Member Volunteer Opportunities

- Media Center: Daily volunteer opportunities are available throughout the year

Click to Volunteer

- Head Room Parent

- Picture Day: September 12

*Links to volunteer for Head Room Parent & Picture Day will be sent to all PTO members & posted on Schoolze.

Upcoming Fundraisers - More Details Soon

- Fall "Mumkin" Sale: August 23 - September 8

- Laps for Leighton September 25 - September 29

Welcome back to the 2023-2024 School year, it was exciting to welcome students back into the building this past week. Below you will find information and links regarding our lunch program:

Pricing Information:

• Paid Lunch: $3.30

• Milk $.50

• Ice Cream $1-$1.25

• Free & Reduced: Both are no charge (Please complete the free and reduced form online located in the Aurora City Schools website ).

Payment Information:

Payments can be made thru My Payments Plus. Parents can either send their child in with money to pay for lunches (exact amount, or more that can be applied to their account) or they can go to the Aurora Schools Website and go to Lunch Accounts under the quick links tabs to get to the MY Payments Plus section and add money to their kids account that way. It is preferable to pay online in advance but students may also bring in money during lunch.

• https://www.mypaymentsplus.com/welcome

• https://www.aurora-schools.org/

Please be sure to keep tabs on your child’s lunch account balance to avoid going into a negative balance. We will always ensure all students have lunch, but it is appreciated by our lunch staff if a positive balance can be maintained.

The August Menu is linked for your convenience below. This menu is also located on the school website as well.

If you have any questions please reach out to:

• Brandon Zimmerman, Director of Food and Nutrition, at Bzimmerman@aurora-schools.org

• Sal Arquilla, Director of Facilities, Maintenance and Operations at sarquilla@aurora-schools.org

Looking for a part time job?

Wanting the same schedule as your children?

Join Aurora Transportation Department!

No experience required, we will train you!

Contact use at cwingler@aurora-schools.org

We are no longer mailing out transportation information. You can go to: https://versatransweb04.tylertech.com/Aurora/elinkrp/Login.aspx (cut & paste into your browser or use the button link below.)

The login information is as follows:

User name = jane.smith (That is the student's first name period last name with no spaces) Password = students date of birth 01012021 with no characters or spaces between mmdayyear

Once you are in, go to "Work with students" and then "View my students"; you should see all your students to choose from. Routes do change from time to time when new students are added so please check back over the next week to ensure your pick-up and drop-off times.

All students are assigned a bus route using their home address. If your child will be using an alternative stop such as a daycare or caregiver, please make sure you submit an alternative bus stop form as soon as possible.

We also now have GPS on all of the school buses. You can see when the bus is to arrive at your home. Download the app "versatrans my stop" from the app store and sign in the same as above. If you have any questions or concerns with transportation, please email us at transportationinfo@aurora-schools.org and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Note, we are never sure how many students will be riding the buses. Once schools open we will make necessary adjustments for buses that may be full.

Thank you and have a safe school year, Transportation Department

Please be sure to utilize our new attendance and transporation form found below as we are moving away from handwritten notes and morning attendance calls in our K-5 buildings.

Thank you!

As a reminder, you can find our arrival and dismissal procedures here.

Car rider lines reminders:

Morning Arrival - Car riders will start being unloaded at 8:50 am and then will be able to enter the building at 8:55 am through the 3rd Grade Wing Doors (Door 2) Our goal is to make sure all students are in the building by 9:05 am.

PM Dismissal - Dismissal procedures will be the same as last year by having students line up in alphabetical lines. A staff member will be calling last names for students to line the loading lanes to get into their cars when they pull up.

1. Please remind your child to load cars quickly to keep the line moving

2. Pull all the way up to the top of the pick-up lane to the sign for loading cars. We have found this allows us to load the maximum number of cars possible.

3. Please be sure to have your orange car tag in the rearview window so staff can visibly see it when calling students' last names by Monday, Aug 21st.

** Please see the traffic flow pattern included below for drop off in the mornings and afternoons.

Thank you for your patience as we have worked very hard to ensure a safe, smooth, and rapid arrival and dismissal process. We appreciate your support with these few reminders.

August

25 Autumn Assessment Day for Students with Last Name A-L (M-Z Stay Home)

28 Autumn Assessment Day for Students with Last Name M-Z (A-L Stay Home)

September

4 NO SCHOOL ~ Labor Day

6 PTO Kickoff Meeting at the Aurora Inn (6:30 PM)

12 School Picture Day

October

2-6 PTO Book Fair

4 PTO Meeting at C&I Building (10:00 AM)

13 NO SCHOOL ~ NEOEA Day

16 NO SCHOOL ~ Teacher Professional Day

26 LES Band Concert at High School (7:00 PM)

27 Report Cards Distributed

31 Fall Festival

Please be sure to update your Final Forms information for this school year to ensure you can receive the newsletters each week. If you need any help with updating your Final Forms please contact lschoenman@aurora-schools.org

Please use the following link: https://aurora-oh.finalforms.com

Three ways to pay your student's school fees:

1. Send in with your student a check made out to Aurora City Schools.

2. Call the Board of Education office to make a credit card payment between the hours of 7:00 AM and 3:00 PM at 330-954-2228.

3. Go to the Aurora City Schools website and go to the Parent Page and click on Fee Payments On-Line.

Please remember that when you take your child out of school for a doctor or dentist appointment, the State of Ohio requires that a doctor's note be brought back to the school for attendance purposes. You can give the note to the secretaries in the main office. If you have any questions please contact the secretaries in the Leighton office at 330 562-2209.

• Please monitor your child for illness symptoms. If your child has a temperature greater than 100 F they must stay home until they are fever free for 24 hrs without medication. For coughing, congestion and sore throat that are disruptive or not well contained, it is preferred they stay home until symptoms are decreased or your child has been evaluated by your physician.

• Students sent home from school with a fever also may not return to school until they are fever-free without medication for at least 24 hours. This means if your child was sent home on Tuesday at 12:00 p.m. with a fever, he/she may not return to school until Thursday. If your child does return the next day, our school nurse will be calling for you to come to pick him/her up. Thank you for your support and efforts in this area.

• For confirmed cases of Covid-19, Aurora City Schools district continues to follow the recommendation of Portage County Health Dept that includes isolating at home for 5 days after the start of symptoms and wearing a mask for days 6 thru 10 while resuming school or work activities. If your child tests positive for Covid please contact our school nurse, Mrs. Tanski at 330 954-2285 or atanski@aurora-schools.org.

**** If your child will be absent for an extended period, please reach out to your child's teacher and they will get school work ready for your student for the period of the absence. You may pick up the work outside the main office on a table that will be labeled with your student's name.

Mrs. Michelle Nizen - Principal

mnizen@aurora-schools.org

Mr. Ben Lehman - Assistant Principal

blehman@aurora-schools.org

Email: lschoenman@aurora-schools.org
Website: aurora-schools.org
Location: 121 Aurora Hudson Road, Aurora, OH, USA
Phone: (330)562-2209
Twitter: @michelle_nizen

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