Schwenksville Family Newsletter
December 23, 2022
Have A Wonderful Winter Break!
I wish you a peaceful and joyful Winter Break and a Happy New Year! We had a very fun December that was filled with lots of spirit days along with many exciting activities.
Many people use this time of year to be reflective and to plan for the future. As I look back on the past year, I am extremely grateful to be a part of such a wonderful school community. We have incredible students, phenomenal staff members, and a amazingly caring and supportive families.
I look forward to many exciting opportunities for our students and our school in the new year! Please enjoy this time with family and friends. I hope that everyone is able to have time to pause, relax, and enjoy those in your life.
Best regards,
Mrs. Venza
You will find the following topics in this update:
- Schwenksville Family Information Site
- How Sick is Too Sick for School?
- Week of January 2nd - Day Cycle
- Important Dates
- Recess
- Home & School Association Updates
- Garden Club Update
- Free & Reduced Lunch Program
- PV Power Packs
- Language Mentoring Program
- MLK Day of Service
- FIDs (Flexible Instructional Days) - Traditional and Virtual “Snow” Days
- Community Bulletin Board
Please note that this newsletter may be translated into any language by choosing the language you need in the box to the right.
Tenga en cuenta que este boletín se puede traducir a cualquier idioma eligiendo el idioma que necesita en el cuadro a la derecha.
Schwenksville Family Information Site
The Schwenksville Family Information Site has been created to help families easily access information in one location. You can bookmark this link, find the link in SW Family Newsletters, and on the Perkiomen Valley School District Schwenksville Elementary School webpage.
There is a tab named "Newsletters" where you will find each SW Family Newsletter posted so you don't have to search through emails to locate it.
SW Family Site - Please check it out. There is a lot of helpful information available.
How Sick is Too Sick for School?
As you may have noticed the cold and flu season are off to an early start this school year with many in our school community being impacted.
While there are fewer severe COVID occurrences, RSV and Influenza (FLU) cases are surging with hospitals across the country reaching a concerning point.
Below are reminders of policy and procedure to follow if your child is ill.
If your student becomes ill at school they must report to the nurse. Safety dictates that students not go to the bathroom to deal with an illness on their own.
A parent/guardian or emergency contact will be called by the nurse if the nurse determines the student is too ill to remain in school, has a temperature of 100.0 degrees or more, has vomited or has diarrhea.
It is recommended that a parent or designee pick up a sick or ill student within an hour of being notified by the nurse.
The student must be fever free for 24 hours without the use of medications (i.e. Tylenol or Advil), and 24 hours without vomiting or diarrhea before returning to school.
For specific identified infectious diseases, students will be excluded from school according to the Office of Public Health guidelines.
Students are not permitted to carry any medications in school. All medication, including over the counter medications, must have a physician order and brought to the nurse’s office for dispensing.
Continuing to teach your student to use tissues, and to cover their sneeze/ cough along with hand washing and the use of hand sanitizers may help reduce the risk of illness.
WEEK OF January 2nd
- Monday, January 2nd: No School
- Tuesday, January 3rd: B Day
- Wednesday, January 4th: C Day
- Thursday, January 5th: D Day
- Friday, January 6th: E Day
Each school day has a letter day designation, A through F. Please note when we have an unscheduled day off (ie, snow day) that letter day gets moved to the next day we are in school. This holds true for the entire district.
Important Dates
December 23th - January 2nd - No School - Winter Break
January 3rd - Return from winter break
January 11th - Band & Orchestra Concert - Middle School East - 6PM
January 16th - No School - Martin Luther King Day Observance
January 25th - Half Day - Teacher InService Day *Early Dismissal
Recess
Students are outside for up to 30 minutes during recess. The playground can also be windy, causing it to feel colder than the actual temperature. Please be sure students are dressed appropriately for these colder days with coats, gloves, hats, etc. Thank you for your cooperation.
If your child is in need of a new winter coat, please reach out to your child's teacher or school counselor. We can help with this.
Mrs. Cindy Strano - cstrano@pvsd.org (Kindergarten, 2nd grade, and 4th grade)
Mrs. Jill Hyman - jhyman@pvsd.org (1st grade, 3rd grade, and 5th grade)
Please send an extra change of clothes for students to keep in the backpack in the event of a spill, accident, or get muddy at recess.
Home & School Association Updates
Events
BINGO: At the Movies!
Friday, January 20, 2023 (Snow date 1/27) at PVHS
Bingo night is fun for adults and kids! In addition to 10 Bingo games with prizes, we will have close to 40 baskets that we will raffle off! Some items include Flyers and Eagles autographed memorabilia, a $200 gift card to 422 SportsPlex, gift cards to local restaurants, as well as several registration donations for CPYA baseball, Perkiomen Valley Football, etc. Schwenksville staff members will also be in attendance!
Registration is only $5 per person! Please sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1GM_x6XzKljmYJGCNhooVqEXLcj8-3gFIFdt3sdNGY3c/edit
Payment and registration are due by Friday1/6!
NO TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE THE NIGHT OF THE EVENT
Grade level basket donations
Kindergarten: “Snow Day”- Winter Theme
First Grade: “Encanto”- Family Game Night
Second Grade: “Luca”- Beach Theme
Third Grade: “Space Jam”- Sports Theme
Fourth Grade- “Ratatouille”- Food/Cooking/Dining out
Fifth Grade: “Night at the Movies”- Movie Theme
All donations can be sent in to the office by Friday 1/6.
The Home & School Association Board wishes you and your family a wonderful Holiday Season and a Safe New Year.
H&S Information
Email / Website / Facebook / Calendar of Events
Nicole Vozzolo – Co-President / Nikki Hartman – Co-President
Denby Guellich – Vice President / Jill Podbutzky – Secretary
Sarah Nickels – Treasurer / Rene Adelsberger – Asst. Treasurer
Garden Club Update
Garden Club will be meeting on Tuesday Jan 10th at 6 PM in the Library!
Darlaine Manning, from the Penn State Extension office, will be speaking about blue bird nesting boxes, other cavity nesters, habitat, and how to care for the boxes. In early spring, Garden Club will be installing 6 nesting boxes around the school (1 for each grade) using the funds raised during Penny Wars.
Come on out to learn more about our plans, as well as how you can help support native bird habitats in your own yard!
Thank you so much and I hope you have a great holiday break!!
Free & Reduced Lunch Program
In the event you need assistance, do not hesitate to reach out to a representative of the Food Services department.
PV Power Packs
PV Power Packs is a weekend food program for students experiencing food insecurity. Bags of food, including 2 breakfast items, 2 lunch items, 2 snacks, and 2 fruits, are sent home with students prior to every weekend. There is no financial information required to participate in this program. Bags are delivered to the students' classrooms for them to take home prior to the weekend.
For more information regarding how to receive a Power Pack for your child or to make donations to the Power Packs program, click here: https://www.pvsd.org/families/pv-power-packs/
Language Mentoring Program
Our District continues to grow and become more diverse. Currently, there are 17 different primary languages spoken by our students/families. Students new to our schools struggle to communicate and can find it very challenging when they do not speak fluent English - or know very little English at all. In an effort to support them, we are launching a mentoring program. To support students whose primary language is one other than English, we are hoping to enlist PV high school students, fluent in communicating in another language, as mentors. The high school mentors would be asked to travel to other PV schools on a schedule to be determined. We are attempting to pilot the idea and learn from any connections we are able to establish.
We are asking interested high school students to complete this brief survey: Language Mentoring Program. Administration will follow up in January. We are very excited to offer this opportunity to our students, both mentors and mentees!
MLK Day of Service
Save The Date: January 16th, 2023
Location: Perkiomen Valley High School Cafeteria
Time: 8:30am -10:00am and 10:30am -12:00pm
We are returning to our in-person* event this year and look forward to providing activities for both elementary and middle school students. We will also be providing an opportunity for high school students to volunteer in the community.
* If you are unable to join us in-person, a limited number of do-at-home activities will be available. Sign-ups for these activities will take place in early January.
Any questions please contact Mr. Steve Willis (swillis@pvsd.org)
FIDs (Flexible Instructional Days) - Traditional and Virtual “Snow” Days
As the weather begins to turn, I thought it best to remind everyone about the possibility of FIDs (Flexible Instructional Days) in response to inclement weather. After utilizing all three (3) built-in inclement weather days, the District may implement a FID to provide virtual instruction to students. FIDs assist schools in meeting the required 180 student days while avoiding the need to extend the instructional calendar year. PA Schools may use up to five (5) FIDs per school year.
Learn more on our website.
Community Bulletin Board
Wondering about family and community events in the area? Curious to learn about local sports clubs and other opportunities? Visit our online Community Bulletin Board!
To submit an event for posting, please send a PDF version of your flyer to webmaster@pvsd.org for review.
Please note that Community Bulletin Board items may contain links to websites of organizations outside Perkiomen Valley School District. Items are posted to this bulletin board as a free service to the community, and should not be interpreted as being sponsored or endorsed by the district.