Perkins School News September 2019
Monthly News for Parents
Message From Mrs. Underhill
Dear Perkins School Families,
Welcome to our new school year at Perkins! I am so happy to hear the sounds of students and teachers in the building and eager to meet and learn the names of our children. A big thank you to all of you for helping us to get off to a great start to the school year!
Newark PRIDE
We are respectful; We are responsible; We are safe; and We are a community! These are words that will become very common to your children and all of you across every Newark CSD school this year! We are excited to announce the Newark PRIDE which allows us to have similar expectations for our students across all five schools and our busses in the district. Students will spend time learning what does it sound like, look like, feel like to be respectful, responsible, safe and a community. Join us in learning what these expectations look and feel like!
New Main Office Entrance
If you have been in the building since school started, you may have noticed we have a new entrance for our main office. As part of our recent capital project work over the summer, this new entrance allows for a more secure single point-of-access entry for our building. Once in the vestibule, visitors will now enter the door to the left and sign in with our greeter in the main office. Please remember that photo identification is required to sign into our building. When your identification has been entered into our system once, you'll be prepared for future visits to any of our Newark schools. Thank you for your understanding as we continue to keep student and staff safety and security a priority.
Student Drop-Off
Due to the changes in our afternoon dismissal where we have buses in the front and back loops of the building as we dismiss all 300+ Perkins students at once, we have moved our parent pick up and student drop off to our main entrance near the parking lot. If you drop your child off to school in the morning, we have adult supervision for children from 8:45 to 9:00 daily near the main entrance by the clock tower. If you plan to park and walk in with your child, please park in the spots farthest away from the school. This will prevent you from getting stuck trying to back out in our morning drop-off traffic. We have created a walkway in the parking lot for your ease. When dropping your child off, please pull into the pull-off where the cones are lined up and allow a staff member to assist your child in exiting the vehicle on the passenger side. This allows your child to exit away from traffic in a much more secure location. We are encouraging parents to allow children to walk to their classroom independently now as we approach the second month of school.
Ice Cream with the Principal
Each month we recognize students for consistently displaying respectful, responsible and safe behaviors, along with those behaviors that contribute positively to our school community. Displaying these traits will enable students to qualify to be nominated for having Ice Cream with the Principal and to receive a certificate to acknowledge their accomplishment. We believe that when students exhibit these traits, not only will they be successful socially, but they will be able to focus on their learning and to achieve to their maximum potential academically. As much as I love ice cream, I am excited to continue this Perkins practice to recognize students!
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel to reach out. I would love the opportunity to work together to continue to make Perkins the best place every day for every student!
Rhonda Underhill ~ Perkins School Principal
Attendance
https://www.attendanceworks.org/chronic-absence/the-problem/10-facts-about-school-attendance/
A Note from the Nurse
September Health News
Here are a few important Back-to-School reminders:
· All students are required to have an updated immunization record on file in order to stay in school. Updates include MMR, DTaP, IPV, and the chicken pox vaccine. In addition to these boosters, school age children should have had the Hepatitis B series completed.
· If your student has a health condition or needs special care during the school day such as medication, treatments, or monitoring, please inform the school nurse.
· Medications MUST be brought in by an adult to the Health Office to be signed in. All medications and treatments need doctor-written instructions.
· Students in grades UPK, Kindergarten and 1st grade – as well as any new to Perkins School students must have a 2019 physical – if your child’s physical is scheduled later in this year, please let the health office know.
· PLEASE have a current and working phone number in the school office in the event your child needs your attention.
· Please provide a spare set of clothes in a Ziploc bag with your child’s name on it; they can keep it in their classroom locker. This is an age where spills and accidents happen – your child would be more comfortable changing into their spare outfit than borrowing from the loan closet.
· The health office is always looking for donations of pants any sizes from 4T – 14. If your child has outgrown pants, the health office would love to have them.
· Teach good hand-washing habits. This is the best way to avoid illnesses. Soap and water are best to use.
· Teach to cough and sneeze in a tissue or the inside of their elbow. This also will keep droplets from spraying into the air making other kids sick as well.
· Check your child’s hair at least weekly for lice or nits. A child can not attend with LIVE lice in their hair until treated. Please inform the health office if you have found lice on your child. Teach children not to share hairbrushes, hats, or hair bands – this will help decrease the transfer of lice. Lice do not jump; they cling to the hair shafts. They are not contagious – just more of a nuisance.
· Keep your child home if they are running a fever greater than 100, vomiting, diarrhea, green drainage from nose or eyes, pink eye (until treatment started), rash that isn’t diagnosed by a doctor.
I can’t wait to meet your children and take care of their health needs this school year. Contact me with any questions or concerns.
Perkins School Nurse:
Laura Bouwens, RN, BSN
315-332-3312
From the Desk of Mr. Malchoff
As we get the school year under way, you can work with your child at home to make sure they know the following:
· Spelling their first and last names without looking anywhere (if you need practice paper, please let us know)
· Address
· Birthday
· Parents/Guardians first names
· How to tie their shoelaces (videos on YouTube work wonders!)
Thank you for all your support at home, we greatly appreciate it!
Perkins Elementary School
For additional information and photos of events and happenings check out the Perkins School web page at newarkcsd.org and Perkins School on Twitter by going to @Newark_PS
Email: rhonda.underhill@newarkcsd.org
Website: newarkcsd.org
Location: 439 West Maple Avenue Newark, NY 14513
Phone: 315-332-3310
Twitter: @Newark_PS