Wasco Families,

Greetings to our wonderful Wasco Families!

We trust you had a fantastic time at Backpack Night, just as we did! Witnessing the growth of our students and welcoming new faces brings us immense joy. To those new to our school community, we hope you’ve had the chance to connect with fellow parents, staff, and soon-to-be friends of your child.

At Wasco, we stand united with all the D303 schools, Together Building Pathways to Excellence. You are part of our collaborative work. Our journey begins with fostering connections with parents and understanding our students. Throughout this process, you can anticipate surveys, newsletters, and engaging events designed to facilitate information and experience sharing.

Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the office or your child’s classroom teacher. Remember, you and your child are valued members of our cherished Wasco Wolf pack – you belong here!

Kind Regards,

Principal Brennan

stephanie.brennan@d303.org

331-228-6294

August 14: 7:50am First Day of School, Families informed of meeting place by classroom teacher

August 25: 5:00pm-7:00pm PTO Back to School Social @ Wasco Playground

August 30: Early Release @ 2:10pm

September 1: Institute Day-No School for Students

September 4: Labor Day-No School for Students

September 11: Yearbook Photos (Retakes on December 1)

September 27: Early Release @ 2:10pm

On the first day of school, we start the day by meeting with our teachers on our Wasco School Blacktop. We organize by grade level and color coded balloons and signs to help students find their teacher on the first day. Below are specifics for each grade level. We have staff members scattered among all the groups to help answer questions and guide traffic. Looking forward to the first day excitement!

Kinder: Orange

1st: Blue

2nd: Green

3rd: Yellow

4th: Purple

5th: Red

Kindergarten will be closest to door 17 (closest to "new" fourth grade wing windows...farthest from the playground)

1st grade outside the first set of community room doors.

2nd grade outside the second set of community room doors.

3rd grade at the corner edge of the building

4th grade near first set of four square

5th grade closest to the playground

Students are in attendance from 8am-3pm. Doors open at 7:45am. Students may not exit their cars until 7:45 am or until morning supervisors are visible.

We are pleased to introduce you to our new staff members:

Sam Hausl, Shannon Jacobs, Susan Brewick, and Chloe Clyde. They are all members of our fourth-grade team, except Miss Clyde, who joined our fifth-grade team. Stay tuned to get to know them better, as we will share more information about each of them in upcoming the Parent Newsletters.

Arrival

Our front door closes at 8:00 so we can all start our day together with morning routines. If you are dropping off your student, please arrive between 7:45 and 7:55. When students are late they feel out of place and they are missing valuable connections with their whole school community.

Arrival and Dismissal

When using the drop off lane, please drive all the way forward so that we can load/unload as many cars as possible. Please stay in your car. If you wish to get out and load your child, you are welcome to park in the lot. By following this procedure, we can expedite everyone’s waiting times in the car lane.

Welcome to Wasco! We at Wasco want to make sure your student stays healthy and safe here at school and in the community.

ALL MEDICATION, including vitamins and cough drops need a doctor’s authorization/order to be administered here at school. You can find the form(s) on the district website.

For sniffles and runny noses without a fever I encourage the student to drink more water and rest in the Health Office for 5-10 minutes. They usually feel better after that amount of time. If after that amount of time they do not feel better, I will call you and have you speak with your child to determine if they need to go home or not.

For Head injuries, I will immediately call if your child complains of a headache, dizziness, drowsiness, disorientation, vomits, feels faint or has a fever. If your child bumped his head and does not describe any of the above symptoms, I will send them to class and reassess an hour or so later and follow up with an email to you to watch for the above symptoms at home.

For Pink Eye, I will call if I suspect your child has symptoms such as red, itchy, watery eyes with notable goop/discharge from the corners of the eye. I will suggest you take them to a Minute Clinic to rule out Pink Eye. This is a precautionary measure to protect the other students and staff. If they are not diagnosed with Pink Eye they can come back to school with a note from the doctor.

DENTAL EXAMS:

State law requires that all Illinois children in kindergarten, second and sixth grade have a dental examination. A licensed dentist must perform the exam and sign the form. Each child in kindergarten, 2nd & 6th grade must present proof of a dental examination by a dentist prior to May 15th, 2024. You may download the dental form on the district website at www.d303.org by going to the Parent drop down menu under Forms and then Health Forms.

If you have any questions please contact me at 331-228-2904 or Christine.ahrens@d303.org.

Sincerely,

Tina Ahrens, RN

Wasco School

Technology can be a wonderful way to keep in touch with family members. However, smartwatches and phones can become quite disruptive to the learning environment when parents are contacting their children throughout the day (and vice versa). The Elementary School Handbook contains the following language:

Students are extended the privilege of possessing phones/smartwatches on school grounds;

however, their use is limited to after-school dismissal and non-school days. These devices must be in the off position, or not used once the student arrives on campus until the end of the school day.

Teachers will be requesting that students leave their watches and phones in backpacks or another class designated place each day when they enter the classroom so that learning can continue uninterrupted.

Weekly Communication via eNews will be sent on Friday afternoons. Within this communication you will find information directly related to the school, important dates, and information from the PTO. Specific information about your child’s classroom will come directly from your child’s teacher.

• The Principal sends a weekly newsletter on Fridays

• Wasco Elementary has a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WascoElementarySchool

• Twitter account: @WascoD303

• Join Membership Toolkit on the PTO site for ways to connect with parent community

Early Release:

One Wednesday per month, students will have an early release and dismissal will occur at 2:10pm. Please refer to the district website. They are also listed on the district calendar below.

Absences should be called in by 7:45 AM if your child will be absent for any portion of the day. The number is 331-228-2900 and has voicemail. You can call during the evening or overnight and leave a message. Please leave your child’s name, their teacher's name and the reason why your child is out. If they are ill, please indicate their symptoms. You are also welcome to email absence information to Candy Thoke in the main office at candace.thoke@d303.org.

We are excited to welcome parents into our building. When dropping off your child after the bell rings, parents can come into the building to make the transfer into the school building by signing in. If you are picking up your child, please enter the building to sign your child out.

If possible, please make sure to notify the teacher and the office if your student is leaving early.

Students are able to bring their lunch each day to school or they can get lunch at school through our food service provider, Organic Life. We do not accept fast food for students at Wasco. Please do not drop off or have food sent to Wasco for your child. If you would like to have lunch with your child, you can come to the main office and sign them out during their lunch period. Thank you for your cooperation. We love to celebrate birthdays at Wasco. Your child’s birthday will be announced on our morning announcements and your child will be able to choose a book from our birthday book cart. We do not allow food to be brought in for celebrations so please do not send them to school or drop them off, they will not be accepted. If you would like to send in items or a treat bag (such as a pencil or non food item) we can send that home with classmates to enjoy at home.

All parents, guardians, and other visitors to District 303 buildings are required to report to the main office upon entering the building to sign in. Visitors must provide photo identification when signing in and must wear a visitor identification tag at all times while in the building. Visitors may be escorted by a building staff member while visiting the building. School-age visitors are generally prohibited during the school day unless accompanied by a parent or guardian and approved by school staff. In the event that permission is not obtained or is denied, visitors will be directed to leave the premises.

(Violators will be subject to legal action.)

CUSD 303 uses PushCoin for all financial transactions including registration fees. Parents can add money to their student's "Wallet" to be used to purchase food for lunch, or to purchase items from the webstore like: field trips, summer camps, community events and to make donations.

PushCoin Website

The elementary and middle schools food service vendor is OrganicLife.

Food Services Website

Our school is excited to welcome staff and to show our appreciation of their hard work to prepare for the school year, we put together some small tokens of our gratitude. Wasco staff leads our Wolf pack with hard work and perseverance!

Wasco Elementary Website has links for valuable parent information. Image below shows website address (wasco.d303.org). Click the “Parents” tab for Wasco Parent Guide (lunch ordering, volunteering, pick up and drop off procedures), and other quick links.

Attention Parents!

Please be mindful of communications coming from “donotreply@d303.org”. This is the email address for our school newsletters and our all school emails. If you reply to this email address it will not be forwarded to office staff.

Office Contact Emails:

candace.thoke@d303.org

heather.kudabeck@d303.org

stephanie.brennan@d303.org

Wasco first and fourth grades will be swapping devices on August 15th from 12:00-3:00.

Kindergarten's day to receive devices is August 29 from 12:00-3:00. Please make sure your student brings their Chromebook to school!