Upcoming Dates
September 6th: First day of school!!
September 15th: Back to School Night @ BLES - 7pm
September 21st: Picture Day
A Message from the Principal
My name is Pete Morris, and it is my absolute honor to take on the role of principal here at Byram Lakes Elementary School! I am SO excited! As you know, Mr. Abato will be leaving the district. I know all of us here at BLES have learned a lot from Mr. Abato; we will miss him, but we wish him the best of luck moving forward on his journey!
A little bit about me - I was hired in Byram right out of college as a maternity leave substitute and a paraprofessional. I taught 5th grade science and social studies over at the Intermediate School for 9 years, and I LOVED it. Last year I served as a shared vice principal between the Lakes school and the Intermediate School. I was so happy when a role opened up for me in which I could impact so many more of our amazing Byram students. I love this district, I believe in this district, and I'm so excited to continue to help it grow.
Personally, my wife Pam and I live at home with our dog, Harley. As you can see, Harley is adorable, and yes she knows it. I'm a big Mets fan, and in my free time I love to hike with Pam and Harley, play golf, disc golf (like golf with a frisbee!) read, and ski in the wintertime. Below are some pictures of all of us from this summer.
I can't believe that we are only DAYS away from the start of the school year! You should have received some information through email, and other important info will be located in this newsletter. Our SMORE will be coming out on a monthly basis, and in it I will include upcoming dates, pertinent information, and any news that will be of use. In addition to that, there will be pictures of your children doing what they're coming to BLES to do - learning!
The teachers are excited, the bus drivers are excited, the lunch staff and custodians are excited, the main office staff is excited, I am excited, and I hope YOU are all excited! 2022-2023 is going to be the best year ever, and we can't wait to see you all on September 6th!
Pete Morris
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Jessie Auchter
Samantha DiRenzo
Arrival and Dismissal Routines are very similar to what they were last year, operating on the following start and end times for school:
Start Time: 8:45
End Time: 3:43
If your child takes the bus, please be sure that you arrive to your bus stop at least ten minutes prior to the scheduled time and be prepared to wait in case the bus is delayed for any reason. During the first week of school, buses are usually behind schedule due to all of the first day pictures being taken as students enter the bus for the first time this school year. Please be patient.
If you drive your child to school and/or pick them up from school, you will enter through the Byram Intermediate School parking lot. At that entrance point, all parents of Byram Lakes students will be prompted to get into the right lane (the left lane will only be for Byram Intermediate School students). For pickup, please do not arrive to get in line any earlier than 2:30pm. You will move up through the lane as students are picked up or dropped off. Students will be dropped off at the sidewalk that leads to the Byram Lakes school. School staff will be guiding cars and positioned along the sidewalk to ensure that all students are able to get to and from the building safely. If you have your laminated signs with your last name from last year, please continue to use it. If you were not here last year or you no longer have the one given to you, you will be provided with one to use this year.
You should have already received an email from pickup patrol to set up your plans for the 2022-2023 school year. If you have used this system in the past, you will see your child's dismissal plan from last year. You may keep it the same or update it as needed. If you are new to the school or just to the system, you will be required to set up your child's "Default Plan" for the upcoming school year. Please click here for an informational flyer that will explain more.
You should have received an email from parent portal allowing you to get it set up. If you are having any issues seeing your child's schedule or bus information, please let us know. For any questions on how to utilize parent portal, please refer to this Parent Portal User Manual. (hint: use ctrl+f to search for specific terms in the document).
In order to opt-in:
- If you already have a mobile phone number in our system attached to your contact card and you wish to opt-in, you may send a text message to 67587 with Y or Yes in the text message at any time. Doing so will opt you in to receive text alerts after we complete the migration.
Click here for an informational flier with more information as well as a QR Code that you can scan to assist you with opting in as well.
If you do not opt-in using one of the methods provided above, you will not receive any text alerts from the school after we migrate to the new system. You can also opt-out at any time by sending STOP to 67587, or by replying to a school alert with STOP in the message.
If you opted-in, but are finding that you are not receiving school alerts via text, this likely means we do not have your number in our system, or it is not correctly marked as a mobile number. Please contact the main office of your child’s school to have the contact number corrected, and marked as a mobile number.
Lunch for students in grades Kindergarten, 1, and 2 will be from 12:13-12:53.
Lunch for students in grades 3 and 4 will be from 12:53-1:33.
The 40 minute lunch period consists of a 20 minute block to eat, and a 20 minute block for recess. That 20 minutes goes quickly! It may be a good idea to have your child practice eating their lunch within that 20 minute window before school starts.
Using their online portal, you can check out the upcoming menus for each month. You can also preload your child's account so that they have the funds to buy lunch. See the below links for more information.
Work will be provided by the teachers in grades K-2. Please communicate with your child's teacher as to when to pick up hard copies of assignments. Instruction will be provided synchronously through a Google Meet in grades 3 and 4, as it was last year.
There will be no letters sent home for positive cases this year. If your child isn't feeling well, play it safe and keep them home.
Masks are optional for all staff and students.
As in previous years, the night will be broken up into two sessions. The first session will be from 7:00 - 8:00 to allow for time to show the administrators' video. The second session is scheduled from 8:15 - 9:00.
Please note that due to space restrictions in the classrooms, only one parent or guardian per family will be permitted to attend each classroom session. You are encouraged to attend a second session if you are elsewhere in the school during the first.
Related arts and therapists will be in their classrooms and available to all parents during Back to School Night. I can't wait to greet you at the door, and then make myself available throughout the building during the course of the evening.
We hope everyone is enjoying their summer! The Byram PTA has been hard at work getting ready for the upcoming school year.
I would like to introduce our new board members for this upcoming school year. We already have several events planned to kick off the year. We hope you will join us. We are always looking for volunteers. You can reach us with any questions at byrampta@gmail.com
Here’s your 2022-2023 Byram PTA Board Members:
President Marla Rodriguez
Vice President Ana Lavrador
Secretary Oriana Strohmeyer
Treasurer Lindsey McBain
By-Laws Chair Patricia Trentanelli
Best Regards,
Marla Rodriguez
