Luce Notes
Important information, dates, and school updates.
“Welcome back, Crew!
Hello Luce Families,
Welcome to our incredible learning community! You are a valued member of the Luce community, otherwise known as the Luce Crew. I am honored to serve as your principal and continue the complex and essential work of creating a safe and welcoming learning environment for all students and families this school year.
Last year was a challenging year due to many variables. COVID-19 upended our “normal'' way of life and challenged us to reimagine the business of school. As we enter into the new school year, we will bring the best practices we learned from last year to create a robust learning environment for our students.
This year, we will continue to strive to create a Culture of Achievement that ensures educational excellence and equity for our students. Creating a Culture of Achievement is not a new charge for our school. What does this mean? We want to create a school culture that supports all learners academically and socially to reach their full potential. We will do this by delivering standards-aligned and robust high-quality instruction each day. Additionally, we will continue to support our student’s social and emotional well-being through our Morning or Closing Meeting structures and explicit modeling and teaching of our five core values: Safety, Helping Others, Including One Another, Never Giving Up, and Encouraging Others (SHINE).
Safety Post COVID-19
As you know, the pandemic is still a part of our collective lives. Many parents have reached out to me to inquire about safety protocols at the Luce. At this time, the Luce will follow the recommendations of the Board of Health and the Canton Public School District with guidance from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) on how to open up our schools for the upcoming school year safely.
Families can access the most current information from the DESE LINK. At each school, we will continue to utilize the following safety measures:
air purifiers;
open windows;
tents for outdoor instruction or recreational activities;
COVID-19 Screeners;
pooled testing;
hand hygiene;
enhanced cleaning;
air quality assessments;
***Masking for staff and students to start the year*** UPDATED BASED ON THE SC DECISION ON 8/12)
Please stay tuned for additional information about the Canton Public School District’s policy to address COVID-19.
At the Luce, we believe that every student is the responsibility of all staff. We also believe that we are partners with our families. We can’t do this work without you! As a result, I have outlined ways in which you can be involved in your child’s school community and important dates:
Important Calendar Dates
On or before 8/20→ , Class placements distributed to families
8/23 Kindergarten Information Webinar → 5 pm
8/31 Kindergarten & Grade 1 Open House → 5-6:30 pm
9/9 New Parent Orientation → 5-6 pm
9/9 Grades 2-5 Open House → 6-7:30 pm
9/1 First Day of School Grades 1-5
9/8 First Day of School Kindergarten
9/10 First SHINE Assembly and Canton Spirit Wear Day
9/21 Tuesday Tea -->5-6 pm
9/24 School Council Parent Election
Ways We Communicate with Families/Guardians
Luce Notes Weekly Newsletter(Published on Sundays by 5 pm) (Link to sample Smore Newsletter HERE)
Robocalls (as needed)
District emails
Monthly school event calendars
Monthly Tuesday Tea Events* held from 5-6 pm in the Library (light refreshments served and childcare provided)
Twitter: Follow us @LuceSchool
*Please note all meetings will have a virtual option for families to participate throughout the year.
School Supplies
If you did not order a SchoolKidz school supply kit, please note that you can find a list of school supplies on our website linked HERE. Please note that we will be updating this list within the next week. Also, your child’s teacher may reach out to you with a specific request at the beginning of school.
Kidborough Before & After School Program Information
Kidsborough is a before and after school and summer program that provides enrichment-based curriculum programs to children in grades K-8. Kidsborough serves families requiring full-time before and after school care and families desiring to attend part-time. We have been serving families in Canton at the Luce and JFK schools for the past five years. Our staff is fully motivated and excited to start the new year! We currently have openings for both our morning and afternoon programs. Please visit our website at www.kidsborough.com for all registrations materials, or you may contact us via email at Luce@kidsborough.com with any questions you may have.
“There are no old teams with new members, just new teams.”
New Crew Members
This year we are welcoming new staff to our Crew. We are also acknowledging staff that moved into new roles. Please see the following staffing announcements:(Link to Smore New Crew Members Newsletter HERE)
Laura Carroll: 1st Grade Teacher formerly 2nd Grade Special Educator
Garret Clancy: 3rd Grade Teacher previously 4th Grade Teacher
Andrea Renzi: 3rd Grade Special Educator
Michelle Crosby: Office Assistant
Cindy Bonner: Luce School Nurse
“At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child’s academic success is the positive involvement of parents.”
Jane D. Hull
How can you support our school? (We NEED YOU!!!)
CAPT Volunteers Needed
We need volunteers and CAPT members to make our parent programming and fundraising efforts successful this year and beyond.
If you are interested in becoming a member of the Luce CAPT, don't hesitate to get in touch with Melanie Greitzer, the Luce CAPT president at melanie_t_m@hotmail.com
School Council Members
We need 3 Awesome parents/guardians to fill 2 -2year posts and 1,1-year post.
If you are interested in learning more about our School Council, email me at lamoury@cantonma.org
Elections will be held on September 24th.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that I am grateful for the support you have provided to me while I was on maternity leave, and I am thankful for all of the words of wisdom and kindness showed to my family and me. I continue to be the proud Principal of the Luce Crew! I can’t wait to do great work with you as a partner this year.
P.S. We got this, Crew!
In the spirit of Crew,
Yeshi Lamour
Proud Principal