Hello Astor Families,

The month of August is here, and that means that I'm getting ready to welcome staff back to the building! I hope you all had a restful and safe summer thus far. In this newsletter, you'll find some updates regarding the summer timeline and the return to school.

On Monday, August 9th, our secretaries, Chris and Debra will return to the office. The hours of the office will be 7:30am to 4:00pm (with the exception of a closure for trainings on Aug 11 and 12). Reach out with any questions that you might have. Families should expect to receive notification of their child's teacher by August 13th.

On August 21st, we have a great community opportunity to participate in paint our newest playground mural and to help out with beautifying our campus. Check out the information below!

Teachers will all be back on August 26th. They'll be preparing their rooms, making connections with families, and engaging in professional development. You should expect an initial classroom newsletter prior to the first day of school. Feel free to reach out to your child's teacher with any questions that you have about the upcoming school year.

As a reminder, the first day of school for Grades 2 through 8 is on Wednesday, September 1st. Grade 1 will begin on September 2nd as there are parent-teacher meetings prior to the first day of school. For kindergarten, “Warm-up” days will be scheduled on either September 3rd or 7th and the first full day of Kindergarten for all students will be September 8th. There are parent-teacher meetings for all families on Sept 1 and 2, as well. You can find more information about this "Ramp-Up to K-1", as well as a K-1 Connect event below.

Our first grade teacher Ms. Rowan and her family welcomed their second child this past spring. Ms. Rowan will be on maternity leave for the 21-22 school year. I'll be letting those families know their child's teacher once the educator is hired. I expect this to occur by the return of teachers on August 26th.

Finally, I want to let you all know that Dr. K has retired and will not be joining us for the 21-22 school year. I know that we'll all miss her and I'm grateful for the partnership and leadership she provided during last school year. Her focus on supporting families was incredible and her knowledge of racial equity was supportive to our whole community. I'm working with our district and school teams to identify a new AP for our school. I'll let you know when we find that person.

I'm hopeful for a return to a somewhat 'normal' school year. Unfortunately, at this time, I don't have a lot of updates as protocols are being solidified. The school district is still planning for a full 5 days a week and full day schedule. The safety protocols that many of you became familiar with last year (e.g. masks, social distancing, cohorts, etc) will most likely be a part of our plan. I'll send details about a back to school info session regarding health and safety once I have more information. You can find information about an upcoming board listening session below. Also, please know that in-person community events as subject to change based on community healthy and safety guidelines.

That's it for now. I hope that the rest of your summer is wonderful. Reach out if your family needs any support. I am looking forward to joining you for another amazing school year at Astor.

Go Eagles!

Blake Robertson

Principal @ Astor

Hello Kindergarten and 1st Grade Families!

This year, we are excited to be participating in our district-wide Ramp Up to K-1!

The Ramp Up will allow (1) all Kindergarten students to participate in a small-group “warm-up” day prior to the first day of Kindergarten and (2) all Kindergarten families to have a one-on-one connection with their teacher prior to the first day of Kindergarten. “Warm-up” days will be scheduled on either September 3rd or 7th and the first full day of Kindergarten for all students will be September 8th.

For our 1st Grade families, each student's family will receive a 1:1 relationship based and student centered conversation with your teacher.

Our school office will be in touch with each family in the next few weeks to assign you to a specific “warm-up” day for kindergarteners and to schedule a time slot for your one-on-one family connection for all students.

See the K-1 Connect event below for another event at Astor for our K-1 families on August 19th!

Attention all families!

Our PTSO has commissioned the muralist group, Rather Severe, to do a mural at the playground and bench space at Astor! We are excited to announce that this is a community project with students, families, and staff participating in the painting! It's going to occur during our Project Community Care Day on August 21st starting at 9am.

No need to sign up for this event. Just stop by, and we'll get you plugged into helping. At this time, be sure to bring your mask, too.

We also have regular campus beautification tasks like raking, mulching, and weeding we need help with. Be sure to bring your rakes, gloves, and other yard equipment. And, stop by in the morning on August 21st to help out, meet parents and staff, and get our school ready for the 21-22 school year!

August 9th - Astor Office Opens! Hours are 7:30am to 4pm

August 19th - Kindergarten 5:00 pm to 5:45 pm and 1st Grade 6:00 pm to 6:45 pm Connect to School Event at the Astor Playground - Stop by to say hi to some of our staff and meet other Astor families. We'll have a cool treat for everyone, too! This will be a masked, outside, and socially distanced event.

August 21st - 9am to 12pm Project Community Care Day! and Community Mural Project! You can sign up here. For more information, see the description below.

August 26th - All teachers return to campus

September 1st - Grades 2-8 - First Day of School!

September 2nd - Grade 1 - First Day of School

September 3rd and 7th - Half of Kinder classes will attend one of these days. The office will be in touch about scheduling these days and the teacher conferences.

September 8th - Kindergarten - First Day of School

Exciting news! We will have two additional staff members on campus next year to support with student services. This is in addition to our current support.

Amy Barth - Speech Language Path (1 day per week)

Zach Chapman - PE teacher (1 day per week)

Please join me in welcoming these staff members!

The school board is in the process of developing health and safety protocols for the 2021-22 school year, which will include full-day, five-day, in-person learning. The Board of Education is taking part in a virtual work session with public health experts this week. You can tune in at:

Date: Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Time: 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.

Location: Virtual

The meeting will be streamed live at:

https://www.youtube.com/user/ppscomms/live

We take the health and safety of our students, families, and staff very seriously, especially regarding COVID. If you'd like to be a part of the reopening team that will finalize the reopening plan for Astor, then please contact Blake at brobertson@pps.net. We would appreciate having a parent on the team!

You can find a variety of resources from our student and family support team at the links below?

Astor Resources SNAPSHOT - Here you'll find medical, housing, meal, and financial resources and supports.

Food Pantry List - Here you'll find food pantry locations and hours through August 30th.

Rental assistance information is here and here.