Welcome Back!

Welcome back!
I hope everyone had a wonderful week off. Whether you traveled to warmer weather or enjoyed the time together here at home, I hope it was an opportunity to spend time with loved ones.

There is a lot of fun to be had in the upcoming weeks as well as some hard work on behalf of our students. Our next report card will go home on March 23. Between now and then students will enjoy field trips, assemblies, and this Saturday, March 3rd is our PTA's Enrichment Day, and the District's Culture Fair.

Safety in Our Building
In light of recent events, I wanted to take a moment to let you know that I understand concerns you may be having and assure you that safety is our top priority. I am sure you have heard this same message from Dr. Brown.

It is hard to predict what our children may have seen or heard. Please assure your children that we are here to keep them safe. If your child seems overly consumed with safety, please let your child's teacher know and we will have our school counselor Mrs. Sheehan or school psychologist Mrs. Messer reach out to offer support. As a staff, we will be keeping a special eye out for any students who may be appearing more anxious or needing more support. 

I thought I would take a minute to review a few of our most important safety procedures and expectations. To start, all doors around the building are locked.  As always, during the school day, each visitor must push the call button at the main entrance. You will be asked to state the nature of your visit to school prior to gaining entry. 

Arrival  
For our arrival procedure, students enter the building when the 9:00 a.m bell rings. At this time, parents say goodbye and children enter the building. Please do not drop children off prior to the 
9:00 a.m. start time as teachers are busy preparing for the day.  

Dismissal
For dismissal, parents may enter the building at 3:10 p.m. and report to the cafeteria to sign the pick-up sheet. At times, this process becomes delayed when a parent does not send in a written note notifying the teacher that they will be picking up their child. When this happens, the classroom teacher must be called and notified of the change in plans. I cannot stress enough the importance of sending a note to the classroom teacher that she receives first thing in the morning.  Teachers have a morning routine that they follow to keep track of transportation changes and to prepare in advance for afternoon dismissal. If a note is not received, and you decide last minute to pick up your child, the teacher must be called. As you can imagine, last minute changes cause a great deal of stress for children and teachers. The teachers and I hope that this reminder will encourage parents to reserve last-minute changes for emergencies that can not be avoided. 

As you may have heard, Dr. Brown has been communicating about school security and safety. You can feel free to call him with questions at 1-315-487-4562, email cbrown@westgenesee.org or ask him in person at a special board meeting scheduled for this Wednesday, February 28, in the High School Library at 7 p.m.

It is of the utmost importance for all parents and staff to adhere to our arrival and dismissal procedures in an effort to keep our school community safe. It takes a village to ensure the safety and happiness of our students. Please feel free to reach out to me directly should you have questions or concerns (315-487-4633).

~Lori