August 2019 Principal’s Newsletter
Welcome to the 2019-2020 School Year!
Welcome to Surgoinsville Elementary School! We are pleased and excited to begin a new year with you and your child, as well as all community stakeholders. We would like to welcome Mrs. Alexandra Whited to our 3rd grade team and congratulate Ms. Mindy Hunley as our new librarian. All staff of Surgoinsville Elementary are dedicated to ensure your child and you have a wonderful school experience. Our school is noted for academic excellence, and we strive to continue to do our BEST each and every day.
SES House System for ’19-‘20
Similar to last year’s “Packs”, we will be implementing a House System this year to increase perseverance towards goals, increase positive behavior, build relationships among all our students, and instill pride in our students and school. In the coming weeks, students will be initiated into a House that concentrates on building positive characteristics in our students such as kindness, perseverance, and support for one another. Something new for this year is a way for our parents to be included and receive notifications through an app when their child receives points for their House. A permission slip, which includes more information about the app is being sent home. More information about the individual Houses and events will be coming home soon as well.
Services Offered
At Surgoinsville Elementary School, we are pleased to offer a variety of programs to both students and parents throughout the year. In addition to the core curriculum, students are able to attend library, music, art, physical education, and school counseling classes on a weekly basis. Our computer lab has been transformed into a STEM Lab that students and staff will be utilizing to build problem-solving skills in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. We also offer special education services, Walk and Learn intervention classes, ESL (English as a Second Language) services, and Project BASIC (counseling from Frontier Health). Health services are offered through our school nurse and the district’s Coordinated School Health. A Parent Lending Library is available to check-out materials for additional skills practice at home.
Family and Community Involvement
We look forward to partnering with families and the community to provide students the education needed for a successful future. We cannot do this without your help and greatly appreciate your support at home. We encourage you to be involved in your child’s education, and there are several ways you can do so. Please try to ensure your child is at school each day, view the Week in a Peek, check your child’s orange communication folder each Monday, utilize Skyward for your child’s information, make sure your child completes homework, attend conferences and school events, encourage your child to meet his/her goals each nine weeks, and be supportive of the school’s policies and procedures. If you would like to be a volunteer, please let your child’s teacher know. With your help, we will have another successful school year at SES!
Special Appreciations
We would like to take this opportunity to say a special thank you to those in the community who have sent our school donations, supplies, and/or supported our students and staff in other ways. Thank you to The First United Methodist Church of Surgoinsville, First Baptist Church of Surgoinsville and Hope Church for your unwavering support of our school throughout the year. Thank you to Cooper Standard and BAE for donating to our school’s STEM Lab and Morning Choice. Many donations were received from the community and families. We have the best community!
Morning Routines
The school building opens at 7:15 AM. Due to multiple buses that drop off at this time, we ask car riders not to arrive before 7:30 AM if possible. This also helps with the flow for breakfast. Students should not exit the vehicle until it is between the two yellow lines in front of the building. Vehicles are asked to pull as close as possible to the front yellow line before unloading.
In order to increase student safety during morning drop-off, additional measures have been added for this school year. We ask families to please say good-byes before reaching the front door. If items need to be dropped off, we will happily get those to the classroom teacher. Allowances will be made as needed for meetings, registering, office needs, etc. We thank you for your cooperation, as your child’s safety is a primary concern at SES. If a visit is needed inside the building, please use the parking lot to the right of the school rather than the spaces in front of the building where students are unloading.
Please read Morning and Afternoon Car Rider Procedures that are sent home in the student’s communication folder. Students are dismissed from the gym at 7:55 AM. School begins promptly at 8:00 AM. If a child arrives at 8:01 AM or after, he/she is tardy and the parent must accompany the child to the office for an admit slip. If the front door is closed without a staff member present, the school day has begun. Your child misses valuable instruction when they are not in attendance. After the first week of school, we ask all students to walk to class without a parent or guardian.
School Security
Your child’s safety is our number one priority. All schools in Hawkins County have security systems to enter the buildings. Please ring the bell to gain admittance during the hours of 8:00 AM – 3:15 PM. Be prepared to show identification. Upon approval, proceed to the office. All visitors will be checked in with the Raptor System, which checks visitors against offender registries. Our school is monitored throughout the day by a security system and by our school resource officer. A school safety plan is in place, and various safety drills are practiced on a regular basis throughout the school year.
Communication with the Teacher
You are always welcome to visit your child’s teacher, and we encourage you to be involved. However, teachers must begin class on time and will be unable to meet with parents when students are dismissed from the gym. Please leave a message in the office, planner, email, or call if you would like to schedule a conference. Your child’s planner is an excellent form of communication between school and home. Please view it daily, sign, and write any comments / concerns to the teacher. If you need to see your child during the school day, we will call them to the office so as not to disturb instructional time.
Attendance
If your child is absent, please use the form provided in your child’s planner (unless it is a doctor’s excuse). Excuses are not accepted after five school days upon the student’s return and the student will be written as unexcused. Only five parent notes are allowed per semester. Early dismissals and tardies accumulate and can result in a day’s absence. Once all parent notes are used, days will then be unexcused unless there is a doctor’s note. Once there have been two unexcused absences, you will be contacted by the truancy officer. If there has been a death of an immediate family member, it will be excused with a copy of the obituary. School Messenger will notify you by phone when your child is absent or tardy. Skyward is also available to allow parents/guardians to view the student’s grades, attendance, discipline referrals, etc. at any time. Please contact our data manager, Shona Barrett, for further information.
Collections
Please help our school by collecting General Mills Box Tops. Also register for programs at Food City, Target, and Office Depot for a percentage of the proceeds of your sale to be donated to Surgoinsville Elementary School. Ask your family, friends, neighbors, and church members to help as well. If you are willing to help with any of our school collection processes, please contact the school.
Help Needed for Reading for Education Booklets
Our school will be participating in a program called Reading for Education. Booklets needing eleven different addresses will be sent home on August 19th for parents/guardians to complete. Our school receives 50c for each completed postcard. We receive $5.50 for each completed booklet. When the student returns the completed booklet, he/she will receive a small prize. Students who return booklets will be entered into a drawing for a prize and entered for a chance to win $100 from the company. If 180 students return their completed booklets, our school receives an additional $200, and if we get 216 completed booklets, we get an additional $300. It is a very easy way for our school to earn money with no obligation to buy anything. The addresses provided will only be used for this program and will not be used for any other purpose. Thank you for your help!
Behavior Expectations and Rewards
Every child has the right to learn in a safe and caring environment. Behavioral expectations are taught the first week of school. Students with exceptional positive behavior for the year will get to attend a special school-wide reward at the end of the year. There will be reward celebrations for students having zero office or bus referrals throughout the year and at the end of each semester. Encourage your child to follow all bus expectations that are listed in the school’s handbook. If a bus driver files a report, the student may be given a bus suspension. The parent or guardian is then responsible for bringing the child to school. Please encourage proper behavior for the safety of all students. Be sure to read the school’s handbook for important information. Please encourage your child to always be on his/her BEST behavior.
Medication
Please do not send medication by a student to school. Any medication must be brought by the guardian in the original container to the office/nurse. Please refer to guidelines in the Hawkins County Student Handbook.
PTSO
We hope you will join our school’s PTSO. We will elect officers for the 2019-2020 school year at our first meeting, and notification about upcoming meetings will be sent home soon. The parent organization has helped our school tremendously in the past. Please join us!
Upcoming Events:
Aug. 19 First Full Day of Kindergarten
Aug. 19 Complete Reading for Education Booklets
Sept. 2 No School – Labor Day
Sept. 9 Fall Picture Day
Sept. 12 Parent / Teacher Conferences 3:15-6:15
Surgoinsville Elementary School’s mission is to educate with excellence
by meeting all state standards in a positive, safe, and caring environment.
At SES, we do our BEST!
