Wellington Family Newsletter

Hello families,

We have had a wonderful first 18 days of the school year! We had a fantastic turnout for our first Lunch With Loved Ones on Tuesday! It is always so nice to have our families in the building! We look forward to welcoming Kindergarten, 4th, & 5th grade families on Wednesday! Please remember to bring cash if you are purchasing an adult lunch - $5.00 per adult.

We will have a couple of fun theme days coming up:

• HIGH ATTENDANCE/School Spirit Day on Thursday, September 12th. Wear a Wellington shirt or blue and green to show school spirit!
  

• We will have HAT DAY this Friday, September 13th for meeting our first fundraising milestone! We have had a great Readathon kickoff, earning over $6,000 since last Friday!

• Stay tuned for pictures of the Principal Pumpkin Smash coming soon! This is another special event our students have earned for fundraising!

I wanted to take the opportunity to send a reminder that we need our students at school every day they are well enough to attend.

• Students should be fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication before returning to school
• Vomiting or diarrhea are also reasons to remain home, most certainly with the presence of other symptoms
• Sinus drainage can be problematic and cause a sense of feeling sick at times. Please monitor your child and take the necessary precautions to help keep others healthy by being responsive to their symptoms
• Please send a note to excuse absences within 3 days so that your child does not become truant
• Communicate with your child's teacher regarding absences so they are aware and able to support your child's learning upon return

Please make sure to read about our Counseling and Administrative teams at the end of the newsletter. We are always here to help support our students and families! Please reach out via Talking Points, email, or phone any time and we will see how we can be of support.

Let's have a spectacular September!

Julie Strange

Principal,

Wellington Elementary School

Mark Your Calendar!

September 6-20: PTA Read-a-thon Fundraiser!

September 10: Lunch with Loved Ones - grades 1, 2, & 3

September 11: Lunch with Loved Ones - grades K, 4, & 5

September 12: 5th grade Field Trip to Fort Boonesborough

• High Attendance Day! Wear Wellington shirt or blue and green!

September 13: Hat Day! Students and staff may wear hats to celebrate our first fundraising milestone!

September 16-20: Hearing Screenings - grades K & 5

September 17: 1st grade Field Trip to UK Children's Garden

• PTA meeting - 6:00 p.m. Wellington Library

September 23 & 26: School Store! Welmart!

September 24-25: 4th grade 4H overnight Field Trip

September 24: Kentucky Kids Day

September 26: SBDM - 3:30 p.m. Wellington Library

September 30-October 4: Fall Break - No Classes for Students

FCPS Instructional Calendar

FCPS Preschool Calendar

Our PTA is looking to meet and welcome as many people as possible at their in-person meeting next Tuesday, September 17th. Participating in PTA does not require serving as an officer or taking on a large project - simply showing up and meeting new people is a great place to start! Whether you are new to Wellington, have a Kindergartener, or are a long-established family that wants to support the school, you are welcome and encouraged to attend! We hope to see you there!

Your help reaching our PTA Readathon goal of $25,000 is so greatly appreciated! Our PTA supports special school events, provides extraordinary materials for Special Area classes, supports field trips, and so much more! Our kids are really excited about our dinosaur friends who are motivating them to read! THANK YOU for supporting our school!

The safety of your child is our first priority at Wellington. Please take a moment to review our Visitor and Volunteer protocol. This important document has information regarding our sign in procedures, visiting for lunch or special events, and much more.

* Please note - you will need your photo ID each time you visit or pick up your child from the office. If you do not have your car tag in the car rider line, you will also need your photo ID. Thank you for helping to keep our school, staff, and children safe by following our visitor protocol!

The volunteer application for FCPS has transitioned to the Raptor system, which our schools already use for screening visitors. Employees must also be cleared to volunteer in our schools, e.g. chaperone for a grandchild's field trip. Note: The application processing typically takes two to four weeks. Once approved, a volunteer's status remains active for four years.

Link: https://apps.raptortech.com/Apply/MjAwOmVuLVVT

Our students have awesome opportunities to take field trips to various places in Lexington and surrounding counties. These trips are always more successful with additional adults who are willing to chaperone. Anyone who would like to serve as a chaperone must be an approved volunteer with FCPS as outlined in the section above.

Did you know that FCPS does not provide medical coverage for student accidents that occur at school?

Visit this link for information:

https://www.fcps.net/leaders-support/departments-offices/risk-management-safety/student-accident-insurance

Did you know Fayette County Public Schools offer parents a Voluntary/Optional Insurance Policy?

This a great opportunity for families that do not have health coverage or for families that do have insurance to offset the cost of out-pocket expenses.

Insurance Coverages available are:

• At-School Accident Only
• 24-hour Accident Only
• Extended Dental

Thank you for helping to keep all students safe every morning! Morning arrival has been going very well! Please continue to do the following:

• Staff will supervise students exiting alongside the curb each morning.
• Students should exit the RIGHT side of the vehicle next to the curb.
• Students should make an attempt to open their own car door. Staff may be available to assist, but we ask that students initiate opening the door whenever possible.
• Students must walk along the sidewalk behind the staff member to enter the front doors.
• Please remind your child that they should not run back to the car or into the line of cars to get something they forgot. This is not safe!
• Students may arrive between 7:15-7:45 a.m. The school day officially begins at 7:45 with tardies being counted after the bell rings at 7:45 each morning.

All students at Wellington have a Car Rider hang tag, regardless of regular afternoon transportation.

Please make sure you have your car tag hanging for that type of dismissal and have your ID if you do not have it.

Please make sure that if your child changes the backpack they bring to school that the bus/car/walker/daycare tag is moved to the new backpack. All students must have their tags on their backpack every day.

IMPORTANT: Kindergarten students must be released to an adult with a valid ID.

• Kindergarten students riding the bus must be met at the bus and ID must be shown.
• Families/safe adults of Kindergarten Walkers must come to the front door and show ID before the child will be released.
• Please see the attached letter from transportation for additional information.

You will need to send the change in writing to Wellington.transportation@fayette.kyschools.us

explaining the change. This may be in the form of a handwritten note, email, or Talking Points. Changes must be received in the front office by 1:00pm. For safety purposes, changes via phone will not be accepted.

Due to safety and supervision concerns, no student can be dismissed to the front office during dismissal. If you wish to pick them up right before or at the bell, they

must be a walker or a car rider.

You will enter the car rider line and follow the line of cars to the back of the building with your car tag displayed. Staff members will enter the car tag number into our Silent Dismissal system which will cue students to come outside to a specific cone color where your car will be.

Important Reminders:

• Stay in line and do not cut around other cars
• Drive slowly through the parking lot
• Pull up to the next cone in front of you
• Have your photo ID ready for staff if you do not have your car tag with you.
• Pull forward past the pink cone to assist children with seat belts.
• Please do not do this at the cone as it holds up the line and causes a safety issue as cars drive around.
• Be kind and patient to other drivers and staff at all times.

Mr. Jordan Bentley (left) Ms. Ashley Keys (center) Ms. Anna Franklin (right)

Our Counseling team is here for your child and family any time! As Ms. Ashley tells reminds our students, "Counselors are here to make our big problems feel smaller!"

We are so fortunate to have three such caring individuals who are at the ready to help students and families alike. Please do not hesitate to reach out at any time if you have a question or concern regarding your child's health, safety, emotional well-being, or family changes that may be impacting them at school. It is important that we partner together to help each child be successful!

Kendra Esenbock, Administrative Dean (Left) Julie Strange, Principal (Center) Wes Downing, Assistant Principal (Right)

Wellington's Administrative Team is committed to ensuring a safe and happy learning experience for all! As Mrs. Strange reminds students every day:

"Everyone has the right to feel safe and happy at school. Please make sure your words and actions are helping others to feel safe and happy."

We are here to support our teachers as they provide high quality instruction, encourage our students to be their very best, and support our families to help children achieve proficiency and beyond!

The School-Based Decision Making Council model promotes shared leadership among the people working most closely with our students: the school's administrators, teachers, and parents. A council's main responsibility is to foster student achievement, which should be echoed in every decision and policy.

As the governing body for a school, the SBDM council decides on the curriculum, staffing, discipline, scheduling, teaching practices, extra-curricular activities, and other matters of the school's operation. To enhance student achievement and help the school reach its accountability goals, councils should:

• Decide targets for closing achievement gaps;
• Determine the professional learning plan for the school's staff;
• Meet monthly and comply with the Open Meetings and Open Records Act;
• Consult on staff vacancies (principal, classified, and certified positions); and
• Write and review the school policies.
  
  

Our SBDM Council appreciates the input of stakeholders and is seeking parent committee members. Committees will meet from 3:05-4:05 p.m. on designated Tuesdays; schedule forthcoming. If interested in participating in a SBDM Committee, please click this link to learn more and indicate your preferences for committee membership.

Want to learn more?

All SBDM documents may be found on our school's website under the About Us section: https://wellington.fcps.net/

Your help updating your contact information for your children is greatly appreciated! We are no longer able to complete this step at the school level, so it is very important that you take a few minutes to look at each child’s information. You can access the Parent Portal here.