GA Principal Newsletter

Dear Families,

I look forward to a great 24-25 school year with you and our students!

Listed below are a few updates regarding our time line:

On Wednesday, August 14:

• Transportation will email K-12 families that a tentative bus schedule will be available on the Parent Portal and changes can be made up until Friday, August 16. It is important that you look in the Parent Portal to check your information and make changes if needed.

• The Bus Status App information will be included in the email. That is an app that is available for parents to use throughout the year that will give you updates about live bus happenings (for example, if a bus is running late, you can check the app)

On Thursday, August 15:

• Technology will email K-12 families about:

• Class placements are now available via the Parent Portal

• Directions to preview student schedules/homeroom assignments

• Deadline to complete Back to School paperwork is Friday, August 16

• Please log in to the parent portal to find out the name of your child's teacher. Students have been assigned in their classes, therefore, we will not be able to change student placements.

By the end of the day, Tuesday, August 20th:

• You will receive a welcome email from your child's teacher. Please read the email before you come to Open House with your child . Please see information about Open House below.

On Wednesday, August 21:

• Transportation will email K-12 families about:

• The final bus schedule that will be available through the Parent Portal on August 21, 2024

• It is important that you check the portal on August 21 again to understand the timing of your child's busing

Please email Stacie Berglin (our new school office secretary) at sberglin@wcasd.net if you need your parent portal information.

Finally, in the attachment below, please find a list The Glen Acres team members.

Have a great week!

Donna

Tuesday, August 27- Kindergarten, First and Second Grade Open House at Glen Acres at 6 PM.

Wednesday, August 28- Third, Fourth and Fifth Grade Open House at Glen Acres at 6 PM.

Please plan on being in your child's classroom by 6:00 PM. It is important that you are on time. The teacher presentations will be brief which will allow you time afterwards to connect with other students and families, see other teachers in the school and see our renovated building! Your classroom teacher will give you a list of the specials, specialists, learning support and gifted teachers who will be in their rooms. Please feel free to stop in and visit with them. Additionally, representatives of the PTO will be onsite to connect with you. The building will close at 6:55 PM.

Please update your calendar to note:

• August 26 is the first day of school.
• August 30 and September 2nd (Labor Day Weekend)- Schools are closed.
• September 18th - Half Day Dismissal at 11:40 AM. It is a Teacher In-Service Afternoon. On half days, no lunch is served and buses will arrive to your bus stop about 3.5 hours earlier than the time indicated on the portal when we have our regular full days.
  
• September 19th- PTO Ice Cream Social after school. More information to follow.
• September 24th- Student Picture Day for all.

The West Chester Area School District has a tradition of offering high-quality extra-curricular programs for students. To support the costs of these programs, an Activity Fee is applied to extra-curricular programs supervised by a contracted coach, advisor, or director. This yearly fee allows a student to participate in one or multiple funded activities, and the maximum amount a family may pay per year is $250.

The 2024 - 2025 cost per student* is:
$112 High School

*Family Fee Cap is $250 maximum.

Our district is committed to ensuring that no student is denied participation in an extra-curricular because of cost concerns. Families experiencing financial hardship can find information regarding financial help on our website or through your school caseworker.

Once your student is rostered to participate in a funded sport or activity, please pay the activity fee by using the online payment method, PaySchools Central. Other payment information is located on our Activity Fee Website.

If you have questions, please visit our Activity Fee website, email activityfee@wcasd.net or contact your school’s athletic department, coach, or advisor. As always, thank you for your continued support of our district’s schools and programs.

Here are some expected activities that will run at Glen Acres:

* Chorus Grades 4-5

* Instrumental Grades 3-5

* After School Sports Grades 4-5

* Math Club 4-5

There are some outside companies who rent our space after school that are NOT sanctioned or sponsored by Glen Acres or the WCASD district. You can find their after school offerings on the WCASD Community Bulletin Board. Some examples are Science Club and Young Rembrandts. Other community events are posted on the community bulletin board as well.

There are a few things you can do to help your child with the transition back to school.

Please:

* remind your child that ALL of our staff members will help them with questions, directions and anything that they need. Reassure your child that we are here to help!

* let your child know how they will be getting to and from school and follow the PUP app(Pick Up Patrol) procedures . We will send you the procedures before the start of school.

*label all your child's supplies, jackets, coats, etc.

* pack lunch and snack items that your child can open

* send your child in with a snack and a water bottle

* review with your child his/her current grade and homeroom teacher's name

* let your child know that some of the indoor/outdoor areas of the school will look different due to our renovation project

* make sure you are reading the school, district and classroom teacher's emails

* fill out the Back to School paperwork on the portal by August 16th

* communicate any medical and/or food allergies to our nurse and your child's teacher

* get your child the supplies they need (the list is above, please contact tmeeks@wcasd.net (home and school coordinator) if you need assistance

Joining our PTO is free and recommended. When you join, you get access to information about upcoming school and community events, parties, and fundraisers.

See this link for helpful information.

This is our last summer of renovations. Summer renovations include:

* renovating 4 kindergarten classrooms

* a new main office, principal office, conference room, nurse's suite, instructional coach room and school psychologist room

* more parking on the side of the school

* two way traffic lanes on the side of the school

* removal of portables outside

All of the aforementioned renovations are expected to be completed by August 20th.

Our attendance secretary, Mrs. Theresa Weaver, will be your contact for all things related to attendance, dismissal and the pickup patrol app. She can be reached at tweaver2@wcasd.net or 484-266-1712.

Glen Acres uses an application called Pick Up Patrol to report absences, late arrivals, early dismissals and changes in pickup procedure for your children. Prior to the start of the year, families will receive an email invite from Pick Up Patrol to download the app to their phone. In addition, we will communicate with you when the app is updated with your transportation information. Once downloaded it is very easy to report changes in your child’s attendance.

We cannot express enough how important it is for parents keep their child’s record updated. We use the application throughout the day to understand our daily absences (please enter your child's absence before 9:00 AM). Additionally, we use the app to understand if your child has a change in his/her arrival (late arrivals) and/or dismissal plan. At the end of the day, we use reports from the application for dismissal. The report allows us to track how each child is being dismissed that day as it gives us an alphabetical list of students being picked up, attending the aftercare program, after school activities, as well as which bus each child is riding. Please use the app for attendance, changes in dismissal or late arrivals. The system will have a default to record your child's normal dismissal plan. Therefore, you only need to use the app when your child is going to be late, absent, or has a change in dismissal. The app saves paper, phone calls, and time for you and the Glen Acres staff. If your child has a change in their dismissal plans, we ask that you indicate that through the app by 2:00 PM on full school days and by 11:00 AM on half days.

A few things to note in Pick Up Patrol:

• Absent: Please enter the reason your child was absent by 9AM. We use this feature as part of our safe schools process to make sure all students are accounted for when we are doing attendance. THIS YEAR WE CAN ACCEPT ABSENCE NOTES THROUGH PUP, or email. Please send in doctor's notes via email or hard copy.
• Late Arrival: Click the late arrival option and let us know your child's late arrival time.
• Pick Up means you are driving through the car line to get your child after 3:05 PM.
• Early Dismissal is for when you are signing your child out before 3:05PM for any reason.
• Walker means you are walking to school or parking your car and walking up to retrieve your child.
• After School Activities will be listed. You will pick which club your child is attending after school to notify us that they will not be riding the bus or being picked up at school at 3:05 in the car line.

Our car drop- off and pick- up location for our students (K-5) will be in the back of the school on the recess yard. Drop off times are from 8:15 AM- 8:35 AM. Our morning announcements will be at 8:40 AM. Please have your children use the passenger side of the vehicle.

If you have a late arrival (after 8:40 AM), please enter the main office lobby to check in.If you are picking up your child at the end of the day, the car line starts to form at 3:05 PM.

Walkers may enter the front main lobby doors or the back recess doors. There will be a lot of traffic in the area. Please supervise your children if they are walking. At dismissal, you can meet your children who are walkers at the flag in front of the school.

Buses will enter and depart the school from the front of the building. Buses will leave school starting at 3:10 PM. You will receive information in August about the timing and location of your child's bus stop.

Please refrain from sending your child to school on their bike. There is a lot of traffic in the area. Thank you for your support.

We hope you would consider volunteering. Some volunteer opportunities that come up are opportunities to help in the library, lunchroom, as a homeroom party planner, and at field trips and school and district events. If you are interested in volunteering, please be sure to have updated clearances(good for five years) on file with the school. It is important that you submit your clearances to the school when you get them. Please do not wait until you volunteer as we need to get the clearances within a year of you receiving them.

A cultural bridge in the community for Spanish speaking families and our schools.
Un puente cultural en la comunidad para las familias de habla hispana y nuestras escuelas.

Ms. Donna Ryan

Principal

Email: dryan@wcasd.net

Address: 1150 Delancey Place, West Chester, PA 19382

Phone: 484-266-1700

website: https://www.wcasd.net/Domain/461

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WestChesterASD