The Farmingville Files

Dear Farmingville Families,

I hope you are looking forward to the long weekend! Please see a few updates below from the main office.

Please note that parent pick-ups at the front office must be complete by 3:30 pm. This allows our staff time to prepare for dismissal of the other students. If you plan to pick your child up after 3:30, please use the parent pick up line. Also, on early dismissal days, all changes must be entered into School Dismissal Manager before 10:00 am. For the safety of our students, dismissal changes will not be accepted after this time except in the case of an emergency.

We have discovered that cell phone carriers (e.g., AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile) occasionally label our calls as spam. Consequently, when we leave a message, it is not transmitted to you, and you are not notified of a missed call. To hopefully address this issue, we kindly request that you add our school phone number (1-203-894-5570) and our bus company's number (1-203-431-2924) to your contact list to prevent it from being mislabeled as spam.

Thank you to our amazing PTA & Raccoon Rally Chairs who have been organizing our big event for next week, and to all of the families, friends and community members who have donated! You can see below for some fun pictures of Mrs. Doty, Mr. Ethier and me being sprayed with silly-string during our celebration assembly.

As a reminder, there is no school on Monday, October 14th. We look forward to seeing our students on Tuesday!

Warmly,

Nancy

Dear Parents,

I've been absolutely loving my new role at FES over the past few weeks! The sense of community here is truly remarkable, and everyone is wholeheartedly committed to creating a joyful and safe environment for all our students. One of our primary objectives this year is to enhance our social-emotional skills, and I'm delighted to report that we're making significant strides in that area. Our initiative involves integrating the CARES program throughout the day, starting with morning announcements that educate students about CARES and encourage them to apply it in various situations. Our exceptional essential teachers have gone above and beyond by demonstrating and coaching every FES student on how to use the playground equipment, resulting in everyone using the same language to communicate about playground safety during recess. As a wonderful way to wrap up the day, every classroom holds a closing circle to promote positivity and reflection. This journey has been incredibly fulfilling, and I'm eagerly looking forward to what lies ahead!

Kindly,

Jackie

Interested to know more about RPS curriculum? Did you miss a District presentation?

Check out the new page, engagED on the RPS Curriculum Site.

The State Board of Education has defined two levels of criteria for an absence to be considered an excused absence.

“Level 1” includes the first nine absences and these days are considered excused absences for any reason that the student’s parent or guardian approves. The parent or guardian must submit either written or oral documentation within ten school days of the student’s return to school.

Excused “Level 2” absences are the days beginning at the tenth absence and meet one or more of the State’s acceptable reasons. For more information regarding the acceptable reasons, please visit the Connecticut State Department of Education Guidelines for Absences.

If your child reaches the thresholds below, you will receive a notification. The notifications will lag the actual absences. For example, your child may reach their 6th absence on a Wednesday and you may not be notified until the following Monday.

Typical attendance notification thresholds.

• At 6 absences a notification is emailed.

• At 9 absences a notification is emailed.

• At 9 absences and 6 unexcused, a notification is emailed.

• At 9 excused absences and 10 unexcused absences, a truancy notification is emailed.

Please join the 9th Annual Max Michael Rosenfield Foundation Book Drive during "Fall in Love with Ridgefield" on Saturday, October 19th from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm. The foundation will match all new books donated and they will be gifted to Family & Children's Aid. Please help us share Max's joy of reading with more deserving children! Over the past nine years, the Max Michael Rosenfield Foundation has been able to donate thousands of books to Family & Children's Aid, thanks to family, friends, and the Ridgefield community's generous support. Max was an ambassador of friendship, a champion of making sure no one was ever excluded, and a teacher in lessons of the heart. He brought passion to everything he did whether it was playing sports, reading, or collecting soda tops to raise money for charity. In honor of the way Max lived his life, the Foundation is committed to helping children of all abilities experience childhood joys; to nurture philanthropic activities that positively impact the lives of children, and to spread the goodwill and love that Max showed to everyone he met.

Learn more: https://maxmichaelrosenfield.org/

Please find our district Weather Related Process and Expectations here.

We know how fun it is for our students to get together after school and enjoy time together! Due to safety and limited space on the buses, we are asking that students have no more than 2 guest riders with them at a time. Anytime there is a need for more than 2 additional students to ride, families will need to make arrangements for parent pick up that day. Thank you for understanding!

Please fill out the form below a day prior to visiting FES. Thank you!

If you are visiting FES, please help us to expedite the entry process by filling out this form a day prior to a planned visit (teacher meeting, PTA meeting, mystery reader, library or art volunteer, etc.) and your badge will be waiting for you when you arrive. If you have something to drop off for your child during the school day such as a forgotten lunch or instrument, there will be a table outside of the entrance to place the item.

When you arrive to enter the building, we ask that you press the video doorbell button and identify yourself. Once granted access, please do NOT hold the door open for a different guest entering the building. While this may be inconvenient and feel impolite, we are standardizing access to the buildings across the district so that everyone knows what to expect.

For visits to FES during the school day, I recommend that you arrive early as it takes some time to process your visitor badge. For a visit that is not arranged a day ahead of time, calling the main office at 203-894-5570 ahead of your visit is a helpful practice.

• No School - Monday, October 14th
• Raccoon Rally - Friday, October 18th (Please look for the volunteer sign up! We welcome all volunteers!)
• Costume Parade - *Weather Permitting* - Thursday, October 31st @ 10 am (All families are welcome to attend on the back field)

We treat smartwatches (e.g. the Apple Watch, the Gizmo Watch, the Android Smart Watch) or other similar devices that provide a student with the ability to text, take photos or make calls in the same way we treat a cell phone and they are subject to the same practice. If a parent makes the decision to permit their child to have a cell phone, smartwatch, or similar device at school the cell phone or smartwatch:

• must be turned off
• must remain in the child’s backpack at all times during the school day
• must remain in the child’s backpack for the duration of the bus ride to and from school

As you might imagine, a cell phone or similar device in any school setting has proven to be a disruption to learning and the social environment. We have also witnessed that Fitbit and other fitness trackers can be a distraction. If these fitness devices cause a distraction, a teacher will ask the student to remove the device, and likely the teacher will contact you about the concern.

E-readers, Nooks, and Kindles are only permitted to support reading in school or on the bus if a teacher determines it is helpful and has told a parent it is allowed.

If any of the above devices mentioned become a repeated concern, parents/guardians will be contacted to retrieve the device which will be held in the main office.

We appreciate your understanding for the safety and focus of our students, therefore, we kindly request that only parents or guardians attend events/volunteer opportunities in the presence of enrolled students within the elementary school building during the school day. For example, an infant or younger child with a parent may attend a PTA meeting that takes place at the school.

A sibling is not permitted to accompany a parent when they are:

• volunteering in a classroom
• attending daytime activities
• attending class parties
• volunteering in the library
• mystery reader
• attending a class performance
• or any other activities within the building when students are present

This practice helps ensure a secure and conducive learning environment for all children. Siblings are welcome to attend evening events unless otherwise specified.

Please check your students' e-Backpack for this important information and other programs across the district. Organizations that meet the RPS policy may submit their request for inclusion to cmelagrano@ridgefieldps.net.