Greenland Pines Parent Connection

Happy New Year!

I want to take this opportunity to wish all of our families a happy, prosperous and healthy new year. I hope your holiday was relaxing and filled with wonderful memories to cherish always with family and friends.

This upcoming semester promises to be a busy but exciting time for our students. With that, we want to take the time to remind all our students, and families of a few district and school policies.

• Children should be in their classrooms and ready to begin work at 8:25 am. Students may not arrive prior to 8:00 am, unless they are enrolled in the morning extended day program.
• Parent conferences are always available. Please contact your child's teacher to schedule a conference.
• A parent who wishes to pick up a child during school hours must come to the main office and sign the Student Sign-Out Book. The parent or other authorized party must be listed on the student information card in order to sign the student out of school and a photo ID is required. Please do not ask that your child be released within 45 minutes (2:15-3:00) of normal dismissal time, as this causes a disruption to the closing routines for students.
• Students may arrive at school via bus, car loading zone or a walker. Students may not be dropped off in the parking lot. This is a safety concern with students walking through the car loading zone.
• Midyear testing for 3rd-5th grade continues with state tests (FAST ELA & Math) being administered this month. Your child's teacher can provide the dates for testing. Please do all that you can to have your child at school on these days. You will receive a report with your child's scores within 2 weeks of testing. This test is taken 3 times a year so this will be a good opportunity to look at the growth your child has made.
• We are starting a new program aligned with our PBIS initiatives called Bizi. Students can earn Bizi Bucks during the day for attendance, behavior and academics. We encourage parents to check student Bizi dashboards by logging into your student's account and going to Bizi under blended learning.

At GPE we are always learning and growing. I appreciate your continued support and involvement in your child’s education. I look forward to an exciting remainder of the school year and a successful 2025!

Your Principal,
Michelle Hinkley

Career Day Opportunity

Are you interested in sharing your career experience with Greenland Pines elementary student? We have the perfect opportunity for you! On February, 21st from 9:00-2:30 we will be hosting a career day. We are interested in hearing from all kinds of professions that could inspire our cougar students. Please see sign up below if you are interested in being one of our career presenters.

Some things to know

When- February, 21st from 9-2

Where – Greenland Pines Elementary

Presenter- You will speak to a group of children every 15-20 minutes. Please allow a few minutes for questions from students. The children will rotate to your room starting at 9:00am. Please arrive around 8:30 to get set up. Try to include a description of your job, some information about your career and a group hands on activity if possible. We will also include a break for lunch. If you have any additional question please reach out to our programs coordinator at gpeptaprogram@gmail.com

Please sign up by January 24th https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0E4DADA82AA2FF2-53884535-career

Reading is n-ice! We will be hosting the Scholastic Book Fair Tuesday, January 21 through Monday, January 27. Classes will have one scheduled visit to make purchases during the week and one last chance to shop on Monday, January 27. Our Literacy Night will be held the evening of Thursday, January 23. Come by and enjoy fantastic literacy activities for families, as well as to shop our Book Fair! Volunteers needed!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080D48AFAA2EA2FF2-54230754-winter

PTA will be hosting a Bingo Night January 31st at 6 PM.

Patrols will be selling Chick-fil-a chicken biscuits in carline January 17th. Biscuits are $5 each, cash preferred, Venmo accepted.

Parents will need to download the NEW DCPS app and then access rooms to see their child's classroom and message the teacher. If you do not see your child's room in the app, check if you have a linked Parent Portal account. You must have a linked account to see the room. Join today!

PTA will be collecting *new* pajamas in all sizes for the Isaiah 117 House January 27-31.

If you do not have a LINKED parent account, please follow these directions to get one. A linked FOCUS account is how you will be able to see your child's grades, attendance etc.

All parents will need a linked parent portal. Click the button below and follow these steps to ensure your account is linked. Without a linked account you won't have access to school emails, classroom communication, student grades and report cards or attendance. Each parent that wants access will need a parent account.

School Cash online will be used for all payments this year including field trips. Please make sure you sign up for an account today!

Link: School Cash Online

The New Worlds Initiative is a program through UF which allows students who meet the criteria below to receive the monthly books until they graduate from fifth grade. Criteria is listed below. The beginning of the year baseline data can be used to qualify students. We recommend that all parents sign up. Books will be sent if your student qualifies. The sign up is quick and can benefit your child!

The link to register is here: https://www.newworldsreading.com/fl/en/home.html

Parents of CSS & PreK students: Please help us by dropping off your child before 8:30am in the car loop. When a child comes in late, we have to have a para leave the classroom to walk them to class. This disrupts the flow of the classroom. We do understand that things come up but please help us by following normal drop off procedures on most days.

Dismissal begins at 2:45pm daily. As a reminder, the car rider line/gate will close at 3:10pm daily. Please make sure you are in line before 3:10pm this to help us get all students dismissed on time.

All students will be issued a picture ID at the beginning of the year. This ID has been placed on their backpack. Please make sure that it stays on their backpack all year. They will need this to ride the bus, get breakfast and to get lunch. If your child gets a new backpack, please move the ID to the new bag.

If a student looses their ID, a replacement badge will be printed for $5. Every child is required to have an active student ID at all times. If your child needs a new ID, please send the money and a note to their HR teacher and we will reprint.

The DCPS Food Service Department is pleased to announce that for the 2024-2025 school year, every public school in DCPS will be a part of the Community Eligibility Provision program. Under CEP, school meals are available to all students at no cost to them.

Breakfast will be served from 8:00-8:30am daily. Students wishing to eat breakfast at GPE should arrive early enough to be ready for class at 8:30am.

We have teamed up with Varsity Tutors to offer DCPS students personalized learning support when they need it. Students across the district will receive unlimited live support from highly qualified tutors in all core subject areas. They can also attend interactive extracurricular classes and clubs ie. coding and financial literacy via enrichment classes. Additionally, they can receive essay review and writing support.

How do students access the platform?

· Students click on Blended Learning, then the Varsity Tutors icon, and log in with Clever.

Parents can visit https://www.varsitytutors.com/school-solutions/duval for support for their students. There are also a document attached below for parents to get more information about this opportunity.

• January 7 Students Return
• January 15 SAC @ 3:30
• January 17 Hearing/Vision Screening
• January 20 No School
• January 24 All Pro Dads
• January 29 Early Release

You can view the DCPS calendar here: https://www.duvalschools.org/page/district-calendar

As a reminder, we can not dismiss students after 2:15 PM or after 12:15 PM on Early Release days, per DCPS policy. In addition, please reserve early pick up for days when it is absolutely needed. We understand that appointments and emergencies come up at times but please ensure your child is in school the entire day when possible.

We will use PikMyKid again this year for dismissal. All families should download the app. This will allow you to have access to change your child's dismissal, who is allowed to pick up and see when your child is dismissed from school. All changes must be completed by 2:00pm daily. Due to safety considerations, we will not take any dismissal changes by phone throughout the day.

FortifyFL is a suspicious activity reporting tool that allows you to instantly relay information to appropriate law enforcement agencies and school officials.

By accessing FortifyFL, students can provide a description of the threat, share pics and videos and optionally submit their contact information.

• Anonymous or Non-Anonymous - You decide whether you want to include your name and contact information.

• Convenient - Submitting a tip is quick and easy using our mobile app or website.

• Include Photos and Video - You can also include photos or video with your tip report.

Are you a Changemaker? A great way to support our school is to become a Changemaker! You can directly support GPE by signing up to round-up your change from purchases. These funds make a BIG difference. Use this link to sign up and learn more:

https://go.changemaker.app/donate/greenland-pines

PTA is looking forward to another great school year!

Memberships are good for one year and help with funding the PTA programs and events. Single memberships are $10 and two person family memberships are $15.

If you are interested in joining the PTA board, we do have several open positions. Contact PTA President Valerie Wurdeman at gpeptapresident@gmail.com.

Keep up with what is going on with PTA via our website (http://gpe.my-pta.org) or our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/GreenlandPinesPTA}

What is SAC?

A School Advisory Council is an elected committee made up of parents, staff, administrators, businesses, community members and students (in secondary schools) who work together to help a school improve. By state law, school boards must establish an advisory council for each school.

Become a SAC member!

Get involved! Being a School Advisory Council member is a good way to be an important part of your child's education. Please contact Janine Santangelo at janine.santangelo@gmail.com or Michelle Hinkley at simrellm@duvalschools.org for more information.

Meeting Dates

3rd Wednesday of Each Month at 3:30pm

Meetings are held in the GPE Media Center

Next Meeting

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Hazel Health has partnered with Duval County Public Schools to expand student health services at no-cost to families this school year. When your student needs help, they can connect with Hazel for same-day care.

Get more information and sign the parent consent form at https://my.hazel.co/duvalschools/info

Did you know that you can stay connected with GPE on social media? We will be posting events, reminders and information on the following sites:

GPE on Facebook: @GreenlandPines

GPE Website: https://dcps.duvalschools.org/greenlandpines

We need you! Interested in being a business partner here at GPE? Our business partners are invaluable here at GPE. If you own or manage a business and would like to learn more about the perks of being a GPE business partner, please reach out to Ms. O'Quinn, at (904)260-5450 or oquinnc@duvalschools.org.

Please support those who support GPE. Click on the business logos below to support these local businesses. If your business is interested in becoming a GPE sponsor, email our AP, Ms. O'Quinn at oquinnc@duvalschools.org for more information.