Head's Highlights

Dear Head Community,

Allow me to introduce Jennifer Whitten, our new Aspiring Principal Program Resident. Jennifer will join us for the month of October as she prepares and trains to be a principal in GCPS. She started on October 1st and her last day will be November 5th. She will be shadowing me at first and then will be given the opportunity to “take over” in some aspects much like a student teacher might in the classroom. Please make her feel welcome!

My name is Jennifer Whitten, and I have proudly served as an Assistant Principal at McConnell Middle School in Gwinnett County for 12 years. I have called this community home for over 17 years, raising my four children here and enjoying everything it has to offer. I earned my degree from Florida Atlantic University, and my passion for education has driven me to support and guide students in reaching their fullest potential. Outside of work, I am an avid football fan and enjoy staying active by playing tennis. I am excited to be here at Head Elementary and learn from Dr. Burnley and her amazing staff.

Call for entries!! Unleash your inner creativity with a submission to the 2024 Reflections Arts Contest! Local entries are due Tuesday, October 15, 2024. Email Reflections chair Claire Gloeckner at reflections.heades.pta@gmail.com for more information.

https://bit.ly/47n4FU4

It's Yearbook time again! Go ahead and purchase this year's yearbook BEFORE October 31, and you'll get 10% off your purchase. You can create your custom pages at a later date, but just lock in a lower price while you can! Use this link to purchase https://www.treering.com/purchase?PassCode=1015986428003405

Also, any photos you take while you're at the school, in your student's class, or on a field trip, please send them to rdyearbook@gmail.com It's nice to include as much school fun as we can!

We've got SPIRIT! Spiritwear that is! It's not too late to gear up for the school year using the following link. Orders will be shipped directly to your home. If you are paying for a Stable Colors shirt via check, please make that check out to Head ES PTA.

Head Elementary School Online Store

Please get your Stable Color shirt orders in by OCTOBER 18th. That is the final closing date. You can send in cash or a check made out to Head ES PTA with the order form.

Thank you to all who have joined the PTA so far this school year, we are off to a great start with over 200 members! Memberships can be purchased online using the following link:

TOTEM Membership Management

A heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who attended last night's International Night! The energy was electric, the food was delicious, and the cultural experiences were truly incredible! And a HUGE shoutout to all the families who shared their rich cultures with us!

If you didn't get a chance to pin your country on our digital map, please click here:

https://padlet.com/headelementary1/where-i-come-from-689monmarc0s04k3

Thank you to all those who have donated to our School Read -A -thon. We want to make sure you continue to share your page to family and friends as we head into the home stretch. Read-A-Thon will end on October 14th. Let's see if we can meet our Goal of $5000 and reading over one million words.

The Bookmobile is coming!! We are so Thankful to Dave Dewolf for sponsoring our bookmoblie on Oct 31st. Every child that meets their reading goal will get to pick out a book to keep. Students will set their own goal. So read on Broncos because Reading makes you smarter. See you at the bookmobile.

Math Milestones scores are coming! Due to last week’s weather-related closures, the GaDOE rescheduled the spring mathematics data public release.

The finalized Individual Student Reports (ISRs) from the Spring 2024 Georgia Milestones Administration will be loaded to ParentVUE the week of October 7. The finalized ISRs will replace the preliminary ISRs currently posted and will contain student’s math performance information.

Just a reminder that our policy is that if you do not have your car rider number, you will need to park in the gravel lot and go into the office to have your ID checked. While we understand that this is inconvenient, safety is our number one priority.

Parent-Teacher Conferences are Wednesday, October 23rd and Thursday, October 24th. Parents may select to have the conference virtually (via Zoom) or in-person. When signing up for your conference time, please enter VIRTUAL or IN-PERSON in the Special Request area.

Head Elementary will be utilizing an online scheduling system for this session of conferences. The online sign-up window will open on Friday, October 4th at 3:00 PM and close on Friday, October 18th.

At 3:00 PM on Friday, October 4th, the parent-teacher conference sign-up link will be listed on the main page of the Head Elementary website.

https://schools.gcpsk12.org/HeadES

A step-by-step direction sheet (SPANISH) will also be sent to parents through ParentSquare on Friday, October 4th.

Wednesday, October 23rd and Thursday, October 24th will be Early Release Days. Head Elementary students will be dismissed at 12:50 PM. If your student is a walker/car rider/daycare rider, please make any necessary transportation arrangements for your child. Buses will drop students off at their stop at the earlier time.

Head Elementary's Annual Veterans Day Program will be held on Monday, November 11 at 9:30 AM.

We invite any Veteran or active-duty service member to attend our program and be honored with a medal, certificate, and a gift bag. Our chorus will perform patriotic songs and there will be a slideshow of Veterans from our school community.

If you would like to send in a picture of a Veteran or active service member for our slideshow, please send images to ashley.petric@gcpsk12.org. If you sent in a picture last year, you do NOT need to resubmit it.

All pictures and RSVPs must be submitted by November 1. RSVP forms will be sent home on Friday, October 4th with all students.

Questions? Please contact kelly.mraz@gcpsk12.org.

Did you miss last week's important updates regarding the inclement weather and school cancellations? Families can control how and when they receive updates and information from ParentSquare.

The default settings in ParentSquare are for emails to be sent in a digest (getting emails around 6 PM) and texts are turned off. To change this, please follow these simple instructions: https://bit.ly/403h3XR

We encourage families to change both Head Elementary School and Gwinnett County Public Schools notifications to instant.

Urgent Alerts are sent instantly, but character space is limited, so full messages are sent in email, as a ParentSquare post, and on our district website. If you opted out of texts, you can still receive the voice call.

For even more convenience, we encourage families and staff to download the ParentSquare app (available for free for iOS and Android devices).

Please be sure to update your contact information by contacting the Head Elementary Front Office when your phone number, address, or email changes.

Grade Notifications in ParentVUE

Parents now have the option to be notified in the ParentVUE mobile app if their student’s grade falls below a preset threshold. Within the app, a parent can choose to enable the notification and will select the grade threshold of when to be notified. Thresholds can be set on the student’s class average or on assignment grades. The notifications are processed each afternoon starting at 5:30 PM. Specific directions on enabling Grade Notifications can be found here. Other ParentVUE resources are available on the ParentVUE site.

Staff, students, families, and Gwinnett community members are invited to review and provide input on proposed instructional resources for select grades and courses in Career and Technical Education and Health (Sex Education).

Before adopting instructional resources for classroom use, Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) holds an extensive review. Multiple committees involving various stakeholder groups reviewed resources submitted by publishers for alignment with the school system’s Academic Knowledge and Skills (AKS) standards. During the ongoing review process, selected resources are piloted in GCPS classrooms. Data from the reviews and pilots will be considered in making adoption recommendations to the Board of Education in 2025.

This year’s virtual public review is open now through October 31st. To begin, please visit this link.

When: September 30 - October 31

Where: Begin the virtual review.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vS_OEN-05I7GLRFb83XcgkKy0KbB8b57zECFix5rIpTicPrtSkQGmAmuIwh1rMzNpVAVV_HoIi0vruw/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

Book it for the bus! The GCPS Book Mobile 5K and Fun Run will be held on Saturday, November 2, at the GCPS Instructional Support Center, located at 437 Old Peachtree Road, NW, in Suwanee.

This Book Mobile 5K and Fun Run will raise funds to purchase new books for the Book Mobile program, putting books in students’ hands. A family-friendly atmosphere before and after the race features door prizes, snacks, music, and more!

Learn more and find a link to register here: https://bit.ly/3XjEvhw

Get ready to hit the court for another exciting season! Whether your child is a seasoned player or just getting started, we welcome all children from ages 5-18. Don't miss your chance to be part of the action this year!

To register your player use this link https://brookwood-basketball.sportngin.com/register/form/889310923 and to volunteer to coach use this link https://brookwood-basketball.sportngin.com/register/form/260974067

The Bronco Stampede is now offering the option to order Lululemon items. The deadline to order is October 7th. Click this link to order: https://bsnteamsports.com/shop/rzNxxgrsF4?utm_source=flyer&utm_medium=pdf&utm_campaign=store_shop&utm_content=store_link
Go Broncos!

10/9 - Pajama Day

10/10-10/14 Enjoy Fall Break!

10/15 - School Council Meeting 6-7PM

10/16 - All Pro Dads 7:15 AM

10/18 - Superhero Day!