Dolphin News

Dear Desmares Families,

We hope you enjoyed your summer and are eagerly awaiting the start of the school year. It was very nice to meet our incoming Preschool and Kindergarten families, and families who are new to Flemington-Raritan and Desmares School at our orientations on August 26th. On behalf of the entire Desmares School community, welcome back! We anticipate an exciting start to the year.

Here is a list of new staff members and their grade levels. Please join us in welcoming:

• Cassidy Tobiasz: First Grade (Room 17B)

• Savana Hauss: First Grade (Room 17A)

• Meghan Partington: Second Grade (Room 6)

• Margie Ricciardi: Second Grade with Samantha Nigro (Room 9)

• Leah Brennan: Third Grade (Room 23)

• Tina Reed: Media Specialist

• Kristine Bryer: Preschool (Room 14)
  

• Marian Gaestel: Preschool Teacher Assistant

• Rachel McCarthy: Preschool Relief Teacher

• Jennifer Gebhardt: Teacher Assistant

• Kathy Tompkins: Cafeteria Aide

Additionally, the following teachers are in new positions:

• Lisa Rieg: Grade 3 (Room 24)

• Katie Scheffler: Grade 3 with Katie Van Saun (Room 20)

• Stacey Salvato: Kindergarten (Room 2)

• Michele White: Kindergarten (Room 5)

• Leigh Anne Cascio: Reading Support

This past Wednesday, Mrs. Custy and I made several phone calls to parents in Kindergarten who have a change in their classroom placement. We opened a fifth section of Kindergarten, and as a result, we needed to shift some of our students from each of the four classrooms to this new room. Please join us in supporting Mrs. White in her new classroom, Room 5. We are thankful for the opportunity to open this new section, thus keeping our class sizes at the right level to set our newest Dolphins up for success! Second graders who were assigned to Mrs. White's class also heard from us as they learned that Ms. Partington will be their new teacher. We welcome her to the Desmares community, and appreciate the support and understanding of the families impacted by the late summer changes.

You may have noticed that our school garden is blooming! Our sincere thanks to the parents who volunteered throughout the summer to maintain our garden and keep it beautiful for the start of the year.

As you prepare your child for the new school year, please consider these important ideas:

• Teach your child to say both their first and last name.

• Have your child practice saying their teacher’s name.

• Label clothing/jackets/lunch boxes with their first and last name.