Weekly Stony Brook Update

Dear Stony Brook Families,

Last week we had one of my favorite Stony Brook traditions. We gathered as a whole school for our first community meeting of the year. We learned about Constitution Day and unveiled our Stony Brook Constitution (R.O.A.R. and school rules). Four of our third graders taught the whole school what respect, obedience, achievement, and responsibility mean. We also honored our September Students of the Month, sang about what it means to be a peacemaker, thanked our staff for all of their hard work starting the new year, and gifted our kindergartners their Stony Brook R.O.A.R. t-shirts! Our youngest panthers smiled ear to ear as they became "big kids" with their official SB shirts.

This week Mrs. Snare, Mrs. Frey, and I finished our final station rotations with all the children. All of our students now know our cafeteria, bus, and bathroom routines and rules. The children are doing a great job with these routines, and our third graders are being great role models for the rest of our school.

Next Friday is a half day of school for students. Students will be dismissed at 12:30PM. For students who ride the bus, you can expect that your child will be home approximately three hours earlier than normal.

I would like to give a reminder about our morning walker and parent drop-off procedures. Drop off is 8:40AM-8:55AM. Students should not arrive at school until 8:40AM. We do not have supervision for children prior to this time.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Kelly Harper, Ed.D.

Principal

Last Friday, we held our first school-wide community meeting. Please see my letter above for more information.

Each month, Stony Brook honors two Students of the Month. The Students of the Month are chosen not only for following R.O.A.R., but also for demonstrating our district's core values of character, perseverance, accountability, community, and excellence. This month I am pleased to announce our September Students of the Month - Jae'lyn Turner and O'Rhian Hunter.

O'Rhian is a second grade student. He is a role model to other students and exemplifies character and community. He helps our SB community by being helpful to others and by making sure everyone is included. When it comes time to work with others in the classroom, O'Rhian makes sure everyone has a partner. One time in music class, O'Rhian noticed all on his own that one student did not have a partner. He immediately went over to the other child without any adult prompting and asked him to join his group. What a kind gesture! Congratulations O'Rhian!

Jae'lyn is a third grade student. She is a model student and exemplifies the values of character and perseverance. She can always be counted on to lend a kind and helping hand even when she isn't asked. Not only has Jae'lyn been a model student so far this school year, but all of our specials teachers agree that she has been a model student consistently since kindergarten. Even though learning can sometimes be hard, Jae'lyn always powers through with a positive attitude. Congratulations Jae'lyn!

CYSD DEVICE PROTECTION PLAN

Central York School District offers optional protection plans for your child's District issued devices. The protection plan fully covers your child's device for any accidental damage that occurs. The cost is $25 per year for iPads and $60 per year for Macbooks. Learn more and sign up: https://dpp.centralyork.org

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SCHOOL

Central York School District is excited to announce that we have partnered with Linewize by Family Zone, a leading education technology company, to provide District families and students with the highest quality of online safety and digital wellness education.

As members of the Central York Community, you have access to an Online Safety Hub, as well as free parent/guardian access to the Qustodio App, a parental control app that allows families insight and control of their child’s device usage.

Qustodio App

The Qustodio App allows parents access to monitor and supervise their child’s time online. By signing up, parents can monitor their child’s activity on their school-issued device, as well as up to two additional personal devices at no cost.

The app enables parents to:

• Receive reports and alerts on your child’s school-time activity
• Enable and disable internet access
• Receive guidance and tips on digital trends and threats

Access to features on your child’s school-issued device will be effective during non-school hours. Usage on two free personal devices is 24/7. Parents must use the email associated with their Skyward account.

Online Safety Hub

The Online Safety Hub includes helpful parent advice guides, app and game reviews, online safety quizzes, resources, and access to information about the Qustodio App.

Happy Friday SB Families!

We hope everyone is having a great week! Each week in this newsletter we will update you on what SB’s PTO is doing and how you can be involved. We also encourage parents and caregivers to follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/stonybrookpto) as this is where you will get the most timely updates on volunteer opportunities, school events, and more.

Our first PTO event is exactly 2 weeks away! On September 27 all of our students will get to play at our 6 activity stations as part of Roar Fest Field Day- our annual Roar Fest fundraiser kickoff! This is a super fun and silly event for our students, but we need lots of volunteers to help! Please click here to sign up: https://www.timetosignup.com/ptostonybrook/sheet/1349313

Keep an eye out in the next week for a flyer to come home explaining Roar Fest and why it’s so important for our school.

You and your family are invited to join us on Thursday, September 26 from 6:30-7:30 pm for our annual family Roar Fest kick off- Popsicles on the Playground! Watch for a flyer to come home from school next week, but sneak a peak at the attached for the details.

Get ready for our first dine-out night of the school year! Join us on September 18 from 4-8 pm at Chipotle in East York, show the attached flyer, and 25% of your purchase price will go back to our PTO! The flyer can be printed or on your phone, and online orders count, too! These dine-out nights are so important for helping us to reach our funding goals for the year.

We currently are still in need of room parents for the following classrooms: SLEETH, ZEIGLER. Room parents have minimal responsibility and are only responsible for planning and executing the Fall party (November) and the Friendship Day party (February). If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to me. Room parents are essential for making sure all classes are able to have these fun parties!

If you plan to volunteer for ANY of our PTO events, you will need to register/renew your CYSD volunteer badge. Please note that the district is now using a new volunteer portal which requires both new and returning volunteers to update four different clearances/documents. Due to this change, we encourage anyone wanting to volunteer to register asap, as it can take the district up to several weeks to process applications. https://www.cysd.k12.pa.us/our-district/human-resources/clearances

If you have any questions about SB PTO happenings or the volunteer registration process, please don’t ever hesitate to reach out- we are always happy to help!

Brittany Strine

Stony Brook PTO President

brittanystrine@aol.com

717-858-2104

Annual Notices

Breakfast/Lunch Menus

Free and Reduced Meal Program Forms

Community Flyers

Stony Brook Homepage

Parents and Families

Student Handbooks

Educational Trip Form

Volunteer Information

9/17 - Grade 2 York County Libraries Assembly

9/18 - SB Dine Out Night at Chipotle East York 4:00-8:00PM

9/20 - Early Dismissal 12:30PM

9/26 - SB Popsicles on the Playground 6:30-7:30PM

BUS INFORMATION

Bus/van assignments are available through the Online Bus Portal. The link is also available on our District Website on the Transportation page.

ARRIVAL AND DISMISSAL PROCEDURES

Click on the documents below for more information about Stony Brook arrival and dismissal. If you are driving your child to school, you will stay in your car during drop off. Please have your child practice unbuckling the seat belt or car seat by themselves as parents stay in the car during drop off. If your child is in the walk zone, but you plan to drive your car to the school to pick up your child, your child is now parent pick up and you should follow the parent pick up procedures.

All kindergarten students are required to have an adult pick them up at the bus stop or walk zone. Kindergarten students will not be released from the bus or at the walk zone unless an adult is present to receive them. An adult must meet all kindergarten walkers at the designated crossing guard spot.

For any changes in dismissal, be very clear with your child if they are being picked up early or if they will be parent pick-up when they normally ride the school bus. Any changes in routines or dismissal plans should be communicated to your child's teacher via note or email prior to 9:00AM. If you need to make a change during the day, please call the main office. Our teachers often do not have time to check their email during the school day. The office staff also requests that if you need to change your child's dismissal plan after school has started for the day, please call prior to 2:00PM. It is difficult for our office to communicate to your child's teacher and ensure your child knows about a change if you call after 2:00PM. The school recognizes that sometimes emergencies happen and you need to make a sudden change, but this should be the exception rather than the rule. Thank you!

ABSENCES AND ATTENDANCE IN SKYWARD

Families are encouraged to use the Skyward Family Access Center attendance function to alert the school that their child is absent. This can be done in the Skyward phone app or website. In the event a family cannot log the absence in Skyward, a doctor's note and/or phone call will be accepted as documentation of the absence. If you are unable to mark your child's attendance in Skyward, families should use the school's automated attendance line to alert the school that their child will be absent. This can be accessed 24-7 at (717)846-6789. This number is checked every morning for absences. Families should notify the school no later than 9:00AM on the day of an absence. If we do not receive a call reporting your child absent by 9:00AM, and there is no absence request in Skyward Family Access Center, an automated phone call will be generated via our phone system in order to confirm the whereabouts of your child.

Please note - families have five days by law from the date of a child's absence to report an absence to the district. This may be done in Skyward Family Access Center or by phone on the automated attendance line. Failure to do so will result in an absence being recorded as "unexcused".

All families should be aware that under Act 29, upon a student's accumulation of 6 unlawful or unexcused absences from school, the parent may be referred to Children & Youth Services. Should attendance not improve, the parent may be cited to the district magistrate and could be responsible for fines.

EDUCATIONAL TRIP FORMS

Please be sure to note the policy for educational trips. Approval forms must be obtained from the school office or online through the district website. The educational value and activities of the trip must be stated in detail to be eligible for approval. Thank you for your cooperation with this school policy. For your convenience, click here to download the educational trip form. A reminder that ALL trips MUST be submitted at least 2 WEEKS prior to the trip to be approved.

PARENT VOLUNTEERS

Get the jump on obtaining your parent volunteer approval for the 2024-2025 School Year. ALL parents planning to volunteer must re-apply prior to volunteering in our schools. Additionally, all volunteers must also meet with me during a meeting that will be advertised in the near future. Click here for our district-wide Parent Volunteer Manual that outlines how to begin the process of applying to volunteer or, if you are re-applying for another year. We are looking forward to having a record number of volunteers this year!