Scotty Updates

Scotty Updates has been created to provide families and staff with information regarding upcoming events, happenings, and programs at Scotland Elementary School. Our newsletter will be sent several times monthly to share news and happenings at Scotland!

Good afternoon, Scotland families!

I hope this message finds you all well! This week we conducted a lockdown drill with our students and staff in partnership with the Ridgefield Police Department’s Resource Officers and our Director of Security, Josh Zabin. During the drill, I shared with students that the reason we may have a lockdown is if there is an emergency and we need to stay safe inside. Throughout the year, we will continue to conduct our safety drills. The Scotland students and staff did an excellent job following the directions and running through the drill in a safe and efficient manner.

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Thank you to all who came out for our Read Aloud/BINGO Night and our Little Doctors Blood Drive! We had such a great night! The Blood drive raised 71 pints of blood - our largest collection ever! A huge thank you to Lori Cappello and Jen Zuccaro for planning our BINGO night, to Cheryl Osher for organizing the Little Doctors Blood Drive, and to all of our staff readers! Our kiddos had a ton of fun and the night was a huge success!

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Our essentials class schedule will be switching on January 22nd. Please find the schedule for the second half of the year below.

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Kids Heart Challenge is coming to Scotland! Our event will be the week of February 3rd-7th during each PE class. Join today to make a difference in the fight against heart disease and stroke.

Register online and complete Finn’s Mission to learn Hands-Only CPR.

1. Click here to register your student: Scotland Elementary Web Page
2. Start Finn’s Mission to complete your challenges and change lives!

Check to see if your employer has a matching gift program—it could double your donation: Matching Gift Participating Employers

Thank you so much for supporting Scotland and the American Heart Association!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Kind regards,

Jill

As you may have read in Dr. Da Silva's Friday, this past Thursday, she presented the Superintendent's Proposed Budget for the next school year. If you usually don't follow Board of Education conversations, this may be the time to listen in. The forthcoming discussions have a direct impact on Branchville. Below, you will find an excerpt from Dr. Da Silva's newsletter.

I encourage you to take the time to watch the budget presentation here. On Saturday, January 25, each of our school principals and cost center leaders will present their FY26 budgets at a virtual BOE special meeting. We invite you to learn more about the FY26 proposed budget either by viewing it live, or at a later time.

Monday, January 20th:

• No school - Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Tuesday, January 21st: F Day

Wednesday, January 22nd: A Day

• SES Winter Concert @ 5:30pm

Thursday, January 23rd: B Day

Friday, January 24th: C Day

• Scotty Spirit Day - wear your spirit wear or red and black!

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Monday, January 27th: D Day

Tuesday, January 28th: E Day

• Choral Festival at RHS

Wednesday, January 29th: F Day

Thursday, January 30th: A Day

Friday, January 31st: B Day

• Scotty Spirit Day - wear your spirit wear or red and black!

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Save these Dates!!

Wednesday, January 22nd:

• SES Winter Concert

Tuesday, January 28th:

• Choral Festival at RHS

Monday, February 3rd:

• All District Orchestra Festival

• All District Band Festival

• SES 5th Grade Musical

• SES K-5 Art Show

• SES Spring Concert

Some families may have decided to provide their child with a cell phone or other device during the holidays. Students with cell phones at the elementary level are not permitted to use them during the school day. If a parent makes the decision to permit their child to have a cell phone, smartwatch, or similar device at school, it is expected that the cell phone or smartwatch be turned off and in the child’s backpack at all times. This includes the duration of the bus ride.

Please note that we treat smartwatches (e.g., the Apple Watch, the Gizmo Watch, the Android Smart Watch, the Fitbit, etc.) 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 staff member sees a student with any of the devices mentioned above, they will ask the student to remove the device and store it in their backpack, and their teacher will likely contact you about the concern.

Please remember that children typically go outdoors every day for recess unless the weather/temperature is unusually severe, with a "real feel" nearing the single digits.

When temperatures drop below 40 degrees, students should wear a warm top layer (coat, heavy sweater, thick hoodie with underlayers), hats, and gloves. Pants or shorts with underlayers should also be worn. Dressing in layers is the best option. When snow is on the ground, snow pants and boots are required for students to play in the snow (basically anywhere other than the pavement).

Head Lice Information

Head lice: They’re the words no parent wants to hear. Head lice can be acquired by anyone, but it is most common in kids ages 5-12. According to the CDC every year as many as 6-12 million children are affected by head lice. Our own community has just experienced our first reported case of lice. The good news is that head lice are not harmful and can be treated. To detect, treat and prevent head lice, it helps to know more about them.

Below I have included a link to an article titled Head Lice: What Parents Needs to Know (Healthychildren.org/AAP). Please take a few minutes to read the article. It provides parents with a good source of information about head lice detection, management, and treatment.

Lice information

Hearing and Vision Screenings

The health office will be doing CT State mandated hearing and vision screenings for grades 1,3,4 and 5 students over the next several months (late November thru early April). If there are any concerns observed during the screenings, parents/guardians will be notified by a referral letter. Please reach out if you have questions. If a family chooses to opt their child out of these screenings, they must submit a written notification to the school nurse annually.

The Scotland PTA is an amazing support to our school community - students, staff, and families! Joining the PTA helps you stay connected with the school community. You will receive information about family events, before & after school programs, school events, parties and much more! Get to know teachers & staff better with informational sessions throughout the year!

Stay up to date on all of the PTA happenings on the PTA website!

Be on the lookout!

This program is co-sponsored by the Ridgefield Council of PTA's Young Writers Conference.

SES is looking for student volunteers to participate in a small social/emotional skill development group where they can act as peer models for similarly aged peers. The groups occur once weekly for approximately thirty minutes. Groups will generally take place during lunch or direct instruction block and are facilitated by a school psychologist.

Any student wishing to participate in a group needs parent/guardian consent. Signing consent does not guarantee participation as the opportunity to participate and the frequency of participation will depend on the number of student volunteers. Consent can be revoked at any time by contacting Melissa Gaitho, school psychologist.

The purpose of participation is to model and practice appropriate social and emotional and/or behavioral skills. Groups can include but are not limited to activities such as playing games, role playing, and reading children’s books pertaining to various social/emotional topics. If you think your child would be interested in joining these sessions and you would like for them to have the option to participate, please complete the information below. If you do not want your child to participate in the social skills groups, no response is necessary. If you have any questions, feel free to contact a school psychologist: mgaitho@ridgefieldps.net.

Thank you!

Peer model consent form

• Each class will have one 45 minute essential per day (Art, Library, Music, or P.E.)
• We will continue to follow the six day A-F day schedule
• Please find the essentials rotation below

School lunch will be available from the first day of school. Aramark is the District-wide food service provider. The school lunch menu is available online on the RPS website; click Departments and click on Food Service. For all students, utilize MySchoolBucks for families to fund student lunches.

MySchoolBucks is available via the PowerSchool Parent Portal, and communication was sent to families in early August regarding adding funds for lunch. Any balances have been rolled over from LunchTime to MySchoolBucks. Additionally, the district sent a communication in early August regarding Reduced Lunch for eligible students.

Snacks for Purchase in the Cafeteria:

Students in grades 2-5 are permitted to purchase snacks during lunch (last 10 minutes). Please be sure you have set up MySchoolBucks if you would like your student to be able to purchase a snack.

• In short, students eligible for reduced lunch will be provided free lunches in grades K-8 for the 2024-25 school year.
• Should you have any questions or concerns regarding the Free School Meals for Children grant, please do not hesitate to contact us or the District Business Office.
• Questions in regard to school MySchoolBucks can be directed to Andrea McCurry, RPS Food Service Director at 203-894-5550 x2143 or amccurry@ridgefieldps.net

Website to set up an account.

MySchoolBucks

Some Support Links for Troubleshooting:

Updating Your Payment Method | MySchoolBucks

Setting up Automatic Payments | MySchoolBucks

Adding a New Student | MySchoolBucks

Setting Up Low Balance Alerts | MySchoolBucks

Reset Your Password Using Your Mobile Phone Number

Reset Your Password Using Your Email Address/Username

We will follow a similar drop off / pick up procedure that we did last year.

Arrival

• Drop off begins at 8:30am. Please do not drop off your child prior to 8:30am as there will be no supervision at this time.
• After 8:45am, you will need to walk your child into school, as they are late. You will need to sign them in with security. Please do not drop your child off without adult supervision.

Dismissal

• Pick up will begin at 3:15pm.
• Each day, please have your child(ren)’s first and last name displayed on your passenger visor, and have it remain visible until your child is in the car. This needs to be bold and large enough to be visible at a distance. This is a very important step to ensure we have your child ready when you arrive.

• For the safety of both students and staff, proceed carefully and slowly through the lot.
• Please have your child exit/enter the vehicle when your gear is in the park position and is one of the cars at the front of the line designated for drop off.
• Students must exit the vehicle on the passenger side (building side) of the vehicle. Multiple children must exit on the passenger side. It is dangerous to exit/enter on the driver's side of the vehicle!

• Students need to have all of their items ready in hand and will then exit the car immediately.
• Parents, please stay in your vehicle at all times so that the process will prevent backups on Barlow Mountain Road.
• If you miss the drop off time (after 8:45 a.m.), please park in the front lot and walk your child across the designated crosswalk to the main entrance of the building. If you arrive after the drop off window and must park in the parking lot, we kindly ask that you use the crosswalk.

We will continue to use School Dismissal Manager this year at Scotland. Please click below for information regarding this system. This system will be available to families in late August. A welcome letter will be emailed to families when the system is available. If you have any additional questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us!

• For information on this year's Chromebook distribution and policies click here to watch a short video
• If you have further questions or concerns email: helpdesk@ridgefieldps.net

Playdates and Riding the Bus:

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!

Hats & Hoodies:

Over the last several years there was no standard hat/hood procedure in the elementary schools, likely related to Covid, when classroom windows were kept open for air circulation and there was the potential for it to be cold in classrooms.

As we have started the 24-25 school year with a typical school opening, we will return to only permitting hats to be worn outside the school building. Students may choose to wear a hat, but will be reminded to remove it upon entering the school building. Students will be permitted to wear hats for outdoor recess. Teachers have discussed this with students and I will remind our school community during the morning announcements on Tuesday.

On special occasions/spirit days, hats may be permitted and this will be communicated to students and families.

RPS distribution flyers for outside groups via a Digital Backpack.

Organizations that meet the RPS policy may submit their request for inclusion in the digital backpack. Please help us in our effort to go green by checking students' Digital Backpacks Organizations that meet the RPS policy may submit their request for inclusion to cmelagrano@ridgefieldps.net. Thank you!

Email: jkatkocin@ridgefieldps.net
Website: https://ses.ridgefield.org/
Location: 111 Barlow Mountain Road, Ridgefield, CT, USA
Phone: 203-894-5825