New Groningen News

New Groningen Families,

I am thrilled to welcome you all back to school! I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable summer break. I enjoyed the month of July, checking out (for the most part), and being present with my family. We enjoyed a trip to the east side of Michigan to visit my parents, my brother and his family and connected with a few “old” friends, a quick trip to Pennsylvania to visit my in laws and the best part of our summer, a week long retreat to the Outer Banks in North Carolina with my husband’s family! I will never get tired of the ocean views at any time of the day!

Over the summer, our team has been busy preparing for an exciting and productive year of learning! I applaud the hard work of our ZPS teachers (including many NG staff) who have poured hours into summer school, summer curriculum work (including the large task of learning a new reading curriculum that we have adopted and implement this year at the Kindergarten-5th grade levels) and time at home and in their classrooms prepping for a new set of faces to join them this year! Our main office team has worked on and off throughout the summer, taking and responding to calls, getting enrollment set, prepping Back to School mailers, updating numerous documents for the upcoming year, helping with hiring and so much more! Our custodial team has been hard at work resetting our entire building, scrubbing carpets, lockers, repairing broken items, moving furniture and helping in other ZPS buildings where construction projects have taken place and the need for more hands is welcomed to get those buildings ready. It really does take a TEAM to help start the new school year smoothly!

Please take a few minutes to check out the information below! My next NG NEWS will come out on Friday, August 16 and August 23 with more specific reminders for Back to School like arrival and dismissal procedures, 1st day procedures, new lunch procedures (we are back in the cafeteria!), volunteer needs (and background check specifics) and so much more!

As always, please let me know what questions you may have as summer dwindles down and you begin to prepare for the upcoming year! We are here to support you and your child/ren and ensure a successful and enjoyable year of learning and growing!

Once again, WELCOME BACK! Let’s work together to make this year the best one yet!

In Partnership,

Leslie Rindfliesch, Principal

lrindfli@zps.org

Delivery (via mail) of Class Welcome Letters to all levels: August 12-18

*see information about what will come to you below*

Y5's & Kindergarten Practice Bus Ride: Tuesday, August 20 @ 6p-7:30p

*See information below*

Young 5's - 5th grade Open House: Wednesday, August 21 @ 4p-6:30p

*See information below*

First Day of School: Wednesday, August 28

Labor Day Break: Friday, August 30 & Monday, September 2

Early Release/Staff PD: Friday, September 20

Early Release/Staff PD: Friday, October 4

Early Release/Staff PD: Thursday, October 31

NO SCHOOL/Staff PD: Friday, November 1

You will receive a Welcome Back packet in the mail the week of August 12! There will be many valuable pieces of information including:

• A Welcome to Our Class letter from your child's teacher (this is how you will find out your child's teacher)
• School Supplies List (linked here)
• Transportation information
• Safety & Security information

When? Tuesday, August 20

Time? Young 5's, Kindergarten students and ONE parent will be picked up TWO hours earlier than their AM bus pick up time, but in the evening (ex. If they get picked up at 8am, they will be picked up at 6pm on the bus experience night)! Our evening will begin at 6pm and end at 7:30pm! A few things to help make sure you are ready for this practice night:

• We always ask you to arrive at your bus stop 5 minutes before your scheduled time (both on August 20 and when school starts).
• Your bus stop information will now be found using our new bus app: MY RIDE K-12.

What? The bus ride will look a little different than it has in the past. It will be a bus ride only! No open houses will take place on this night. We also are not able to offer shuttle bus rides on this night. What this means is that you will be picked up by your AM home bus and transported to that school. If you normally would take a shuttle bus to a different school, your driver can help point that bus out to you, so you know what to expect on the first day of school!

As always, do not hesitate to reach out to the transportation department with any questions you may have.

When? Wednesday, August 21

Time? 5:00pm-6:00pm for last names beginning with A-M

6:00pm-7:00pm for last names beginning with N-Z

What? Our NG Team is eagerly awaiting to meet all of our students, returning and new to our building! We hope that you will mark your calendar and stop in to see the classroom, meet the teacher, drop off supplies (if you wish), ask questions, check out the building and more!

The Transportation Department have transitioned to a new system over the summer. While there are always bumps along the way, we are hoping that those have been ironed out! As the summer begins to unwind for you, please take a minute to check out the MY RIDE K-12 app. Clicking on the link to the left will take you to directions (and they are also in pdf form below). Once your account is set up, you will be able to track your student's to and from school travel and you will have their 24/25 route information as well, all in one spot.

Using ZPS Transportation is a plus for our families! If you are an in-district family, having your student(s) ride the bus is highly encouraged! As many of you know, the location of NG causes a lot of traffic on Chicago Drive, as well as on Burton. If you are able and willing, we encourage you to have your children try the bus, it will save you time from sitting in the pick up line and battling the traffic!

If you are planning to do parent pick up, please plan to do so by getting in the car line. We would love to streamline the number of families coming up and getting kids as a safety protocol. If you plan to walk up to the dismissal line, please know that your child will not be released until an adult talks to you and your child. More information to come on drop off and pick up protocol changes in next week's NEWS!

We hope you will consider joining our NGFA (New Groningen Family Association). We are currently needing to fill the NGFA Secretary position. If you are interested in learning more about this position, feel free to email me at lrindfli@zps.org or our NGFA President, Kristin Hunderman, at kristinhunderman@gmail.com.

Some of the duties of this volunteer position include:

• The secretary position for NGFA includes:
• Have charge and custody of all documents belonging to NGFA
• Keep minutes during NGFA Board Meetings; send out agendas to members
• Send out minutes from NGFA meetings to families after general meeting
• Responsible for keeping careful and accurate records of all NGFA work
• Keep all legal documents and/or other records organized
• Monitor NGFA email (this is a joint effort) and be sure to communicate communication with other NGFA BOE members

Last week, the state approved their budget and that also included free breakfast and lunch to all students regarding their families' economic status again for the 24/25 year. Beginning July 1, 2024, it will be important that ALL families apply for free breakfast and lunch, regardless of your household economic status and regardless of the state approval already. The information that is gained from this application is crucial in the many grants that directly help ZPS outside of the food service area.

To fill out the food service application (please fill this out regardless of economic status and/or the new budget approval):

SCAN the QR code in the image to the right, OR

Click on the FOOD SERVICE link HERE!

CLICK REGISTER to go to the food portal (if you did not register for the 23/24 year) OR sign in!

Once you are registered in the new system, you can click on the BENEFITS button and will be walked through what to do to determine if you qualify for free or reduced meals!

Please feel free to email Food Service with any questions you might have; they are more than happy to help!

ZPS is committed to providing a safe environment for our children to learn. This year, we are also introducing a new visitor/volunteer sign-in program called Raptor. This new system will help us accurately and efficiently screen all visitors and volunteers in our schools, providing us with a safer environment for our students and staff.

It is important that you note that all visitors to any ZPS building will be required to present an ID upon entering the main office. There will be more detailed information on your next steps with Raptor in the coming weeks!

Please use this PDF in order to get instructions and a code to set up your Parent Portal (access to grades, bussing information, etc.)! Parent Portal, while not used to it's fullest for elementary students, it will become a regular resource to you as your learner moves into middle and high school. As for elementary students, Parent Portal is a great resource to look up bus information and track attendance, too.

If you do not have portal set up, please feel free to set one up!

If your child will need ANY medications given to them during the school year, the correct MEDICAL FORM must be FILLED OUT AND SIGNED by your child's doctor BEFORE we can begin to give meds. Please see Mrs. Boeve or Mrs. Keeler in the main office prior to school starting in order to have medication ready for August. 28!