Principal's Message
Dear Monterey families,
Fall is in full swing, and we are planning fun and engaging learning activities for our students. We aim to share the exciting opportunities with you through our Class Dojo pages and on our social media Facebook page. Class Dojo is a great way to keep in touch and in communication with your child’s teacher. On top of learning, we will also celebrate the hard work our students and families have put into raising money for our school. We are looking forward to walking with our students all while supporting our school community during the annual PTA Paw-a-thon occurring now.
We love creating opportunities for our Monterey families to visit our school and participate in events that build strong school culture. Our PTA Pumpkin Palooza is always a fun event that we have held annually for the past 12 years! On the evening of our Palooza, we will offer opportunities for families to join our incredibly supportive PTA, vote for their favorite classroom pumpkin, and enjoy food together as a thank you for joining the PTA. We look forward to seeing you at the Pumpkin Palooza on October 24th 5:30-7:00. Your support and participation are always appreciated.
A big thank you to the generous donation from Rack Room Shoes who provided new shoes for a large number of our students. We also want to thank our Congregations in Action who are currently providing weekend snack packs for students. Currently we are serving over 100 families with extended food opportunities over the weekends. We know when our students feel their best, they will perform their best. We believe in each one of our students and we strive daily to bring out the best in each one of them. We know when our students' basic needs are met, then more learning will occur. We are so grateful at Monterey for the supportive school community in which we serve.
In Kindergarten through Fifth grade, we have been busy getting used to our new schedules, classrooms, teachers, classmates and overall school dynamics. Learning routines while building relationships is a key to feeling successful in school. Each grade level has participated in beginning of the year assessments. These assessments help our educators learn your child's strengths and weaknesses. We are able to utilize this data to guide our instruction accordingly. Our goal is to always support student growth through shared learning experiences. We look forward to capturing the learning growth from all our students this school year.
In addition to celebrating learning and growing together, one area of needed collaboration this year between school and home is student attendance. We encourage our students to be at school on time, every day. When students are late to school, get picked up early from school or don't attend at all, students miss valuable learning opportunities. We understand that circumstances arise or at times students get sick. In those moments, please contact the front office to communicate the reason for their absence. Students should miss no more than 5 school days each school year. The state of Virginia states that students are considered truant after 5 unexcused absences. Let's work together to be sure our students uphold our school attendance accreditation through great attendance and participation this school year!
A quote I think of often when I reflect on our school community is written by Mattie Stepanek, an American poet, who said “Unity is strength. When there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved”. Thank you for your continued support, understanding, and teamwork. As always, if you have any questions or if you have any concerns, please let us know.
Best Regards,
Morgan Strother
Proud School Principal of Monterey Elementary
Transportation
At Monterey, we pride ourselves on putting the safety of our students first. This includes their transportation needs to and from school. Our teachers work diligently to ensure that students get home safely. Parents and guardians, if you need to change your child's transportation at any point, please call the office at 540-853-2933 prior to 1:30 PM daily to ensure that we have correct information on any needed transportation changes.
Thank you to students, teachers and guardians who continue to remain flexible regarding school buses. Zum Transportation services is working hard to ensure your child arrives to school and home safely. To stay updated with transportation information, please click here.
Visitors
All visitors must have a photo ID (such as driver’s license or passport) to enter the building. This includes picking up your child early from school or attending a meeting at the school. Thank you for helping to keep our school community safe!
If your child will not be at school or will be tardy, please call our main office at 540-853-2933. If your child missed school due to a doctor’s visit, please provide the doctor’s note. We will mark their absence EMD (Excused Medical). The only excused absences that do not count towards “truancy” are excused medical notes and court notes. All other absences are considered unexcused.
The Virginia State Compulsory Attendance Law states that after 5 unexcused absences, the parent will receive an attendance letter from our student support specialist, Mr. Anthony Drakeford. After 10 unexcused absences, a second letter will be sent as well as a meeting will be scheduled with administration and the student support specialist. If your child is experiencing any sick symptoms, please call our school Nurse to discuss a plan of action. Thank you for helping our school community prioritize learning and ensuring that your child(ren) is at school daily.
Due to the large number of car riders, please follow the car rider pathway on the map below when dropping off your child in the morning or picking up in the afternoon. We try to keep the car rider line moving, but there are times that you may be waiting. If you are waiting on the streets in the surrounding neighborhood, please do not block any driveways. We appreciate you following our procedures to ensure the process goes smoothly and all students arrive and dismiss safely.
Message From the PTA
The school year is in full swing and the PTA has several fun and exciting events coming up! Please see the information below for more details about our Paw-a-thon and Pumpkin Palooza.
Paw-a-thon:
Your student brought home an envelope on September 20th about our 11th Annual Paw-a-thon in support of our PTA. Monterey's PTA provides supplies for students and classrooms, family programming like Reading Night, Paint Night, the Spring Cookout, as well as supporting our teachers in all they do. Paw-a-thon donations are due by Friday, October 6th. The Paw-a-thon (when students walk) will take place the week of October 4th. We hope you will help support this important fundraiser by asking friends, family, or local businesses for donations. No donation is too small. Let's strive to reach our school-wide goal of $7,000 so that we can slime Mrs. Strother and Mr. Swann!
Pumpkin Palooza:
Monterey’s annual Pizza Pumpkin Palooza will take place in the evening on Thursday, October 24th, 5:30-7:00. There will be food, concessions for sale, voting on your favorite decorated pumpkin, door prizes, and a silent auction for each classroom pumpkin. Please be on the lookout for a flyer coming home with more information!
Ways to support the PTA:
Consider linking your Kroger account to Monterey Elementary PTA through the Community Rewards. Kroger will donate a percentage of what you spend to our PTA at no cost to you.
We are always looking for more parent helpers and would love to have your help. Follow the Monterey Elementary PTA Facebook page for information about upcoming meeting and opportunities to help—https://www.facebook.com/montereyelementarypta/
PTA Meetings:
The next PTA meeting is October 7th at 5:30. This meeting will take place virtually. If you would like to attend any PTA meetings, please e-mail Ms. Laughlin at tlaughlin@rcps.info for more info on how to access our meetings.
PTA Membership:
Click the box below to sign up and join the PTA for just $7!
Why should I join the PTA?
As a member of our PTA, you are supporting your student's school and educational successes. You are also a voting member. When you come to a PTA board meeting you can vote on how we should spend funds or how to improve a program. Please consider joining the PTA. There is a $5 fee for each member that joins. A portion of this fee pays for local and state PTA membership fees and a portion goes directly to our school’s PTA.
Monterey Elementary
Anthony Swann~Assistant Principal
Website: Monterey Elementary School / Homepage (rcps.info)
Location: 4501 Oliver Road Northeast, Roanoke, VA, USA
Phone: (540) 853-2933
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MontereyElementary