Happy October

Happy October! We had a fantastic first month of the 2024-2025 school year. We loved seeing so many families attend our family night at our book fair and kindergarten and new family ice cream night. Thank you for your support! We are looking forward to a wonderful second month of the school year.

We have begun our different safety drills (fire drills and lockdown drills) and students are doing a great job practicing being safe. Your child's teacher has worked to prepare them, in a developmentally appropriate way, about the meaning and importance of these drills. We will continue these drills the rest of the fall and in the spring.

Last, please note our doors open for students at 8:40am and students need to be present by 8:55am to be marked on time. Our buses leave campus around 3:30pm each day.

Sincerely,

Denielle Toth and Taylor Ramsey

Principal and Assistant Principal

If your student would like to buy breakfast or lunch, please send in money in a well labeled bag or envelope, or put money onto their account through My School Bucks (click for information)

Please contact adepasquale-Glena@starpointcsd.org for your child's student ID to enroll in MySchoolBucks.

If you plan to have your child get breakfast, please discuss this with them prior to school to make the process seamless for them! If you do not want your child to access breakfast at school, please also communicate with your child around these expectations. Thank you for your help with this!

• October 4th : Dismissal Drill; release 15 mins early
• October 4th: PBIS Dance 5pm-6pm MS gym
• October7th: Wear Blue for Bullying Prevention Day
• October 14th: No School; Columbus Day/ Indigenous Peoples' Day
• October 16th: Unity Day (Wear orange!)
• October 29th: PTA's Trunk or Treat 5:30pm (Bus Loop)
• October 31st: Halloween Parade Live Streamed; 1/2 Day Students
• November 11th: No School; Veteran's Day

Make sure to check out the PTA's sign up for our Helping Hands program. This is a great opportunity to get involved and join in your child's school day through our lunch room. The purpose of Helping Hands is to help ALL Fricano students by assisting in the cafeteria by opening various items, wiping down tables, and getting utensils. We STRONGLY encourage you to sign up for PTA if you plan to volunteer through their Helping Hands program PTA SIGN UP HERE.

The link to the sign up genius is linked below until the end of November. It will be linked on the PTA page as well!

Attendance:

Punctual and regular attendance is very important in order for your child to achieve his/her best in school.

Absences:

If your child is absent from school please use Pick-Up-Patrol to input your child’s information regarding the absence. Students who are absent from school may not participate in afterschool activities on that day.

While it is essential for your child to be in school to benefit from instruction and feel like a valued member of our school community, you should keep your child home if they:

• Has had a fever in the last 24 hours*

• Has vomited in the last 24 hours

• Has any other communicable illness (until past the contagious stage)

*Note: Your child must be fever free without medication for 24 hours prior to returning to school.

New York State Law mandates that students must have an excuse upon returning to school. The excuse must be input into Pick-Up-Patrol.

Excused absences include the following situations:

• Personal illness

• Serious illness or death in the family

• Impassable roads due to weather

• Religious observance

• Medical appointments

• Required court appearances

• Late bus

• Participation in “Take Your Child to Work Day”

• Unexcused absences include the following situations:

• Family vacations

• Babysitting

• Oversleeping

• Missed bus

• Non-school related instruction or competition

• Any other reason than noted under “excused”

Tardiness:

When a student is late for school, the parent is required to sign in at the office before the child proceeds to class. Parents must accompany the child into the school, report to the main office, and use Pick-Up-Patrol to provide an excuse. Please remember students will be marked late if they arrive after 8:55am when our school day begins. The office secretary will call the classroom to inform the teacher that your child has arrived.

Vacations

In addition to New York State law requiring students attend school every day, unless otherwise excused, the school calendar is posted on the District website as well as a mailed calendar listing all official school holidays. Family vacations are considered unexcused absences when taken out during regular school days. Please understand that there is no substitution for being present during the school day instruction and therefore completing “make up” or “extra” work is not the same as in school instruction. If requesting work for your child to complete while on vacation, please be aware that your child’s classroom teacher will prepare what they can, but they are not required to substitute curriculum for unexcused absences.

You may have heard the term "PBIS" around Fricano. This stands for "Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports," which is a district wide initiative. We use this system as a way to support students to understand behavior expectations and making expected choices around our school to keep everyone safe. Ralphie Responsible, Rosie Respectful, Sammie Safety, and Katie Kind are our "Bees" that help Benny understand how to make expected choices here at Fricano.

Our PBIS team creates videos that are shown in the classroom to help our Fricano students learn these expected behaviors. Students can earn Benny Bucks for showing expected behaviors as well, both in school and on the bus. Benny Bucks are placed into classroom bins and class rewards are earned to promote these expected behaviors. We have also implemented a golden spatula at lunch for expected behavior as a class in the cafeteria!

We believe in supporting our students to understand behavior expectations and utilize PBIS to do this in a positive way. Thank you for supporting your child's expected behavior choices!

Are you coming in to Fricano after 1:00 for centers, birthday celebrations or early dismissal? Please park in the STAFF parking lot (in the fenced area). This will create more safety for dismissal. Thank you in advance!

Instagram: @FricanoPrimary

Website: https://www.starpointcsd.org/fricano
Location: 4363 Mapleton Road, Lockport, NY, USA
Phone: 716-210-2112
Facebook: Facebook.com/FricanoPrimary
Twitter: @FricanoPrimary