VAIS Family Newsletter

08/14/23 Popsicles with the Principal on the playground 5:30-6:30

08/14/23 Governance Council Meeting 6:30-8:30

08/29/23 Supply Drop Off 4:30-6

09/04/23 No school in observance of Labor Day

09/05/23 First Day of School(Full day for all grades)

09/28/23 Picture Day

09/21/23 Back to School Night

11/14/23 Picture Retakes

Our school office will be staffed 9:15-2:45 on August 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, and 10th and then normal office hours, 7:15am-2:45pm starting August 15 for the 2023/2024 school year. Please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have at (608) 845-4509. We hope that you are enjoying all the sun and fun of summer and can't wait to see you soon!!

THANK YOU to so many of our families for completing your online registration so that our staff can have accurate information when communicating with you!!

If you haven’t yet completed your online registration, please do so as soon as possible. It is very important.

Another quick reminder to go online to pay your registration fees if you haven’t done so already.

We have a new online resource that is housed on our website under Families/Online Resource Page. This page will house a lot of important information that you will need including but not limited Arrival and Dismissal Procedures and Menus. Please click here to visit the site now.

A reminder that school hours have changed for the 2023-2024 school year.

School Hours:

Monday- 9:20-2:25 (Supervised arrival begins at 9:05)

Tuesday-Friday- 7:30-2:25 (Supervised arrival begins at 7:15)

Families should make arrangements for students to leave school grounds at the 2:25 pm dismissal time. We are unable to supervise students after they have been dismissed.

If you are unable to drop off supplies during this event, feel free to leave them in the school office during normal hours or bring them the first day of school. New families will be able to connect with teachers during Back to School Night and Family Contact times.

We ask all students to bring the following personal items on the 1st day of school:

• Backpack

• Lunch Box (If bringing lunch from home)

• Gym Shoes (shoes to remain at school for Physical Education class)

• Art Smock (a shirt that fits over clothing to wear to art class)

• Water bottle (non-metal is preferred)

• Headphones **NEW**

Please do not bring these personal items on Supply Drop Off on August 30th.

If your family needs assistance with school supplies, please reach out to Lisa Froelich, Guidance Counselor, at froehlil@verona.k12.wi.us

We have new faces to welcome to our school community for the ‘23-’24 school year.

Hannah Dorshorst, School Psychologist

Lisa Froelich, Guidance Counselor

Teaghen Helback, Special Education Teacher

Hailey Pederson, Speech and Language Pathologist

Tiffani Affeldt, Special Education Teacher

We understand that there are times when appointments during the school day are unavoidable. If your student is going to be picked up for an appointment we ask that in addition to notifying their teacher that 24 hours in advance when possible Please, also either:

1) EMAIL NCS Attendance: vais-attendance@verona.k12.wi.us

2) CALL the office at (608) 845-4500

Please include the information on the date of the appointment, the time they will be picked up and whether they will be returning to school or not.

When you come to pick them up you will need to come into the office to sign them out. When you bring your student back to school you will also need to come into the office to sign them in.

If your student has a change to what they are doing after school (even just for a day) and they are NOT following the transportation instructions you submitted, then you MUST notify the school in one of the following ways:

1) EMAIL NCS Attendance: vais-attendance@verona.k12.wi.us

2) CALL the office at (608) 845-4500

We want to work with you to make sure that your student gets safely to where they are supposed to be after school so we abide by your instructions unless we hear differently from you. Your student’s words are not enough. We must hear from you.

Picture Day is Thursday, Sept. 28th, in the morning.

Please keep an eye out for more information and for a sign up to volunteer to help on picture day

We appreciate our visitors and volunteers. You make it possible for things like field trips, class plays, and the many other activities that occur at our school. VASD volunteers and chaperones must complete a background check before they may begin. If there is a possibility that you will be a volunteer or chaperone we strongly encourage you to start the background check process now. These processes and procedures are being enforced district wide and take approximately 7 days to receive.

Visitors

• Never will be alone/unsupervised with students

• Classroom assistant, drop off supplies, etc.

• Process

• Complete building based check-in/out form, wear temporary visitor badge and return it at the end of the day

Volunteers

• Could be alone/unsupervised with students

• Chaperone, tutor, reading support, athletic support, student with disabilities support/assistant

• Does not include Police Department, CPS or other government agency

• Process

• MUST complete background check and be active on approved volunteer list, completes building based check-in/out form, wear temporary volunteer badge and return it at the end of the day. There will be NO EXCEPTIONS.

Here is the link to a Google Public Calendar with this year’s updated NCS events:

VAIS Public Google Calendar

This calendar will be updated continually throughout the year with school events, such as swim and gym days, library days, Picture Day, Back to School Night, field trips, parent/teacher conferences, days off of school, Governance Council meetings, and so much more! We hope that this will make things easier for you!

Have you joined the VAIS Facebook Groups?

All Current families are welcome to join “VAIS Parents Group” on Facebook. We will be posting events and pop-up playdates in this group. This is also a great resource for new parents/guardians to ask any questions they may have. Another resources for incoming parents is https://www.vaisverona.org/home/incoming-parents . Alumni families are welcome to join the “VAIS Alumni Parent Group” Facebook Group.

More information on how help spread additional sunshine will be coming soon.

VAIS is inviting all of our families to our school for an opportunity to walk through our classrooms and Related Arts spaces at our Back-to-School Night. Classroom teachers will also give presentations during this time. A presentation schedule will be shared as we get closer to the event.

If your student with an IEP or 504 plan needs accommodations to participate in this event there will be a soft start starting at 5:00. They will have an opportunity to interact with staff prior to the time in which all students are present.

Have you created your Parent Portal access for Powerschool yet? Do you need any help in setting this up? Please Call Miss Amelia at 608-845-4504 and we can send you fresh instructions or we can walk through it together. This is the only way to sign up for summer school, so thanks for tackling this. The first instructions were sent in February, reminder letters are being sent at the end of March, and phone calls will roll out in April.

Here are some helpful videos to help if you already have your log in codes:

English

Spanish

Let's embark on a language learning journey...in SPANISH! Registration is now open for 2023-2024! All new material and lessons.

Register by 6/4 to take $15 off your tuition! Enroll today: https://futuraadventures.com/wisconsin-region/

Welcome Betsy Purpero who will be our Americorps Reading Tutor for the 2023-2024 school year. She will be working with students in grades K-3. Other VASD schools have worked with Reading Corps and see positive results. She will be a good support for our students.

Ms. Roltgen would love for you to come in and volunteer to help out in the Library. Please visit the Signup to find a time that would work for you.

If you need assistance with lunch costs please visit our Free and Reduced Lunch application for information on income levels and an application for assistance.