Welcome to this week’s edition of our newsletter! It’s hard to believe how quickly the school year is moving along.

The PTO will continue to host the Spring Scholastic Book Fair this week. Students will be visiting the book fair during their scheduled library time. Tuesday, will be a make-up day for anyone that did not get the opportunity to shop during their scheduled library time.

Friday, April 11th was the Bucks IU STEM Design Challenge County Finals. Bristol Township School District had SIX teams make it to the Finals! Each team did a fantastic job. Congratulations to Team Better Bridge Builders from Keystone for winning the Teamwork Award! The team members are: Greyson Franks, Tucker Leonard, Deandre Moore, and Aiden Phillips-Zawierucha.

Congratulations to all of the participants for demonstrating such hard work, teamwork, and creativity! Many thanks to Mrs. Schrack for all her hard work and dedication to our fantastic learners! We greatly appreciate you!

Starting next week, our learners in grades 3rd, 4th, and 5th will begin their PSSAs (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment), starting with ELA. While the PSSA exams are an important part of our educational system, it is essential to remember that they are just one measure of student achievement. We encourage you to speak with your child about the importance of putting forth their best effort on the exams, while also reminding them that their value and potential go far beyond any test score. Our goal is to help them feel confident and prepared, so they can showcase their knowledge and skills to the best of their abilities.

Reminders for the Week:

🚗For the safety of all students, families, and staff, everyone entering Keystone should do so via Church Street and exit through Tulip Avenue.

🚗If you are picking up your child as a car rider, please remain in the designated car rider line. We kindly ask that you do not bypass other vehicles in line, as this helps ensure a smooth and safe dismissal process for everyone. Your patience and cooperation are truly appreciated!

🍎 Monday, April 14th- Wear your comfiest clothes.

🍎Tuesday, April 15th- Wear an outfit or clothing that you never get to wear or not sure why you even own it.

🍎Wednesday, April 16th- April is the Month of the Military Child. Please wear purple to show your support.

🌷 Spring break begins, this week, starting Thursday, April 17th thru Monday, April 21st. 🐰

📚 Book Fair- Monday & Tuesday. Evening shopping will take place on Monday, April 14th, from 5:30-7:30pm.

📎 April 28th- last to order a school yearbook

Have a great week!

Respectfully,

Mrs. Smith-Herman & Mr. Wilicki

Smencils will be sold.

Wear Keystone Paw Shirt

Pretzels $1

(Money needs to be turned in by Thursday to get a pretzel on Fridays.)

April 7th- April 15th

Students will visit the book far during their scheduled library time.

Evening shopping time- April 14th from 5:30-7:30pm

We are encouraging all to wear purple on April 16.

Thursday, April 17th- No School/Offices Open

Friday, April 18th- No School/Offices Closed

Monday, April 21st- No School/Offices Closed

Please consider donating a dollar to wear pajamas to school.

Proceeds will go to support PTO initiatives.

Tuesday, April 22nd

April 23-25- ELA (3rd, 4th, 5th)- AM

*Make-ups in the PM

April 28-29- Math (3rd, 4th, 5th)- AM

*Make-ups in the PM

April 30th-May 1st- 5th Grade Science- AM

*Make-ups in the PM

Orders need to be in by April 28th.

Date TBD- sometime in May

Wednesday, May 14th, with a rain date of Thursday, May 15th.

May 14th at 7 pm

May 21st and 22nd

6:00-8:00pm

May 28th

9:45am-12:00pm

Churchville Nature Center for June 3 & 4th

June 4th, 2025

June 5th- Kindergarten/First- AM

June 5th- 2nd/3rd- PM

June 6th- 4th/5th- AM

Rain Dates- June 9th and 10th

Friday, June 13th

Tuesday, June 17th

Week 1: July 28-Aug 1st

Week 2: August 4th-8th

9:00-11:30am

The Bristol Township School District would like to thank you for your interest in volunteering. Your time, talents, and energy will benefit the students of our district and enhance the services we are able to provide. We hope that through your service to the district you will experience the same rewarding satisfaction that we do on a daily basis. As we strive to meet the needs of each student enabling them to be successful, your help is necessary. The information provided in this handbook will hopefully aid you in your role as a volunteer. We look forward to working with you during this year.

District's volunteer handbook that can be found HERE

Volunteer Expectations Volunteers are expected to:

• Sign in and wear an ID badge on school grounds at all time.
• Wear appropriate attire.
• Show respect for all staff and students.
• Please do not bring younger children to the school during your volunteer hours, during the school day.

More information can be found in the district's volunteer handbook linked above.

Friday, April 11th was the Bucks IU STEM Design Challenge County Finals. Bristol Township School District had SIX teams make it to the Finals! Each team did a fantastic job. Congratulations to Team Better Bridge Builders from Keystone for winning the Teamwork Award! The team members are: Greyson Franks, Tucker Leonard, Deandre Moore, and Aiden Phillips-Zawierucha.

Congratulations to all of the participants for demonstrating such hard work, teamwork, and creativity! Many thanks to Mrs. Schrack for all her hard work and dedication to our fantastic learners! We greatly appreciate you!

Five interesting facts about American Sign Language:

1. When you raise your eyebrows, it means you are asking a “yes” or “no” question in ASL. The eyebrow raised provides a question mark to your statement, making what you communicated become a question. This is a good example of how sign language incorporates signs, gestures, and facial expressions.





2. In different countries, there are different types of sign languages. On its own, ASL is considered a foreign language.




3.American Sign Language is closer to French Sign Language, especially in its grammar, word order, and style.




4. ASL is the third most commonly used language in the United States.




5. Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., is a unique university that is a global leader in education for deaf & hard of hearing students. It offers most of its courses in American Sign Language.

Educational Publisher, Twinkl, will celebrate National ASL Day by providing FREE American Sign Language Resources on their website. April 15, 2025 is National ASL Day – an event celebrated every year to raise awareness of American Sign Language (ASL).

Keystone Elementary School

ELA - April 23, 24, 25 Grades 3, 4, 5

Make-up testing in the afternoon

Math - April 28, 29 Grades 3, 4, 5

Make-up testing in the afternoon

Science - April 30 & May 1 Grade 5 Only

All testing must be completed by May 2, 2025.

Section 4.4 of Chapter 4 of the State Board of Education regulations provides for the right of any parents or guardians to excuse their child from the state assessment if, upon inspection of the testing materials, they find the assessment to be in conflict with their religious beliefs. Please note that this is the only basis for a parent or guardian to excuse his or her child from the statewide assessments.

Parents/guardians requesting that their child be excused from the PSSA or Keystone Exam must adhere to the following procedural guidelines:

• Within two weeks of the date the child is to participate in the PSSA or Keystone exams, parents/guardians must contact the Mr. Wilicki (mark.wilicki@bristoltwpsd.org), to arrange an appointment to review the assessment(s) by completing this survey.

A Parent/Guardian may only request a secure assessment review if they believe that they may have an objection to content based upon their religious beliefs.

• The opt-out request is only in effect for religious reasons and not moral or ethical reasons. If opt-out is not for religious reasons, the test must be marked as parent refusal.

For PSSA/Keystone Exam "Opt Out" Procedures, click here.

Celebrate nature at our Annual Spring Carnival at Croydon Woods in Lower Bucks County. Enjoy refreshments, nature-based games and activities, and expert-led hikes into beautiful Croydon Woods.

Community organizations will be there, hosting activities for all ages, including nature games, art projects, and prize giveaways.

Spring Carnival promises fun for the whole family. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with nature and create lasting memories. Leashed, well-behaved pets are welcome. Free of charge!

Meeting location: Croydon Woods 1900 Summit Ave, Croydon, PA 19021

For questions, information or registration, contact Whittier Henke at whenke@heritageconservancy.org or 215-345-7020 ext. 110

Registration is now open for kindergartner registration for the 2025-2026 school year. For any questions please email keystone.registration@bristoltwpsd.org . Electronic submissions of registration paperwork will be accepted via that email address as well.

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Kindergarten

A child is eligible for admission to kindergarten if they have attained the age of five (5) years on or before September 1st. Upon written request of the parent/guardian the board may admit a child for Kindergarten who has not met the age requirement, if that child can demonstrate readiness for entry by the first day of the school term. Readiness for entry will be determined by using a district wide screener that will measure academic levels. Written requests for this screener but be submitted on or before August 1st.

A student who has not met the age requirement and is attending a private kindergarten program (fully accredited or not) will not be admitted to a district kindergarten program unless that child can demonstrate readiness for entry by the first day of the school term. A student who is currently attending a public kindergarten program but does not meet the age requirement may be admitted to kindergarten.

See below link for more information to this Board Policy.

There is an option when both or multiple family contacts use the Family App in Talking Points. In order to see each family members' response, all family members would need to enable "Shared Messaging" in their app settings. After this is completed all family members will be included on each other's responses.

Please see the attached article below for more information.

If you are interested in volunteering for field trips and school events please view the information below in regards to the items needed to obtain your volunteer badge. Once you obtain all your clearances please email them to the following email address; personnel@bristoltwpsd.org .

Federal Program 2024-2025 - This presentation provides an overview of Title 1 funding for the 2024-2025 school year and reviews the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) while highlighting the importance of family engagement.

Outside Food Snack Policy- Per the district's Wellness Policy, " No outside foods may be brought in by students for classroom parties. Shared snacks are not permitted in District schools." If you would like to send something in to celebrate their child's birthday or a classroom party, you may send in non food items such as stickers, pencils, play dough etc.

• Reminder, when your child is absent a written excuse note is required.
• For the first 10 absences the note may be from the parent.
• It can be in an email to the school secretary who handles attendance, at heather.saeger@bristoltwpsd.org
• If your child misses more than 10 days of school, then we only accept a medical note.
• Please email or send in the note within 10 days of their return to school, this is a PA State Law.

In order to maintain the safety of all our learners, we are asking that families alert teachers, in writing, (written note) for any transportation/dismissal plan changes prior to 9:00am each morning.

If for some reason a written note is not able to be written prior to 9:00am, an email must be sent to our secretary at heather.saeger@bristoltwpsd.org in addition to your child's teacher. Please keep in mind, that if your child's teacher is absent for the day, and you only write to your child's teacher, the office will not be aware of any early dismissal or transportation changes for your child(ren).

We do understand that emergencies may arise throughout the day that requires a change to a child's dismissal plan for that particular day. For those situations, please make sure you are alerting the office staff as soon as possible, so they can communicate the change to the teachers as soon as possible.

We thank you for your support in helping us ensure the safety and well-being of each of our learners.

Planning an educational trip, please click HERE to access the Educational Trip Form.

District Guidelines:

1. Parents are required to notify the school at least ten days prior to the absences covered by this regulation so that the student may obtain work to keep current with class progress.

2. Parents and students should be informed that make-up work for the time missed is the responsibility of the student

3. The total number of approved days of absence for this purpose shall not exceed five days in a given school year. Days exceeding these guidelines may be considered unlawful and/or unexcused.

Reporting Procedures

Anyone who is the victim of or has witnessed bullying please submit the incident form to the Anti-Bullying/School Climate Specialist, Steve Pierce, (steve.pierce@bristoltwpsd.org ) and building administration. Students can also report bullying to guidance counselors, teachers, or any other adult in the building.

To access the bullying form please click on the attached form below.

Social Worker
Mrs. Jody Como
jody.como@bristoltwpsd.org

Counselors

Mrs. Tammy Surdo

Grades- K, 2, 4
tammy.surdo@bristoltwpsd.org

Mr. Brian Gianfrancesco

Grades- 1, 3, 5
brian.gianfrancesco@bristoltwpsd.org

Mr. Steve Pierce

Email: steve.pierce@bristoltwpsd.org

Phone: 267-599-2481

Interventionist Teachers at Keystone

Mrs. Stacy Cooke

stacy.cooke@bristoltwpsd.org

Mrs. Aimee Ramos
aimee.ramos@bristoltwpsd.org

For more information about Title 1 please visit; https://www.bristoltwpsd.org/administration/state_and_federal_programs_/title_i .

Michele Gentilcore

Certified School Nurse 267-599-2473 or 2490

michele.genticore@bristoltwpsd.org

Jessica Williamson

Staff Nurse 267-599-2496

Nurses' fax number is 215-788-1516.

For any transportation/bus issues or concerns please reach out to the transportation department.

Hours of operation:
5:30 AM to 5:30 PM

Phone Number is 267-599-2390

Transportation Coordinator: Traci Williams, traci.williams@bristoltwpsd.org. 267-599-2370
Transportation Secretary: Annie Bulla, annie.bulla@bristoltwpsd.org. 267-599-2370
STA Terminal Manager: Devon Padilla, dpadilla@ridesta.com
AM Dispatch: Joyel Ryan, jryan@ridesta.com
PM Dispatch: Gabrielle Musnuff, gmusnuff@ridesta.com
BTSD Transportation Email address: transportation@bristoltwpsd.org

Address:

940 Tulip Ave.

Croydon, Pennsylvania 19021

School phone: 267-599-2470

School fax: 215-788-1041

School Principal: Mr. Mark Wilicki

Email: mark.wilicki@bristoltwpsd.org

Principal's Secretary: Mrs. Marianne Mensinger

Email: marianne.mensinger@bristoltwpsd.org

Assistant Principal: Mrs. Crystal Smith-Herman

Email: crystal.smith-herman@bristoltwpsd.org

Assistant Principal's Secretary: Heather Saeger

Email: heather.saeger@bristoltwpsd.org

Special Education Supervisor: Robyn Battershell

Email: robyn.battershell@bristoltwpsd.org

For additional information please click on the buttons below.