Green Wave Nation

Do little bits of good where you are; it's those little bits of good that put together overwhelm the world!

-- Desmond Tutu

Please see the Bus Routes for 2024-25 with bus stop times.

For the first weeks of school, please have your students at the bus stop at least 10 minutes early. To assist our elementary students with becoming more familiar and comfortable on a bus, especially our Kindergarten students who might be first time riders, Travel Kuz will have a bus parked at each elementary Meet and Greet on Monday, August 26 from 5:00-6:00 pm. Students and families will be able to access the bus and practice good bus etiquette that evening. Thank you to Travel Kuz for this opportunity!

So we can properly staff Before School Care at each school, please sign up using the following link: https://forms.gle/nKEh6HMFUpn1X4oa6 before this Friday, August 16, 2024. Thank you!

Do you have a few hours a day? Once a week even? Want to help the schools by becoming a volunteer? If so, please sign up as a volunteer for Greenfield Public Schools at the following link:

https://forms.gle/op8JBFyZRdnCHXHn8

The elementary schools are really looking for volunteers for the following times to assist with lunch and recess coverage:

Federal Street School 10:45 am -12:45 pm

Discovery School at Four Corners 10:55 -1:20 pm

Newton School 10:15 -12:15 pm

Please indicate on the volunteer sign up which school you would be willing to assist and help! Once you have filled out the Google Form, Connie Thacker, our Registrar/Receptionist will be in contact for next steps. All volunteers do need to be CORI and fingerprinted, but we reimburse volunteers for fingerprinting and they can easily be done at Staples in Greenfield. We hope to assist folks in making this process easier so that those of you who want to support our schools are able to do so with ease! Thank you!

Are you looking for more ways to get involved in your child's school? Well, do we have the role for you. Come join your child's school Parent/Teacher Organization. Each PTO is looking for parents/guardians to join their teams and work collaboratively to plan, create, and implement schoolwide and districtwide events for the good of Greenfield Public Schools students. If you are interested in joining the PTO of your child's school, please reach out to the Building Principal and they will connect you to the right person.

UPCOMING EVENT: The GPS PTOs will be crafting a float for the Franklin County Parade. If you are interested in assisting with construction of the float, they are looking for volunteers for the next three Sunday mornings (8/18, 8/25, and 9/1) and the day of the parade (9/5). Please contact Sarah Marchefka at smarchefka@gmail.com for more details.

You asked; we answered! Hope folks have been taking advantage of following the Greenfield Public Schools on Facebook and Instagram. If you haven't done so yet, please use the following links to do so:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561436008802&mibextid=LQQJ4d and on Instagram at the following link: https://www.instagram.com/greenfieldpublicschools?igsh=MWl4a3MyeWJraHdueQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr. Instagram at #GreenWave, #GreenfieldPublicSchools or #GreenWaveNation!

The Greenfield Harvest Supper Celebration which is put on by The Stone Soup Cafe for the whole community is held on the Greenfield Town Common on Saturday, August 24, 2024. Supt. Patenaude will be one of the servers in the dinner line from 4:00-5:30 pm. If you are looking to volunteer, Stone Soup still has many opportunities for folks to help out that day. We look forward to seeing many students and families there in support of this great event.

Sadie Cora joins the Greenfield Public Schools as the Newton Elementary Principal. Sadie Cora was previously a 3rd and 4th grade teacher in Northampton, a Spanish teacher who is bilingual, and then moved into administration as an Assistant Principal in Holyoke. In her free time, Ms. Cora enjoys fiber arts and spending time outside gardening. Ms. Cora grew up in Franklin County and is happy to be returning "home." We look forward to her leadership at Newton Elementary and are excited to have her on the administrative team at GPS!

Does your child turn 5 before September 1, 2024? If so, have you registered your child with the Greenfield Public Schools Class of 2037. If not, we would love to help you register your child and have them ready for the start of kindergarten on August 30, 2024. Please contact our Registrar, Connie Thacker, at 413-772-1300 for more details.

Welcome back! For the 2024-2025 school year, Greenfield Public Schools is once again

participating in the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program. All GPS

schools will offer healthy meals every school day at NO COST to students due to the

implementation of the Community Eligibility Provision. Families do not need to complete a

household application for free and reduced price meals.

• While first meals are free, a charge will apply for any additional meals or a la carte items purchased in the cafeteria.
• NEW! We have switched our point-of-sale system to SchoolCafé. All existing student balances will carry over from last year. To check your student’s balance and load funds onto their account for a la carte items, please visit family.schoolcafe.com.
• If your child has a new or previously documented food allergy, please provide your School Nurse with an up-to-date signed doctor’s note or a signed copy of the Meal Modification Request Form available on our webpage as soon as possible.

The redistricting of Greenfield Public Schools begins this coming school year with the option for intra-district school choice at the elementary school level being eliminated for the 2024-25 school year. Starting this school year, students will be allowed to age out of the elementary school they are currently enrolled in; however, incoming Kindergarteners of the Class of 2037 must enroll in the elementary school assigned to their address. Any of our other redistricting changes will not be taking effect until the 2025-26 school year, and we will keep you informed throughout the year of upcoming changes.