Weston Elementary Newsletter

Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year! Our Back-to-School mailing will be sent out August 5th. There are many important pieces of information in that packet, including your child's placement (teacher) for the school year. If you have questions, feel free to call the Weston office at (810) 724-9812. We are looking forward to another wonderful year with all of our students!!

• Open House for grades 1st and 2nd ONLY. Wednesday, August 14th 5:00-8:00 PM
• 1st day of school for grades 1st and 2nd, Monday, August 19th 8:50 AM-3:45 PM Doors open at 8:40 AM. You may walk your child to class on the first day only.
• Kindergarten Open House Monday, August 19th 10:00 AM-11:30 AM or 1:30 PM-3:00 PM
• Tuesday, August 20th Begindergarten & Kindergarten students with last name beginning with A-L come to school
• Wednesday, August 21st Begindergarten & Kindergarten students with last name beginning with M-Z come to school
• Thursday, August 22nd all Begindergarten & Kindergarten students come to school
• No School Friday, August 23rd
• August 26 First PTO (Borland/Weston) meeting of the Year! 4:00 PM at the Weston library
• Preschool Open House Monday, August 26th from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
• Preschool students with last names beginning with A-L attend Tuesday, August 27th
• Preschool students with last names beginning with M-Z attend Wednesday, August 28th
• ALL preschool students will attend school Thursday, August 29th
• No School Friday, August 30th and Monday, September 2nd (Labor Day)

Communication is KEY! At Weston Elementary we strive to keep parents well informed. To that end, we have established many methods of communication.

• ICS Website: Please visit www.icschools.us and from the "schools" option select Weston Elementary.
• Email: All Weston staff members have email. Contact information is posted on our website under the "staff directory" tab.
• Voicemail: All Weston staff members have a phone extension so that you may leave messages at your convenience. Voicemail extensions are listed on our website under the "staff directory" tab.
• Facebook: Please like us on Facebook for up-to-date reminders and notifications of events and activities. www.facebook.com/WestonElementary
• Weston Office: Call our office to speak to Mrs. Dam or Ms. Soria at (810) 724-9812.

School doors will open at at 8:40 and students go directly from a vehicle or bus to their classrooms for breakfast. Therefore, you will drop your child off in front of the building in the morning. We do have a staff member outside to assist students. If you arrive early, an adult must stay with your child until the front door are unlocked. Students cannot be left unattended. We will be allowing parents to walk their child to the classroom on their first day of school only.

Pick up at the end of the day will occur outside in front of the cafeteria. Weston's doors remain locked during this time. Please stand on the sidewalk and wait for your child's teacher to arrive with the students. It is unsafe to have people standing in the parking lot when cars are pulling out. We ask that you make eye contact or speak to the teacher before taking your child. Additionally, we cannot allow students to walk or run to a parked car. An adult must come to the child.

We appreciate you following our policies and procedures to endure the safety of everyone!

At the beginning of every school year, your child's bus stop automatically defaults back to your home address. Therefore, if your child will be riding the bus to a location other than your home address you must fill out a "Request for Bus Change" form and return it to the office ASAP so the change can be made. Please remember that Imlay City Schools abides by the "One Stop Bussing" policy. If you have any questions regarding our bussing policy, feel free to contact us.

Our transportation department has as link to check your child's bus routes. The page is https://www.icschools.us/departments/transportation.

Preschool and kindergarten students will not be let off the bus at their designated stop unless there is a responsible, authorized person to receive them (hand-to-hand contact must be made). In the even no one is there, they will be returned to their school providing staff is present. Otherwise, they will be taken to the bus garage.

Weston's school day hours are 8:50-3:45. Doors open at 8:40. Students are expected to be in their classroom ready to learn by 8:50 each morning. If they arrive after this time, students will be marked tardy.

Weston continues to be a peanut-restricted building. Individuals with severe peanut allergies can have life-threatening reactions from each a small amount of peanut or peanut oil/residue left on a surface. Any exposure to peanuts may cause a serious reaction that requires emergency medical treatment. To reduce the chance of this occurring, we ask that you do not send any peanut or peanut containing product to school with your child. Our peanut restriction will be enforced before, during, and after school hours.

When deciding if a particular item is safe to bring to school, please use these helpful tips:

It is OKAY to bring if the food label says:

• "Processed in a facility that also processes peanuts."
• "Processed on a machine that also processes peanuts."
• 
  

It is NOT OKAY to bring if the food label says:

• "May contain traces of peanuts."
• "Contains peanuts."
• "May contain peanuts."

Weston offers latchkey services before and after school for students in grades K-5. In addition, we offer full-day childcare services for preschool-aged children. For full-day childcare, children must be 2.5 years old and potty trained. We also have two infant/toddler rooms that services ages 6 weeks through 2.5 years old (not potty trained). We are open from 6AM-6PM Monday-Friday.

Childcare will be be throughout the entire year. We will remain open on staff professional development days, early release days, and throughout the summer. We will be open on snow days unless the district determines the weather too unsafe for our staff to travel to work. We will be closed on holidays; however, depending on enrollment, may stay open during portion of holiday breaks. It is important to note that children must be registered in order to attend on those days. Please be sure to register your child if you believe he/she will attend our childcare or latchkey services at some point during the year. Call (810) 721-9453 for more information.

ICS has a payment platform called MySchoolBucks. MySchoolBucks is a free account and allows parents to conveniently and securely pay for school fees. There is a link on our school website under the parent tab for parents to access. There are additional ways to access MySchoolBucks which include visiting myschoolbucks.com, downloading the mobile app, and a direct link through PowerSchool. Once you create your free account simply add school items or invoices to your cart. You can check out using a credit/debit card or electronic check. Please note that a program fee may apply. If you need assistance with your account, you can find helpful how-to videos and answers to commonly asked questions by visiting myschoolbucks.com. You can contact MySchoolBucks directly by logging into your account to start a chat conversation or call (855) 832-5226.

Please note that we have a non edible birthday treat policy due to food allergies. That means that no food can be brought in for birthdays. However, we recognized how special birthdays are! Some alternative items to bring in to celebrate birthdays can include pencils, pens, stickers, or any small trinket items commonly found at the dollar store. Happy Birthday to all of our students!

We would like you to understand our assessment, report card, and grading system. We know that in order to increase student achievement, we have to maximize time for teaching and learning. We also have to use assessments to drive our instruction and communicate with families about student progress to foster effective partnerships between home and school. With this in mind, grades K-5 has a reporting structure that will send home report cards just three times per year. This differs from the 6-12 structure. If you have questions, don't hesitate to reach out to the main office or to your child's teacher.

Did you know that our PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) program at Weston teaches students how to be Super S.P.A.R.T.Ys? SPARTY stands for Safe, Positive, Achiever, Respectful, Teamwork, YOU. Students are engaged in lessons that teach them to be safe, be responsible, and to be respectful in all areas such as the hallway, bathroom, cafeteria, playground, and classrooms. We also have monthly assemblies that not only teach a lesson, but also reward students. In addition to our monthly activities, we announce daily Super SPARTYs over the PA system and students earn a token for their efforts.

We are excited to meet our new Super SPARTYs in a few weeks, as well as welcome our returning Super SPARTYs!

WATCH D.O.G.S.® is an innovative program being used by schools across America which helps them to be positively impacted by the committed involvement of fathers and father-figures in their student’s life. Our goal is to have you spend at least one day this year at the school to be a positive male role model and to provide an extra set of eyes and ears. If you are a dad, step-dad, grandpa, uncle, family friend, etc. and want to volunteer for this program please call the office at (810) 724-9812. We look forward to having you in our building!

• School hours are 8:50 AM through 3:45 PM. No early releases between 3:15-3:45 PM unless prior arrangement is made.
• When your child is absent from school, please notify the office at (810) 724-9812.

• Please be sure to have an extra set of clothing in your child’s backpack should he/she have an accident. We try to keep extra clothes in the office should your child need them.

Jenny Buhl-Hagey

Principal

(810) 724-9812