Pine Forest School of the Arts

Back to School Orientation is scheduled to take place on Friday, August 6, 2021.

To continue to allow for social distancing, two grade levels are scheduled to attend at each time slot. Orientation times for each grade level will last for 45 minutes. Orientation is the perfect time to locate your child's classroom(s), drop off supplies, and meet the teacher(s) for the 2021-2022 school year. Please make sure all supplies are in a bag labeled with the student's name on it.

Visits to grade levels/classrooms will only be permitted at the times that are listed below. If you have more than one student that attends Pine Forest, please plan accordingly.

*Please note that orientation windows are only 45 minutes long--please plan to attend within your child's scheduled time.*

Pine Forest SOTA Back to School Orientation Times for Friday, August 6, 2021:

9:00-9:45am: Kindergarten and 5th Grade

10:30-11:15am: 1st Grade and 4th Grade

1:00-1:45pm: 2nd Grade and 3rd Grade

Congratulations to one of our rising First Graders, Joe! He is being featured on the DCPS website and social media sites to help promote Kindergarten enrollment for the entire district! Joe's face will also appear on billboards and TV commercials!

Please help spread the word that we still have seats available at Pine Forest for the upcoming school year by sharing our posts on our school's social media sites:

Facebook: (@pineforestschoolofthearts)

Instagram: pineforestsota_official

A Parent/Guardian FOCUS account is an essential tool for a successful school year. Grades, attendance, and so much more are made available at your fingertips through this one portal.

It is also important that all student information (including address and contact information (phone and email) is kept up-to-date at all times. We will continue to provide tips on how to best utilize your Parent/Guardian FOCUS account throughout the school year.

For more information about how to set up a Parent/Guardian FOCUS account or Link a Student to your existing account, click on the blue button below to view an informational video produced by DCPS.

Registration for school bus transportation in the upcoming school year is NOW available in FOCUS.

Online Bus Stop Registration is required. Students will not be permitted to ride a bus without this process being completed in FOCUS.

A parent/guardian Focus account is needed to register. (Follow these Five Steps to Create a Parent Account).

To register for a bus step, follow the instructions below:

1. Login into the parent/guardian Focus account and select your child’s name
2. Select Child Info
3. Select Forms
4. Select Transportation Registration Form

5. If the address is correct, go to “Does Your Child Need Bus Transportation” and select Yes

   1. The primary address is used to determine the bus assignment.
   2. If the address is not correct, contact your child’s school to update before proceeding.
6. Click Submit Request

Repeat these steps for any additional students in the family.

Within in 7-10 business days, families can find their child’s bus info by logging into the parent/guardian Focus account, selecting their child’s name, selecting Child Info, and then selecting Transportation from the list. Bus stop information will be available after July 27.

If your family uses an alternate address for a bus stop, after clicking Submit Request, visit DCPS Transportation for further instructions.

We love to hear how our students, parents, faculty/staff members, and other stakeholders spend time engaged in the arts outside of the walls of Pine Forest! If you didn't get the chance to complete our survey, please click on the box below. We would love to hear from you!

Kennedy (4th Grade) enjoys watercolor painting at home and loves to read and learn about famous artists!

Grace (5th Grade) takes weekly classes at The Art Garage and participates in their art camps, too.

Mrs. Matthews (Principal) loves to work with clay! Each year she makes a magnet for each faculty and staff member to coordinate with the school-wide theme. All that's missing is the magnet on the back, and the cutest little coffee beans are ready to be given out when everyone returns in August!

Thanks to a few generous PFSOTA parents, family members, and friends, we now have enough books to provide our Reading teachers' classrooms with a Book of the Month for August, September, and October!

Each book will include a sticker on the inside cover with the name of the student whose family member or friend donated the book; however, in labeling our books, we discovered that we have a couple of Mystery Donors! (In other words, when your package was delivered, there was not a slip inside of the box that contained the quantity of books ordered and who they were from.) If you donated books for our Book of the Month Initiative, please make sure to email Principal Matthews at easterm@duvalschools.org so that we can update our records and give you a "shout out" in an upcoming newsletter.

A special THANK YOU to the families and friends of the following PFSOTA Students for donating The Coffee Bean for Kids and No Dragons for Tea:

Abigail, Ariel, Jasmine, Jude, Kennedy, Lucy, and Scarlett!

If you didn't get the chance to donate a book for August-October, no worries! There will be other opportunities this year.

Please read below a special message from Ms. Baumgardner. She resigned from DCPS earlier this month and accepted a position in Clay County. Be on the lookout for a special Facebook and Instagram post so you can send her a special message and wish her well!

To My Pine Forest Family:

This is a hard letter to write because Pine Forest has been part of me for 20 years. I have received so much love and support from this school and it is like my family. I have learned so much from everyone. I have accepted a job in Clay County for the upcoming school year.

I will miss you all and can't thank you for all the love and support you have given me through the ups and downs of life. Thank you for loving me and my children.

Students, don't forget that once you are my student you will always be one of my kids.

I love you all and will miss you,

Ms. Baumgardner

Kennedy, Mackenzie and Miles will be performing in a local production of Little Women! Way to go, PFSOTA Alumni! We are proud of you!

Follow our PFSOTA Alumni Instagram page: @pfsotaalumni to learn more!

Why wait until August 10th?! The Pine Forest Elementary PTA is ready to kick-off this year's Membership Drive! Check out this adorable Membership Bulletin Board in the main hallway. Each classroom has its very own bag to fill with donut holes to go along with this year's school-wide theme!

One Membership is only $5.00. A Family Membership is only $10.00.

This year, there are two ways to join PTA.--MemberHub or Venmo...but first, please begin by filling out our brief survey. (Click on the blue box below.)

After completing the survey, choose how you would like to pay your dues: MemberHub or Venmo!

MemberHub: Click the blue MemberHub box below. Please note that a small fee applies to purchase your membership or any other PTA items through this site. Please make sure to select your membership type and to select the 2021-2022 school year.

Venmo: Download the free Venmo app. Send your PTA Membership dues to @PFPTATreasurer-Amy. Please include your name as well as the names and grade levels of any children enrolled at Pine Forest School of the Arts.

Just like Photography, Literature is ANOTHER fun category that is part of the PTA Reflections Contest!

Take a moment this weekend to have your child write a few sentences telling how they plan to change the world one day. For students that are not yet ready to write sentences, encourage them to draw a picture and then tell you about it.

Email: easterm@duvalschools.org
Website: www.duvalschools.org/pineforest
Location: 3929 Grant Road, Jacksonville, FL, USA
Phone: 904-346-5600
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pineforestschoolofthearts