Dear Parents and Families of North Street School,

We are so excited to see all of our amazing students and families in just two weeks for the start of an incredible new year! We hope you are all enjoying the summer and that you found fun ways to stay cool during the scorching heat this July.

This Newsletter is designed to help you navigate all of the information you need for the start to a fantastic new school year.

Please be sure to read all of the information in this newsletter. Included is important information about New Student Orientation, the Back to School Picnic, the First Day of School as well as all of the forms and documents you need for your child.

Class lists are being sent out at 3:00 today for all 11 elementary schools, so be on the lookout for an email with your child's class list.

PreK class lists will go out separately from the PreK office at a date TBD.

We also have some exciting information to share regarding classroom/grade level teaching assignments that developed over the summer-:

Mrs. Jessica Servidio will be joining us as a fourth grade teacher. Mrs. Servidio has a great deal of classroom teaching experience and we are thrilled to have her joining our team.

Ms. Olivia Dallape will be our new music teacher. Ms. Dallape currently works at Greenwich Acapella and has also been the music teacher at an Elementary School in Easton, CT. We are excited to have her taking over our Core Music and Chorus Progam!

We would also like to welcome our new art teacher, Ms. Jaclyn Podlaski to the team. Ms. Podlaski has most recently been a K-8 art teacher at Strawberry Hill School in Stamford. We know that she is going to be a fabulous addition to our school.

In addition, we will also have a second art teacher, Carolyn Gamanos, who will work with some of our classes on Thursdays. Ms. Gamanos is currently the art teacher at Cos Cob and we are excited to have her here at NSS.

In addition to Ms. Reiff, who we announced as our new Speech Therapist last spring, we also have another new Speech Therapist, Alana Joachim, who will be replacing Ms. Stavrianoplous. She is joining us from CES in Trumbull.

Our new special education teacher is Jessie Lyons who is joining us from Santa Barbara California where she worked as an elementary school special education teacher.
Welcome to all of our new staff! This is sure to be a fantastic year!

Please be on the look out for an email from School Dismissal Manager next week with instructions for activating and setting up your account for this year. In order for us to know how your child should go home each day, Bus or Parent Pick Up, you must set up their dismissal page.

At this time the new Bus Routes for 2024-25 have not been finalized yet. Bus Routes will be finalized and published on the District Transportation Page prior to the first day of school.

We are very much looking forward to a new and exciting year and hope to work closely with all of our families and the community. Please don't hesitate to reach out to your classroom teacher, myself or Mrs. McEvily at any time with any questions or concerns.

Have a wonderful rest of the summer and we will see you soon.

Jill Flood and Jessica McEvily

Your Administrative Team

All families with Kindergarteners, and students new to NSS this year, are invited to our New Student Orientation on August 29th at 10:00AM.

All Kindergarten students and new students in grades one through five, and their families, will meet in the NSS Gym at 10:00am for a quick welcome before heading to the classrooms for a visit.

All families with new Pre-Schoolers are invited to visit with the teachers on August 29, from 1:00-1:30pm.

Please join us for our Annual Back to School Picnic on the back field. This is always a fantastic event and we can't wait to see all of our families there! Feel free to pack a picnic lunch or buy lunch from one of the food trucks. All children will receive a ticket for a free ice cream from the ice cream truck.

The First Day of School is Friday, August 30th. It is a full day.

All 1st-5th grade students will meet at 8:30 on the blacktop behind the school for our Annual Ringing In Ceremony.

All 1st-5th grade students will be directed straight to the blacktop as they arrive at school. All staff will be outside assisting and the classroom teachers will be on the blacktop to greet their students and meet together as a class for the ceremony. Parents are welcome to join us on the blacktop!

For the first day of school only, all kindergarten students will have a special Ringing In and Welcome at 9:30 on the center island. Parents of Kindergarten students will receive an email today with specific information about the first day.

For the first day of school only, all Pre-K students will meet their teachers outside the front doors at 10:00.

Arrival Times for the rest of the year are: 8:30 for K-5 and 8:45 for PreK

Please be sure to read and review all of the back to school documents on the Back To School page of our website https://nss.greenwichschools.org/school-information/back-to-school-information

There are some required forms that must be returned to the office along with a great deal of information and optional forms that will apply to some families, including setting up lunch accounts and Device Loan Forms for all new students.

If you have a change to any of your phone numbers, email addresses, or Emergency Contacts, please be sure to update them with the main office.

The Required Forms for ALL Families Are-

The School Handbook Acknowledgement Form

The Press/Publicity Permission/Denial Form

The Authorization for Medical Care Form

The district sent a newsletter to all families yesterday with information on student cell phone and personal device usage. Please pay close attention to the details in the K-8 sections described as "No Cell - Bell to Bell" as well as the section titled "Smart Wearables". Students will not be permitted to wear smart watches at school so please keep them at home!

Please use the link in the Back to School Documents section to locate the School Lunch Account Form on the Back to School Page of our website. The cost for elementary school lunch is $4.15. You can use a form and submit a check to the cafeteria or set up and manage your child's lunch account on My School Bucks. The link to My School Bucks is also located on the School Lunch page.

School Supply Lists 2024-25

Please follow the procedures outlined in this document for the safety and security of all of our students. We greatly appreciate your assistance in following them throughout the year. Please read the information carefully and completely.

Please note that no vehicles should drive through the bus circle between 8:20-8:45 a.m. and from 2:45-3:30 p.m.

Additionally, no vehicles should ever pass a stopped school bus with the stop sign out. This indicates that the bus is either loading or unloading children and it is against the law to pass the bus. There is no parking allowed in the Fire Lane at any time.

Name Placards for K-5 Students:

Placards with your family name, to be placed in your car, will be sent home with the students during the first week or two of school. Please contact the school office should you misplace or need additional placards. Please place the placard in the window of your vehicle during pick-up.

* * *

Please see below for specific instructions on Arrival and Dismissal Procedures

MORNING DROP-OFF PROCEDURES AT NSS

DROP OFF in the DRIVE THRU:

Beginning at 8:30 am, students may be dropped-off curbside in the North parking lot following the procedures below:

• All vehicles must proceed slowly and continue to pull all the way forward to the very top of the drop off area next to the tree. Please pull all the way up and do not leave big spaces in between the cars. Please do not block the crosswalk.

• Please wait for staff on duty to arrive in the drop off area before allowing your child to exit the vehicle. This is for their safety.

• Students exit from the curb side of the vehicle at all times and never from the driver’s side; this is a passing lane.

• Parents/Caregivers are to remain in the vehicle at all times and staff will open and close the vehicle door and help the student exit the vehicle. Please have your child ready to exit promptly to keep the flow of traffic moving. If your child is not ready to exit the car and the staff are there, please pull all the way forward out of the way.

• Please do not use cell phones when you are in the drop-off line.

Parking for Drop-Off:

Beginning at 8:30 am, students may be walked to the front of building following the procedures below:

• After parking, please use the crosswalk and sidewalk at all times.

• Parents/caregivers may walk their students to the front doors, but are not permitted to walk their children to their classrooms.

• If a parent/caregiver needs to come inside the building, he/she will only be allowed to come in through the main entrance. Visitors must proceed directly to the office, sign in and receive a Visitor Badge.

* * *

AFTERNOON PICK-UP PROCEDURES AT NSS

Pick Up in the Drive thru:

Beginning at 3:10 pm students may be picked-up curbside following the procedures below:

• Please do not line up for pick up prior to 3:00pm. The line of cars queueing up early are leading to massive traffic delays and unsafe conditions on North Street. The GPD has asked us to urge our parents to follow these directions explicitly and not to arrive early.

• All vehicles must follow the lane closest to the curb. Proceed slowly and continue to pull forward to the furthest spot in the drop off area, next to the tree, or traffic is stopped immediately in front of you. Please do not block the crosswalk for those walking.

• The school provided name placard should be displayed.

• Staff will call students from the waiting area to come outside and direct them to his/her vehicle.

• As vehicles depart from the pick-up line, please pull forward until a staff directs you to stop or the line is stopped directly in front of you.

• Your child(ren) will walk to wherever you are stopped and staff will help them to quickly and efficiently enter the vehicle. Parents/Caregivers are to remain in the vehicle at all times.

• If a caregiver does not have a school authorized Placard visible, and is unknown to the staff member, the staff member will check to confirm that such caregiver is authorized to pick-up the student in question.

• Please do not use cell phones when you are in the pick-up line.

Parking for Pick-Up at the Flagpole:

Beginning at 3:10 pm, parents may wait for their children to be released to them by the flagpole following the procedures below:

• A staff member will be standing at the flagpole at dismissal. Please provide the first and last name of the student(s) you are picking up to the staff.

• Staff will then call the student from the waiting area and he/she will meet his/her parent/caregiver by the flagpole.

• If the staff member does not recognize the caregiver picking-up, he/she will check to confirm that such caregiver is authorized to pick-up the student in question.

• Pedestrians must use the SIDEWALK and CROSSWALK at all times.

Please be on the lookout for an email with instructions for setting up your School Dismissal Manager Account (SDM).

Returning families also need to set up their account for the new school year. The initial set up must be done on a desktop or laptop. Once you are all set you can use the app to make updates and changes. All students have been set to a Default Dismissal of UBER so we know if the account has not yet been set up by the parent.

SDM is the platform you will use to inform the school how your child is going home each day.

This is also how you will report your child's absences from school. Please enter all absences into School Dismissal Manager.

Please join our PTA! Below is a quick guide to signing-up and using Membership Toolkit (MTK), the NSS PTA website. MTK is a useful tool for parents to stay informed on activities/events/sales happening at NSS.

We strongly encourage all parents to sign up (it’s free!) so that you receive PTA emails and access to all the information on the website.

Even if you don’t become a member of the PTA, we encourage parents to fill out their

Family Information page in MTK and update their Directory Publish Preferences, so other

parents can get in touch for play dates, birthday parties, etc. So if you would like to be contacted by other parents for these types of activities, you must select to publish at least one phone number

or email address in MTK.

Instructions for signing up:

https://greenwichnorthstreetpta.membershiptoolkit.com/home

1. Go to Login

2. Click on Create Account

3. Once you’ve created your account, you will be prompted to fill out Family Information and your

Directory Publish Preferences (you can also find these in My Account if you need to make

changes)

a. For Directory Publish Preferences, keep in mind that parents use the directory to plan

birthday parties, play dates, etc. so if you would like to be contacted by other parents

for these types of activities, it is recommended that you select at least a phone number

or email address to be published

Lastly, download the Membership Toolkit app for easier access from your mobile device!

If you have any questions regarding MTK, please don’t hesitate to reach out to nssptacomm@gmail.com

All eleven Greenwich Public Elementary Schools will be sending out class lists today via email. Creating class lists is an extremely complex process designed to create balanced classes. No changes will be made to class lists.

Greenwich public schools is actively seeking PART TIME preschool professional assistants including at North Street School. For more information or to apply please click this link here.

Save the Date!

August 29: New Student Orientation at 10:00AM in the Dragon Cafe

August 29: Back to School Picnic for the entire NSS Community at 11:00 AM on the back field

August 30: First day of School! 8:30 for 1st-5th graders on the back blacktop

August 30: First day of School! 9:30 for Kindergarten on the Center Island

August 30: First day of School! 9:45 for Pre-K students

September 2: No School, Labor Day

September 19: Open House (evening)

September 18: School Photo Day