In The Laidlaw Loop

Whether this is your family's first year at Laidlaw, the beginning of your last one (tear!), or you fall somewhere in the middle, let me be the first one to welcome you BACK to school as we begin the 2024-2025 school year.

This is this year's first edition of "In The Laidlaw Loop," our school community's newsletter. These newsletters are meant to be a one stop shop of information for upcoming dates and events. I will also provide plenty of pictures and overviews on the exciting teaching & learning I get to witness as I spend time in classrooms each week.

One of my favorite questions that comes my way from our students is: "Mrs. Epstein, what do Principals do in the summer when there are no students in the building?" Excellent question! I like to follow it up with: "We enjoy the quiet...." 😌

In all seriousness, the summer break affords me the opportunity for some personal and professional reset time, all while gearing up for the year ahead. On the personal front, I enjoyed some vacation time in July (resetting & recharging) in both Newport, Rhode Island and in Saugatuck, Michigan. I made a lot of sunny memories with my sweet family (Jeremy; Mason (13); Harper (10); and our Golden Doodle, Mack). And, I also had the privilege of spending some "quiet days" at Laidlaw over the last few months preparing for the school year ahead in a variety of capacities. As we journey into this year together, I look forward to unpacking what it means to live The Laidlaw Way with our students and watching first hand how exhibiting safe, respectful, and responsible habits at school translates into being good citizens in life. We are partners together on your student(s) journey. And, I look forward to collaborating with you in the year ahead.

We all have a fantastic school year ahead of us to look forward to. And, I could not be more proud of our unbelievably talented Laidlaw staff members who are eager to meet their new students in a few weeks.

Read on for LOTS of important details as we gear up for the start of the school year. In the meantime, please enjoy these remaining weeks of summer & sunshine.

Warmly,

Renee

Families will receive a stand-alone email at 4PM today (Friday, August 2nd) with an attached class list for your student's grade and class assignments. Our staff has spent countless hours over the past few months ensuring that your student is placed in a classroom where they will flourish. We look forward to a positive year ahead for each of our Laidlaw Leopards.

Join me in welcoming our new staff to Laidlaw:

Mrs. Kathy Stillo, 1st Grade

Ms. Caroline Smith: 5th Grade

Ms. Marion Messino: Laidlaw music teacher

Mr. Luke Skokna: Laidlaw PE teacher

Mrs. Coco O'Shaughnessy: social worker

Ms. Tierra Williams, classroom assistant

Mrs. Tess Lebed, classroom assistant

Mrs. Tara Hunek, classroom assistant

*There will NOT be a school supply drop off event this year prior to school starting. Instead, all school supply boxes will be delivered to your child's classroom at Laidlaw. If you did not order a school supply box through the PTO, please send your child with their school supplies on the first day of school. If your child can not fit all of their supplies into their backpack at once, feel free to bring school supplies over the course of the first few days of school.

*Your student will meet their teacher on the first day of school. All Laidlaw staff will be outside at lineup to greet students that first morning. All Laidlaw staff will be wearing matching "The Laidlaw Way" t-shirts to help students and families easily identify our Laidlaw staff members. Additionally, all classroom teachers will be holding up a sign with their name on it so that families can easily identify where their student should line up.

*If your student is hopeful to see the inside of the school and/or the location of their classroom prior to the first day, please join us on OPEN CAMPUS night on Thursday, August 15th from 7:15-8:00PM. While teachers will not be present on this evening, Renee will be hosting an open campus opportunity . Simply, the doors will be open and families are welcome to come and walk the halls with their students if they wish. This is an optional opportunity for new or current Laidlaw families. School supplies my NOT be dropped off during open campus night. This is simply an opportunity to walk the halls and see classrooms if the student feels that would make them more comfortable prior to the first day of school.

If you are a NEW Laidlaw family (Kinder family or any new family to grades 1st-5th), you are invited to attend our optional New Families Presentation on Thursday, August 15th from 6:30PM-7:15PM in the gym. This will be hosted by Mrs. Epstein and will be an opportunity for new families to meet one another and to hear all about The Laidlaw Way. Immediately following the New Families presentation is the Open Campus opportunity, which begins at 7:15PM and is open to all new and current Laidlaw families who wish to tour the building. Please see more details about our open campus night above.

Please view the arrival and dismissal details below. As we did last year, Maple Ave (between Forest and Hampton) will be closed to traffic at arrival and dismissal times.

For families who drop off on Hampton: There will be dedicated staff members stationed on Hampton Ave to help the car drop off line. Please adhere to the signs and pull all the way up to the designated drop off area near the staff parking entrance on Hampton.

1st Grade Families: Please do not park your car and get out of your car right in front of school. This area must remain clear for our school bus. Should you wish to walk your student up to school and wait with your student, please park several blocks down and walk up to the front entrance with your student. Kindly, do not get out of your car right in front of school.

Bell Schedule

Nothing has changed from last year regarding the bell schedule.

Regular School Hours

8:40 – 11:40 a.m. and 12:30 – 3:30 p.m: Grades 1-5

8:40 – 11:40 a.m :Kindergarten (A.M.)

12:30 – 3:30 p.m.: Kindergarten (P.M.)

Bell Schedule

8:30 a.m.: Bell to line up

8:35 a.m.: Bell to enter school

8:40 a.m.: Tardy Bell

11:40 a.m.:Morning Dismissal Bell/Lunch Bell

12:25 p.m.: Bell to line up and enter school/end of lunch

12:30 p.m.:Tardy Bell

3:30 p.m.:Afternoon Dismissal Bell

I am pleased to share several after school enrichment (optional, paid) opportunities for our Laidlaw students that are run by 3rd party vendors. Here is our fall schedule. Please be on the lookout for signup links to go live in next Friday's update.

Monday - STEAM Academy (new this year) & musical theatre

Tuesday - Art Class

Wednesday - Sticky Fingers (cooking class)

Thursday - Art Class

Friday - Sticky Fingers and Golf (new this year)

We are still working with First Student to finalize bus routes and times for this school year. Cricket Walker (our building admin assistant) will share that information as soon as it is available. If your child will be new to utilizing the bus this year, please reach out to Cricket Walker at ewalker@d101.org to ensure we can add your child to the list.

All students in 1st-5th grade will eat lunch in the gym and have recess outside (grades will rotate between Laidlaw Park and the blacktop).

11:40:

Grades 1, & 2 eat in the gym

Grades 3, 4 & 5 outside for recess

12:05:

Grades 1 & 2 outside for recess

Grades 3, 4 & 5 eat in the gym

Students are still able to go home for lunch if you wish. Please watch out for details on communication procedures for students going home for lunch in next Friday's In The Laidlaw Loop newsletter.

Our district leadership team updated the elementary school handbook this summer. I'll be sharing the updated handbook with all families in next week's In The Laidlaw Loop. This handbook update includes our new D101 smartwatch and cell phone usage policy. More details to follow in next Friday's newsletter.

For all returning families, you likely recall that we implemented some new safety/security procedures at the start of the 2022-23 school year, which continue to remain in place. New and veteran families, please read the following information carefully and we appreciate your partnership in maintaining a safe school environment for everyone.

• Entrances: You will notice clear signage on all external doors indicating that ALL visitors (any person who is not a current Laidlaw student or active staff member with a key) MUST enter and check in through the main office. Even if your child spots YOU knocking on a Laidlaw door, we explicitly teach all students and reinforce with our staff the need to point to the signage, point to the main office, and NOT open any external doors, even for known/trusted adults.

• Staff Identification: All District 101 staff members will wear lanyards, clearly indicating for students, staff, and all that they are registered members of our D101 staff and thus able to enter/exit buildings and supervise students. All visitors (including parent volunteers in classrooms, in the library, etc.) will need to wear our visitor lanyards at all times within the building.

• Visitor Procedures: All visitors will be required to enter through the main office, check in with our Administrative Assistant (Mrs. Walker), and trade their government-issued ID card (Driver’s License) for a “Visitor” lanyard; they will be required to check out again, as well, to return the lanyard and retrieve their ID. This will serve as a visual marker of safety and purpose for any adults not within our D101 staff, so that our students, staff, and community have a clear understanding that any “other” adults are safe and authorized to be within our space.

• Visitor Purpose and Destination: We will also ask that visitors to the building remain only in the spaces for which their entry is authorized, without wandering through the building or entering any additional spaces. This will help all of us understand the purpose, role, and need for our volunteers, and to maintain safe entry/exit procedures for all “other” adults.

Again, we appreciate you following these established procedures as we work to ensure our buildings are as safe as possible.

If your child will need any medication administered at school, please feel free to drop it off anytime during school hours on Monday, August 19, Tuesday, August 20 or during school hours, beginning Wednesday, August 23. We do need a doctor’s order to administer medication at school. If you have any questions about medication drop-off, please contact Amber Knoll, our Laidlaw school nurse. Laidlaw will NOT be hosting a medication and forms drop off event this year prior to the school year starting.

If you would like more information about the Right At School before and after care program, please see the included flyer or visit their website at https://rightatschool.com/.

Please find the 2024-25 calendar HERE

Thursday, August 15th: New Family Information Night (6:30-7:15PM-gym)

Thursday, August 15th: Open Campus Opportunity (7:15-8:00PM)

Wednesday, August 21: First Day of School (FULL DAY!)

Friday, August 23: PTO Welcome Back Ice Cream Social (details coming in PTO email)

Thursday, August 29: Curriculum Night/Meet The Teacher (details coming soon)

Monday, September 4: NO SCHOOL--LABOR DAY

Mark your calendars for our annual Laidlaw Family 5K! Registration will go live Monday, August 5th. Look for an email with the link to register for the race next week