GOODNOE GAZETTE

Dear GES Families,

Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and winter break! As we reopened schools this week, students were excited to see friends and share about their holiday fun! Included in this newsletter is information about the district's Annual CR CARES Day. Donations are being collected now until January 15th. Tables are set up in the front lobby area. Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Additionally, we are excited to restart Rocky Groups as we found that it makes our big school feel smaller. Students were randomly placed in multigrade leveled groups of about 13 students per staff member to participate in fun team building activities. These activities reinforce our PBIS culture! Rocky Groups will meet randomly through out the year. We are looking forward to kicking off these groups on January 7th.

Lastly, our school counselor, Mrs. Rothrock will be taking a leave starting at the end of the month until the rest of the school year. I am happy to share that Mrs. Christine Hanft will fill the school counselor role at Goodnoe in Mrs. Rothrock's absence. Below please find a letter from Mrs. Rothrock and Mrs. Hanft. Please join me in welcoming Mrs. Hanft to Goodnoe.

It looks like some snow may be headed our way! Stay warm!
Beth

Happy New Year! I wanted to share with the Goodnoe community that I will be taking a professional sabbatical for the second half of the school year. My last day at Goodnoe for this school year will be January 28. I will be taking classes at Delaware Valley University for a Social Emotional Learning Endorsement. I am excited to expand my knowledge of social and emotional learning. I will miss our students at Goodnoe, but am excited to see how much they have grown when I return next school year. I am confident that our students will enjoy working with Ms. Hanft. We will be communicating to ensure that she continues working with the students who have been receiving guidance services in the past, and will be available to students who would benefit from guidance services later in the school year. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at srothrock@crsd.org or 215-944-2176.

Stephanie Rothrock

Hello, GES families and students,

My name is Mrs. Hanft, and I am excited to be your school counselor for the remainder of the school year! I look forward to getting to know all of you and would also like to tell you a little about myself.

I have been an English teacher at Council Rock North since 2006 and most recently completed my school counseling certification at Gwynedd Mercy University. After completing my certification, I worked as a school counselor at Richboro Elementary School, and I am very excited to continue working with students at Goodnoe!

Some of my hobbies and interests include spending time with my husband, son, daughter, and dog Rosie; I also enjoy hiking, photography, music, and the Philadelphia Flyers.

Building connections, supporting student growth, and helping to create a sense of community in the school environment are some of the most important aspects of the school counselor’s role, and I look forward to contributing to the GES community by supporting students’ social-emotional development as we finish the school year.

Please do not hesitate to contact me at chanft@crsd.org if you have any questions.

Thank you, and I look forward to meeting you soon!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Hanft

• Wednesday, January 8 – 7:00 PTO Meeting/Library
• Friday, January 10 – 7:00 - 8:30 PTO Bingo
• Tuesday, January 14 – 8:05 Staff Meeting
• Wednesday, January 15 - CR CARES donations due
• Thursday, January 16 – 5:00 1st Grade A-Z Show/Gym
• Friday, January 17 – 9:00 Mikayla’s Voice Art Creation
• Monday, January 20 – Martin Luther King Day, Schools Closed/CR CARES DAY OF SERVICE - 6th/8th grade only
• Tuesday, January 21 – 9:30 Winter Chorus Concert/7:00 Winter Chorus Concert

• Thursday, January 23 – 5:00 Snow Date, 1st Grade A-Z Show
• Friday, January 24 – 7:00 - 8:30 PTO Bingo
• Tuesday, January 28 – Early Dismissal, PM Kdg. attends
• Wednesday, January 29 – 6:00 Harlem Wizards Game
• Thursday, January 30 – 2:30 Winter Safety Drill

Dear Parents,

The faculty of Goodnoe Elementary School would like you to join us in observing Council Rock Education Week on January 21st, 22nd, 23rd, & 24th. Although parents are always welcome visitors to our school, we especially enjoy seeing you during the week set aside as a time to see our classrooms in operation.

Any parent visitor planning to attend CR ED Week will be required to pre-register. Please complete the CR ED Week Pre-Registration Form for each child in order to pre-register for the dates and times you will be visiting GES. Providing this information to the school team is very helpful. It will assist in the teachers' planning and allow the office staff to have a visitor's badge ready for you (if you have your information in our Raptor system). Upon arrival at the school, you will be required to check in and retrieve a visitor's badge. If you haven't received a visitor's badge recently, please be sure to bring your driver's license with you.

The following is the CR Education Week schedule for the week of January 20th, 2025:

• Tuesday, 1/21/25 1:00 - 3:00 pm
• Wednesday, 1/22/25 9:30 - 11:30 am
• Thursday, 1/23/25 1:00-3:00 pm
• Friday, 1/24/25 9:30-11:30 am

If you have never visited GES, please arrive early & bring your driver's license as you will be entered into our visitor's database at that time. All visitors must be entered into our database, so please plan accordingly and allow ample time for sign-in.

To avoid long lines, stop by GES next week to upload your driver's license in advance. We look forward to your visit to your child(ren)’s classroom. It will be both enjoyable and informative.

A few other friendly reminders:

• Visitors may only visit the class in which their child is a student. They are not permitted to visit other areas within the building during their visit.
• Each classroom will have chairs for you to sit and observe the teaching/learning process.
• Unless invited by a teacher to participate in what the class is doing, please limit your visit to observing the process.
• Kindly mute cell phones and refrain from all cell phone usage including picture/video taking. This will minimize distractions to instruction as well as comply with parent requests that their child’s photograph not be taken.
• Preschool children should not be brought to school during a classroom observation. Please make arrangements to leave preschool children with a sitter. They’ll soon get their chance to visit regularly!
• Remember, this is a time to observe the educational process, not to discuss your child’s performance with the teacher. If you would like to discuss your child’s progress, please make an appointment for a conference.
• Due to supervision concerns, parents may not attend lunch or recess periods.

We look forward to your visit to your child(ren)’s classroom. Please know that the teachers will be sharing their schedules for the four days for your planning purposes.

Cold temperatures are back! With the colder temperature, please be sure your child is dressed appropriately for outside weather. Unless the weather is extreme (rain or excessive cold, 22 degrees or below), children will have recess outside.

The safety of our students is always the top priority at GES and CRSD. The changes to our dismissal process were made with our students’ safety in mind and after consulting with both the Newtown Township and Borough Police Departments.

As you are aware, our students are dismissed via one of three methods – bus, car rider or walker. The walkers safety was of particular concern since previously, their dismissal necessitated transitioning across the bus lane at the front of the building, while buses were arriving and departing for dismissal. This placed our walkers at great risk.

To address this safety concern starting at the end of the 23-24 school year, we asked our local first responders including the Newtown Township and Borough Police, as well as the fire department, to observe afternoon dismissal. After that observation, it was agreed that the previous dismissal process was unsafe. Based on their agreement, we changed the dismissal process for the walkers to its current location.

This now created an unsafe traffic issue on Andrew Drive and Elm Avenue with vehicles parking to pick up walkers. By picking up students in a car, these vehicles are using the walker dismissal process as car riders and are encouraged to use the car rider line. We also saw students trying to cross Andrew Drive to get to vehicles picking them up in the middle of the street as opposed to using the crosswalk at Andrew Drive and Elm Avenue.

Based on this new traffic safety concern, the Newtown Borough Police Department conducted a traffic study using established national traffic safety standards and decided, for the safety of our students, that "No Stopping, No Standing, No Parking 7am-5pm except Holidays" (with certain distance designations) signs be placed on specific sections of Andrew Drive and Elm Avenue due to the large number of cars that park on the street during arrival and dismissal time. These signs will only be located on the residential side of the street, allowing cars to be on the side of the street where Goodnoe is located, as in the past. (Please see the photo below as reference.)

In addition, we are aware that there will be events that make it difficult for parents to find parking on the school campus. As such, we will work with local officials to try and determine the best way to address our parking challenges on days where large school events are scheduled.

Our goal is always to ensure the safety of our students with an efficient dismissal process. Thank you for your support and cooperation in implementing these procedures.

Jerry Pallotta, author of the Who Would Win book series

and dozens of other children’s books, will be visiting

Goodnoe Elementary on January 29th.

To purchase autographed copies in advance of his visit, click here and

1. print out the form

2. return this form and a CHECK (no cash) made payable to CB Books to the Goodnoe Library by January 10th.

Some families have shared that they are not able to open some links included in the newsletter. Please try clicking on the "Goodnoe Gazette" at the very top of the newsletter where the date is listed. This should allow you to open all links within the newsletter.

Attached is the form to be completed for Family Educational Trips. Handwritten letters are accepted, however this form is preferred. Please be sure to submit the form/letter at least ten (10) days prior to your trip, for approval. Please contact Sue Bogucki, attendance clerk, at sbogucki@crsd.org if you have questions regarding this process.

Family Educational Trip Form - CLICK HERE

To help families with their planning for the school year, the list of early dismissal days is provided below. On these days, students will be dismissed at 12:15 pm. Lunches will not be served so please pack a snack.

• Tuesday, January 28th (KPM attends)
• Friday, March 7th (KAM attends)
• Friday, June 17th (projected last day of school)

Updating Demographic Information:

At the start of every school year, the Council Rock School District requires parents/guardians to verify their demographic information through the Home Access Center (HAC).

It is important to know that District/School Notifications, Emergency Contacts, Medication Authorization information, etc. are directly dependent upon your completion of this process.

To update your student’s demographic form:

LINK TO HAC - CLICK HERE TO GO TO CRSD HAC

• Login to HAC.
• Click on “Update Registration”
• Click on “NEW” in the middle of the screen to open the Demographic Update Form 2024

HAC Support:

If you encounter any issues while trying to log into HAC, please click this LINK to contact HA support.

During the past few weeks, your child’s class has been reviewing the SW-PBIS (School Wide- Positive Behavior Interventions & Support) school expectations. The lessons included a class discussion, modeling and practicing of respectful, responsible, and safe behaviors in the locations listed on the school-wide matrix. Your child’s class also learned about the voice levels that are expected for the different locations. Earlier this week your child brought home a paper copy of the matrix and voice level chart. Please take some time to review the papers with your child. The copies are for you to keep and refer to at home. There is a half sheet of paper for you and your child to sign and return to your child's homeroom teacher. Thank you for your support!

When escorting students to and from school, please do not bring pets on school grounds or into the school building. Many of our children are afraid of animals or have pet allergies; therefore, the presence of animals in school or on school grounds is prohibited. Some classes at Goodnoe Elementary School do participate in the Nor’Wester Reading Dogs program, so on occasion you may see dogs visiting. These dogs are specially trained and licensed to work in the schools with students. No other animals are permitted on school property during school hours. Please refer to our board policy for more information on animals in school policy 105.3 https://go.boarddocs.com/pa/coun/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=AQ5KYB538D2B

In order to determine eligibility for free or reduced-price meals for the 2024-25 school year, an application must be completed every school year. Even if you were found eligible last school year, a new application must be filed with your family’s current information.

To apply for free or reduced-price lunch:

• Visit COMPASS Homepage - COMPASS Homepage to apply online. (website offers language options other than English.)
• Click on this link to download a paper copy of the 2024-25 Free and Reduced Lunch Application
• Pick up a paper copy of the application at Chancellor Center or at any school office.

If not applying online via COMPASS, please email your completed application to kmoody@crsd.org or mail to Council Rock School District, Attn: Free and Reduced Lunch Program/Karen Moody, 30 N. Chancellor St., Newtown, PA 18940.

Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g. Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.), should contact the Agency (State or local) where they applied for benefits. Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech disabilities may contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English.

• To learn about affordable internet access from Comcast, click here.
• To download a flyer about Comcast's affordable internet access
• K-8 - What Makes A Healthy Meal Flyer
• Highschool - What Makes A Healthy Meal

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR THE SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM:

Aramark/ Student Lunch Accounts

Amy Sura

215-944-2797

Amy.sura@crsd.org

My Payments Plus Parent Helpline

1-877-237-0946

Free and Reduced Lunch Program

Karen Moody

215-944-1068

kmoody@crsd.org

Please take a moment to review this school year's attendance letter from the District that outlines information regarding Council Rock's policies on student absences. You can find the letter at the link below:

Attendance Policy

Feeling overwhelmed or stressed this holiday season? Add some positivity to your day with the You've Got a Friend in Pennsylvania Pep Talk Phone Line!

Call 717-772-4737 and experience the cheer that Pennsylvania students have to share!

Tickets are going LIVE to the community next week! Tickets are flying!!

❄️ Last chance to get your jerseys before the holidays! ❄️

Order by 12/15 to pick up at Goodnoe 12/19 3:00-6:00!

Give your kids the ultimate game experience with our Wiz Kids Jersey Promotion! Here’s what they’ll enjoy:
🌟 Pre-Game Warm-Up: Watch your Wiz Kids take the court to practice alongside Harlem Wizards players!
🌟 Personalized Introduction: A special shout-out from the Wizards' MC, introducing your kiddo to the crowd!
🌟 Group Photo: Capture an unforgettable keepsake with a team group photo!
Order your jersey online in advance to save, and be sure your child is all set for this unforgettable experience. Plus, every jersey purchase benefits Goodnoe!
🚨 Pre-Game Purchase Special 🚨 Get your advanced ticket prices now!
Don’t miss this slam-dunk opportunity for your kids to join in on the Wizards/Goodnoe game-day action! 🏀
#WizKids #HarlemWizards #JerseyPromotion #GameDayExperience #BasketballFun

Principal

Email: bfox@crsd.org

Phone: (215) 944-2107
Location: 298 Frost Lane, Newtown, PA, USA