Can you believe that we are already going into the third school week of the 2024-2025 school year? It has been a wonderful start to our school year. We are very appreciate for all the families that attended our Back to School Night and for all the hard work that our staff put in to making those night a successful and informative for all.

During this past week, our learners have been taking various benchmark assessments. These assessments will allow our teachers to better understand the strengths and needs of all their learners and create learning paths that support the best learning opportunities for our students. We strongly believe in making data informed decisions and use research based practices to drive our instructional practices.

We at Keystone strive to create a safe, welcoming environment for all students and staff members, while encouraging a climate built on mutual respect and understanding. We are dedicated to developing a place where students can learn and teachers can teach. This is why, this week, our learners will attend an assembly on the School-wide Positive Behavior Support Program (SWPBIS). In addition to, our learners will be rotating to different stations in the building where they will learn the expectations in each area of the school.

As always, thank you for your continued support, kindness, and dedication to continuing to make Keystone Elementary a great place to be!

Respectfully,

Mrs. Smith-Herman & Mr. Wilicki

Assistant Principal & Principal

Wear Keystone Paw Shirt

September 19th (Grades 2 & 3)

September 20th (Grades 1, 4, 5)

September 23rd (kindergarten)

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Please considerer wearing yellow or gold.

Friday, September 20th

Initial Picture Days will take place over two days;

September 26th (Grades- K, 1, 2)

September 27th (Grades- 3, 4, 5)

Sept 26th @4:30 in the library

October 3rd & 4th

No School/Offices Open

Wednesday, October 16th

November 15th

December 11th at 7 pm

December 12th-18th

Evening conferences- Thursday, December 12th

March 24-28th

Evening Conferences- Monday, March 24th

Wednesday, May 14th, with a rain date of Thursday, May 15th.

May 14th at 7 pm

We are looking for an awesome name to call our weekly school newsletter for the 2024-2025 school year!

Last year we had many awesome submissions and it was very difficult to choose. Ultimately, Raelynn Beattie's submission of Extra, Extra Keystone is All About It was selected as the name of Keystone's newsletter.

Students are able to suggest multiple names that they would like to be considered. The deadline for submissions will be by 4:00pm on Friday, September 20th. The student who submits the winning name will receive a gift card to Barnes and Nobel. Thank you and good luck!

Keystone Newsletter Naming Contest

We are excited to announce that Keystone once again has been awarded a grant for the upcoming school year for fresh fruits and vegetables again!

Brandon Lang, the district's Food Service Director, shared the following information in regard to the program;

The three main goals of the FFVP are to

• expand the variety of fruits and vegetables our students experience
• increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables
• to make a difference in children's diets to impact their present and future health.

For this year, I am happy to say that we will be partnering with Smart Partners LLC (again!). Smart Partners LLC is a company based in Lancaster that offers a "turn-key" program for the FFVP. They house roughly 100 different samplings of fruits and vegetables, many of which are locally grown specifically for this program. With these samples, they also send a monthly menu which includes spec sheets, product quizzers and a morning announcement.

Program Details:

Scheduling - Sampling of the produce will take place 3 days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Fridays)

Distribution - Each classroom will receive samplings of the fresh fruit or vegetable of the day

Please help support our SWPBIS program at Keystone. In doing so you will save SAVE 10% off your fall fun tickets at Shady Brook Farm and help Keystone raise money for positive behavior initiatives and SWPBIS!

On Fridays, we encourage all our staff and students to wear their Keystone paw shirts.

Please read the attachment below in regards to the Title 1 Family Engagement Policy for 2024-2025.

Students and parents are asked to review the Student Handbook and Code of Conduct (including the Internet Use Agreement) thoroughly and in its entirety for each student attending Bristol Township Schools. Knowledge of this information is essential to the student's overall success at Bristol Township Schools. After reviewing the Handbook and Code of Conduct (including Internet Use Agreement) on the Bristol Township School District website please complete this acknowledgement form. Failure to complete the electronic form will result in implied acknowledgement.

In order to assure the school staff that all concerned persons are familiar with the information in the Student Handbook, we ask each student and parent/guardian to review the Handbook and Code of Conduct on line. If you do not have access to the internet, there are a small number of printed copies available at your child's school. Parents and students are required to indicate with their name in the answer box that the Handbook has been reviewed.

Student Handbook and Code of Conduct (including Internet Use Agreement) Acknowledgement & Signature Page Student & Parent/Guardian. Please complete one for each student.

Please click on following link to sign; Handbook & Internet Use Agreement Acknowledgement

All enrolled students of Bristol Township School District are eligible to receive a nutritious breakfast and lunch each school day at NO CHARGE to your household. A La Carte items will still be available to purchase.

Keystone Families,

We invite you to have a chance to be featured in our weekly newsletters, yearbook, and possibly on our school and district's social media pages! We would love to showcase your family or child(ren) participating in any outside-of-school events or activities.

Please submit a photo along with a brief summary that captures the essence of the event or activity. Whether it's a memorable vacation, a thrilling sporting event, or a cherished hobby, we want to celebrate these moments with our school community.

Please make sure to include your child(ren)'s names and grade level.

Please send all submissions to KeystoneNewsletter@bristoltwpsd.org for a chance to be selected for our Keystone Family Spotlight!

• Reminder, when your child is absent a written excuse note is required.
• For the first 10 absences the note may be from the parent.
• It can be in an email to the school secretary who handles attendance, at heather.saeger@bristoltwpsd.org
• If your child misses more than 10 days of school, then we only accept a medical note.
• Please email or send in the note within 10 days of their return to school, this is a PA State Law.

In order to maintain the safety of all our learners, we are asking that families alert teachers, in writing, for any transportation/dismissal plan changes prior to 9am each morning.

We do understand that emergencies may arise throughout the day that requires a change to a child's dismissal plan for that particular day. For those situations, please make sure you are alerting the office staff as soon as possible, so they can communicate the change to the teachers as soon as possible.

We thank you for your support in helping us ensure the safety and wellbeing of each of our learners.

Bullying Prevention

Bristol Township School District is committed to providing a physically safe and emotionally secure environment for all students and staff. Local school policies assist school personnel in identifying bullying, intimidation, and harassment, and provide a framework for an appropriate response that reinforces positive conduct. The district defines positive behaviors as those which evoke non-violence, cooperation, teamwork, understanding, and acceptance toward all students and staff in the learning and teaching environment. It takes a community to prevent bullying of children--stopping bullying behavior needs a team of school people, students, and families. Together we can intervene to stop bullying behaviors.

In September 2023, Bristol Township School Board of Directors approved three new elementary Anti-Bullying/School Climate Specialists. These staff members focus on putting practices and approaches in place that prevent bullying and build positive relationships for the district’s youngest students.

The main role of the Anti-Bullying/School Culture Specialists is to lead the investigation of incidents of harassment, intimidation, and bullying in each school; and to act as the primary school staff member responsible for preventing, identifying, and addressing incidents of harassment, intimidation, and bullying in the school.

They are also responsible for coordinating and strengthening the school’s policies to prevent, identify, and address harassment, intimidation, and bullying of students, and help establish a positive school culture.

Reporting Procedures

Anyone who is the victim of or has witnessed bullying please submit the incident form to the Anti-Bullying/School Climate Specialist, Steve Pierce, (steve.pierce@bristoltwpsd.org ) and building administration. Students can also report bullying to guidance counselors, teachers, or any other adult in the building.

To access the bullying form please click on the attached form below.

Title 1 Teachers at Keystone

Mrs. Stacy Cooke

stacy.cooke@bristoltwpsd.org

Mrs. Aimee Ramos
aimee.ramos@bristoltwpsd.org

What is Title I?

Title I is a project funded by the federal government under the Every Child Succeeds Act. The purpose of this Act is to provide all children with fair and equitable opportunity to succeed and close achievement gaps. Money is allocated by the federal government and distributed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to the Bristol Township School. District.

Title I funding is based on a complex formula. These funds are allocated to the states who in turn allocate a portion of that money to the individual school districts within each state. The school district’s share is based on the economic need within a school area, that is, by the number of low income families living there. In our district the number of free and reduced lunch students is used to determine the economic need of a particular school.

For more information please visit; https://www.bristoltwpsd.org/administration/state_and_federal_programs_/title_i .

Social Worker
Mrs. Jody Como
jody.como@bristoltwpsd.org

Counselors

Mrs. Tammy Surdo

Grades- K, 2, 4
tammy.surdo@bristoltwpsd.org

Mr. Brian Gianfrancesco

Grades- 1, 3, 5
brian.gianfrancesco@bristoltwpsd.org

Mr. Steve Pierce

Email: steve.pierce@bristoltwpsd.org

Phone: 267-599-2481

Michele Gentilcore

Certified School Nurse 267-599-2473 or 2490

michele.kershaw@bristoltwpsd.org

TBD

Staff Nurse 267-599-2496

Christine Kelly (M, T, TH, F after 12:30 PM)

Staff Nurse 267-599-2473

Christine.Kelly@bristoltwpsd.org

Nurses' fax number is 215-788-1516.

Address:

940 Tulip Ave.

Croydon, Pennsylvania 19021

School phone: 267-599-2470

School fax: 215-788-1041

School Principal: Mr. Mark Wilicki

Email: mark.wilicki@bristoltwpsd.org

Principal's Secretary: Mrs. Marianne Mensinger

Email: marianne.mensinger@bristoltwpsd.org

Assistant Principal: Mrs. Crystal Smith-Herman

Email: crystal.smith-herman@bristoltwpsd.org

Assistant Principal's Secretary: Heather Saeger

Email: heather.saeger@bristoltwpsd.org

Special Education Supervisor: Jessica Kelch

Email: jessica.kelch@bristoltwpsd.org

For additional information please click on the buttons below.