Hello Wildcat Families!

I hope this newsletter finds you all enjoying the fall weather and for all you Philly fans...enjoying Red October!! To show our Philly pride and support, we are having a schoolwide spirit day on Tuesday, October 11th which is the first game of the NLDS between the Phillies and the Braves. Students and staff are encouraged to wear red and/or Phillies gear to show our support!

I would like to give a big shout out to our PTO for another successful Wildcat Walk-a-Thon on October 7th. We were very fortunate to have perfect weather for the event, especially after five consecutive days of rain! Thank you to all of our amazing parents for volunteering your time and/or making a donation. It is thanks to your generosity that our students are able to participate in so many memorable events throughout the year.

Looking ahead to the rest of the month, school is closed on Monday, October 24th for Diwali. Picture retake day is Tuesday, October 25th. Our next PTO meeting will be on Thursday, October 27th at 7:00 p.m. in the school library. The Halloween parade is scheduled to be held on Halloween, Monday October 31st. Students are invited and encouraged to wear school appropriate costumes that day!

Kind regards,

Dr. Cruice

The WTE Halloween Parade will be held on Monday, October 31st at 9:30 a.m. The parade will take place on the back soccer field. If it has to be moved indoors due to weather, we will send out an email the morning of since we would not be able to have parents attend indoors. Fingers crossed for good weather!! The guidelines for the parade are below:

• Students should come to school dressed in costume.
• A change of clothes and bag should be sent to school if the costume will be hard to wear all day. Students cannot bring real or fake props (i.e., lasers, pitchforks, weapons, sticks, etc.) or fake blood. Students can wear a mask in the parade only.
• Face painting is permitted as long as the student is identifiable. The mask should not be worn on the bus or in the school.
• Avoid costumes and clothing that depict excessive violence, gore, or could cause disruption to the school environment.
• The dress code (i.e., footwear, length of clothes, etc.) is in effect. If a costume is deemed inappropriate, the student will be asked to change.

If your child does not celebrate Halloween, please contact either myself or your child's teacher by October 27th so that an alternate activity can be provided during the parade.

Drop off and parking information for the day of the parade will be sent out closer to the event.

Thank you!

Hello families of 4th and 5th graders,

This year your student will have a chance to be in the WTE Student Council! We will be doing so many fun things this year. Your student can scan the QR code on one of the Student Council posters around the school to learn more and complete an interest form. The poster is also attached below. Interest forms are due by Friday, October 14th. Once we have collected all the interest forms, students who completed the interest form will be asked to create a video explaining why they want to join Student Council. Please feel free to contact Mrs. Lepka (rlepka@wcasd.net) with any questions.

Thank you!

- Joey Caroto (Student Council President) and Mrs. Lepka (Student Council Advisor)

Congratulations to all of our power paw winners pictured below from the last two weeks. These students were selected by their teachers for best representing what it means to be a wildcat by going above and beyond to be safe, respectful, responsible and kind. Great job students!

Below are the remaining dates for our fall season in A.S. Sports. The Boys will continue to meet on Wednesdays and the Girls will meet on Thursdays. 4th & 5th grade will alternate the weeks that they attend. If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Davis at jdavis@wcasd.net.

• 10/12 4th grade Boys
• 10/13 4th grade Girls
• 10/19 5th grade Boys
• 10/20 5th grade Girls
• 10/26 4th grade Boys
• 10/27 4th grade Girls

The Special Education and Pupil Services department will be holding four evening sessions this year for parents. Please see the attached flyers for details. One flyer lists all four sessions and the other is for our first session on October 20th.

We are proud to share that the West Chester Area School District has received the 2022 endorsement of PAEA Outstanding Visual Arts Community for the previous school year! Out of the 500 public school districts in PA, we are one of only 39 Districts to receive this honor. This is in large part due to our talented and innovative Art teachers.

National Arts & Humanities Month was established in 1993 and is celebrated every October in the United States. It was initiated to encourage Americans to explore new facets of the arts and humanities in their lives and to begin a lifelong habit of participation in the arts and humanities. It has become the nation’s largest collective annual celebration of the arts.

Schools and districts receiving this endorsement demonstrated the importance of their visual arts programs during the 2021-2022 school year with:

Rigorous and Inclusive Programs: Arts programs demonstrated rigor using standards-based curriculum taught at every level by highly qualified and certified art educators.

Highly Accessible Programs: Art programs were offered to all students at every level of education with a sustainable budget for the visual arts.

Highly Visible Programs: Schools and districts identified their programmatic accomplishments, curriculum for all levels, art staff, mission statements, and arts events using their school websites and social media.

Thank you Mrs. Griffin for your part in earning this esteemed recognition!!

We wanted to reach out with some brief reminders and follow-up regarding students and families who choose to attend the Rustin football games on Friday nights. These are just a few items to ensure a safe, welcoming, family-friendly environment for all attendees to the games. We appreciate all your support as we look to build our partnership with the middle and high school levels.

Here are just a few points that we would like to reiterate. Per WCASD guidelines, all elementary and middle school students must be accompanied and supervised by a parent while at the football games. Parents are not able bring more than 5 students with them into the game. If students are not supervised, or try to enter without an adult, we would need to contact that family for them to be picked up and they would not be permitted to enter the game. Lastly, students and spectators are not able to bring footballs or backpacks into the games. We appreciate your support to help create a positive and safe experience for all of our families at the games. GO KNIGHTS!

Per the WCASD policy on the use of smart watches, cell phones and other personal technology devices, these devices must be turned off and put away in their backpacks upon arrival to school. Students are not permitted to use these devices during the school day to text, call, record, take pictures, etc as to minimize disruptions to the learning environment. Students found to be in possession of these devices will be asked to turn them in to their teacher and returned to the student at the end of the day. Thank you for your support with this at home! The link to school board policy 237 for additional information can be found below.

Thanks to the dedication and passion of our amazing parents, we are very fortunate to have an extremely active PTO at WTE. Please visit our PTO Page to learn more about the PTO and for information on signing up for the PTBoard where you will be able to access the student directory, volunteer opportunities, and much more.

The dates for the PTO meetings for the year can be found below. These meetings begin at 7:00 p.m. and they are held in the WTE library. Also, check out the information below for the upcoming restaurant night at Freddy's as well as opportunities to volunteer for Pretzel Fridays and Mileage Club!

If you plan to drop your child off at school, drop off begins at 8:30 AM at the back hall entrance by the soccer field on the lower lot. Drop-off ends sharply at 9:00. After 9:00, students will need to enter at the main entrance. Please help us by dropping off your child prior to 9:00 at the drop off location. More detailed instructions for drop of logistics to follow.

Dismissal is at 3:40 so the busses will not depart WTE prior to that. In order to get the buses into the school lot, we begin parent pick up at 3:30. Parent pick-up occurs at the same location as morning drop-off on the lower lot by the back soccer field. For a variety of safety reasons, please do not come to school prior to 3:00. The pick-up line begins at the flag pole. Please do not pull all the way up to the gate as there may be students outside. Staff will be there to help direct traffic once we open the gate.

Grade levels will eat together in the lunchroom. Students may bring or buy lunch. Please note that breakfast (served 8:30 to 9:00 each day) and lunch are no longer free to all students. Students wishing to purchase food will do so from their account. Parents may load money to their child’s account through PayPal in Parent Portal Instructions for funding child's lunch acct. When making purchases, students will enter their student ID number, which can be found in Parent Portal. It might be a good idea to practice that with your child prior to school starting. 2022/23 menus will be updated prior to the start of school at this site: WCASD Meal Menus. Visual of our keypad: Lunchroom Keypad for practice

The National School Lunch Program application for the 2022-23 school year is now available online. For information regarding the program, visit the WCASD website at https://www.wcasd.net/Page/6842. Contact our school caseworker with any questions or for assistance with the application.

WTE Caseworker: Mrs. Beata Starr - bstarr@wcasd.net

• Apply for the NSLP online at https://www.schoolcafe.com
  

  Aplicar en linea en https://www.schoolcafe.com

  
  

  
  

The West Chester Area School District has a tradition of offering high-quality extra-curricular programs for students. To support the costs of these programs, an Activity Fee is applied to extra-curricular programs supervised by a contracted coach, advisor, or director. This yearly fee allows a student to participate in one or multiple funded activities, and the maximum amount a family may pay per year is $250. At the elementary level, the activities that require payment of an activity fee for the year are intramurals, chorus, orchestra, and band. Please see the attached letter for additional details and payment information. Payment should not be made until your son or daughter is rostered for the given activity during the school year.

Over the course of the school year, we hope to have many opportunities for parents to volunteer in our school. In order to do so, volunteers must have current clearances on file in the WTE office. Clearances can take some time to get back so please take the time now to get your clearances and submit them to Kelly Patterson (kpatterson1@wcasd.net) in the front office. Information on how to obtain clearances can be found on the district website.

PA State school health mandated immunization, physical and dental requirements for 22-23 school year:

1. All students are required to be up to date with PA state mandated immunizations within the first 5 days of school in order to avoid being excluded from school.
2. All kindergarten students and any student registering for the first time to WTE must submit updated physical and dental examination report to the school nurse within the first 60 days of school in order to avoid being excluded from school. Reports can be dated in/after September 2021.

**Kindergarten through 5th grade students must receive:

• 4 dtap (diphtheria/tetanus/pertussis) with the last dose given after the child’s 4th birthday
• 4 IPV (polio) with the last dose given after the child’s 4th birthday
• 3 Hepatitis B
• 2 Varicella (chicken pox)
• 2 MMR (measles/mumps/rubella)

If you have questions about these requirements, please contact Mrs. Wallace at kwallace@wcasd.net.

If you registered your child(ren) through WCASD portal and did not upload all or part of the above PA state school health mandates, please send the information to our school nurse, Mrs. Kellie Wallace at the above email address as soon as possible.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this very important notice.