August 2004

Dear Parents,

Here is some important information for you.

1. Next Open House days are 8/24 and 8/31 from 4-6 PM. Because there is still work being done in parts of the school at other times, "walk throughs" are not possible each day.

2. Our main office is open each day from 9 AM-3 PM.

3. The first day of school is Wednesday, Sept. 8th. During the first week of school, buses will drop off children at the end of the day later than scheduled. Sometimes it is 20-30 minutes late. Thank you for being at the bus stop on time and waiting.

4. On the first day of school, each child will bring home two emergency contact cards and two emergency dismissal cards. It is very important to fill those out Wednesday night and return them to school on Thursday. No emergency information has moved from your child’s previous school with them.

5. Our school will operate on a 6-day cycle this year for scheduling art, library, physical education, and music (general music, chorus, and instrumental instruction). Each classroom teacher will send home your child’s schedule on the first day of school. September 8th is "DAY 1". September 9th will be "Day 2", etc. When school is closed for a day, the next school day will continue the numeric progression until we complete "Day 6". Then we will start over with "Day 1". This system avoids the situation of a child missing some classes repeatedly because holidays often fall Mondays or because we have two Wednesday snow cancellations in a row. We will be working hard to help children understand and follow this schedule.

6. The school schedule:

7. Parent Drop Off in the Morning: Anytime after 8:30 AM, drive up to the front lobby door and let your child out of the car to enter the school. Pull away from the curb. A staff member will assist your child through the front door to wait in the lobby. This is a “Kiss and Go” area with no room to park and linger. Sorry! Parents dropping off children after 8:50 AM must come into the main office to sign-in your child.

8. Parent Pickup in the Afternoon: (A parent must arrange for pickup ahead of time by sending in a morning note). Drive your car by the front lobby entrance toward the round-about near the back of the building. A staff member with a walkie-talkie will ask you to show identification. Your child(ren) will be summoned from the cafetorium to come through the kitchen exit to your car. Child(ren) will enter your car from the curb. Drive around the round-about to leave.

9. School Safety: Until we get to know you better, please have identification ready to show us when coming to pick up your child.

10. If your child forgets to bring home his/her homework, please do not return to school and ask for a room to be opened. Our maintenance staff has a busy schedule completing the nightly cleaning.

11. The school cafeteria will serve lunch beginning the first day. Children can also bring lunch. If your child was an Arlington student last year, you received your child’s 6-digit PIN number that is used whenever he/she goes through the lunch line. This will be your child’s PIN number every year. If you can still locate the number, help your child memorize it. We will have a record of each child’s number at school too.

12. After 8/25, you can go to the Arlington web site at http://www.arlingtonschools.org/ and click on "News, Calendars & Events". Click on "District Wide WebEvent Calendars". Scroll to the Vail Farm Elementary in the "Calendar" window. Click "Go". We’ll update our school calendar on a regular basis.

13. On September 7th, the staff will be engaged in meetings and last minute preparations. The main office will be open, but the rest of the building will be closed.

We are very excited about welcoming you to Vail Farm Elementary. I know it seems like a lot of details. It will help us keep your child safe and happy.

Sincerely,

Michael Kessler