September 17, 2021

 

Griffin Memorial School News

September 17, 2021 GMS Families, We recognize that the bus situation has been less than ideal so far this year. I wanted to take a moment to explain the situation to you and let you know steps that have been taken. We identified that one of the major aspects affecting the buses was the pick up and transfer with St. Francis School. This pick up was happening in a way that was not allowing that bus to arrive in a timely manner. Unfortunately, this bus acts as a shuttle where students transfer to other buses. This means that other buses cannot leave until that bus arrives. We are thankful for First Student and St. Francis School for working with us to find a solution. This teamwork allowed us to find a way to have this bus arrive much sooner and keep us closer to schedule. Thank you to the St. Francis Team and First Student. We are now able to get a clearer picture of the regular bus departure and will now work to update the bus routes to reflect more realistic times of arrival. Please understand that these times are always estimates, and I will notify families via text if something happens that requires any bus to leave more than 15 minutes late. Thank you all for your patience and understanding during this process, we appreciate how difficult this has been on busy families.  Parents, please double-check your phone contacts to ensure that the number you have saved for GMS is 424-5931. We recently got a new phone system and the ONLY number that works for incoming calls is 424-5931.  The Powerschool information portal is now open for returning families to confirm their information, make changes, and grant permissions for this school year. This process must be completed for all students by October 1. Below there is a link with a helpful sheet with information for completing this registration process. Returning Students Registration We can't wait to see many of you at our Open Houses this coming week. At this time we are also looking for donations of water to our Nurse's Office if you are able to give. Please keep reading to find out more information about Girls on the Run, the return of Chorus, and many more important updates. Be Well, Be Curious, Now What?,  Dan Mitchell, Principal Maura Clinton-Jones, Assistant Principal Upcoming Dates September 22, 2021 Open House - PreK - Grade 1 6:00 A-K; 6:30 L-Z September 23, 2021 Open House - Grades 2 -4 6:00 A-K; 6:30 L-Z October 19, 2021 School Picture Day GMS News COVID Update At this time we are reporting ONE positive case within our school community. Open House Open House will take place on September 22 and 23 this year. This event is a parent only event in order for you to learn about your child's classroom experience and hear from the teacher. This is meant for general information purposes and in a group, specific student based conversations will not be able to be had. To limit the crowd size we will breakdown the times by alphabet. You can see the breakdown below in the upcoming events section. If you have two children on the same night, we ask that you join the younger child's class in the 6:00 block and then join the older class at 6:30. Our Specialists only attend one night. If you need to speak to one of the specialists and it is not your student's night, you are welcome to join that night to speak to them. The nights they are attending are as follows: Sept. 22: PE, Music, Library ; Sept. 23: Art, SET. Further, our School Nurse, Mrs. Vail-Naylor will be attending on Thursday Sept.23 so if you have a question for her and are a Wednesday family you may stop by to meet with her. Chorus Is Back!!! Welcome back to another year at GMS! I am thrilled to announce the RETURN of our GMS choral program! Following the protocols of both the state and national music standards, I am excited to create a safe and fun opportunity for your child to participate in chorus this year. Choral rehearsals will take place after school on Thursdays from 3:15 to 3:45pm outdoors - unmasked - 3 feet apart (WEATHER PERMITTING - indoor rehearsals will take place in the gymnasium - masked - 3 feet apart). Pick-up will take place at 3:45pm (more information to come on this). OUR FIRST REHEARSAL WILL BE THURSDAY, SEPT 30TH. Please fill out the form below if your child is interested (DUE NO LATER THAN FRIDAY 9/24) : https://forms.gle/ZF9T4UVYFj3pQV6D6 Girls on the Run There are still spots available for the Fall Session of Girls on the Run. If you are interested in signing up your third or fourth grade girl please visit girlsontherunnh.org to sign up. Registration closes this Sunday at midnight. From Ms. Poli Ms. Polichronopoulos has a clinical intern from Rivier University, Julia Maloney, working with her this year.  Julia is looking to build a caseload for individual and group sessions.  Please complete this form if you are interested in your child working with her.  This should be for students needing to meet weekly or bi-weekly and currently do not receive supports elsewhere (by Mrs. Hayes or Ms. Polichronopoulos).  Thank you!  News from the SAU/ Superintendent We have simplified our weekly reporting around COVID-19.  The new spreadsheet will be posted to our website every week:  LINK. Further NH-DHHS has updated their definitions for cluster and outbreak. These definitions can be found below. News from the PTO Save the Date: Pumpkin Festival on Friday, October 29th at 6-8pm! Come to the planning meeting on Wednesday, September 29th at 6:30pm on Zoom. Link available on the PTO Fb page!  PTO Directory & Volunteer Form! Friendly reminder, please sign up for the 2021-2022 GMS PTO Family Directory and to volunteer. (The QR Code is no longer working.) Please note the directory will NOT be posted on Facebook - only those that sign up will be emailed a link. Please fill out the directory information by September 15th to be included! News from the Community Repeated News/ Long Term Info to Know Support Our Troops Specialist Steven Moore-Miller (United States Army) is currently deployed overseas (his son Hayden is in Mrs. Allen's second grade class). He has been gone since March-April 2021 and is expected to return sometime in January 2022. In an effort to boost the morale of the soldiers and to let them know that we are thinking of them, we would like to collect some goodies/supplies to send over. The end of a deployment can be tough and the time can really go by slowly so we are hoping this will give them the boost that they need to finish strong. There are approximately 150 other soldiers with him (two women soldiers). We placed one box in the vestibule for your donations or you could send something into school with your child. Also, you could "Sponsor a Soldier Box" by sending cash in an envelope labeled, "Soldier Box". It costs approximately $13.00 to send one box and we are hoping to send several! We are hoping to send the boxes out at the beginning of October. - Thank You! Below is a list of ideas for donations: -Handmade cards -Candy (no chocolate - it does not travel well) -Slim Jims -Mixed nuts -Gum -Sunflower seeds -Granola bars -Trail mix -Tuna packets -Powdered drink mixes -Hot sauce  -Bath Towels -Baby powder/Foot powder -Bars of soap -Deodorant (non-aerosol) -Razors -Sunblock (lotion) -Toothbrushes/Toothpaste/Floss -Chapstick -Hand warmers -Dryer sheets -Lens cleaning cloths -Small nerf footballs (it's always fun to have different team logos on them) -Holiday/Xmas Decorations/Santa Hats/Stockings End 68 Hours of Hunger End 68 Hours of Hunger and Litchfield Schools are pleased to inform you about a free, confidential food program which provides students with meals from Friday after school until they return to school on Monday morning.  If meeting the weekend nutritional needs of your child is challenging at this time, we would like to help meet that need.  All food is non-perishable and easy to prepare.  If your child has any food allergies, please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate this need.  Nut products are included for those who are not allergic, but children are informed that they are not to open the bags until a parent can review the contents.  The bags are delivered to schools and students will take the bags home with them on the bus or at parent pick-up.  If you would like to pick up the bags yourself, arrangements can be made for pick up at the front office. If you are interested in joining the program or learning more, please contact Elin Pelland, School Social Worker, at 424-2133 x 2215 or at epelland@litchfieldsd.org.   Powerschool Parent Portal This summer we switched our Student Information System to Powerschool. As part of Powerschool, you are able to access the Parent Portal in the Unified Classroom feature of this system. Please follow the link below to set up you parent portal account. Please contact the main office if you have an issues creating an account. For Parents - Directions for Parent Access Bus Routes Bus Routes for the upcoming year can be found here: Bus Routes Absence Reporting Email The GMS office now has a dedicated email address to use to report your child tardy or absent:  GMSabsences@litchfieldsd.org. You can also find it on the Griffin Memorial School homepage, on the top, left side under “ABSENCES”. When you send an email please include the following information:                 *Child’s first and last name                 *Teacher                 *Reason for absence If you would prefer to leave a voicemail message when your child is absent or tardy you are still welcome to call 424-5931 and then hit “2” when you hear the automated message. Please remember to include the above information in the voice message. Please note that when you email or leave a voice message saying that your child “will be out” then the absence is recorded as unexcused. Please tell us the reason for the absence so it is documented correctly. 229 Charles Bancroft Hwy. Litchfield, NH 03052 (603) 424-5931 Past Editions of the GMS School News can be found at: https://griffinnhnews.blogspot.com/