Let It Snow

December 16, 2022

It is officially winter and snow is on the ground! I'm a believer in you better find joy in snow or you'll have just as much snow but not as much joy. With that being said, the kids (all of them) seem to like to run around and play in it as much as possible. We are requiring snow gear to play in it (boots, snow pants, gloves) or are limiting students to the hard top for recess. It also seems like the right time to tell you we get out as frequently as possible. As a general rule, if the temperature with windchill is 20 or above, we go out. That being said, you may want to fight the good fight at home about making students bring a coat or wear pants. If that is a battle you chose not to fight, we completely understand (I am a parent too) and we will not enforce it here. Just know that they will still have to go outside with their class. Also, with the snow, comes cancellations and delays. The superintendent has shared that he plans on making decisions as early as possible to allow parents to plan accordingly. When we do have a delay, the cafeteria does not serve breakfast as they will already be starting to prepare lunch.

Last call for lost and found! Our new lost and found system has already resulted in more clothing-to-student reunifications than I would have expected. However, we still have a pretty full rack of items. The plan is to clear these during the winter break in preparation for what will likely be an onslaught of snow gear in the new year. I'd encourage you to ask your child to look through or swing by yourself before we donate everything.

I've had some conversations this week around CORIs and I wanted to address some misunderstandings. Anytime we have adults interacting or possibly interacting with students, I feel the responsibility to ensure that these are safe interactions. Volunteers are always required to be CORI checked, as are field trip monitors and obviously all staff. When we have school events during the day, it becomes a murky area. When it is a concert or a presentation where parents and students are clearly separated, it is less of a concern. However, if the event is more like a celebration of learning, a science fair-style event, or anything where there are too many adults to closely monitor while they intermingle with students, it is better to be safe than sorry and make sure everyone is safe to enter the school. My apologies for any inconvenience this additional step may cause, but I do count the safety of our students as my number 1 concern.

I'd like to thank the PTA and all the volunteers for their efforts around the Holiday Shop this week! It was a staggering success and demand clearly outweighed supply at points. The shop volunteers took several trips out to restock shelves. The PTA has offered to open the shop one last time on Monday afternoon for anyone who was absent the first time around.

A Note from Mrs. DiFonso

Digital Delivery - As the Team Chair here at TPS, I wanted to point out that the district shared some information with families earlier this week about the roll out of the PowerSchool Digital Delivery for Special Education paperwork. Please check out the flyer, as well as this informational slideshow to gain a better understanding of what the Digital Delivery will look like for documents such as evaluation consents and IEPs. As we roll out this process in the weeks ahead, I will be here to answer any questions/concerns and to help troubleshoot! We are all new to this together!