August 4, 2017

Greetings Parents/Guardians,

I hope this letter finds you and your family enjoying this beautiful summer.  August is such a wonderful month for travel and beach time, but also marks the transition and excitement that we face as the new school year quickly approaches. I look forward to greeting all students on the first day of school, Tuesday, September 5th.  I would like to extend, to parents and students, the opportunity to tour the school and to meet the staff at Florence Rideout Elementary School on Thursday, August 31st  from 8:30-9:30 am.

 We will be welcoming several new educators and have changes to several teaching assignments.  Ms. Kristen Hebert who served as a third grade teacher will be instructing second grade students. Ms. Erin Tierney who was part of the fourth grade team will be teaching fifth grade. We also have several new faces joining our staff.  We welcome Ms. Danielle Cambray. A recent graduate of the University of Delaware, Ms. Cambray will be joining our dynamic first grade team.  Mr. Greg Lamers will be sharing his talents as our new art teacher.  Mrs. Michelle Locke will be supporting students as our new RTI coordinator. Dr. Julie Heon has been hired as the new director of curriculum for SAU 63.   We are currently interviewing candidates for our media generalist position as Ms. Meredith Raboin recently resigned. We welcome all of the new staff, and know that their contributions will be many to our students and schools! 

 There are several important procedures and protocols that I would like to review with parents prior to the first day of school. Parents may drop their child off at school at the supervised parent drop off zone.  This is located at the rear of the building along Livermore Street.  Students will enter the building and proceed to the playground.  Students should not arrive before 7:40 AM when playground supervision begins or after 8:00 AM when there is no staff on site to supervise this location. Students arriving late must have an adult accompany them to the front office.  Please park in the visitor parking spaces and walk with your child to the main office. The front driveway is for school bus traffic only

Parents that wish to pick their child up at the conclusion of the school day are asked to park along Whiting Park, Tremont or Livermore Street and wait outside the gymnasium in the lobby.  Enclosed with this letter please find 2 colored “FRES pick-up tickets”.  For the safety of your child parents or other adults must show these tickets to your child’s classroom teacher during pick-up time in the gymnasium.  As staff become familiar with parents they may not ask to see them, however we do at times have substitute teachers who may not know parents. Please make sure that you give your child’s “pick-up” ticket to alternate adult who may be picking him/her up from school.

 Many of our families have created accounts and are using our Parent Pick-up Patrol Software. For those who have not established an account, please look for a welcome e-mail from Parent Pick-up Patrol with directions on how to set-up your account over the next few weeks.  If you have established an account last school year please take some time to update your preferences. This new online software allows us to more efficiently manage dismissal change requests.  If you should have any other questions regarding this please contact administrative staff at either school.

Take some time to familiarize yourself with the new Wilton-Lyndeborough School District and Florence Rideout Elementary website (www.sau63.org).   Please add it to your favorites and refer to it frequently for information. The 2016-17 bus routes and times will be posted on our website by the second week of August.  I encourage you to become involved with our fantastic PTO.  This dedicated group of parents works hard provide great learning enrichment opportunities for our students and can always use support.

Finally, enjoy these last few weeks spending time with family and friends.  As always, my door is open to you. Feel free to call, email, or stop by to discuss any questions or concerns you may have in regards to your child.  I am looking forward to working closely with all of you as we continue to build and strengthen our positive school community.

Sincerely,

Tim O’Connell, Principal