Windermere Weekly Parent Update
8.22.21
We had the BEST start to our school year. It’s so great to be back together and in our brand new space, we love! On behalf of the staff, I want to thank all of you for a great start to the year! Thank you for sharing your children with us. This coming week will be an even better week as we continue learning our routines, and most importantly building community within our classrooms and our grade level neighborhoods.
Many of you have had the opportunity to visit our new school. It’s amazing. There are still a few things to complete as far as finishing the space and we will be working on these items over the next few months and this school year. Just like when you build a home or remodel, as you live in the space, you see things that need to be fixed, corrected or completed. Of course all safety inspections have passed. The items I am talking about are the touches or touch ups. I am getting a timeline on the completion date for our playground. We, too, want this added space for our students to spread out and enjoy their playground with the many pieces of fun equipment. I will update you as I learn more about the dates for completion.
This week we have a few important dates for your calendar. We hope you can join us!
Have a great Sunday. See you tomorrow.
Julie
Tuesday, 8.24.21
Sunday, 9.5.21
Monday, 9.6.21
Stop, Drop and Go: With this week being our first “typical” week back (without staggered starts, first days of school and Breakfast on the Playground), we most likely will adapt our procedures with the help of Upper Arlington’s Police Department. Thank you for being patient with us and adhering to the attached guide until we update it.
Visitors: The district welcomes and encourages visits to school by parents, other adult residents, and interested educators. District policy 9150 provides additional details related to school visitors. Visitors are required to complete SchoolSAFEid when entering the building.
Volunteers: The district recognizes certain programs and activities can be enhanced through the use of volunteers who have particular knowledge or skills that will be helpful to members of the professional staff responsible for those programs and activities. Most volunteer services are conducted under the supervision of a staff member and thus requires the completion of SchoolSAFEid at the building.
In some cases, where a volunteer may, on a regular basis, and without supervision of a staff member, the volunteer will be required to complete a full BCI/FBI background check and be approved by the board of education. Volunteers are approved seasonally and/or annually depending on the need. If service is continual, the BCI/FBI background check is valid for five years. Volunteers may also be asked to secure a Pupil Activity Permit through the Ohio Department of Education. We kindly ask that volunteers are vaccinated.
How to Get Help Elementary, Middle, High School, Online Academy and Staff
We have published a new resource to help students, families, teachers & staff find how to reach out for help when using digital devices and classroom technology. Visit How to Get Help in the UA Online Learning Resources site.
NameCoach NameBadge
Besides the integration of NameCoach in our Canvas LMS, we all have the ability to create a NameBadge that can be integrated as a button or link to your email signature or profile page of any program/application. Please click this LINK to read more and see how you can sign in with your uaschools.org email address. Once you create a password and are logged in, you will find explicit instructions on embedding your NameBadge in different places. This resource is available to both UA Staff and Students. Here is my example. Click HERE to see the preview page.
New Filtering Experience Rolling Out This Week on Student iPads
The new Relay filter will be quietly installed on student iPads over the next week. It’ll bring a number of improvements. Most notably, better YouTube filtering, building administrator access to student browsing, a “Parent Portal for at home management” and best of all decrypted filtering WITHOUT the proxy prompt (??much rejoicing??). We will be rolling out these features throughout the fall. Our first step is to make sure all students have the filter app installed on the iPad. Please watch for communication as these features are rolled out.
The Relay Filter will install automatically on all iOS 14.4 and up devices. Anything under that version will still have the proxy until they update. Students that experience proxy issues will need to cancel the proxy prompt and run the iOS software update. Then Relay will begin to install. Users and staff will know that Relay is working by looking for the "Relay Smart Agent" app and checking that the client's email is there and that it says "Upper Arlington Schools".
As always if there are questions or concerns students can have their device checked while at school with one of the building technicians.
Windermere Weekly PTO Update
What a great and exciting week seeing all of our Windermere Hawks! Whether new or returning we are so happy to be back in our neighborhood and in our brand-new school building!
We know many families saw the building for the first time Sunday during the Open House. We were happy to see lots of neighbors stop by as well to see our beautiful new school! The teachers and staff have been working so hard to get everything together in time and we are so appreciative for everything they've done - what an amazing learning space for all of our kids!
As we do every year, the PTO welcomed teachers and staff back to school with a delicious luncheon on Tuesday as they prepared their classrooms and school for this year. Many thanks to Sarah Henderson and Debbie Angelos for putting this together!
Upcoming Events
September 2nd-19th - Fall Mum Sale
Wednesday, September 22nd @ 6:30pm - General PTO Meeting @ Windermere
Monday, September 27th - Mum Sale pickup (location TBD)
Friday, October 8th - Fall Family Night 5-8pm
Order Windermere Way T-Shirts!
Windermere Way Day will be Friday, September 3rd. Need a Windermere Way t-shirt? Place your order here by August 25th, Windermere Way T-Shirt Order Form – Windermere Elementary PTO
Fall Family Night is Coming Up!
We are looking for volunteers for our Fall Family Night, October 8th from 5-8pm! If you are interested in being a part of this awesome event, please email our Committee Chairs, Amanda Endicott ([email protected]) and Melissa Evans ([email protected]l).
Join the Birthday Book Club
Please consider celebrating your child's birthday by giving a gift to your school media center! It’s a wonderful way to honor your child's special day, and your gift will be shared and enjoyed by Windermere students for years to come!
At the end of their birthday month, honorees will come to the media center and choose a brand new book from those recently ordered by Mrs. Hemmelgarn, or you may choose a favorite book from the library’s current collection. We will insert a Windermere School Birthday Book Club bookplate into the book. He or she will be the very first student to check it out! When it is returned, the book will become part of the permanent collection (until it is retired due to wear). Don’t stop with just yourself, celebrate your friends and family too! Your teacher would love to have a book donated in his or her honor! What a great gift! Click here to donate online!
Online Directory
Please visit the online directory and update your child/s and family information. This is a great way to stay in-touch with classmates.
Outreach Fund Can Help!
If your family is experiencing financial hardship, the PTO outreach fund is available to assist. Just contact our school’s counselor, Katie O’Keefe, at [email protected]. ***All information will remain confidential***
If you would like to join the PTO in assisting members of our Windermere community through outreach, please visit http://uawindermerepto.org to donate, or email [email protected].
Follow Windermere on Social Media to Stay Connected!
Follow Windermere PTO on Facebook for the latest updates and info!
Please contact us anytime with questions or feedback @ [email protected]
GO HAWKS!
Jen Mascho and Stephanie Tozbikian
PTO Co-Presidents 2021-2022