Dear Parents, I want to welcome everyone back from summer break. I hope your summer was everything you wanted it to be. I am extremely excited about the upcoming year. A new Standard Based Learning System is being implemented district wide. It will be a challenging task, which will take us a giant step forward in assuring academic achievement for every student in every school. There will be two (2) Parent Information nights on September 29th and 30th, from 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. in the cafeteria, in which I will review the new system. I will also give information on testing and other programs in our Academic Achievement Plan. I would like to welcome Ms. Susan Crooke, Ms. Glenda Nicholson, and Duc Van Nguyen to our staff this year. Ms. Crooke is the primary special education teacher in Room 17. Ms. Nicholson is the Instructional Assistant in Room 23 and Mr. Van Nguyen is the Vietnamese bilingual Assistant. We are pleased to have them join our staff. A different discipline policy goes into effect this year. A letter explaining the new policy will come home tomorrow in the parent information packet. I do want to clarify that teachers will continue to use classroom interventions to diffuse or instruct students in appropriate ways to handle differences or disruptive behavior. Students that are sent to the office will fall under the guidelines of the new policies. Arbor Heights received an approval notice to hire a full time volunteer coordinator this year through the AmeriCorps Project. A flyer for that position is enclosed with this bulletin. If you know of anyone that you believe would be a good match with the school community please refer them to the office. Getting under way each year is a daunting task. I want to thank all of the Arbor Heights staff for their tireless preparation in opening this school year. I also want to thank Tish Hesse, Suzette, Ashley and Nicole Nedervelt, Lynn Barnicle-Moy, Peter Moy, Char Hitch and Lori Matalone for collating the massive amount of material that goes home each new school year. Let me conclude with this statement. Our children may not know, nor perhaps even appreciate, the depth of our commitment to them now. Let us join in actively supporting our children in the present so that we may present a bright and glowing future to them all. I look forward to working with all of you to make this year a tremendous success for all our students. Sincerely, Barry S. Dorsey Principal News From The Office Each student will bring home the Parent Information Packet on Friday, September 10th. Please take time this weekend to go through the packet and sign and return all the pertinent information on Monday. We refer to the Data Sheet for all emergency phone numbers in case of an injury, emergency situation, transportation problem, etc. Please go through the Data Sheet carefully to be sure all the information is correct and make any changes that are necessary. Instrumental Music Instruction Our new Instrumental Music Teacher, Brad Smith, was here this morning to talk to fourth and fifth grade students about music lessons. The schedule has not been set yet, more information will be going home soon. Upcoming Events Mark your calendars: Kindergarten Parent Orientation - September 16th at 3:30 Parent Information Nights - September 29th and 30th at 7:00 Picture Day - October 12th Open House - October 14th