A Note from the Principal’s Desk:  I would first like to thank all our amazing families for their patience and support as we navigate through this new normal of life.  We will continue to do our part to make sure you stay connected with your child’s teacher, and all activities going on in the school. We also would like to welcome all the new families that have joined us this past month as well.  We look forward to continuing to make memories with all the children and their families.

This month we will be celebrating our Grandparents, the changing of the season and also Patriot’s Day, with our annual Patriotic March.  The children will also be learning about the life cycle of an apple and celebrating it with our APPLE WEEK, and learning about who Johnny Appleseed is.

Links 2 Home 

If you’re not currently receiving photos and daily reports for your child you can easily change this by downloading the Links 2 Home app on your phone. Just type ‘Links 2 Home’ in the search bar for the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. After downloading Links 2 Home you can register with the same email address that you used to enroll your child in our school.

Updating your information in Alma 

Have you changed your email address or phone number? Need to add or remove an emergency contact? You can do this at any time in Alma. If you need help logging in or accessing the system please let us know.

Have a wonderful month!

Nieva Gatbonton

Principal

IMPORTANT DATES:

September 7th                                     Labor Day  *SCHOOL IS CLOSED*

September 10th                                  Football Day

September 11th                                   Patriot’s Day

September 13th                                  Grandparent’s Day

September 14th                                  National Coloring Day

September 16th                                  National Playdoh Day

September 21st-25th                         Apple Week

September 22nd                                 First Day of Fall

September 23rd                                 Umbrella Day

September 25th                                 Johnny Appleseed Day

Illness Policy Reminder:

Our parents are vital partners in helping us to maintain a safe and healthy environment for the students in our school. The most important thing you can do to assist us in creating a healthy environment is to keep your child home if they are ill. This reduces the spread of illness and allows your child to fully recuperate. Children may not attend school until they have been symptom free for 24 hours if they display any of the following:

• Fever of 100 degrees of more—must be fever free for 24 hours with no fever-reducing medicine before returning to school
• Vomiting, diarrhea or stomach upset
• Heavy nasal discharge requiring wiping every 3-5 minutes
• Persistent, non-productive or barking cough
• Sore throat
• Skin rash, including diaper rash
• Head lice
• Symptoms of a communicable disease
• Fussy, cranky behavior unlike child’s normal demeanor that may indicate illness
  For more information please see our Parent Handbook or reach out to a member of our administrative team

Parking Lot Safety

Please remember not to leave any valuables in your car (including your children) when entering our building or any other location. With the slump in the economy, thieves are getting BOLD! They are taking part in a practice  refer as “Smash and Grab”. They target mostly women’s cars who leave without a purse in hand who have left their purses, lap tops, etc. sitting in plain view in their locked vehicles! The “locked vehicle” does not stop them as they come prepared with a special glass breaking tool! They break your window, grab what they want and speed away!

Rules for Vehicles While On School Grounds: 

Because the safety of our children is of paramount concern to us, we require all parents to adhere to the following rules of the road while on campus:

1. There is a 5 miles per hour speed limit at all times while on school property.
2. Park in designated parking spaces only.
3. While on school grounds, pedestrians always have the right of way.
4. Vehicle ignitions MUST be turned off, and the keys removed, while parked on school grounds.
5. Children may NOT be left unattended in a vehicle at any time or for any reason.
6. Violations of these rules may result in a warning. If a violation is serious, or if violations continue, school personnel are authorized to take a tag number for a report to the local police.

Tuition Policy Reminder:

• Tuition is due no later than Friday prior to the week of attendance. Tuition is considered delinquent at 12:00 PM on Monday. A $25 late fee charge will be assessed at that time and should be included in your payment. Tuition is continuous throughout the year. There are no deductions in tuition for absences, illness, or the holidays that are observed throughout the year. Each child is entitled to one week of vacation credit for each school year after attending school for six months. Requests for vacation credit must be presented in writing to the office at least two weeks in advance.
• A charge of $1 per minute will be assessed for children picked-up after 12:00 PM for half-day students, and 6:00 PM for full-day students.
• Sign up for our Automatic Payment Program and avoid late fee charges via your parent portal, ALMA! You can also use this portal to submit payments via credit card.
• We encourage you all parents to sign into your parent portal, ALMA, to view your account, print statements, make payments, and update contact information.  ALMA is an online platform that can be reached from this website from the “For Parents” tab.  Please see an administrative staff member if you need help setting up your account or a password reset.

Additional Reminders:

• Please make sure that your child has a crib-sized fitted sheet to cover his/her mat, a blanket, and at least two spare set of clothing in his/her cubby. On Fridays, you must take blankets and sheets home to be laundered and return them on Mondays. Please check your child’s cubby everyday for soiled clothing or other items that may need to be taken home. Please also make sure all items are clearly marked with your child’s name (clothing, sheets, blankets, sweaters and jackets, towels and bathing suits, etc.).
• We ask that your child wear appropriate shoes to School in order to protect them for potential injuries. Flip Flops are not permitted at school.
• Merryhill School is a NUT FREE environment, we ask that you not bring any food items into the school that contain nut products.

These are temporary changes that will stay in place until we have updated information from local, state, federal, and corporate guidelines.

• Our school will have temporary changes to our hours of operation in order facilitate the new licensing regulations.  The school will be open from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm until further notice.
• Parent pick-up and drop-off will all take place outside the school at the front door.  A member of the admin team will meet parents at the door to take the child’s temperature and collect them with their belongings to be taken to the classroom.  We will no longer permit any entrance to the building by anyone other than students or staff.
• We will no longer be providing lunch service.  We will still serve am/pm snack as well as milk/water, but all students will need to bring a lunch from home each day for the time being.
• Sheets and blankets used for napping will need to be sent home at the end of each day to be laundered and returned the following day.
• All staff and children 3 years or older will be required/recommended to wear a face mask while inside the school building.  They will not have to wear it while eating, resting, or playing outside.

We will continue to send updates of any upcoming changes to our current school procedures. We thank you again for your patience and understanding during these difficult times as well as for sticking with us at Merryhill Calvine Preschool