I hope you are all gearing up for a wonderful school year! It’s seems so contrary to be celebrating “typical” but we are grateful to finally know that everything has settled in to the new normal and that COVID is no longer the dominant issue for communities. We’ve been hard at work getting ready for September!
Here are a few staffing changes to note:
Welcome to our new staff members: 2nd grade teacher Ms. Marina Nazziola; Mr. Sean O’Callaghan in 7th/8th Grade Science; Ms. Kelsey Mirabella on the counseling team, providing additional support for all students; and Ms. Erin Shaffer, aide in Preschool. In addition, Ms. Olsen is now teaching 2nd Grade and Ms. LaRusso is teaching 3rd Grade. Welcome back to Mrs. Lehman!
The Parent Portal will open on August 22 so you can begin filling out the forms that are needed for this year including those needed for laptop use. Remember that your students’ accounts containing homeroom teacher and bus information will not be unlocked until you’ve completed your “homework” in the Portal. New this year: you now have the ability to pay on line! Any sorts of fees (or fines) may be paid by credit card in your Parent Portal account. This will include field trips, sports fees, library fines and the $30 Technology Fee for 5th-8th Grade laptop use. Of course, you are still able to send a check to the school but the convenience of on-line payment is now available to you. Note that laptops will not be assigned to students until the $30 Technology Fee is paid. Instructions for how to use the payment portal are enclosed—be sure to choose Boonton Township School District in the dropdown menu.
As we settle into the reality that COVID-19 is an illness similar to other communicable illness (flu, chicken pox, etc.), we can begin to follow the same sort of protocols that we do with these more familiar viruses. Students with symptoms must stay home until they are symptom free. As with any absence for sickness, they will be given the requisite number of days—1 day for each day absent (or more, if needed)—to make up any work missed and may attend teachers’ Extra Help Hours for teaching or clarification. We will not be live streaming for student absences this year. Please note, however, that the cleaning and sanitizing protocols begun at the start of the pandemic will continue to be our regular practice on a daily basis.
Because we are finally able to make plans again and invite more people into the building, I’m excited to report that I’ll be resuming parent coffee get-togethers again. Watch the virtual backpack and our facebook page for dates and details. We’ve also engaged with a stellar organization, Hearts and Hands Professional Development, to provide four parent workshops this year. A flyer is included with this letter with more details and dates to save. Hearts and Hands has been helping us to augment the Social Emotional Learning tools we use at RVS, insuring that we are giving attention to all aspects of the whole child. This year they will share some of this valuable information with you.
Our community partners, the Rockaway Valley School Home and School Association and the Boonton Township Education Foundation have the need to communicate with you from time to time. We share your contact information with them so that they may reach you with important news and updates of their own.
If you do not want your information shared with these groups, please email the school office ([email protected]) to opt out.
I’m looking forward to this year of finally being truly back on track. We’re going to focus a lot of attention on rigor—on taking the extra step in academics, in community building, in helping each other and in finding ways to make a difference in our world whether that’s our classrooms, our neighborhoods or a wider world. The home/school partnership has a valuable role to play as we move forward with these goals and I hope you will find an opportunity or two to contribute to our shared vision for Rockaway Valley School.
With Falcon Pride,
Christian Angelillo, Ed.D.