Skillin Newsletter from Principal Connolly (Mid-September)
Hello Skillin Families!
We have been back to school for just over 2 weeks now and are learning our school-wide and classroom expectations and procedures. The hallways and classrooms are buzzing with excitement! We had our first whole school community meeting today during which Mrs. Remsen shared how all Skyhawks are going to S.O.A.R. this year! Ask your child what it means to SOAR at Skillin! Please see below for important information and upcoming events/dates. Thank you for sending your child to school everyday - we are so happy they are here!
School forms and paperwork
Thank you to families who have returned the forms sent home in the opening days of school. If you have not returned the forms, please do so immediately.
The economic status form is particularly helpful to the district as it is the basis for much of our grant funding. If you have not completed this form already, please take a moment to complete it here.
Arrival and Dismissal Reminders
Students are welcome into the building at 8:45am. Please do not drop students off before 8:45am - there is no staff on duty to supervise students.
Please be respectful in your interactions with staff and other parents/guardians. We are the models for our children in being safe, responsible, and respectful.
Please follow all staff directions - we ask all vehicles to pull forward in the loop to keep traffic moving. For the safety of students, staff, and other families, cars should be moving at a crawl in the loop.
In the morning - students should not be let out of vehicles until staff are outside to receive them. Students should NEVER be let out of a vehicle until it is in the drop off loop. This is for the safety of all children!!
In the afternoon, we will make sure your child gets to the car safely - please do not stop and call for your child or direct them where to go. This is confusing for them and a safety hazard - our staff is in charge of getting students safely to the correct vehicle.
Parents/guardians should stay in their cars during drop off and pick up. If you need to help your child in or out of the car, please wait until you are pulled all the way up to the stop sign so as not to back up traffic in the loop
Please be patient! Everyone is in the same line and staff do their best to keep things moving smoothly and safely.
Attendance
Consistent and timely attendance at school is critical to student success! We want all of our students in school, on time, everyday. If your child is going to be absent or late, please call the main office at 773-7375. You may also email your child’s teacher, Mrs. Quirk (quirkpa@spsdme.org) or Mrs. Tweedie (tweedihe@spsdme.org).
If you have any questions or need support with your child’s attendance, please contact Nurse Kristie (scribnkr@spsdme.org), Mrs. Holt (holtsha@spsdme.org), Mrs. Remsen (remsenni@spsdme.org) or Mrs. Connolly (connolbe@spsdme.org)
School Safety
This year, all schools in the district are adopting the Standard Response Protocol from the I Love You Guys Foundation as our protocol for school safety. This provides consistent language and responses in all South Portland schools. We will have ongoing professional development for staff and Mrs. Connolly briefly introduced this to students at the community meeting. Teachers will be explicitly teaching the protocols to students, and we will have practice drills throughout the year. We have already had our first fire drill and the children did an AMAZING job! Mrs. Connolly deemed it the best first fire drill in the 27 years she’s been an educator!
More information will be shared throughout the year with families and can be found at https://iloveuguys.org/
We will also have information to share at our Family Information Night on October 5th (see below)
October 5th Family Information Night - Save the Date!
Please join us on Thursday, October 5th for a family information night from 5:00-6:00pm at Skillin. In partnership with our amazing PTA, we will host an information fair in the gym for families to learn more about our school-wide PBIS (Positive Behavior Support and Intervention), Skillin Skyhawks SOAR, our Safety Response Protocol, and more!
We encourage families to bring their children and let them help answer questions you might have about our school!
The PTA will be hosting an ice cream social with some special guests!
And, we will have an official ribbon cutting for our new playground structure!
This will not be a time to visit your child’s classroom or meet with their teacher - we will have conferences later in the fall.
More information to come!
PTA Corner
Many thanks to our PTA for all their hard work and support in welcoming students, staff, and families back to school! From decorating the walkways and hallways to welcoming families at meet and greet and stocking the staff room with coffee and treats, they made us all feel welcomed and appreciated. We appreciate their hard work and dedication to our Skillin community!!
Join the Student Directory: The Student Directory is a voluntary directory of contact information for Skillin students by grade. The Student Directory allows families to connect with each other (think birthday invitations or making plans for play dates.) The school can not give out this information, the directory is optional and will only be distributed to those who choose to participate. You can customize exactly which information you choose to share. Fill out this form: 2023-2024 Student Directory
Many hands make for light work: Fill out the Skillin PTA Volunteer Form to let us know how you would like to help this year. We’ll be reaching out with opportunities.
Message from the High School Athletic Director
We encourage students from throughout the community to support our high school teams and enjoy a positive experience at our events. To provide a safe environment for all of our student spectators, elementary and middle school students attending South Portland High School athletic contests must be accompanied by and under the direct supervision of a parent, guardian or responsible adult chaperone at all times during contests. Game staff will be monitoring entry points to our facilities to ensure young children do not attend games unsupervised. Students who are unsupervised will be asked to call home and for parents to come pick them up.
Upcoming dates:
Thursday, September 28th - Volunteer training in the library, 5:30pm
Thursday, September 28th - PTA meeting, 6:00 - 7:00pm in the art room
Tuesday, October 3rd - Picture Day
Friday, October 6th - NO SCHOOL
Monday, October 9th - NO SCHOOL, Indigenous People’s Day
Wednesday, October 18th - Early Release, dismissal at 12:40pm
