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Welcome From Mr. Pellegreen

Taylor Elementary School  “Home of Taylor Pride”  2600 N. Stuart Street  Arlington, VA 22207    August, 2018 Dear Parents: Welcome to the 2019 – 2020 Taylor school year!  You and your family are invited to our Open House on Thursday, August 29th from 3:00-4:00 p.m.  We hope you can join us. The PTA has arranged for food trucks to be on site if you want to purchase dinner and socialize. (The building will be closed at 4)The 2019 – 2020 school year begins on Tuesday, September 3rd.  The school day is from 9:00 a.m. to 3:41 p.m. daily.  If there is an early release, school will dismiss at 1:26 p.m. You can access the PTA web site at www.taylorpta.org for any changes to the regular school day and our school events calendar.  The APS school calendar is available atwww.apsva.us/calendars/ NEW THIS YEAR:  Specials will be on a rotating schedule this year. This means PE, music, art and FLES will be assigned to a particular day numbered, 1-5, not a day of the week. For example, the first day of school is on a Tuesday, but will be Day 1 of specials, Wednesday is Day 2, etc. The rotating schedule will account for scheduled holidays only. Inclement weather and early release days will not impact the rotation. The day rotation can be found on the school calendar at https://taylor.apsva.us/calendar/NEW THIS YEAR: Considering the number of students with allergies or other food-related conditions, outside food may not be brought in for birthday celebrations, although other ways to celebrate are not discouraged. There are selected pre-planned holiday parties and celebrations during the year, and we ask teachers to notify families about food that may be brought, and a healthy option must always be offered. NEW THIS YEAR: All first day packet information must be updated through ParentVUE at https://vue.apsva.us/PXP2_Login.aspx  If you have not activated your ParentVUE account, please contact the Taylor front office. If you previously set-up an account and cannot get in, please use forgot/change password.ARRIVAL: On the first day of school, grades 3 and 4 students should walk down the driveway and enter the school through the Gymnasium door. Those students will remain in the gymnasium until 8:55, at that time they will be dismissed to their homerooms. Grades 2 & 5 will enter through the outside cafeteria door and remain in the cafeteria until 8:55. They will be released/escorted to their classrooms at that time. Pre-K, Kindergarten and 1st Grade, will go directly to their classrooms entering through the front door. Any student arriving after 8:55 may enter through the front door and go directly to class. Doors open at 8:40 a.m.  Students must be in their seat at 9:00 when attendance is taken in the classroom.  Those not in their seat when the bell rings are tardy and must obtain a pass from the office. CAFETERIA: The cafeteria will be open on September 3rd.  Breakfast will be available at 8:40 every day.  Meal costs and menus are available at www.apsva.us/food-and-nutrition-services. Lunch, including milk, may be purchased daily, weekly or monthly.  An unlimited number of lunches may be purchased.  Our lunch program operates on a cash, on-line payment or check (made payable to TAYLOR SCHOOL) basis only; there are no charge accounts.  For students bringing theirlunches, please do not send food that needs to be heated as there is no microwave available. MY SCHOOL BUCKS: Arlington Public Schools offers students and parents flexibility when paying for meals and Extended Day. Parents may make payments online for these services using a secure online payment portal that accepts VISA® or MasterCard®. Your student’s Arlington Public Schools Student ID Number or birthday is required when registering for mySchoolBucks.com.  If you do not know your child’s ID number, the office will be happy to provide it.  Further information is available at www.apsva.us/online-payment/. TRANSPORTATION: Transportation Services will be mailing letters to parents who are eligible for bus service.  It will include your child’s bus route number, bus stop and pick-up/drop-off times.  No letter will be generated if you are designated a walker. Information about biking or walking to school is available online at www.apsva.us/schoolwalkmapsor www.walkarlington.com.  A list of Frequently Asked Transportation Questions may be found online at www.apsva.us/transportation. The Transportation Services Call Center is open weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at (703) 228-8670.BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT:   Wednesday, September 11th from 6:30p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Please plan to attend and learn more about the grade and classroom. New families to Taylor meet at 6:15 in the multi-purpose room.KINDERGARTEN ARRIVAL: As buses arrive, kindergarten students will be escorted to their homeroom class.   Please complete the name tag below and place it on a string for your child to wear the first week of school.  Be sure to indicate if your child walks, attends Extended Day or rides a bus.  If they do ride a bus, please be sure to include the bus number and stop on the tag. Please indicate if the routine varies during the week.DISMISSAL CHANGES: If after-school plans change, please notify the homeroom teacher that morning by note.  Please note, the office willnot accept changes to dismissal plans after 3:15. Students cannot be picked up between 3:15 and dismissal.  This will minimize classroom disruption as instruction continues until 3:41.KISS AND LEARN:  Traffic and vehicles continue to present safety and congestion issues around our school. We have several programs that will allow safe, efficient student drop-off and pick-up at school.   Taylor School will continue using the morning KISS and LEARN DROP-OFF for students. The morning KISS and LEARN DROP-OFF is located in front of the school on the school side of Stuart Street. Vehicles enter the KISS and LEARN zone and are greeted by school safety patrols and staff who will assist with unloading students. Parents are encouraged to use the KISS and Learn and avoid the unsafe practice of parking on the other side of Stuart Street and walking across the street. We offer an afternoon student pick-up for vehicles. Drivers will be permitted to enter the school parking lot after school buses leave at~3:50 p.m. daily or ~1:35 on days designated as early release. At that time, vehicles can move to the front entrance where staff will escort students to their cars.Finally, we hope everyone has a terrific first two weeks that set-up a highly productive year. Sincerely,​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Harold (1)Harold Pellegreen ​​Principal