Upcoming events of note:

November 19th- 23rd: Holiday Break- No School

November 29th: Bus Evacuation Drill (during the school day)

December 12th: PTO Meeting at 6:30 pm

December 24th-January 1st: Holiday Break

All dates are now located on the Main Page of our new website at EWSD.org/FLE

A Special Thank you!

 

Thank you to Maplehurst Florist for donating flowers to Mrs. Lee's and Ms. Guntulis's class for their science unit on plants.  Students dissected the plants to see the parts of the flowers.  

 

News from Mrs. Downing Room:

Four Fleming students are having their poems read by Vermont Stage actors at the Black Box Theater in December at the Winter Tales performance.   Congratulations to Ayden, Regis, Lauren, and Ben! Performances are at Main Street Landing, Black Box Theater, on Lake Street at the Burlington waterfront.

Each poet receives two comps to their show, and they can email Jamien Forrest, general manager of Vermont Stage Co., at jamien@vtstage.org or call 862-1497 to reserve their tickets.

Additional tickets can be ordered from their website, www.vermontstage.org.

Wednesday, Dec. 12, 7:30 pm Saturday, Dec. 15, 2 pm (MATINEE)

Black Ice                                                Winter and Summer

By Regis Houlier                                      By Lauren Angus

 

Saturday, Dec. 15, 7:30 pm                     Sunday, Dec. 16, 7:30 pm

Biathlon                                                 Ice Fishing

By Benjamin Edwards                              By Ayden Clark

  

PBIS News at Fleming School:

Our theme for the month is “Respect,” what it means and how we show it.  At our monthly Town Meeting we were treated to a rousing rendition of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect,” complete with a band and backup dancers! You can watch the performance here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_-ezYj77_UZJr9RgkA892H9OBtJVGfKd/view?usp=sharing

 

We are exploring what respect looks and sounds like in all areas of our school.  At our annual Veteran’s Day assembly, we showed respect for the men and women who have served and continue to serve our country with pride..

 

Tips for Home

How can you support your student’s learning at home?  Ask the following questions:

 

-- How do you show respect in your classroom? The cafeteria? The playground?

-- What are some ways we can show respect in the community?

-- What does respect look like at home? What can I do to show respect to the people in my family?

Fleming PTO:

Usually the Fleming PTO sponsors the Square One art fundraiser this time of year, but due to staffing changes, they will be postponing this fundraiser until the spring. We just wanted to get the word out, as there are many families that love to use these as holiday presents.

 

Scholastic Book Fair Update:

Thank you to everyone who shopped the Fleming book fair! You helped earn $550 for our PTO and over $600 in Scholastic Dollars to purchase new books for the library and makerspace supplies. Donations to the “All for Books” fundraiser totaled $37.74. Thank you for rounding up! Some of those funds went toward purchasing We’re All Wonders, a book request from the guidance office for all to use. The balance was donated to the Fleming library.

 

School Closings/Delays - How the Decision is Made

The Essex Westford School District understands that our decision to open or close schools in bad weather has a big effect on families. As always, the safety of our students is our top priority.

How does the District make its decision?The EWSD makes the decision to open or close schools due to weather issues based on the following:

• Information on road (and parking lot) conditions from maintenance personnel and from the police
• The amount of snow/ice accumulated
• Weather forecast - is precipitation expected to continue?
• Building conditions - do we have electricity and heat?
• The conditions of sidewalks and surrounding areas
• Temperature and wind chill - some of our students walk to school and some must wait outside for the bus
• We must also consider that some high school students drive to school
• Consultation with other local superintendents

 

How is the public notified?

The EWSD utilizes an automated emergency notification system which will contact families via email, and primary and secondary phone numbers listed with each school. The message will also be shared via the district’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, mobile app, school websites, and will be shared with local TV and radio.

When is the decision made?Ideally, the decision to close school can be made the evening beforehand by 8pm If that is not possible, and a decision must be made in the morning, it should be made by 5:30 a.m. and communicated no later than 6am. If you do not feel as though it is safe for your child to attend school, use your best judgment on whether they should attend. Also, discourage teenagers from driving in bad conditions and offer them alternatives if weather conditions worsen.

We hope that this explanation helps everyone understand the process that our District staff uses to make the best possible decision for all involved.

 

Cold weather is here:

Time to get those jackets out…. And hats and mittens. We have morning outside time from 7:40 until 8:00 am daily and recess will be outside daily unless the temps with wind chill factor reaches zero, or there is freezing rain then we will bring them inside, so please send your child prepared to spend at least 30 minutes outside every day.

 

Lost and Found Update:

As of Friday, November 9th, lost and found had been donated to the Refugee Resettlement program. There was a dozen or more sweatshirts, 10 regular shirts, and about 9 lightweight jackets that were sent. Already within a week, we have numerous items piling up again downstairs in lost and found. PLEASE label your children’s clothes so that we can try our hardest to get them back to their rightful owners. This also includes boots. As we learned this Wednesday, there are at least 6 boys with the same pair of Bogs boots.

 

 

Fleming Student Council Food Drive

Fleming students collected 11 boxes of non perishable food that will be donated next week to the local food shelf pantry. We appreciate your support for this caring for community food drive.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Community Notes of Interest

 

Resources for Families

Free Legal Clinic at First Congregational Church UCC of Burlington (38 South Winooski Ave.) November 18, 2018 – from 1 to 3pm.  Check in for appointments begin at 12:45. The Legal Clinics include a lawyer who can address any legal concerns – from wills to criminal law concerns AND a lawyer who specializes in family law who discuss legal matters related to marriage, family, parents & children.  Please be in touch with Lucy B. Samara at 802.598.0746 with any questions. (these clinics generally happen once a month, you can check with 211 for future dates)

Presentation by Mr. John Halligan- “If I could have a Do-Over”

John Halligan’s son, Ryan, died by suicide on Oct. 7, 2003 after being bullied by classmates at school and online.  He was only 13 years old. Mr. Halligan’s presentation will cover the lessons learned too late for his family regarding how to deal with bullying, cyberbullying, and teen depression. Parents will be empowered with strategies to take preventative actions with their own children.

Monday, December 10th

Questions? Reach out to Lindsay Falby at: 802-857-1505 or lfalby@ewsd.org

RSVP is appreciated but not required:  www.bit.ly/EWSDsuicidePrevention

7-8:30 pm EHS Auditorium

 

Traffic Safety at Afternoon Pick Up

Just a friendly reminder of State Law, there is no idling in your vehicles, in front of the school. This is for the health and safety of the students, staff and others waiting outside to pick up their children. If you’re going to be waiting for more than 5 minutes, please shut off your engine, while you wait. Or park your car in a visitors parking space and come inside to pick up your student and escort them to your vehicle. On below zero days we will have a cup of hot cider waiting for drivers who come inside and park their cars.

No idling please

Gun Safety

Hunting season seems like a good time to remind families about the importance of practicing gun safety in your home.

•  1.7 million children live with unlocked, loaded guns - 1 out of 3 homes with kids have guns.
•   In 2015, 2,824 children (age 0 to 19 years) died by gunshot and an additional 13,723 were injured.
• The vast majority of accidental firearm deaths among children are related to child access to firearms — either self-inflicted or at the hands of another child.

If you have guns in your home please store them unloaded and secured with a gun lock.  If you children are visiting relatives or friends who own guns please check with them to make sure their guns are unloaded and secured.

If you need a gun lock please contact the school nurse Kathleen Ready at 857-7672.  I have a small supply of locks to give away from a recent conference I attended.

 

Fleming School Mission Statement:

Provide an education which challenges, nurtures, and supports each learner as a whole person, and offers them broad opportunities to engage in learning in a creative, safe, healthy, and equitable learning community.