September 13, 2020

Dear Rowe families,

We had a fantastic first week of school! It was wonderful to welcome first grade students back and to meet our new kindergarten students and families. The appointment days on Tuesday and Wednesday provided a great opportunity for teachers and students to get acquainted a bit before the first day of school. I was amazed at how confident the children were in walking to their classes independently on that first morning. It was nice for the remote learners to meet their teacher in person before beginning in the online curriculum.

We all recognize that our current situation is not easy. Please rest assured that we will put your child’s emotional health at the forefront. Here is a link to a short summary of protocols we are using to keep everyone safe. Please be sure to review them with your child. Rowe Covid Safety Protocols

Dismissal

I appreciate your patience as we work through making our dismissal process as smooth and efficient as we can. The first buses leave at 3:00. We also go to retrieve students getting picked up in the farthest pod at 3:00. We then bring students down to the front of the school in “waves” to avoid overcrowding in the halls. It is helpful if some people can come at 3:10 or 3:15. If everyone arrives at 3:00, it will take a bit longer to dismiss students efficiently. I know that some families are picking up students at more than one school. We support your decision to arrive at a time that works best for you to make it to both schools in the thirty minute window (3:00-3:30) in which we are dismissing students.

Car line

We would ideally like to dismiss as many children as possible directly to cars using the car tags you were given on your child’s appointment day. Unfortunately, our car line only has space for about 4-5 cars at a time. When you arrive, please pull into the car line if there is room and remain in your car until we bring your child out. Your car tag needs to be on the right hand side of the dashboard. If the car line area is full, you can park in the lot and get in the line that goes along the construction fence in front of the school to wait for your child. Please wear a mask if you are getting out of your car. Our dismissal app, PikMyKid, goes live in one more week on Monday, September 21st. This will allow you to let us know when you have arrived so we can dismiss your child as quickly as possible.

We have some staff changes at Rowe this year. We are very excited to welcome our new employees!

Mrs. Kenlan is our new music teacher, replacing Ms. Mullane.

Ms. Henriquez is our new librarian, replacing Mrs. Jones.

Mrs. Queally is teaching first grade as a long term substitute while Mrs. Uraneck is on maternity leave.

Mrs. Powell is teaching kindergarten as a long term substitute while Mrs. Good is on maternity leave.

Mrs. Caron, one of our kindergarten teachers, is teaching the students learning remotely in both kindergarten and first grade this year.

We have three new educational technicians in our Learning Center: Ms. Marden, Ms. Scheck, and Ms. Nickerson.

Mrs. Tucker is a daily substitute in our building through December.

Ms. Tobalske and Ms. Gleason are working as additional educational support technicians until the end of December. 

Open House

Please take note of our Virtual Rowe School Open House this Thursday, September 17th from 6-7 PM. We are hosting virtually this year in order to adhere to the COVID-19 safety guidelines.

News from the K-8 Parent Teacher Organization

Despite these upside down times, the Yarmouth K-8 PTO is excited to start the school year with you. We’ve cancelled events that don’t meet safety requirements but will continue to provide many enrichments for the schools. We’ve all been impacted by the pandemic, but for those who have been significantly affected, please know that we happily and warmly support all our families – particularly those facing hardships. For all other families, we invite you to work with us as you’re able. Thank you for all the ways you support our school community through the PTO.

  •  The Hannaford Gift Card program is a free-to-you fundraiser. You buy a Hannaford gift card; receive the full amount; the PTO receives 5% of your gift card amount. Forms will be sent home soon.

  • If you want to just simply give to the PTO to support this year’s funding, you can write a check to Yarmouth K-8 PTO and send it to PO Box 262 in Yarmouth, or visit our website and click on the blue “Donate Now” button.

  • If you’d like some spirit wear to support your favorite Yarmouth student/team, you can order from Sept 14-Oct 5 at https://www.pandpscreenprinting.com/yarmouth. This is not a fundraiser but a service we provide to our school families.

  • If you are interested in volunteering, we would love to work with you. Please fill out our 2-minute volunteer survey to indicate your interests.

  • Amazon Smile could make a big impact, given the increase of online purchases. Go to smile.amazon.com (or save link: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/01-0493661) and select Yarmouth K-8 PTO as your charitable organization. The PTO receives 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases.

  • Box Tops is almost fully digital. We’ll hold one more collection of physical Box Tops and will let you know later where and when you can turn them in. For digital Box Tops, set up is easy. Download the free app, select a Yarmouth school (funds for all schools go into one pot), and scan your receipt. The PTO receives $.10 per Box Top, which adds up! You can download the apps here: 

  • Examples of what your funding provided last year.

  • Please join us virtually at our first PTO meeting on Thursday, Sept, 17 at 7 pm. We will vote on whether to approve the PTO budget. A link to attend will be on the PTO Facebook page and the PTO newsletter, News to Use, close to the meeting date.

Thank you again for all your support! Please contact Christy Hayashida and Jessica Raimy at yarmouthpto04096@gmail.com with any comments or questions.  

Important dates to note:

Thursday, September 17th, 6:00-7:00 PM - Rowe Virtual Open House 

Thursday, September 17th,  7:00-8:00 PM  - Virtual PTO meeting

Monday, September 21st  -  PikMyKid dismissal app goes live

Friday, October 9th  - Teacher Inservice Day - No School 

Monday, October 12th - Indigenous People’s holiday - No School

Our school picture day will be coming up in late October. We will be sending along more information on the date and details soon.

Sincerely,

Susan Lobel, Rowe School Principal