October is an exciting month in elementary school! This newsletter highlights activities for students and families. I hope you have the opportunity to get involved.

School routines are becoming habits, and the beginning-of-the-year testing has been completed, so classrooms are focusing more on learning. Conferences are on October 23 and 24. This is an opportunity to see baseline learning data for your student and a chance to hear about the learning focus for the year. Conferences also help establish strong relationships between the teacher and the family. The school will publicize opportunities to sign up for a conference with your student’s teacher.

Our PTA is beginning a fundraiser on October 2, so look for materials coming home or on Parent Square. PTA funds help support activities and enrichment for our school community. An example of PTA funds going to support our school is funding for the Taproot Theatre assembly that teaches how to address bullying in a creative format. Another PTA event to put on your calendar is the Harvest Festival, a chance to play games, win candy, and see school friends. This will be on October 30. In addition to attending PTA events, consider getting involved. Many hands make light work with this organization. Meetings are on the 2nd Tuesday of every month, after school.

Finally, I want to remind families about the importance of attendance. We all know that students do not learn when they are absent, and occasional absences can add up to create significant learning gaps. Please prioritize school attendance with your student. They should still stay home if in the last 24 hours they have a fever, diarrhea, or vomiting. At school, we will call to send students home with the same conditions. In other situations, we encourage students to remain in school so that they can benefit from classroom activities. If your student is absent, call the attendance line 360 279 5698 as soon as you can (and within 48 hours) to notify us of the absence. Our goal is for all students to attend school at least 95% of the time. Together we can do it!

Sincerely,

Bill Weinsheimer

Dear Families,

On October 1, you received a short Federal Impact Aid Program Survey Form through ParentSquare. Please take a few minutes to fill it out right away.

Here’s why it matters:

To make sure our school receives the support our students deserve, we need a completed form for every single student in our district. All information is kept completely confidential and is only used to determine funding.

You can find more details on the district website, and of course, feel free to reach out to our office if you have any questions.

Thank you so much for helping us take this important step to support our students!

Not only is school attendance required by law, but good attendance sets a student up for success at school and in life. Students are missed when they aren’t at school because each student contributes to the learning environment for everyone in the classroom.

Research shows that children who miss 20 or more days of school in a given school year are less likely to graduate from high school. Missing even two days a month adds up to 20 days a year. Students who have a mentor are more likely to have better attendance and succeed in school. We all have a part in promoting good attendance for our students.

We want to help ensure that every student has strong attendance every year.

Please visit the Oak Harbor Public Schools board policy 3122 and procedure 3122P regarding excused and unexcused absences.

CHE's Lost & Found is located just past the office. We have 3 rails within the lost and found, they are as follows:

Once the 4th week comes around, all items on the '3 weeks ago' rail will be bagged up.

Please encourage your student/s to check the lost and found.

Thank you,

CHE Office

When you enter the front office, you will be asked to present a preferred form of identification, such as a government-issued picture ID (i.e., driver’s license). The Safe Visitor system will enable you to drop off and pick up students from school and sign in as a visitor yourself.

Keeping our students and staff safe means knowing who is in our school buildings at all times in the unlikely case of an emergency. The new system will allow us to electronically screen visitors, contractors, volunteers, and parents, checking students in and out. All visitors/parents will be asked during regular school hours to present a form of identification to enter school grounds or to check a student out of a school site.

For children, Halloween is an exciting time with house decorations, costumes, and candy overflowing from plastic jack-o-lantern buckets. Yet, for the one in 13 children with food allergies and their parents, Halloween trick-or-treating can bring out a serious and real fear.1

Just one bite of a candy containing or made alongside allergens may be all it takes to send a child with food allergies to the ER with anaphylaxis. For this reason, it’s understandable that parents of children with food allergies are extra vigilant when the pumpkins start appearing on neighbors’ front porches.

Of course, one of the best ways to manage food allergies is to reduce exposure to allergens, which means no trick-or-treating and no Halloween candy for some kids. Yet, while this may protect a child with allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, soy, and more, it may also create an inclusivity issue for children. Hearing friends at school talk about their candy hauls, or seeing their friends go door-to-door on the 31st, may cause some children with food allergies to feel left out and isolated.  

So how do you keep kids with food allergies safe on Halloween but also help keep them included?

Luckily, the Food Allergy Research & Education organization (FARE) brings you the Teal Pumpkin Project as a solution.

The Teal Pumpkin Project is an initiative to make trick-or-treating more inclusive for children living with food allergies and other food intolerances by encouraging neighborhoods and families to offer food allergy safe goodies on Halloween. Families can indicate if their houses are food-allergen-friendly by displaying teal pumpkins on their porch or in their windows. The pumpkin can be a real painted pumpkin or simply a printed-out graphic pasted on the door.

In fact, Allergy Insider has partnered with the Teal Pumpkin Project to bring awareness to food allergies and aid its mission to make Halloween fun and safe for all children.

To participate next year, register your individual house or neighborhood event as a safe place for kids with food allergies on FARE's Teal Pumpkin Project map so that parents who are using the map can feel more comfortable and less stressed letting their children go door-to-door collecting allergy friendly treats.

Also talk to friends and neighbors about being food allergy aware on Halloween so that every child can have a fun and inclusive holiday.