September 12, 2021

  • Dates and Times
  • School Picture Day: Monday, September 20th
  • Douglas *Virtual* Back to School Night: Tuesday, September 21st
  • Walk for Peace: Wednesday, September 22nd
  • West Side Creamery Day: Wednesday, September 22nd
  • Join us for the first 2021-2022 PTO Meeting
  • Help Make Lunch Run More Efficiently!
  • It's Time for the Douglas Directory!


Reminders

  • Help Douglas Earn Money!
  • WATCH FOR WALKERS
  • Bus Passes and Walker Passes
  • Updates from the Health Office


ANNOUNCEMENTS



  • Thursday September 16: No school Yom Kippur

  • Monday September 20th: School Picture Day

  • Tuesday September 21st: Douglas *Virtual* Back to School Night

  • Wednesday September 22nd:
  • Walk for Peace
  • West Side Creamery Day

  • Wednesday September 29th: General PTO Meeting




School Picture Day: Monday, September 20th

School Picture Day is scheduled for Monday, September 20th. Please mark your calendars now. 

Our photographer this year is Coffee Pond Photography. All photos will be taken outdoors to allow for a natural background. Parents can also purchase packages of individual photos. Order forms will go home with children through Backpack Express tomorrow, Monday September 13th.
Confidential financial assistance is available for photo packages; please contact Mrs. Sullivan or Mrs. Bonnell directly. 



Douglas *Virtual* Back to School Night: Tuesday, September 21st

Back to School Night will be on Tuesday, September 21st from 6-8 pm. We will again be virtual this year. A master schedule of all zoom links will be distributed as soon as it is finalized. Open House is an evening intended for parents and caregivers. Please do not put children on the zoom as this event is intended for parents and guardians. 



Walk for Peace: Wednesday, September 22nd

The annual Douglas Walk for Peace is scheduled for Wednesday, September 22nd at 9:30am. C.T. Douglas is making a concerted effort to go paperless this year! An email will be sent with an electronic Permission Slip for the event. Please watch your email so that your child(ren) may participate in this annual community building event. 




West Side Creamery Day: Wednesday, September 22nd

We all scream for Douglas Days at West Side Creamery! Doug the Eagle wants to celebrate back to school with you! Come and enjoy a Soaring Eagle Sundae, sprinkles and fun! Take a pint or quart to go home too! Purchase ice cream (in store/online) to support Douglas Elementary. Make sure you mention that you are there to celebrate Douglas Day at West Side and a percentage of sales goes directly back to our staff, students and families! Make it a sweet day!




Join us for the first 2021-2022 PTO Meeting with our special guest Superintendent Light: Wednesday, September 29th


The Douglas PTO has been hard at work behind the scenes getting ready for this new school year. The Douglas Community is invited to join us via zoom for our General Meeting on September 29th @ 7pm. 

PTO General Meeting Link. No pressure to have your video on, come listen in! We want to answer questions, highlight ways to get involved, hear your suggestions and share ideas to help make this year great for our staff, students and families! Superintendent Light will be giving an update on back-to-school and answering questions from our community. As always, please email cochairs@douglasschoolpto.org with questions or if you need further information.



Help Make Lunch Run More Efficiently!

With more lunch sections this year, please ensure your child (particularly grades 3-6) knows his/her "Lunch ID" if getting lunch from school. Also, please review the menu ahead of time so your child knows what he/she will order. This will move the line faster enabling more time for eating and table conversation!
 
To find your child's Lunch ID, do the following:
1. Visit PowerSchool
2. Under Navigation on left, click “My Class Schedule” 
3. Locate child’s 4-digit “Lunch ID”
4. Have your child memorize the Lunch ID




It's Time for the Douglas Directory!

The Douglas Directory provides valuable school and community information including class lists and family contact info.

This year the directory will be available digitally to all members of our community with password-protected access through PowerSchool. For those who prefer the traditional printed and bound copy of the directory, you may still purchase copies for $6.00 each on the PTO website (http://douglasschoolpto.org/douglas-directory-2/). There will be NO paper order form sent home for directories this year, so please use this link to purchase copies and/or update your contact information.

Even if you do not plan to purchase a printed copy, please take the time to confirm the email address(es) you would like printed in the directory and let us know if there are any special instructions about how you would like your family's information to be included. As a note, if you chose to “opt out” of the directory in PowerSchool, none of your family’s information will be included in this year’s directory. Changes can not be made once the directory has been finalized for printing. Contact Ashley Cook (arwcook@gmail.com) with any directory updates or questions.





REMINDERS



Help Douglas Earn Money!

Welcome back to all Douglas students and staff from your friends on The Eagle Rewards Team! As we gear up to start the year we wanted to share two easy ways you can help Douglas earn money:

1ST: Sign up for Amazon Smile and designate CT Douglas School PTO as your charity. Invite family and friends to do the same! When you use smile.amazon.com for all your Amazon orders Douglas automatically earns a percentage of all qualifying sales.
  • Make sure your Amazon App is set to include your phone purchases in your Smile donations! Open the App and find 'Settings' in the main menu (☰). Tap on 'AmazonSmile' and follow the on-screen instructions to turn on AmazonSmile on your phone.

2ND: You can help Douglas earn $ from Box Tops for Education this school year!

Here's how YOU can participate (with NO out of pocket cost). Please see step by step instructions below.
  1. First, download the Box Tops for Education app onto a mobile device. Select Douglas School as the beneficiary of your box tops account.
  2. Scroll down on the front page of the app to the "Play Unlock Brighter Futures" game and click on "enter it now"
  3. Enter one of these number combinations - 46, 32, 03 or 16, 47, 49 or 12, 94, 60 or 84, 40, 01
  4. The game will "spin" the combo lock and you MAY win a prize. Click on back to lockers and swipe right to left and enter another code.
  5. Prizes include gift cards, laptops, backpacks, and BTFEs. All BTFEs will be credited to Douglas. Gift cards are yours to keep!
  6. Play up to 20 times per day (until the game ends on Nov 30).
  7. Unfortunately, it seems that every spin is no longer a winner. But, some will still win.
  8. BTFE will send Douglas a check twice a year - the funds are given to the PTO with no restrictions.

So far, Douglas has earned over $500 this school year!

Pro tips: set up an account for every mobile device in your household (each account holder must be 18 years old and up), set a daily reminder on your cell phone to play, ask relatives to download the app and play, play when you're waiting (at the grocery store, at sports practice, etc...) or allow your child to "play" the game to help Douglas.

We Appreciate Your Efforts to Help Support Douglas!
The Eagle Rewards Team




WATCH FOR WALKERS

With an increase in the number of neighborhood students walking to and from school and more families driving their students to school this year, we ask that drivers be extra cautious and LOOK for pedestrians crossing at intersections near Douglas school on Hayward, Agawam, Central and Arlington. Our community needs to work together to keep all our students and families safe. Thank you for your caution!




Bus Passes and Walker Passes

Due to COVID 19 and DESE guidelines, NO BUS PASSES will be issued for the 2021-2022 school year. Students who have signed up for bus transportation will have assigned seats.


Walker Passes - If your child will be a permanent walker or pickup, you will need to indicate this when completing the emergency information in Powerschool. If this is the case, we will have this information and nothing further will be required from you unless you need a change. Students will be released as walkers at 3:15 pm each day. Morning Kindergarten students will be dismissed at 11:45 am.

Dismissal Changes - Should you have a situation where you need to have your child’s dismissal plan changed for a specific day, please complete the Daily Walker Form. Paper forms will not be accepted this year. 
This form must be submitted by 9:30am the day the change is needed. The form will close at that time and reopen at the end of the school day.

The Daily Walker form should be used if you need to:  
  * change a students dismissal from a bus rider to a walker or
  * to pick up a student early or
  * to change WHO is picking up a student or
  * to change the dismissal location of a student




Updates from the Health Office

ABRSD has published new flowcharts for unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals who have had exposure (close contact) to an individual with COVID 19 or who have symptoms concerning for COVID 19 infection. Please review the links below:



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