Westview Elementary School

November 2, 2009

Dear Wildcat Parents, Students and Friends,

Thank you!! Thank you!! Thank you!! Thanks to you PSP’s annual fall fundraiser was a big success!! You can see all of the projects that these fundraiser dollars are supporting if you come to the PSP meeting at 5:30 pm on November 10th. There are lots of projects going on this year – everything from kids inventing their own products so that they can create a business to math game kits being sent home so families can play and learn together. This meeting is a great opportunity to see exactly where the dollars are going and to ask the sponsoring staff members questions about the projects. Westview is very, very fortunate to have such a supportive community and I hope that you will be able to come and see how we put that into action for your children!

Speaking of parents and support, there is another excellent opportunity out there for you to access at 6:00 pm on November 16th at the ESC which is the district office at 1500 East 128th Ave. near Washington. The district behavior team is offering a workshop titled "Strengthening Families: A Proactive Parenting Approach." This workshop will help you understand children’s behavior, learn some tools you can use at home to help manage your children’s behavior and learn more about the Positive Behavior Systems that schools use, including Westview. It should be an excellent session and you will be able to access the two district staff members, Meredith Kinsey and Melissa Kloster, who come into Westview to support our behavior management efforts. In fact, as I write this newsletter they have both been in our school this very week and will be there a great deal more over the next six weeks coaching staff in our school. They are fabulous resources and they will be at your fingertips at this workshop! I encourage you to attend and to think about grabbing a friend to join you. What have you got to lose! Call Dawn Kane at 720-972-4147 to RSVP.

Moving on to safety issues, thank you to all who are striving to drive carefully around our school at arrival and dismissal. We appreciate your efforts to follow the speed limit and to obey the traffic signs and laws. Thank you also to the parents and guardians who are doing everything they can to help their children cross the streets safely every day. Finally, we are also thankful for the support of our district’s Risk Management Team and the Northglenn Police Department. The closing of our crossing guard program, while not necessarily positive, has been smooth thanks to the efforts of all these entities.

Health issues are still at the forefront of our minds this fall. We are cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing constantly in our battle against germs of all kinds. I would like to especially thank our head custodian, Mr. Robert Buster, for all of his efforts in this area. He has continually gone above and beyond what is expected to ensure that all of our children are in a clean environment and that we can all feel proud of our beautiful school. As of this writing, we are continuing to track flu symptoms daily for both students and staff and reporting that information to the district. That tracking, which of course relies on the accuracy and completeness of information shared with us by parents, has never revealed more than 1% of our total population to be impacted by flu symptoms at any time. Let’s all wash our hands, rub in a bit of alcohol based sanitizer and cross our fingers that we’ll continue to have decent luck like this throughout the rest of the fall and winter seasons!

Lastly, here is our early release update for you. Teachers have been trained in PEACE curriculum implementation, in-quiry based learning in science, science notebooking and the teaching and learning cycle. They are busier than ever launching the newest version of Everyday Math and using the Infinite Campus software to manage student attendance. Every grade level also spent a day analyzing their fall student achievement data as well as last year’s data and establishing areas of instructional focus for improvement. On top of all of this, they have loved and cared for your beautiful children on a daily basis and made sure that Westview Elementary is a wonderful environment for them to call home. I am truly, truly proud of them!

As always, if we can be of assistance to you in any way, please give us a call or stop by the office. We are here to serve!!

Amy L. Bruce, Principal