1/24 Principal's Message
Alston Ridge Families:
Welcome Back to a great start to our Second Semester! Our faculty is excited to begin learning with all our students again after the long track-out. Time apart always deepens the appreciation for our community—we can’t wait to see your child in class!
If you have not previously enjoyed our assistant principals leading daily Morning Announcements, consider beginning your week with Mrs. Oliver and Ms. Freeman live on YouTube: ARES YouTube Channel and Subscribe for alerts about new Read Aloud videos and parent sessions that are hosted through the channel.
If you have any questions or need help joining class this week, your child’s teacher is ready to help! And, our front office support continues to be available by phone at 919-544-2474 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Notes and Reminders:
Return to In-Person Learning
The WCPSS Board of Education voted to keep all schools and students in Remote Learning (fully online) until at least Monday, February 15th. For families who were planning to return to the school building, we are looking forward to welcoming your child online for the next three weeks and hope that we will back at school 2/15. If your student changed teachers to make it possible to safely return to the school building, our faculty are excited to begin building new relationships and a great foundation for the second semester.
Schedule
Student learning times will be consistent with the daily schedule from Semester 1. When students return to the school building, the daily learning schedule for remote learning and in-person learning will be adjusted to allow for collaboration amongst teachers in both teaching contexts, and to protect the chances for concurrent teaching when needed. We will announce a new daily schedule following any Board action to return students to in-person learning.
Specials
During Semester 1, students who were learning remotely and in-person had access to two subjects for specials content each week. As we respond to feedback from families, and focus our specialists attention on leading larger numbers of students in-person during Semester 2, students will return to one subject area of specials content each week. Students will continue to be encouraged to use time in their daily schedules to complete specials activities independently in response to asynchronous video content and lessons led by our specials teachers.
Science Fair
The Science Fair is coming! The Alston Ridge PTA has prepared an awesome online way for students to experiment and experience Science—registration is due by February 1. Learn more on the Science Fair page of the Alston Ridge PTA website.
Materials Pick-ups
All grade levels have prepared instructional resources and learning materials for pick-up from the school building. Please check with your child’s teacher about when resources will be available for contactless pickup in the school’s front carline loop. We are excited to be able to provide hands-on manipulatives and pencil-and-paper materials that can support students learning online. We hope that they will be useful and we appreciate the district providing many of these materials to schools for distribution.
Library Book Check-out
Library circulation continues to ensure that students can have access to new and interesting books to support their reading development, and to enjoy books as a family. See the Borrow a Book! page on the Alston Ridge Media Center website. Ms. McConnell loves sharing books with students—if you don’t know what book you want, she will Surprise You!
Track Change Request Window
This year’s track change request window will be delayed at all schools in the Alston Ridge Middle School feeder pattern (Alston Ridge Middle and Elementary Schools, and Carpenter, Parkside, and Morrisville Elementary Schools) until March 15. Families who are interested in requesting a track change from their previously assigned track, to a different track, will be able to make their request online. Schools will have limited availability to approve track change requests this year due to unpredictability in planning for the return to a multitrack schedule for 2021-2022, including a Virtual Academy option for families. Notifications are planned for May 2021 for any family that requests a track-change.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to our school’s Administration: Principal Niko Schutte (nschutte@wcpss.net), Assistant Principal Ruth Ann Freeman (rfreeman@wcpss.net) and Assistant Principal Melissa Oliver (moliver2@wcpss.net), and call our front office at 919-544-2474 to speak with Mrs. Alvarez, Mrs. Frakes, and Mrs. Tang about any questions that you may have and for assistance!
We can’t wait to see you this week!
Take good care,
Niko