Principal's Message, 8-27-21
Greetings Stough Families,
I hope all are doing well as we finish the first week of the school year. Thanks for your patience as we all find our footing with updated protocols and a full building of students. I hope some of these updates can be useful as we all work together to nurture the best possible experience for each of our Stough Stallions:
1. Next week is a five-day week of school for all students. Staggered Entry is over, so Monday will be the first day of school for all kindergartners.
2. With all 480 students on-campus, carpool will still be slow for a couple more weeks. How can you help?
- In the mornings:
- please have your child masked-up and ready with all bags, bottles and belongings as you pull up to the drop-off zone
- please remain in your car and allow our staff to help the students as needed
- if your child is not ready, please pull all the way up past the crosswalk so that regular carpool traffic can continue
- In the afternoons:
- please have your carpool tag posted and visible for our staff
- you can help your student(s) memorize their carpool numbers
- there are six color-coded stations (cones) at the curb; please pull up to the next open station so we can direct your child to that station based on your order of arrival
If you still need carpool tags, our staff is available to assist with that at arrivals each morning.
3. Our bus drivers are finding their rhythm with their respective routes. Morning arrivals have been on-time, and afternoon departures are slowly improving. Don't forget that you can follow buses live on "Here Comes the Bus." (This is what my family does for my daughters.) We also tweet dismissal times each afternoon on @StoughBuses
4. With the leadership of Mrs. Galvan, we were able to start sending home Chromebooks for students who do not yet have a District device. We started in the upper grades and have worked our way down. Our goal is for every Stough student to have a WCPSS device. Students should bring their device to and from school every day. If your student has a school Chromebook that was not checked out, those need to return to campus immediately. Some students who already have older Chromebooks will also receive new models. If your student has not yet received a device and needs one, we should be able to accommodate that next week.
Here is the required form for all families regarding technology use (whether or not your student is using a District device). We've also created a landing page on our website regarding tech help, Chromebooks, Wake ID and Google Classroom.
If you want to read more about Wake County's student device program, you can do that here.
5. Our approach to social-emotional learning starts in morning meetings and emanates throughout each hour of every school day. The Positivity Project (P2) and its focus on 24 character strengths is the main driver. It's theme can be summarized in the simple phrase, "Other People Matter." This is our starting point for your students, and we want you to be involved in this all-important foundation for building their character as well. I will update you in each weekly message with a trait or theme that students are studying. We want you to feel connected to this work and help us nurture these traits in all our Stough Stallions. For now, check out this page on our website to learn more.
6. The Stough News Club is open to all Stough students who would like to make videos for our morning news show. To learn how to make news club videos, students should watch this tutorial: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qwMlMd9LOTpycC7w-EbwIwEwjZW6DEVq/view
If we have enough videos, we will start the morning news the week of Sept. 8. If you have any questions, please email Cindy Linton at clinton2@wcpss.net. Thank you!
7. Visitors and Volunteers - Many of you have asked about volunteering on campus again. In short, we would love to have you, but not just yet! Principals have been encouraged to limit visitors to campuses as much as possible. This directly correlates to safety and the legwork required of our staff in case contact tracing becomes necessary.
Nevertheless, you can still stop by our front office to begin or re-submit your registration to become an official volunteer. A background check is required. Eventually we hope that volunteering and chaperoning becomes "normal" at Stough again. Note, this registration process has to happen on a Wake County School campus. Here is the District's link with more details.
8. I've received some questions this week regarding eating and drinking practices at our school. Of course, we are following our District's directives and trying to provide adequate spacing between students at breakfast and lunch. No students at Stough are sitting next to one another at meal times. There is always at least one seat between them. As we get further into the school year, we will again use our cafeteria patio for some students to eat lunch each day (weather permitting). For snack times, everything is occuring outdoors on classroom patios or under the overhangs at various entrances. Drinking fountains are off, but the bottle filling stations are available throughout the school. Students should continue to bring their own water bottles to school. If you have further questions, please contact me or Mrs. Arnold.
9. I've also received questions about recess, especially in hot weather. First, we thank the PTA for its significant financial commitment to install permanent shade structures. This will certainly help, but a steel shortage means that the contractor will not be able to start this job until later in the fall. In the meantime, we will continue to make safe decisions about recess. If the heat index is over 100, we will host recess time indoors. We realize this is not ideal, but we are prioritizing student and staff safety. If you have further questions on this topic, feel free to reach out to me.
10. This is the weekly space for PTA Updates:
PTA Membership Form
Welcome to the new school year! Joining the PTA is a great way to support the incredible Stough staff. PTA members can vote on the budget and in board elections. Memberships start at $10 and help us provide teacher grants, staff hospitality and more.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87974284280?pwd=bnc1TGV3Rmk2ZjQyRklzN2cwL1BkQT09
Meeting ID: 879 7428 4280
Passcode: 913932
Stough Spirit Night (All Day!)- 9/14
Visit Relish Craft Kitchen (relishraleigh.com) for Takeout Tuesday on Sept.14 to support the PTA. Relish will give 15% back for all takeout orders from 11:00-9:00 when you enter “Stough Elementary” under the Takeout Tuesday option.
Orders also available by phone. 919-787-1855
Spirit Wear Online Ordering
Stough Spirit Wear is available for online ordering between now and September 10. Items will ship for free to the school in October.
https://www.spiritgeardirect.com/GearDrive/Store.aspx?guid=439b8bd6-0053-4368-836e-140f7dc48999
Stock the Staff Lounge
The PTA organizes an Amazon registry to help keep the staff lounges stocked with snacks and drinks throughout the year. There are also tents and coolers listed this year that will help us host outdoor activities.
https://www.amazon.com/wedding/share/stoughteacherlounges
PTA Website
Everything listed above and more can be found on our website. Check out the Fundraising tab to learn how you can give back to Stough PTA through everyday shopping. You can also donate directly to the PTA using the donate button on the home page.
STOUGH MAGNET ELEMENTARY PTA - Stough Elementary PTA (weebly.com)
Thank you to Card My Yard Raleigh for the Welcome sign this week!