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Mr. Hudson's Principal Message on Monday August 28th

Good morning Parkside Families,  

 

Upcoming Events:

 

  • August 28 - Spirit Night at Handel’s (updated date)
  • August 29 - Boosterthon begins for Tracks 1 and 3
  • September 7 - Boosterthon Fun Run Tracks 1 and 3
  • September 11 - PTA Board Meeting
  • September 11 - Boosterthon begins for Tracks 2 and 4
  • September 19 - Boosterthon Fun Run Tracks 2 and 4
  • September 22 - Family Fun Night
  • October 20 - Trunk or Treat/Movie Night
  • November 27 - Boof Fair Begins

 

Parksides Enrollment Cap… What does it really mean

At Parkside Elementary, we understand that there have been misunderstandings regarding the enrollment cap and its implications. We want to provide accurate information to help our community members make informed decisions about enrollment and student assignments. 

 

  • Grade-Level Cap Numbers: It's important to note that our enrollment cap is not applied uniformly across the entire school. Instead, we have specific cap numbers at each grade level. This means that there are designated maximum student counts per grade before considering overflow options. Currently, the only grade levels that have reached their cap are 2nd and 5th grade. For rising kindergarten students, there are still 32 available seats. 
  • Ongoing Enrollment: Once a student secures a seat at Parkside, they are not subject to being capped out. If you are enrolled and have a confirmed seat, you will remain a part of the Parkside community until the transition to middle school, and as long as you remain living within our base. 
  • Importance of Meeting Cap Numbers: Our teacher allotments and program offerings are directly influenced by our enrollment numbers. Monitoring our cap numbers closely is essential to ensuring that we can provide adequate staffing and maintain the quality of education across all grade levels and programs. 

 

We encourage all community members to share this accurate information to prevent any further misconceptions. If you or anyone you know has questions about student assignment, enrollment procedures, or the capping system, please don't hesitate to contact us. Our dedicated team is here to provide assistance and clarity.

 

 

Boosterthon for Tracks 1 and 3 Starts This Week August 29th

The Boosterthon Fun Run event for tracks 1 and 3 starts on August 29th, and the run event will take place on September 7th. This fundraising event will raise money to support school programs and resources. Registration for the event is now open. All participants who register before the kickoff will be entered into a drawing for a free piece of Parkside Spirit Wear! More information about the event can be found here.   

 

YELLOW BUS AND VENDOR TRANSPORTATION

As traditional calendar schools gear up for the new school year, we would like to bring to your attention important information and reminders related to yellow bus transportation and students who access WCPSS vendor transportation.

Please be patient with transportation. With all the additional routes starting next week, it is likely that bus and vendor transportation will not operate on the exact schedule we have been used to over the past two months while traditional calendar schools were on summer break. Some reminders:

  • Please be at your bus stop early both in the morning and afternoon over the next two weeks.
  • Arrival and departure times have been updated for each route and stop. Please review the updates to ensure you know when your child needs to be at their stop in the morning and when you can expect them to be dropped off in the afternoon. You can also find this information in your child’s Home Base/PowerSchool account.
  • Download the Here Comes the Bus app to track your child’s bus in real time. More information about the app, and for directions to sign up go here.
    • To sign up for the app you will need your child’s student ID and the district code: 67500
  • Transportation updates are posted each morning and afternoon on the WCPSS transportation website. Access updates for Parkside here.

We appreciate your ongoing support and understanding. Should you have any questions or concerns about school transportation, please don't hesitate to let us know or you can reach out to the transportation department directly at 919-805-3030 or fill out the comments/concerns page found here.

 

 

 

3rd Grade Explorers Parent Information Meeting

Parents of 3rd grader students are welcome to join a virtual meeting on Thursday, September 7th to learn more about the 3rd grade explorers program and the Academically and Intellectually Gifted (AIG) program at Parkside. Please read this flyer for more information. 

 

Morning Arrival

Student safety is paramount at Parkside. As a school, one area that we need parent support with is morning arrival procedures.

  •  Walkers and bike riders - if your child walks or rides their bike to school by themselves please do not let them leave for school so they are arriving on campus before the 8:45 arrival bell. We do not have staff on duty before 8:45 and these students need to be supervised while on campus. 
  • Walkers and bike riders - if you walk or ride your bike to school with your child(ren), please stay with them until the 8:45 arrival bell rings. 
  • Carpool drop off - Staff begin their morning duty at 8:45. To ensure the safety of our students as they come on campus, please do not drop your child off before 8:45 in the carpool line.
  • Important - during morning arrival, the entrance to campus from Little Drive is only for buses and cabs. There should be no parents using this entrance for any reason. The area marked as Service Area, is not a parking area and no one should be using this space for drop off.
  • If you are driving your child to school and would like to walk them in, please go through the carpool line and park in the visitor spaces next to the school or in the visitor parking lot. If you park in the visitor parking lot we have a staff member on duty as a crossing guard to ensure your safety. 
  • The morning carpool line is not long, and there is often no wait after the initial wave of cars. Please be patient so that we are able to ensure the safety and security of our students and staff. 

 

Spirit Rock

This school year the PTA is offering families the opportunity to paint our Spirit Rock! For $25 you can paint a birthday message to your child, congratulations on an achievement, good luck on a sporting event - anything you can think of. Reservations can be made now for the month of August. Payment is due at time of reservation. Please see our website for more info and let us know if you have any questions!

https://parksidepta.net/home/fundraising/spirit-rock-rental/

 

 

Makerspace

We're excited to introduce a makerspace into the Media Center! This space will allow students to create, engineer, code, develop and more! Please consider donating items to help make our space great! For more information check out this flyer.

 

WCPSS Volunteer Registration for Parents and Community Volunteers

All WCPSS parent and community volunteers are required to register through the new MyVolunteer system.  Please complete your registration on a computer at home or school. It is very difficult to complete using a mobile phone. It can take several weeks for your registration to be approved so don’t wait until field trips to try and register.  Register now so you are ready and able to volunteer in the classroom, volunteer for school events, or chaperone at any time this school year!

  1. Click the link below to start your volunteer registration: https://myvolunteer.com/wcpss/volunteer/login
  2. Click create new account.
  3. Complete the online form and select all the schools that you are requesting to volunteer or chaperone for the 2023-2024 school year.
  4. It will then say pending. 
  5. Soon after you will receive an email with a customized link for you to complete next steps for your background check. This link expires 10 days from the day you receive the email.  Follow the instructions in that email.  You will fill out all items in red boxes and then you will review and digitally sign four documents (Summary of Rights Under the FCRA, Disc & Auth, NC Security Freeze Notice, and WCPSS Volunteer Agreement).
  6. If you leave the CRC background site before completing your contact information, you will have to begin the process again. 
  7. You must include your social security number to register to volunteer.  If you do not have a social security number, please contact volunteers@wcpss.net or call 919-694-8233.
  8. Great news is that this year you will be notified by the MyVolunteer system if you are approved to volunteer!

 

Please Note:  If you are a WCPSS Employee seeking to volunteer/chaperone in the schools, you do not have to complete a criminal background check. However, employees will still need to register in the MyVolunteer system (https://myvolunteer.com/wcpss/volunteer/login) and complete the Wake County Volunteer Agreement and other required forms.  Employees must select the “Current Staff of WCPSS” link on MyVolunteer to complete the volunteer registration process and must use their WCPSS email address to complete the registration.

 

Apply for Free and Reduced Price School Meals

To receive free or reduced-price meals for the 2023-24 school year, families must submit a meal benefits application online at MySchoolApps.com. Paper copies are available in the front office. For families who completed the 2022-23 meal benefits application, the benefit continues for their student's first 30 school days of the 2023-24 school year. At elementary schools, full-paid breakfast will be $1.50 and lunch will be $3.25.  

 

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