September 2nd, 2022
Dear Abraham Erb Families,
Welcome to the 2022 – 2023 school year! We warmly welcome all our new and returning Abraham Erb Otters! This is going to be a lengthy communication, and I thank you in advance for reading it all as it contains valuable information about many things.
When Does School Start?
The first day of school is Tuesday, September 6th. It will be a full day of school for all students at Abraham Erb. Our day begins at 9:10 a.m. and ends at 3:30 p.m.
Who is my Child’s Teacher?
Normally, families can log into School Day over the Labour Day Weekend to see their child’s teacher. Unfortunately, this year, due to the cyber incident, School Day is not fully operational, and families are not able to log in to see any teacher or classroom assignment information. Our staff will all be outside starting at 8:55 a.m. on Tuesday to welcome and direct students to their line-up locations. Please be patient as we direct and assist all our families. In case of inclement weather, we would ask students to come into the gymnasium and we will assign students to classes there. We apologize for the inconvenience this will cause. We know that some students will experience feelings of anxiety and worry as the start of the school year approaches. We promise to do our very best in welcoming and reassuring students and families on the morning of September 6th.
Daily Screening of Students by Families
It continues to be imperative that all parents do a daily Covid screening of their child(ren) each day before sending them to school. The screening tool can be found on the Abraham Erb website at abe.wrdsb.ca or the WRDSB website at wrdsb.ca. Parents must not send their sick child to school under any circumstances.
Arrival to School
We would kindly ask that families make every effort to have their child arrive at school before the 9:10 a.m. bell each morning. Upon the 9:10 a.m. bell, students will join their designated line-up and enter the school as a class. Please talk to any of our staff on the yard if you are having trouble locating your line-up location – we will be there to help you! Important morning routines commence right at the beginning of the day. If a student arrives late, they must report to the front doors of the school and ring the bell. Though we understand that this may happen on occasion due to unforeseen circumstances or medical appointments, we do encourage all students to arrive on time at the back of the school for 9:10 a.m.
What to Send to School With Your Child
Please ensure that your child is sent to school with everything they need for the day (e.g. lunch, coat, water bottle, completed homework, etc.) If you wish your child to have an organizational tool, please consider the purchase of a planner for them (e.g., at Walmart, Staples)
We would ask that all students have indoor and outdoor shoes. Indoor shoes may remain at school.
Remember to clearly label all belongings with your child’s name.
In keeping with public health guidelines, masking remains optional. If you would like your child to wear a mask, please send extras with them for use during the day (e.g., if a mask gets soiled an needs to be changed). Students are also permitted to bring their own hand sanitizer to the school for their personal use during the day, though we ask for your cooperation in NOT sending highly scented products (e.g., the ones from Bath and Body Works) as there are staff and students on site with severe scent sensitivities and allergies. Hand sanitizer will also be provided throughout the school and hand hygiene (i.e., washing with soap and water, using sanitizer) will be practiced frequently throughout the day.
Pizza Days
We anticipate that Pizza Days will be “phased in” during the year so stay tuned for more information!
Nutrition for Learning Program
New this year, we will be introducing the Nutrition for Learning Program, which will provide healthy, nut-free snacks for students in all our classrooms. All students will have access to these snacks during the day under the supervision of their teacher.
Parking Lot Reminders
Please do not use our parking lot for morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up of students. This is particularly important from 8:55 – 9:10 a.m. and 3:25 – 3:40 p.m. when there are many student pedestrians on school property and our school buses are on-site. Parking is available on side streets adjacent to the school to use for drop-off and pick-up purposes. Thank you for your partnership in keeping our students safe.
Meet the Staff Night
We are looking forward to hosting a Meet the Staff Night on Wednesday, September 14th from 6 – 7 p.m. and we cordially invite you to drop in and see us!
Photo Day
We are excited to bring back Photo Day (photos provided by Lifetouch) this year on Thursday, September 29th.
School Council
School Council meetings will continue to be held virtually this year. Our first meeting will be Wednesday, September 21st from 7 – 8 p.m. Stay tuned to School Day for more information to come.
Students Who Are Sick or Become Sick During the Day
It is imperative that we have parental cooperation in keeping sick children at home. No child should be sent to school sick in any way. If a child becomes sick during the day, we will call parents and the child must be picked up immediately. The child will be kept in a safe location under supervision until they are picked up. A child may not return to school until the Covid screening tool indicates that they may. We’d ask that all parents have a plan in place should a child develop an illness or Covid symptom during the school day and need to be picked up.
Communication with our Families
Communication with our families is of utmost importance to us at Abraham Erb. We are proud of our efforts to try to reduce the amount of paper we use and we are pleased to continue to use School-Day and our Abraham Erb website (abe.wrdsb.ca) to communicate school announcements, reminders, and newsletter items. We’d encourage all families to subscribe to both the WRDSB (wrdsb.ca) and Abraham Erb websites (go to each website, scroll down to the bottom of the page, enter your email under “Stay Connected”).
Most communication during the year will be sent to families electronically via School-Day. School-Day will also continue to be used for the collection of money if needed during the year. Over 95% of our families are registered with School-Day and we’d like to increase this to as close to 100% as can get this year. Unfortunately, due to the cyber incident, School-Day is not fully operational yet. Our hope is that this is remedied as quickly as possible, however, our new families will not to be able to register on school-day.com until that happens. Families already registered on School-Day do not need to register again as all 2022-2023 information (class, teacher) will automatically be updated. Families will be able to receive announcements on School-Day but are not able to log into the system at this point. All new Abraham Erb families will receive a personalized letter as soon as the system is up and running again with a “secure key match code” with which to register their child(ren) on School-Day. Families can also register their child by using the unique 9-digit Ontario Education Number found at the top of their child’s report card.
School “Start Up” Packages
School “start up” packages will be sent home during the first week of school. Your child’s start up package contains some important paperwork which must be completed, signed and returned to the school. We’d ask for your cooperation in completing and returning items as promptly as possible.
In addition, there are some important forms that need to be completed on School Day. However, due to the cyber incident, these won’t be able to be accessed and completed until further notice.
Interested families can also access additional information including how to how to purchase student insurance packages in School Year Information on our website.
Abraham Erb is a Peanut-Free and Scent-Free School
To ensure the safety of all of our Otters, we’d kindly ask for your cooperation in refraining from wearing strongly scented body sprays and perfumes in the school and ensuring that your child(ren)’s lunches and snacks are peanut/nut-free. In addition, all WRDSB schools also ask that parents refrain from sending peanut butter substitute products (e.g. Wow Butter) in lunch bags as it is very difficult to distinguish from real peanut butter. We really appreciate you working with us to keep our school environment as risk-free as possible for our anaphylactic students and staff.
Staff Welcomes
We have a number new of staff on the Abraham Erb team! We give a warm welcome to teachers Ms. Varady, Mrs. Carey, Miss Fox, Mme Zehr, Mr. Moffett, Mr. Poole, Mrs. Skilling, Mrs. Cressman and Mrs. Walbridge. We welcome back Ms. Guckenberger and Mrs. Dumart from their leaves of absence. Also, welcome to our new Educational Assistant Miss Ecsedi, our new Library Clerk Mrs. Mueller and our new Head Secretary Mrs. Balkos (we wish Mrs. Harrison all the best in her new role as Head Secretary at Westheights PS). We are lucky to have these awesome folks joining our staff!
I am truly honoured to be Principal at Abraham Erb Public School – may the 2022-2023 school year be one that is filled with much learning and adventure!
Warmly,
Jodie Meyer
Principal
Important Upcoming Dates
Tues, Sept 6th – First Day of School – Welcome Back!
Wed Sept 14th – Meet the Staff Open House – 6 – 7 p.m.
Wed Sept 21st – First School Council Meeting – 7 – 8 p.m.
Thurs. Sept 29th – Photo Day
Mon. Oct 10th – Thanksgiving Holiday – no school
Mon. Oct 24th – PA Day – no school
Thus. Nov 3rd – Photo Retake Day
Fri. Nov 18th – PA Day – no school