Happy First Week of School! And a BIG welcome to the PK students starting TOMORROW!
Look for your special WELCOME sign right out by the PK class entrance.
In this week’s Bulletin…
– Special PTO Board Election results
– PTO selling new Shepherd t-shirts THIS Friday morning
– Volunteer opps – Seeking Afterschool Club Leaders, Room Parents
– Supporting the annual Shepherd 180 Fund
– Star Achievers Enrichment Programs Registration
– Shepherd Wins New Garden Grant from Whole Kids Foundation
– Immunization clinics at schools around us
– AND MUCH MORE!
Seeking Leaders for Afterschool Clubs
Are you a gardening enthusiast wanting to pass on your green thumb? Do you love teaching your children how to cook or bake? Have a special hobby that you love to share with others? Consider leading an afterschool club for students this school year! Interested Shepherd community members should contact Dr. Hedlund directly with your club ideas at Phyllis.Hedlund@k12.dc.gov. Please note that anyone wishing to volunteer at Shepherd must complete the DCPS Clearance process before a club can be initiated.
Shepherd Awarded Whole Kids Foundation Garden Grant
Thanks to the amazing grant writing by Siri Warkentien, we were able to secure a garden grant for our school from Whole Kids Foundation as part of the “Growing Healthy Kids” Campaign. The goal of the campaign is to “enhance outdoor and hands-on learning for children, as research shows that students who participate in gardening, nutrition and cooking classes eat more fruits and vegetables.” Be on the lookout for our new garden soon!
Shepherd T-shirt Sales this Friday morning!
We’ll be out in front of the school selling Shepherd spirit gear on the morning of Fri, Sept 3! We’ll have more XS and S sizes in new designs, as well as a lot of M, L and XL in new and older designs. We’ll be able to take cash or cards. Save yourself from the white shirts and get your kids Shepherd shirts!
Seeking Class Room Parents!
We’d love to have parents get involved at the classroom level and be our liaison to the PTO. Ideally, we have at least one per class and we’ll have a Room Parent Orientation later in September. If interested, please fill out this Shepherd Volunteer Corp form here!
Support the Shepherd 180 Fund
Help the Shepherd PTO fund lots of great events, initiatives, and extra circular efforts at Shepherd this year by donating to the 180 Fund.
It’s called the 180 Fund because there are 180 instructional days in the school year and your donation of a dollar a day per student helps the PTO support sending students on offsite field trips, funding teacher educational wish lists, putting on school plays and concerts, updating outdoor playground equipment, funding additional academic supports, and hosting school-wide events! This budget really helps us give our students even more unique, meaningful and enriching opportunities each year.
Any contribution is always much appreciated. And as a reminder, your contribution is 100% tax deductible. Thanks for your support – we’re looking forward to getting back to BETTER THAN NORMAL!
Shepherd Cub Scout Pack
Cub Scout season is here and in person! If you have a child (boys and girls!) in kindergarten-5th grade, we invite you to join Pack 24 for our first meeting of the 2021-2022 Scout Year. The meeting will be held on Friday, September 10th from 6:00-6:45 PM on the Shepherd Lower Field (meet at the Jonquil Street gate). Face masks and social distancing will be encouraged.
This scouting season, join in for some fun and exciting adventures, meeting a few new friends, and having great scouting experiences that will last a lifetime. Email CSPack_24@yahoo.com if you have any questions and to RSVP.
Results from tonight’s Special Election for Open PTO Board Positions
We’re very excited to announce that we have a full PTO Executive Board for this school year!
Derek Musgrove was nominated and elected as Co-President and Alexis White as Assistant Treasurer. THANKS to Derek and Alexis for stepping up to volunteer.
To see the rest of the board members for this year, check out our page on the new school website!
Our first full meeting will be Wed, Sept 29th at 6:30 pm.
Check out our NEW school site!
We’ve overhauled and updated our school website!!
A HUGE SHOUT OUT to PTO Co-President, Taryn Losch-Beridon, for leading the charge, to Ms. Mack for all the updated content and school info, and Intrepid (BIG THANKS to Jack Robbins’ Dad!!) for their pro bono support for the web design template and technical capabilities.
We’re adding more and more content each day, but look here for the latest from Dr. Hedlund, PTO, updates on events, school calendar, etc.
Star Achievers Enrichment Classes Open
Be sure to check out the AMAZING enrichment programs offered by Star Achievers this Fall. Click here to see dates and times for each offering. If you have questions, contact Director Byron Greene at byron.greene@starachievers.com.
Ordering MORE Shepherd Spirit Wear
Watch this space very soon for a link to our new Shepherd gear online store. We’ll have new designs, more choices and shipping directly to your home.
As Dr. Hedlund shared, students can wear Shepherd gear everyday in place of white uniform shirts and the gear sales benefit all the work the PTO does for our school community!
New Contact Information for PTO Executive Board
Please note the following NEW email address for use in contacting members of the Shepherd PTO Executive Board: pto@shepherd-elementary.org. We will be retiring the shepherdptapresident@gmail.com email account moving forward.
If you have something to include in the Weekly Bulletin, please email communications@shepherd-elementary.org.
DCPS Reopen Strong Info
Check out all the info from DCPS about protocols, plans and processes for this school year here at the DCPS Reopen Strong site. Also, the site includes links to Mayor Bowser’s update on Aug 18 and the Chancellor’s latest email.
Signing up for the PTO Directory and Email list
Don’t miss out on the latest news from Shepherd PTO and from Dr. Hedlund! Our AtoZ Connect database has been updated to the newest version powered by Membership Toolkit. In order to keep you on the PTO email roster, we need all parents to re-register in AtoZ as soon as possible to confirm contact info.
Please create your family’s new account here, ideally using the same email you used for your initial AtoZ registration. You will then receive a verification email that you must acknowledge within 2 hours in order to authorize your account.
Immunization Reminders
DCPS is hosting immunization clinics for childhood vaccine updates, as well as COVID-19 vaccines for those who currently qualify. See link to schools near you here.
DCPS Parent University is Re-opening with New Classes
Our Doors Are Open! DC Public Schools will be hosting a series of #RecoverStrong Parent University Sessions, designed to prepare you and your child for School Year 2021-22. Please join us on Microsoft Teams at bit.ly/parentujoin! Register here!
Upcoming School Calendar of Events
First Day of School (Pre-K Students) – Thursday, September 2nd
Labor Day – NO SCHOOL – Monday, September 6th
First Day of Hispanic Heritage Month – Wednesday, September 15th
Back to School Night – Wednesday, September 22nd
September PTO Meeting – Wednesday, September 29th from 6:30 – 7:30pm