08/243/15Week of August 31st

The Start of the 2015-2016 School Year

•The first full day of school for students in grades 1-5 is Wednesday, September 2nd.

•All kindergarten students and parents are invited to attend an Open House on Wednesday, September 2nd from 9:00am-11:00am in the kindergarten classrooms.

•A Welcome Coffee will be held on Thursday, September 3rd for all kindergarten and new Deerfield parents/guardians. Please join me in the cafeteria at 8:30am!

 

Arrival Procedure

•We have a Before School Program at Deerfield. This program begins at 7:00am and runs from Monday through Friday. Please contact the Westwood Extended Day Program Coordinator, Janice Van Hyning (jvanhyning@westwood.k12.ma.us), for more information.

•The school day begins at 8:25am. At 8:20am, a bell will ring calling students to line-up and proceed to their classrooms. Students who arrive between 8:05am-8:20am will begin their day on the playground where staff members will supervise a morning arrival time. In the case of inclement weather, the students will proceed to the gym during this time. Please do not drop your child off before 8:05am. We are not able to provide supervision of students prior to that time.

•Students who arrive after 8:25am are tardy and must check-in at the main office before proceeding to their classrooms. Please make every effort to help your child arrive before our 8:25am start time.

•Please do not park in the painted spaces in the traffic circle between 8:00am-8:30am. If you choose to walk your child to the playground, please park in an available parking space on the side of the school or on the street in front of the school. The traffic circle is reserved for cars with students who will walk themselves to the playground. If you are dropping your child off in the front traffic circle, please do not pass the cars in front of you. This causes an unsafe situation for our students.

•If you arrive as one of our vans is dropping off Deerfield students, please do not pass the vans or stop too close behind the vans. The vans need to have unobstructed access to the curb ramp.

 

Dismissal Procedure

•The school day ends at 2:45pm. Students taking a bus home or to the Westwood Extended Day Program proceed to the gym to wait for the bus. Students walking home or being pick-up exit the building through the main entrance.

•Please do not park in the painted spaces in the traffic circle between 2:30pm-3:00pm. During dismissal time, the traffic circle is reserved for live parking. If you plan to remain at the school following dismissal, please park in an available parking space on the side of the school or on the street in front of the school. If you are picking your child up in the traffic circle, please do not pass the cars in front of you. This causes an unsafe situation for our students.

 

Deerfield Field Redevelopment

Part of the University Station development plans involved a project to redevelopment the fields behind the Deerfield Elementary School. Plans for the fields have been developed at the town level and will include new softball fields, small-sided soccer fields, and a walking path around the perimeter of the fields. Currently, the town is in the process of finalizing the plans, determining who will perform the work, and when it will be completed. The redevelopment project may involve improvements to the Deerfield playground, as well. However, it has not yet been determined if funding will be available for the playground.

 

The redevelopment project could begin as early as mid-September. During the construction, and following the construction while the fields are seeded, we will be unable to use the fields. This period of time will be several months. Temporary fencing will be put-up around the field in the front of the school, so students can safely use that space during recess times. If the playground is not involved in the project, then the playground and basketball courts will also be available during recess times.

 

The project will obviously have an impact on many aspects of our school day, including arrival, dismissal, and recess times. I have had on-going conversations with the Director of Operations for Westwood Public Schools, Ken Aires, regarding how this project will affect Deerfield and the importance of mitigating its impact. I will let you know any additional information I have, as soon as it becomes available.

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