October 15, 2014

No Greensheets this Week...

Yes, what your son or daughter has told you is true.   Greensheets will be back next Friday as usual.  In the meantime, having your child log into Google Classroom is a great way to see what they are working on or have turned in recently!

Parent Potluck 

(The evening formerly know as the "Parent Retreat")

Please join us for a potluck dinner and discussion of Swift House at 6:00 pm on Thursday, October 23rd in the dining room at WCS. We had a wonderful turnout at our curriculum night last month, and we would love to continue the discussion as we look at our system and make changes that result in our students building necessary skills for their future. Topics to discuss include, but are not limited to: home/school communications, chromebook use, homework, and fundraising. You can find the signup sheet for the potluck here. We look forward to seeing you all!

**As of October 16th we only have six families confirmed for the Parent Potluck.  Unless we have more interest in attending, we would like to postpone the parent retreat until after the holidays.  We will make our decision by Tuesday, October 21st, so if you planning on attending, please sign up before then.**

Set Building and Costume Needs

We are busy working on learning lines, blocking scenes, starting sets and planning costumes.  We would love any helping building and painting sets.  We are looking for help on two afternoons and on Saturday in October.  Please sign up on this document to help with building sets and painting, if you are available!

Also, each student on stage will need to bring in basic clothing from home for their costumes. Please click on our costumes needed link to see what your son or daughter needs to start their costumes.  We will work on accessorizing them fully here.  Basic costumes are due in Swift House on Monday, October 27th.

Technology Presentation to the School Board

Mr. Nardelli is presenting progress with the 1:World Chromebook initiation at the next School Board meeting.  Click here to read the letter Ms. Donnelly put together for the School Board presentation with work from all of our students!

School Days...

Seventh and eighth graders applied classification rules to a new species of their own design.

​FAPAC Notes

To:  Swift Parents
From:  Sarah Forbes, Katherine Evans, Melissa Akey, FAPAC Representatives

The FAP Advisory Council held its monthly meeting on October 9th.  FAP is Williston's equivalent of a parent-teacher organization.  Swift needs a 5th grade parent representative to join our co-team.  If you are willing to help on the 2 fundraisers we have left this school year please contact Sarah at sarahforbesdesign@comcast.net. Please check the full FAP meeting minutes on the school website in a PDF format by clicking HERE.  Below are a few meeting highlights:

Administration Report — This month Walter Nardelli, District Principal, presented attendees with updates on 10 items about our schools.  A few of these were:  the School Budget Process and Decision Packet Preparation, Engineers in Residence, Level III Field Trips, and School Pictures.  Check the full minutes for all of his updates!

Did You Wish You Could Fill Out a Decision Packet?  Well, now you can!  The School Board and Administration want to hear from you if you have a great idea of some change to the school budget (personnel, equipment or supplies).  So if you want to submit a Decision Packet, click HERE   Questions can be directed to Shani Varricchione at willistonfap@cssu.org.  The Administration said they will help fill out the budget impact/cost analysis part of the form if needed.  The deadline for this is October 31st, so act quickly!!!

Williston Annual Fund —  Thanks to all those families who have already made their contributions to the Annual Fund.  We are at nearly $12,000, with a $35,000 target, so let’s keep this going.  Remember:  This fund pays for your children's school field trips, so if your child has already gone on a field trip, it was paid for by these contributions.  But everyone needs to do their part to make sure field trips are covered financially year to year.  So please send in your donation today or you can do it online.  Click here for information.

23rd Annual Craft Fair — For 22 years, hundreds of area residents have entered the doors of Williston Central School to attend our Annual Craft Fair.  And this year is no different.  This is one of the largest craft fairs in the area, so you should definitely plan to attend this November 1st event!   And it takes lots of hands to make this a success.  Click here to see the different ways you might be able to help us with this important school fundraiser.  If you want additional information on the Craft Fair you can check in with your FAP representative or contact the coordinators at wsdcraftfair@cssu.org.

Educational Grants — We voted to fund 17 grants in support of educational initiatives for our Williston children.  From authors’ visits to artists-in-residence to books and engineering materials and more.  Information on these will be in the School Bell soon.

Special Initiative — Allen Brook and Williston Central School Physical Education are trying to find ways to engage our students in making healthy choices outside of school.  This program is for all of ABS and WCS 3rd and 4th Grade.  This was featured in the recent School Bell.  Click HERE for more information on this.

Mark Your Calendar — The Scholastic Book Fair is one month away.  It takes place at Williston Central School in the Dining Room from November 10-14th and is open to the public.  This is another important fundraiser for our schools!

Please contact Sarah at sarahforbesdesign@comcast.net if you have feedback or questions on FAP.  Thanks.