Hello Sanderlin Sea Turtle Learning Community,
I hope that everyone has had a wonderful week. I appreciate all of the parents that joined in for our PTSA and SAC meetings this past week. It is wonderful to interact with parents and families and get input on the different initiatives on our campus.
This next week is Peace Week at Sanderlin. We are celebrating Peace this week as a whole IB community in recognition of the International Day of Peace on Tuesday, Sept. 21st. As an IB school, we align our global and international citizenship around the 21 United Nation Goals. One of the goals is promoting World Peace. Throughout the week next week, you will see us create art to recognize peace, focus learning in the classroom around themes of peace, and have a fun themed activity everyday to visually promote Peace. Please see the attached handout for the things we are doing everyday to visually promote Peace in student clothing everyday! I am excited to celebrate and promote Peace with our students next week.
I would like to take a moment to address some of the disturbing challenges that are being put on Social Media for students to do at school. The current challenges encourage students to deface and destroy areas and things on campus and also play pranks on and/or attack staff members. Please know that Mrs. Becker and I are taking these acts very seriously and have seen some things happening on our campus that are being fueled by Social Media. The campus is being torn up -paint ripped off walls, students not cleaning up trash, drawing all over the walls, etc. If students are participating in these acts, please know that I will discipline to the fullest extent possible up to legal action and charges for the damage done to the campus. I appreciate your support in monitoring your students Social Media pages and/or communications through technology and offering us your support in making sure that our campus remains safe and “Peace”ful.
My additional reminders for this week include:
1) We have many students in need of an encouraging adult in their lives. A Lunch Pal meets with a student once a week. 30 minutes once a week can make a big difference for a student in need of encouragement and support. Mentoring is facilitated either in person or via Zoom and you can mentor from your home or workplace. If you are interested in learning more about mentoring, we invite you to register and attend an Online Mentoring Workshop. Please reach out to Brenna Arch, our Family and Community Liaison at archb@pcsb.org if you have any questions. Please pass along this information to family, friends and members of our community.
Here is the registration link.
2) When calling or emailing your child’s attendance, please provide a reason for his/her absence. Without a reason, your child will be automatically Unexcused. If your child has a doctor or dental visit, he/she will ONLY be excused with a note from the doctor/dentist.
3) Did you know there is a full time Pinellas Schools VPK program across the street, at Lakeview Fundamental? It is a full-day VPK that is absolutely free. They are located in the building south of Lakeview Fundamental. Free breakfast and lunch is included for students. Please see the attached flier for more information about the program.
4) Please mention in the Friday message that, for those students that had their picture taken on August 24 – Photo packets (for those that ordered) and order cards (for anyone that may still want to order) were sent home on Wednesday 9/15. All students that did not have their picture taken on August 24 will have their picture taken on Thursday October 7 – Picture Retake Day. Also, families that ordered photo packets and want retakes done may do so on our retake day. If doing a retake, the student must turn in their picture packet(s) to the photographer when they have their picture taken.
Sincerely,
Carrie Cormier
Principal, Sanderlin K-8 IB World School