Notes from East Hill Elementary

Dear East Hill Elementary School Families,

The students did a great job getting back into their routines and learning after returning from Thanksgiving break. We are excited to welcome the month of December!

This month marks the kick-off of our annual district-wide Strategic Planning School Climate Survey. Please be on the lookout for an email with a link to participate in the survey, which will be open through December 18th. Your anonymous responses will help inform our Strategic Planning team's decisions and help us create goals for continuous improvement. To that end, we welcome your feedback!

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Rob

Kelsey Spinks, Madison Buza, Joseph Godlewski, Mason Ellis, Jayce Arroyo, Avery Ross, Gus Hensel, Axel Eddy, Madelyn Nimmo, and Addison Lyons

Our District values your feedback! We are currently surveying West Genesee Central School District families in order to gain insight into your perception of our schools and district effectiveness. To ensure we continue to provide high quality, rigorous learning experiences that meet the needs of our learners and prepare them for college and career, we need your feedback. We want to know what you think.

To administer these surveys, we have partnered with Panorama Education to conduct our 2023-2024 Family Survey. Panorama safeguards your privacy, keeping your responses confidential. The survey shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to complete, and will be a valuable source of information for us as we work to make our schools and District as good as they can be.

You may complete the survey online through December 18 using a computer, tablet, or smartphone by visiting the following building-specific websites. For example, if you have a child that attends Camillus Middle School, please be sure to open the CMS link. If your children attend different schools within the District, you are welcome to complete a survey for each building.

School Family-School Relationships Survey Link for East Hill

• East Hill

We would like to thank everyone who helped make our Thanksgiving food drive an overwhelming success. We were able to provide 9 families with a box full of Thanksgiving food as well as a $40 Aldi’s gift card!

Our next community giving initiative is already underway. If you are able, please sign up to purchase a gift from our giving train to help families in our East Hill community have a wonderful holiday season. We are having a wrapping party to wrap the gifts on December 13th. See flyers for more details.

Lastly, this Tuesday, December 5, we will be having a fundraiser at Panera. Please show the image below or the flyer sent home earlier this week and 25% of sales will go to the East Hill PTA!

Thank you for your continued support!

Announcements about school closings, delayed openings, or early dismissal will be posted on the News Headlines section of the District website home page. They will also be broadcast on X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the following stations which you can access by clicking here.

SchoolMessenger communications software allows us to send emails, texts, and make phone calls. (Phone calls will be used for emergency situations only.)

Parent/Guardians and staff will NOT need to sign-up to receive information from schools that you are registered for in ParentVue. (You will have the option to opt-out if you choose not to receive emails, texts, and/or phone calls. To receive texts, you also have to opt-in per the instructions in the Tips article below. )

• To be sure that you are receiving all emails sent from the District/schools/teachers, please periodically check your spam/junk/promotions folder for emails with @westgenesee.org, then mark that they are not spam/junk/promotions.
• To be sure that you are receiving text messages this year from WGCSD or your school(s), text a "Y" or "Yes" to 67587.

If you still have questions about receiving emails and/or text from WGCSD, please email them to publications@westgenesee.org.

The cooler weather is upon us! Please keep in mind that our students will continue to go outside for recess daily. If the temperature is 20 degrees Fahrenheit or above, recess can take place outside. If the temperature is below 20 degrees Fahrenheit (this includes factoring in the WINDCHILL), recess will be indoors. Students should always have appropriate clothing for the weather each day: Coat, boots, snow pants, hat, and gloves.

Also, please remember to label your child's cold-weather clothing. You will be so glad you did!

We are pleased to announce that all students enrolled at West Genesee CSD will be able to receive a FREE breakfast and lunch meal at school beginning today.

This implementation is a result of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) expanding access to the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). CEP allows eligible schools participating in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs to offer school meals at no charge to all students.

What does this mean for your child(ren) attending the school(s) identified above?

Effective 12/1/2023, all students enrolled at West Genesee CSD will be able to receive one free breakfast and one free lunch each school day regardless of the family’s household income. Milk is free with a full meal. No further action is required of you.

If you have any further questions, please contact Food Service at 315-487-4661.

Please click here to read a message to parents about free meals for students.

Kindergarten Registration for the 2024-2025 school year will open on December 5, 2023 and will go until March 31, 2024.

Watch for registration information on the Central Registration webpage. If you have any questions, email the Central Registrar at centralregistrar@westgenesee.org, or call Central Registration at (315) 487-4683.

When registering, parents should be prepared to upload the following:

• Two proofs of residency (i.e. mortgage or property statement or signed lease agreement, utility bill)
• proof of age

A physical examination and proof of immunizations are also required for entry into kindergarten and a dental certificate is requested for entry into kindergarten. These examinations should be done up to one year prior to the first day of school. Children who enter kindergarten this fall must be five years of age on or before December 1, 2024.

To access the most updated health requirements, click here.

Mark your calendar for the vote on the Special Referendum which will be held on Monday, December 11, 2023 from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm in the West Genesee High School Auditorium Lobby.

Information about the Special Referendum can be seen in each school lobby on poster boards and also more detailed information is available on the website by clicking here.

Please click on the picture below to view the Referendum Video that will also be presented at the upcoming Community Forum that has been rescheduled to Thursday, December 7, 2023 at 7:00 pm in the Camillus Middle School Cafeteria. (If you would like to submit a question, please email it to publications@westgenesee.org at least one day prior to the forum.)

• December 5 - Kindergarten Registration Begins
• December 5 - PTA Panera Fundraiser (4-8pm)
• December 6 - BOE Meeting (6pm WGHS Library)
  
• December 7 - Community Forum (7pm CMS Cafeteria)
• December 8 - Giving Train Gift Drop Off Deadline
• December 11 - Special Referendum Project Vote (6am-9pm WGHS Auditorium Lobby)
• December 12 - Grades 3 & 4 Chorus Concert (7pm WGHS Auditorium)