Shupe Elementary School

Parents, community members, and Amherst School staff members are encouraged to attend the Schools’ community meeting on Thursday, February 11, at 7:00 p.m., in the Steele cafetorium. The "Measures of Success" will serve as a big part of the discussion for the evening.

You are Invited!
When: Friday, March 5, 6-8 p.m.
Where: Marion L. Steele High School's Main Gym

If you want to learn some of the reading strategies and resources that teachers use at Shupe School to help your child at home with reading you are welcome to attend our Learning To Read Is Fun Parents Night on Thursday February 18th from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. The Title One Tutors will have four stations set up in the Shupe gym that you can visit. Each of the stations will have activities and strategies that you can easily employ at home when working with your child in reading & math to help them to practice word recognition, reading decoding, improve fluency and comprehension and math skills. There will be valuable activities and also references to resources on line. The tutors can answer any questions you might have about helping your child to practice reading skills at home. This is an open house format so just stop in the gym at any time. Hope you can make it!

We have been getting phone calls from parents asking when they can order yearbooks. Ripcho Studios will be sending the forms to us in mid-February. As soon as we get them we will send them home with your child.

The Amherst Schools' ABC Preschool, which serves students with and without disabilities, is seeking to enroll children as typical peer models for the next school year until all positions are filled. A $50 deposit will enable you to select an AM or PM session on a first come, first served basis, based on the date deposits are made.

ABC Preschool Features:

• Four day per week program (currently Tuesday-Friday)
• AM session 9:00 to 11:30 or PM session 12:50 to 3:20
• Licensed by the State of Ohio and inspected annually
• Certified teachers and experienced support staff
• Class size limited to approximately 12 preschoolers
• Located at Shupe Elementary to ease the transition to kindergarten
• Curriculum is aligned with the state's Pre-Kindergarten Content Standards

Requirements:

• 3 or 4 years old by August 1 of the coming school year
• Toilet-trained (no pull-ups)
• Participate in screening and meet eligibility as a typical peer model
• Provide own transportation

ABC Preschool Fees

$960 due Sept. 1 or in two payments of $480 due Sept. 1 and Jan. 15.

Sign-up Procedures

On or after January 29, make a deposit and complete an application/tuition agreement at the Educational Service Center, 185 Forest Street, between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. At that time, you will also select a screening time. (Please note: If you are on a waiting list for this school year, you will need to re-apply for next school year.) If you have questions, please call Sue Pete at 988-4406 or Lori Kendrick at 988-7606.

The H1N1 Clinic is scheduled for Tuesday, February 9, at Amherst Steele High School. 

Last summer the Ohio Legislature passed a law requiring school districts to provide all-day, everyday kindergarten beginning with the 2010 -2011 school year. School districts can apply for a waiver to postpone this for one year. Amherst Schools will not have all-day everyday kindergarten next school year due to financial and space constraints. Providing the additional classroom space is one challenge but the larger challenge is the approximate additional cost of $500,000.

The concept of all-day, everyday kindergarten is something the district supports and believes is a good idea. Unfortunately, the way the state funding formula works, the Amherst Schools would not receive any additional funds from the state to cover these additional costs. We hope you understand our decision to postpone all day kindergarten for a year. If you have any questions, please call the Board Office at 440-988-4406.

www.ohiopirc.org

The Amherst Board of Education has not yet made any decision about open enrollment for the 2010-2011 school year. This decision will be made by March 1. Watch the website for further information. 

Thank you for your support during the last box top contest. It is time for our last contest. We will be collecting box tops now through February 10th for our second contest. The preschool, kindergarten and first grade class that collects the most box tops will receive a treat and a visit from Boxie the Bear. Don’t forget to ask relatives and friends to help you save box tops.  Please make sure that the expiration date is legible. This is our last contest, but we will continue to collect box tops until the end of the school year. Thank you for your support. If you have any questions contact Karen Butcher, at 440-988-0150.