Steller Yeller - September 2007
“Good communication does not mean that you have to speak in perfectly formed sentences and paragraphs. It isn’t about slickness. Simple and clear go a long way.” – John Kotter
As you may guess from the above quote, the focus of this newsletter is communication. Effective communication is a goal we, as Steller Staff, strive to achieve as well as one that we are continually working to improve. In the last few years, we have added a Parent Bulletin Board, across from the school Office, where parent information is posted. Parent Volunteer KJ Farley has developed and sent out weekly, the Steller FLASH, an e-mail announcement page for parents and students. In addition, we have been utilizing the “robot” message system to call households with important announcements and updates on upcoming events. The feedback from these additions has been very positive.
This year, I have been able to increase the flexibility of our School Messenger System by setting up grade-level groups as well as our school-wide group. This allows us to send out “robot” calls to households by grade level or on a school-wide basis. The key to the effectiveness of the system is the information that you provided during the registration process. We must have your correct phone number and, if at all possible, an e-mail address. If you change your home phone number or e-mail address during the school year, please let the office know as soon as you can. If you did not include an e-mail address on the ASD-required registration form, you can still provide that to the office by calling or sending an e-mail.
When the “robot” call goes out, it will call each phone number in the group three times. If no one answers or if a message system does not pick up the message, then your household will not receive the message. Since the system recognizes households with more than one student, it will only contact one phone number per household. This system has been very useful for Steller and we hope that it will continue to be a useful and effective means of communication.
Attendance
Please call the office to notify the school if your student is going to be absent. You may also want to e-mail your student’s teachers to provide them with information regarding your student’s absence. If students are ill and will miss three or more days, the office will send notification to teachers and assignments can be picked up in the office. There is a 24-hour turn around time between the request and the pick up time for the assignments.
If your student will be absent for a reason other than illness and will miss school for more than three days, please have your student complete a pre-arranged absence form. These can be picked up in the office and require a parent’s signature. Although we certainly understand occasionally absences due to illness or special activities, we encourage student attendance in classes. While a student may make-up an assignment, valuable classroom instruction is missed when students are not in class.
Thank you and your students for a great start to this school year!
Karin