A Note From Dr. B

Dear Lafayette Families –

Our first week of school is under our belts! Thank you to everyone for a very smooth opening. This evening is the first of our Back To School Nights. All Back To School Nights begin at 6:00 PM in the cafeteria. After a brief presentation, parents will then proceed to their student’s classroom. There will be two classroom sessions in case you need to attend for multiple children. As a reminder, these events are child free. Please see below for the dates and grade level distribution:

Tuesday, 8/28 – PreK/KDG
Wednesday, 8/29 – 1st Grade/2nd Grade
Thursday, 8/30 – 3rd – 5th Grade

Schedule for each night:
6:00 PM. Welcome (cafeteria)
6:30 PM. 1st Parent/Teacher Sessions (in child’s classroom)
7:15 PM. 2nd Parent/Teacher Sessions (in child’s classroom)

Marigolds

As you are in the building this week for Back to School Night, you may notice marigolds all around. Marigolds are plants that protect a wide variety of other plants from pests and help them flourish. If you plant marigolds next to garden vegetables, they grow strong and healthy. We have adopted this them for the year for our staff and students – to be someone’s marigold. To help encourage those around us to flourish to the best of our abilities.

To that end, this past week we have seen several examples of our community being marigolds. Last week there was a bus accident in our community that demonstrated the strength of us – the individuals that responded and supported were truly incredible. Thankfully, all parties involved are home and ok. Yesterday afternoon we also saw an aggressive driver, not associated with school, that was verbally aggressive toward our crossing guard. Please know that MPD and school police are aware of the incident and investigating. DCPS school police will be providing extra support to be sure that we are ok. Thank you to all the marigolds that supported our community in both of these incidents.

Getting Involved

There are several ways that you can be involved as a marigold in our building, including volunteering, staying up to date on the LSAT (Local School Advisory Team), or being involved with the HSA. Our first HSA general meeting is September 6th at 7 PM. Join us for an update on the opening of school and HSA goals for the year. Our first LSAT meeting was August 15th. The full notes are listed here. In summary, the LSAT discussed the following:

• Elected co-chairs and secretary
• Discussed staffing and budget updates
• Began the discussion of our increasing size, current needs, and starting the discussion about next steps with DCPS

Thank you again to everyone for our start together. I appreciate your diligence to safety and our students as we all work together as a community. Here’s to a great and joyful school year together.

Take care,
Dr. B