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• PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
• BOE REPORT
• PARENT WORKSHOPS
• VIRTUAL FAMILY FUN NIGHT
• ALL PTO SPEAKERS EVENT
• WIS SPIRIT STORE
• 2021-22 WIS PTO BOARD
• 2021 NEW YEAR STAFF LUNCHEON
• YEARBOOK UPDATE
• SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH
• AR WORKSHOP FAIRFIELD VALENTINE'S FUNDRAISER
• AROUND TOWN

Hello WIS Families,

We have made it to the weekend again!

A huge thank you to Francesca Grodin who is the newest member to join the Parent Covid Task Force. I know she will make a fabulous addition to the team. 

Don’t forget that we are still collecting donations for a staff luncheon next month to show our continued support and appreciation. Any contribution will be greatly received.  

Also, mark your calendars for a vey special all school PTO speaker eventon Tuesday, February 23rd on Diversity and Inclusion.  We hope to see you there!

Finally, please continue to contribute photos to the yearbook site so we can make this yearbook as special as possible. 

You will also find options to upload mask photos for “Cutest Mask”, “Funniest Mask” & “Coolest Mask”.  Please contribute!

Thank you!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Daniella Swetland 

PTO President 

BOE Report – January 26th, 2021

The Board of Education met on January 26th, via Zoom.  This meeting was a public forum with the Administration and Board of Education. Comments and questions were submitted prior to the meeting, were read aloud, answered and discussed.  

The link to watch the January 26th meeting is below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy7Hq91RskU

BOE Report – January 28th, 2021

The Board of Education met on January 28th, via Zoom.  This meeting was the approval and adoption of the 2021-2022 budget. 

Per Dr. Mckersie’s email the morning of January 29th, the Board of Education approved a FY 22 Operating Budget of $55,613,056.  The BOE also approved the FY 22 Capital Budget, totaling $1,057,400.

The Operating Budget represents a $1,451,613 (or 2.68 percent) increase over the FY 2021 Board of Education Budget approved by the Board of Finance on June 4, 2020.  This growth figure compares favorably to recent BOE budget submissions, and is lower than the past three years (i.e., 3.44 percent in FY 19, 3.93 percent in FY 20, and 2.89 percent in FY 21). 

The BOE Adopted Operating and Capital Budgets now move sequentially to the Board of Selectmen (February), Board of Finance (March-April) and ultimately the Town of Weston citizens-at-large (April) for review.  The final budgets will be determined as of May 1, 2021. 

The link to watch the January 28th meeting is below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSQEhBN19TM

The next regularly scheduled Board of Education meeting will be Tuesday, February 16th.

Maria Rowbotham

HES BOE Rep

mariarowbtham@gmail.com

HES and WIS, in partnership with the PTO, have scheduled a series of parent workshops to support parents during this unusual year.  

The speaker, Claudia Elfreich is a mom and former general and special educator She has been in the field of education for over 20 years.  She is an education specialist at CREC (Capital Region Education Council) as well as a member of the CT Transition Task Force, a PBIS endorsed trainer and the head of the SEL (Social/Emotional Learning) Council at CREC.  She is passionate about SEL in schools and homes for children and adults. 

Please save the date for the following sessions.

February- Session # 2

Tuesday, February 9,   9-10 am  or 6-7 pm

March- Session # 3

Thursday,  March 4,  9-10 am  or 6-7 pm

Virtual Family Fun Night - Friday, Feb 5th at 6pm

Bake with Your Sweetheart Hosted by Chef Kathleen of Chopped and Chopped Champions! 

While there may not be a WIS Sweetheart Dance this year, you can still dance around your kitchen while baking with your sweetheart! WIS students and their families are invited to bake with Chef Kathleen who has appeared on both Chopped and Chopped Champions. Join us in baking cupcakes with hearts made from marshmallow fondant (with optional berry stuffing). 

The fee will be $25 per family. Participants will need to buy their own ingredients.

You can register HERE.

If you have any questions, please contact Family Fun Night Chair Jennifer Bernheim at jbernheim@onpurposepr.com. 

Please join the HES/WIS/WMS & WHS PTOs for a special speaker event:

TOPIC: DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

SPEAKER: JONELLE A. REYNOLDS, PHD 

UConn - Director Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives

DATE: TUESDAY 23RD FEBRUARY

TIME: 9.30am - 10.45am

Click HERE for a flyer

Show your WIS pride and support the PTO.

New items are available in our Spirit store.

You can purchase the WIS Spirit t-shirt or pre order the hat HERE

We would love to hear from you if you are interested in joining the Executive or General Board itself next year!  

We welcome new and returning members - it is a great way to meet other parents, and is also a way for friends to work together and for you to get more involved in your child's school environment.  A full list of the various board positions can be found on the PTO website - if you have any questions regarding any of the positions, or any part of the process, please contact me at jbernheim@onpurposepr.com.   And please go ahead and fill out the nomination form HERE if you know which position you would like - or if you know of someone else who would be fantastic!  

Thank you!

Jennifer Bernheim
WIS PTO Nominating Chair

Hello all,

We would like to thank our teachers and make them start the 2021 feeling parents appreciation for their amazing job. 

 We will treat them with a catered lunch but we can't do it without your help. Please consider making a monetary donation to assist in the purchase of these items. Any donation will be greatly appreciated.

Click here to donate

Thanks as always for your support!

Daniella Swetland
daniellarc@aol.com

Don’t forget to order your yearbook!
https://wis.picaboo.com/weston-intermediate-school-2020-2021
Password: WIS2021
This price is $36.50 

You can personalize your book with four (4) personalized pages as we have done in recent years (at no charge) and you will be able to stamp your Childs' name and symbols on the cover in silver foil (for an added fee). The personalized pages need to be completed by May 1st.  Please disregard the Picaboo site telling you that pages need to personalized by a different date. 

Please contribute photos to the yearbook making sure they are  added to the correct section. 

https://uploads.picabooyearbooks.com/9186108

I have added sections “Cutest Mask”, “Funniest Mask” Coolest Mask”.  Please share your mask photos!

Yearbooks will be back on track to be handed out at school during the regular school year.  

Please also contribute your fifth graders’ baby photo. Photos must be vertical. They can be in black & white, sepia or color.  Please only send one baby photo.  Submit photos by February 20th, 2021 to:
21wisyearbook@gmail.com
In Subject Line write student’s “given” name not nickname. 

Before the books go to print the fifth grade parents will receive a proof of the baby photo section for review.  

Finally, we are selling Parent Ads for the fifth grade. Please check out options here: https://adstore.shopyearbook.com/9186108


Thank you!

As always, stay tuned for updates.

Daniella Swetland 
daniellarc@aol.com
(203) 858-5956

The Weston Board of Education has begun its search for the next Superintendent of Schools  and is seeking parent input and opinion.

If you have not already done so, please complete the parent survey HERE.  The last opportunity to share your thoughts through this survey will be Friday 5th February.

Please also consider attending the next open discussion forum about the search, which is scheduled for Monday January 25th at 7pm:

meet.google.com/vzh-zuut-njs

The search consultant, Dr Erardij, can also be contacted directly at erardij@gmail.com or by calling 571-480-0313.

AR Workshop ~ Fairfield is offering DIY To Go craft kits for Valentine's Day!

$30 or $35 per kit.  

DIY To Go kit options are:  Valentine Garland (7 designs), Valentine Mini Blocks, or Tea Towels.

A percentage of the proceeds will go to support all 4 Weston PS PTOs. Visit their website: www.arworkshop.com/fairfield and use the code WESTON20 to be included in the fundraiser.

Please note, there is not an additional discount, just a percentage of your purchase that will go to Weston PTOs.

The library is currently only open for curbside pickups,but there are still tons of virtual programming and options for you. Upcoming in February we are doing a week long event for Take Your Child to the Library Day, aptly renamed to Take the Library to Your Child Week and have a limited number of Swag Bags to go with it. February also has a slew of food programs, science and S.T.E.M. and of course our Book Chats. We continue to offer our binge boxes for those that would like us to select books for their children and teens. To do this, and to learn more about all that is going on this month at the Weston Public Library including how to register for our programs and events, check out our LATEST NEWSLETTER HERE.

January 15^th is the last day to register for baseball and softball winter workouts. Sessions are available for baseball programs from Kindergarten - 12U (i.e. players who do not turn 13 prior to May 1, 2021) and all softball players from 1st through 8th grade.  Please visit 

https://www.leagueathletics.com/Registration/Default.asp?n=125819&org=westonll.com

to learn more about the programs and to register.

Registration for the Spring programs will be opening soon!

• Winter Book discussion:  We’re starting a Youth Services book group! Our first book in February is Self Compassion, by Kristen Neff PhD. We’ll have a private FB group where WYS Director Laura Cleary will share highlights of chapters and encourage discussion (we’ll have a virtual discussion group end of February if there’s interest). Email: lcleary@westonct.gov  Open to any interested adult.
• WYS Youtube Channel: Parent education and wellness videos & webinar recordings
• Youth-to-Youth Mentor Program: We’re gathering interest in a youth-to-youth mentor program, with Weston teen mentoring WIS or WMS students. This would be light mentoring/friendship. Teens will have a 3-hour training and be encouraged to meet with their mentees a minimum 30 minutes per week. If you’re an interested teen or the parent of a WIS or WMS student, email for info.: lcleary@westonct.gov
• Family RE-treat: A virtual DIY retreat for families to Re-imagine purpose, vision, and values, sponsored by Weston Youth Services and On Purpose Family. Family activities include a gratitude scavenger hunt and create a family vision board kit! More information and Register HERE

• The WIS PTO newsletter is distributed on Fridays, please send your submissions by the prior Wednesday, 2 pm.
• It is your responsibility to write and submit your relevant WIS activity each week.
• All submissions should be either included in the text of your email or attached in Word format and the content should be print-ready (please proofread!). Keep it simple and short.
• If you have a flyer, please submit a brief write-up along with it in PDF format and we will link it to the newsletter.
• Please send all necessary links, there will be a click "here" linking to the more detailed information.
• If you want to re-run a write-up from the previous week, check to see if it requires updating, i.e. changing the wording from  "next week" to "this week", etc.  If so, please make appropriate changes and re-send the revised write-up.
• All submissions should be sent to: wisptocommunications@westonpspto.org. All will be acknowledged.
• Submissions should be relevant to WIS and the town of Weston (i.e., town sports programs, Town of Weston sponsored community events or after-school sports programs for students taking place in the Town of Weston). If there is any question regarding the relevance of submission, final approval will be determined by the HES PTO Communications Chair and/or President.