RJLSept6 (1) - TDSB School Websites

RJ Lang Lions
Principal: Shari Green-Brown Vice-Principal: Karen Thomas
Office Administrator: Claire Ferrari Secretary: Dawn Brennan
Superintendent: Louis Papathanasakis Trustee: Alexander Brown
September 05, 2016
Dear R J Lang Families,
A warm and sincere welcome back to everyone! On behalf of all staff, we would like
to extend a warm welcome to all new and returning R J Lang students and their
families. We hope everyone had a safe and relaxing summer.
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and share my excitement
about my appointment as the new Principal of R J Lang EMS. I feel extremely fortunate
to have been placed in such a large dynamic school comprised of almost 600
students and 40 staff members. R J Lang is a school that has a positive and inclusive
culture focused on student learning, a commitment to high expectations, and a
strong belief that all students can and do learn. We strive for high levels of student
and community engagement and care deeply about our collective well-being. It truly
is a Community of Learners Committed to Success for All.
We have enjoyed meeting many families this week, and hearing about everyone’s
summer holidays. We hope that whatever you did over the summer, you enjoyed
yourselves. The new school year awaits, and I am so excited to join the RJ Lang family.
A great deal of hard work went into preparing our school for our learners. Many
thanks to Angel, our amazing head caretaker and his wonderful team of Dave and
Indo, who did an outstanding job making our school shine and sparkle. I have never
seen a school shine like this one does.
Another huge thank you also goes to Claire and Dawn who have managed the office
and the revolving door of parents with patience and grace. They have been busy
registering new families, balancing classes, and preparing information packages.
Their hard work is greatly appreciated.
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RJ Lang Lions
Principal: Shari Green-Brown Vice-Principal: Karen Thomas
Office Administrator: Claire Ferrari Secretary: Dawn Brennan
Superintendent: Louis Papathanasakis Trustee: Alexander Brown
A big thank you also goes out to the teachers and staff who have spent many hours
preparing their classrooms and creating warm, welcoming communities of learning.
Our students are entering an environment where they can make mistakes and be
encouraged by them, where they will be challenged to have a growth mindset, and
where they will be encouraged to think critically and outside the box.
Our motto this year:
“Every student, Every day!” Believe it! Do it! Achieve it!
I believe that it is my responsibility as Principal to ensure that all children receive a
quality education within a safe and respectful environment. I also believe that staff
need the proper training and tools to provide the quality education the students
deserve. I recognize and embrace the connection between home and school.
Working together enhances the educational experience for all students and is
something to which I am committed to maintaining in my role as Principal.
We are well on our way to making some major changes in the areas of technology
and staff and student resources. So far, we have purchased 40 new Chromebooks for
the Intermediate Division. As a team, they have made the commitment to move
towards becoming paperless classrooms. Each teacher has already created a Google
Classroom and their new technology with its Google platform will support them.
We have also purchased 20 new iPad minis and Big Grip cases. These will be
distributed to teachers sometime next week after they are catalogued in the library
and our Technology/Inquiry/STEM team has had a chance to meet to discuss the
school needs. Our goal for this year is to purchase enough iPads so that EACH
classroom has 5 for student use and one for teacher documentation.
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RJ Lang Lions
Principal: Shari Green-Brown Vice-Principal: Karen Thomas
Office Administrator: Claire Ferrari Secretary: Dawn Brennan
Superintendent: Louis Papathanasakis Trustee: Alexander Brown
We have also purchased new Looseparts materials for the FDK classrooms, Math and
STEM resources, Drama and Dance resources and Growth Mindset resources. Each
teacher also received their OWN classroom copy of The Dot by Peter Reynolds as we
are all starting the year with this book as our lead off to the Growth Mindset theme. Dot
Day is September 15th, and I have already bought my new DOTTY shirt for that
occasion! Make sure your child has something with DOTS to wear on September 15th.
We have hired a few new staff members over the summer. Please join with me in
warmly welcoming our new staff members: Sachi Banerjee (Grade 8A), Yvonne Li
(Grade1/2), Kristen Taylor (Grade 3) Erin Connor (Music & French ), Shoshana Zand
(CYW), Jackie Torres (FDK), and Bonnie Tran (Prep & Resource).
The safety of staff, students and our community members is our top priority. We are
changing the parking lot and bus route procedures for parents to ensure everyone is
safe. Please read carefully.
At 8:10 a.m. the parking lot gates will be locked and parents and buses
will be directed to use the bus loop/Kiss & Ride ONLY. Supervision begins
in the school yard at 8:15 a.m.
Parents are asked pull up to the Kiss & Ride loop, a staff member will open
the car door, help the student out and parents will then be asked to move
along quickly. Since we have 10 school busses dropping off students in
the morning, parents might find themselves stuck behind a school bus until
it has unloaded the students safely. However, parents do have the option
of walking their child(ren) to school or parking on a side street and
walking their child(ren) in to the school yard.
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RJ Lang Lions
Principal: Shari Green-Brown Vice-Principal: Karen Thomas
Office Administrator: Claire Ferrari Secretary: Dawn Brennan
Superintendent: Louis Papathanasakis Trustee: Alexander Brown
Having worked as an administrator in a different school for the past several years, I
realize there are many new things that I will learn over the weeks and months ahead. I
am very much looking forward to getting to know all of the students, staff and parents
who make up this wonderful school community.
Please do not hesitate to call, to drop in or to e-mail me if you have any questions,
concerns, or simply to introduce yourself and say hello.
We are looking forward to an exciting year at R J Lang. As always, we invite you to be
an active member of our school community. Please don’t hesitate to communicate
with us on a regular basis so we can work together to create a successful year for your
child(ren).
I am looking forward to meeting you tomorrow.
Respectfully,
Shari Green-Brown
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RJ Lang Lions
Principal: Shari Green-Brown Vice-Principal: Karen Thomas
Office Administrator: Claire Ferrari Secretary: Dawn Brennan
Superintendent: Louis Papathanasakis Trustee: Alexander Brown
Upcoming Dates:
Tues. Sept 6
Day 1
First Day of School
Tues. Sept 13 Day 1
Eid-al-Adha
Thurs. Sept 15 Day 3
DOT DAY!!; School Council Meeting @
6:30 p.m.
Thurs. Sept 22 Day 3
Welcome Back BBQ at 5:00p.m.;
Curriculum night 6:30p.m.
Wed. Sept 28 Day 2
Grade 7s to Mono Cliffs
Thurs. Sept. 29 Day 3
Grade 7s to Mono Cliffs; Terry Fox Run
Fri. Sept 30
Mon. Oct. 3
Day 4
Day 5
Grade 7s to Mono Cliffs
Rosh Hashanah
Tues. Oct 4
Day 1
Rosh Hashanah
Fri. Oct 7
Day 0
P.A. Day
Mon. Oct 10 Day 0
Thanksgiving Day
Wed. Oct. 12 Day 5
Yom Kippur
Fri. Oct. 14
Day 2
Wed. Oct 19 Day 5
School Photo Day
Grade 8-9 Parent Info Night
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