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. 1 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. 2 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. 3 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 4 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 5
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