August 2009

Dear Parents,

It’s that time again, back to school and after school. I hope that everyone had a safe, relaxing, and most importantly, a fun summer! I am also excited about the coming year and confident it will be another strong one! My main goal is to provide your children with a fun, safe, and caring environment, that they will want to be in on a daily basis. In my experience working in other schools in the MACS system, I have found St. Patrick’s to be more like a close knit family rather than parents and staff members. I will strive to attain the same “family” setting here during after school.

We will once again be holding the after school program in the cafeteria on the first floor of the school. You will enter the building through the door under the black staircase next to the trailers. The procedure for the program will be as followed: The children will be called down to after school, by grade, during the afternoon carpool announcement. They will then come into the cafeteria and have to check in with the staff member who will be taking their respective grades role. From there the children will wait for the rest of the grades to be called and then we will start. We will start the afternoon with me giving the children any announcements they will need. Then we will say prayer, and have our snack. At about 3:15 pm, we will break off for homework. This year homework will be a little different. I take great pleasure in introducing a new staff member that will be in charge of our homework time. You may already know her, our wonderful counselor, Mrs. Carissa Kaproth-Glenn. Homework will be held in the library in a quiet and focused environment. The students will have until 4:30 to finish in library, but will never be told to put it away if they are not finished. They will, however, need to complete it in the cafeteria. The rest of the afternoon we will have many games, toys, balls, etc for our program. We will also have different arts and crafts for the children to work on. We also have many different enrichment groups coming in throughout the year. I have enclosed a list of those dates. I am happy to announce the return of our computer day! Your children will have the opportunity to play educational games as well as other computer stuff; I know Webkinz is a popular one! Computer day will be on Wednesdays and run from 3:30 to 5:00 pm, with the only difference is that Mrs. Kaproth-Glenn will take over duties.

Our main goal here is of course the safety of your children. In order for you to pick up your child from the program, it is imperative you sign your child out. As you walk through the door, you will be greeted by one of our staff members who will assist you in the sign out process and also radio for your child. As we are familiar with most of the parents, we also will have some new faces, so expect to have to show ID for the first couple of times, until we get to know you. Also enclosed is a form for you to fill out with the names of other people who may sign your children out, i.e. grandparents, babysitter, neighbor, or friend. If the person is not on the form they will not be allowed to sign out your child until you are contacted and verify they are allowed to. They will also need to present an ID.
Study Hall will also be a time for your child to get their homework for the day completed. Staff members will be present to help answer questions, but will not be available for personal tutoring. I will personally make it my goal to provide your child with the best and most focused environment for them to do their homework. I will also be in contact with all the teachers through out the year, to ensure we are all on the same page. Enclosed I have a homework form for you to fill out.
Snacks will be provided daily for your children. We are fortunate to have a fully operational kitchen here, so we will be able to provide your child with a wide variety of snacks. If there is a snack your child really doesn’t like, they may bring an additional snack from home. Any child with an allergy will have choice of a different snack that is alright for them to have.

When you received your registration form, you also received a handbook. If you have misplaced this handbook, I will be happy to replace it. Also I have enclosed a list of our rules and regulations. Please take a few minutes to go over them with your child. We will also go over them here, but I have found it to be even more effective when the child knows that the parents also know what is expected of them. Though I try to run a calm, laid back, fun environment, we will be very diligent in enforcing our rules and regulations.

I believe that just about covers it for now. Enclosed you will also find a staff bio page, so you can get to know us, before you get to know us! I am very excited about the upcoming year and look forward to seeing all of the returning students and parents, as well as meeting our new comers to the program and our new kindergarteners to the school. Please feel free to contact me any time of the day with any questions, comments, or concerns. My contact info is located bellow.
Thank you,

Craig Lynch, ASEP Director
704-333-9176 (St. Pats ASEP # between the hours of 2:00-6:00 pm)
704-724-2835 (Cell)
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