Dear St. Thomas Families,   

It has been a great start to the school year. The children are settling into their classroom routines and homework is quickly becoming a nightly event. The summer really seemed to fly by and it is difficult to believe that the month of August is nearly past!

The parent/teacher/child relationship is a critical one for a successful school experience. Keeping positive avenues of communication open is important.  Be sure to stay well connected with your child's teachers and don't hesitate to contact them if you have questions as the year progresses.

We will be using MSP again this year as the primary communication tool between school and family.  With MSP, you are able to check on your child's attendance, assignments and grades.  If you have forgotten or misplaced your password to access MSP, please contact Mrs. Hug in the office and a new one will be issued.

A copy of this year's book bill is included in the Wednesday folder.  All book bills are due by Monday, September 15.  If you have any questions, contact Mrs. Hug in the school office.

As the school moves into full swing, and our activities and traffic in the building increases, we want to insure everyone's safety.  Please remember that all visitors to the school, including parents, are required to sign in at the school office and pick up a visitor badge.

To celebrate our return to school, we are once again displaying photographs from family vacations - a sort of visual "What I did on my summer vacation".  These pictures will be displayed in the front hallway for the month of September.  If you have a 3x5 or 4x5 printed photo to share, please drop it off to Mrs. Hug in the office.

This Thursday, August 28, we will have our beginning of the year supervised safety drills.  The police and fire departments will be on site while we practice fire, tornado, earthquake and lockdown procedures.  We are scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m., so communication and access to the school will be limited during this time.  I am sure that these drills will be a topic of conversation at dinner!

Remember that next Monday is Labor Day, which means that the school will be closed. Tuesday, September 2, the Lifetouch photographers will be here for our Picture Day. An order form was included in your Back-to-School packet.  If you have misplaced your order form or need another, they can be picked up in the office. Picture retakes are scheduled for Wednesday, October 29.

I hope your school year is off to a great start and that everyone is settling into the new routines.  We look forward to an exciting and positive school year!

Enjoy your week.  

Barry Thomas

Principal