Welcome Back Roadrunners,
We are beyond excited for a new school year that has come upon us. It fills me with joy each fall to welcome new and returning students into our hallways. This is an exciting, yet, nerve-wracking time for many of our young Roadrunners, and I would surmise for some of our families as well!
We have spent the summer preparing for a great school year. As a cornerstone to ensure all students and families have the best school year possible, Park and Hulet Elementary School will continue to prioritize maintaining a safe, healthy, and educational environment. This has been a driving force behind our decisions since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. That said, overall safety and the safety of your students were acutely reminded to us in May of 2022. Therefore, I want to let you know that Park and Hulet Elementary Schools are continuing with their closed campus policies.
As a result of our decision to maintain a closed campus to ensure the safety, health, and education of each child is at the forefront of all we do, I want to share some information with you that will help the school year get off to a great start and begin setting routines and procedures for the remainder of the school year.
On the first day of school and school days after, we will implement school safety measures that include limiting general entrance into Park and Hulet Elementary School. To that measure, we ask that you drop your child off at the front entrance prior to school and pick your child up either at the front entrance or remain in your car and your child will be delivered to your vehicle. This will enable our schools to maintain security and control traffic in and out of the building.
Rest assured that we do not want to restrict parents’ access to our schools. That is not our intention at all. We know it takes a partnership between the school and parents to Help our Unique Students Develop. If you should need to access the school for any reason, we ask that you please set up appointments to meet with your child’s teacher or request a visit to the school. This will help us to reduce the traffic patterns in and out of the buildings to ensure our schools are secure and safe. Also, a reminder to be sure to park in the parking lot or a designated parking spot and use crosswalks. Park and Hulet Elementary School will continue implementing the single point of entry procedures.
In addition, We know that the beginning of the year (first days of school) may be an emotional time for new students and parents for that matter. While students may cry when they leave you, we assure you that they generally are fine within five or ten minutes after arriving at class. We have plenty of helpful, loving adults throughout the school to help direct and comfort students on where they need to go. If for any reason, your student does not calm down in a reasonable amount of time, we will be sure to contact you.
I also encourage you to attend our Meet the Teacher night and our Academic Parent Teacher Team meetings to see where your child’s classroom is and make strong relationships and connections with your child’s teacher. This will provide ample opportunity to continue bridging the gap between school and home. We will be sure to have safety protocols in place for these events as well. We simply want you to know that your child will be in a school environment that takes school safety extremely seriously and that means we will need to control the environment to ensure we are able to regulate access to the school.
Again, if you wish to visit our campus during regular operating hours, you must come to the main office and receive a visitor's pass. If you intend to visit the classrooms, please be sure to make prior arrangements with your child’s classroom teacher. Lunch is often a social time for many of our students and parents, and the desire to share lunch is strong. I would encourage parents to sign your child out during the lunch period instead of coming to the cafeteria to eat with them. We will arrange some common dates for parents to experience lunch with your child throughout the year.
I want to thank you for all of your help in making our schools safe. Through great partnerships with each of you, Park and Hulet Elementary continue to be the beacon of greatness in Navajo County.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Yours in Education,
Kevin Fosburgh
Principal, Park and Hulet Elementary Schools
928-524-6181
kfosburg@holbrook.k12.az.us