Howard Elementary School

This morning, arrival continued safely and smoothly in spite of the snow and ice on the road.  I wanted to thank you all for practicing patience and safety.  In order to keep dismissal just as safe, please:

• Drive alertly (hang up cell phones)
• Demonstrate Patience (It may take a little longer due to weather but safety is our priority)
• Accelerate with caution (There is ice running a little over a tire length wide on the right side of your vehicles and getting traction was worrisome this morning)
• If you don’t see your children outside, it means the decision was made to dismiss from the gym/foyers and they will be escorted to your shortly.
• Please remain in your vehicles and do not enter the school (especially on the Lawrence side) this increases confusion for the students.

Thank you again for all you do to make Howard safer for drivers and student and family pedestrians. 

Since school has been canceled the past 3 Wednesdays, we have not been able to hold the tryouts.  I would like to hold tryouts this Friday after school.  If for some reason you can’t make it, please see me to make other arrangements.  We will start right after school and will end at 4:45.  If you would like to stay with your child after dismissal, I will try to fit you in first so you can take your child home.  Please make sure to arrange pick up by 4:45.  If music and/or props are needed, please make sure your child has them at tryouts.  The tryouts are only open to fifth graders.  No more than 4 students may be in a single act.  I will send a list to the fifth grade teachers on Monday of the students who were selected to participate.  Any questions, please email me at: lipperl@dearbornschools.org

Thanks so much!

Linda Lippert

Due to a high interest in Dearborn’s STEM Middle School, the STEM administration wanted to share the following information with families interested in STEM.  If you have any further questions, they ask that you visit their blog at : (https://stem.dearbornschools.org/)

The message reads as follows:

STEM Middle School would like to thank everyone for their interest in attending our school for the 2019-2020 school year.  To answer the most popular question we hear, there is no application process in order to be considered for STEM for those students who attend Dearborn Public Schools; instead, invitations will be sent out to all those 5^th grade students in the district that are found to be eligible.  To be eligible students must have the following:

–       A Winter NWEA math score in the 85^th or higher percentile.

–       A Winter NWEA reading score in the 85^th or higher percentile.

–       A Winter NWEA science score in the 85^th or higher percentile.

–       ADVANCED on the 2018 ELA and Math M-STEP.

 Our hope is to have invitations sent out to all eligible 5^th grade students by the end of February.  From there, students who receive an invitation and indicate that they are interested in actually attending STEM in the fall, will be selected by lottery.  We will accept a final number of 60 students in to our 2019-2020 6^th grade class. 

If you live within the Dearborn Public Schools, and do not currently attend a Dearborn Public School, OR you are currently a 6^th or 7^th grader and would like to apply for a POSSIBLE empty slot, an application will be available on the STEM Middle School website (https://stem.dearbornschools.org/) under the tab “ADMISSIONS” starting in mid-February.   Invitations will be sent out to grade students that meet the below standards: 

–       A Winter NWEA math score in the 85^th or higher percentile.

–       A Winter NWEA reading score in the 85^th or higher percentile.

–       A Winter NWEA science score in the 85^th or higher percentile.

–       ADVANCED on the 2018 ELA and Math M-STEP

 Once again, thank you for your interest in STEM Middle School – a 2018 National Blue Ribbon School for Academic Excellence.

Well Howard Dragons, both morning and afternoon were smooth.  Safety and efficiency were achieved today and cars were cleared by 3:41 (6 mins) this afternoon.  Remember for indoor line up days, students can enter the building as soon as 8:25 am to line up so they will not be out in the cold when real feel temperatures are below 20.  If they are coming in for breakfast, they can come indoors as soon as they get to school and will then move from the lobby to the cafeteria at 8:10 am.

Great job to all!

The following students attended Monday’s Board meeting in order to begin the meeting by leading the Pledge of Allegiance.  Great job Hussein, Isabella, and Jason!  They represented Howard well!

Good Evening.

To maintain communication for the next week on any adjustments that need to be made to traffic I will continue the updates.  The bus pick up location ran very smoothly and calmly for students who take the bus.  Thank you to all of the staff out there supporting the bus students.  Also, much appreciation goes out to the entire staff who was all outside to assist with afterschool.  The Howard teachers have all joined together as the strong team we are to take on a supervision area around the school for dismissal.

Today went very well both morning and afternoon.  We now have access to the bus lane.  Therefore in order to help you move through the dismissal process quicker, please follow the following tips.

•  Students will be waiting in the bus lane area (curb marked in yellow).  This will be the pick up location and will help to load up to 7 cars at a time instead of one or two while making more room further north for more cars to clear the crosswalk.
• Make sure you pull all the way up into the old bus lane in order to pick up your child.
• Please stay in a single line along the curb in order to keep the flow moving.  Only move into the center (passing) lane if your students are already in your car.  Think of traffic when there is a lane closure, if people try to pull up and re-enter traffic at the last minute it slows everything down.  The sooner cars get into one lane, the faster traffic picks up.
• Oldest students will still be meeting their younger siblings so that you can pick up all students at one stop unless you have made different arrangements with your child’s teacher.
• 3rd and 4th grade still exit the building at Lawrence so please pick up students in those grades there unless they are coming to the front to meet their younger siblings.
• As always, make sure you are paying attention to pedestrians crossing York especially at Oak and Edward.  The walking families truly appreciate your cooperation and have communicated that they are feeling less stress crossing the streets.

We will continue to make adjustments as necessary.  It takes everyone and we appreciate you!

Yesterday was a very smooth day for both AM and PM traffic.  We actually broke both an Arrival and Dismissal record.  The street was cleared by 8:40 am meaning more studnets were in class on time and by 3:42 pm setting our pick up record at 7 calm and organized minutes!

Today we will begin the bus pick up on the Mildred side of the building.  I want you to know that I have heard some of the concern with this strategy, and your feedback is greatly valued.  The concern that has been expressed is that students would have to walk from the sidewalk, down the path to the line up door at the back of the building.  Please keep in mind the following:

• Due to the size of the property, bus students have always walked to their line up location.  The original bus drop off in the front is not centrally located with regards to line up doors and drops off closer to the Oak/York corner.  Based on the current bus drop off, 3rd and 4th graders have already been walking from that corner on N. York to Lawerence where their line up door is.  This has been occuring prior to and including this school year.  (This is the length of the entire front of the school property and around the corner)
• Students will not be walking around the building but will be using the path through the playground to cut across the property and have been designated a line up door at a location near the playground.  This is a secure path and away from street traffic.
• They will be supervised at the drop off location and the line up location and in between by Staff, Student Rangers, and Safety Squad.

Thank you again for your patience and support.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Lazar

As we have been interacting more closely with parents during arrival and dismissal, I have made several observations and one really struck me over the past few days:  It was cell phone usage.  While a hands-free option for cell phones is the safest while driving, it goes a little beyond that.  Sometimes its about perspective:  “the grass is always greener on the other side” and other similar sentiments.  Like many of you, as a working parent, I seldom have the privilege to battle traffic at my daughter’s school and be the one to pick her up or drop her off or for students who take the bus, it would be to be able to be the parent waiting at the bus stop.   On the days that I can, I think I am more excited than she is.  Yes, you read that correctly, I get excited about being the driver in congested traffic at a school.  You may be thinking its because I don’t have to do it everyday, but in a way I do by being a part of it every day at our school.

I have watched how excited our students are as they yell out “There is my mom/dad” as soon as they see you pull up to Howard.   Take advantage of that moment of excitement when you can to end your phone call if possible (some calls we have to take), let the children see your focus is on them when you pull up, and use the car ride to talk to them about their day.   Getting my daughter to talk about school is like “pulling teeth” as they say.  I have found some of the questions listed on the websites below to be helpful for me.

P.S.  While we tend to focus on what’s happening in front of the school, I want to also thank the parents who are out there at the bus stops in the neighborhood watching out for our students.  While we don’t see you, we know you’re there!  We appreciate you!  Seeing the mom I pass on Cherry Hill near Military in the morning makes me smile as I drive by.

Have a wonderful weekend!

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/understanding-childs-challenges/talking-with-your-child/how-to-say-it-questions-to-ask-your-child-about-school

and

50 Questions To Ask Your Kids Instead Of Asking “How Was Your Day”