Putnam Valley Elementary School

Dear PVES Families,

Thank you so much for your participation in our Parent/Teacher conferences this past week.  Although these are unique times, our goal at PVES is to continue with targeted consistent instruction, supporting our students emotionally and academically throughout the year.  This communication between home and school is vital to this work.  Please review the 1st Quarter Progress Report with your child, focusing on motivation and good learning habits.  Thank you so much for your support.

Our school district is committed to staying open for students whenever possible, always depending on Department of Health and state regulations. Thank you for understanding that when school moves to remote learning, this is frustrating for all of us. Thank you to our faculty who is prepared to teach remotely if necessary at any point.  From what I can see, we will be open tomorrow for all of our in-school elementary learners, and so it will be a normal school day.  We all look forward to easier days!

When your children are learning remotely, we ask that all parents allow the students to work as independently as possible.  School policies do not allow photos, recordings, or screenshots of Google Meet lessons.  We also ask that students mute their microphones when the teacher asks them to, and that no adult voices (or other family members) can be heard in the background.  We take privacy issues very seriously, along with the goal of establishing the best learning environment possible for our young students. Thank you so much for your help with this.

If your in-school learner needed a laptop for this past Friday, we ask that you return it to school first thing tomorrow.  Elementary students may not transport district laptops in their backpacks.  If an extended school closure should be announced, we will be reaching out to all PVES families to set up laptop pick-ups for all families in need of this.  This will be quick and efficient.  However, if school is closed for just a day or two, this mass laptop distribution will not take place.  Laptops must be returned to PVES in the same working condition in which they were released, and they are to be used for school purposes only.  Thank you for your help with this!

Thank you to the PTA for conducting our School Picture Retake Day and our Virtual Book Fair this past week. Thank you also to all families who were able to contribute to the Holiday Food Drive!  We are all working together, and this is making all the difference.

We are now in the beginning of the second quarter of the school year.  We have so much success to celebrate at this point, and we will continue to do our very best in the months ahead.  Thank you so much for all of the positive shout-outs and acknowledgements.  Our hard work is certainly being done in the best interests of our students.

I wish you and yours a very happy, healthy, and peaceful Thanksgiving.  Continue to help others around you, and be sure to model gratitude for your children.  I am thankful to be working with all of you!

Warmly,

Dr. Podesta