Brookside Bulletin

• 8/28 - Curriculum Night (times below)
• 9/1 - No School - Labor Day

What a wondeful start to the school year! We missed our students so much and are excited to see them again and build our classroom communities. At Brookside, we strive to create a tight-knit school community where every child has the opportunity to learn academically, socially, and emotionally. We believe in helping the whole child grow to become loving and responsible citizens. We believe that school is an extention of the home and it is an honor to unite with parents to help our children thrive. Thank you for investing in your children - we are here to partner with you. Our school days start early, so those bedtime and morning routines are important. Good sleep and a healthy breakfast help children succeed in school. To our new students and families - welcome! And, welcome back to all of those who were with us last year. It will be a fantactic 25-26 school year!

The sun always shines on Brookside! 🌞

Warmly,

Dr. Jenny Wielinski

Create a Supportive Environment

Prioritize sleep and nutrition: Ensure your child gets enough sleep (10-12 hours for most school-age children) and a nutritious breakfast. A well-rested and well-fed child is better able to focus and learn.

Establish a routine: Set a specific time each day for homework, reading, chores, and play. A predictable schedule helps children develop a sense of responsibility and starts good habits.
Provide a dedicated workspace: Create a quiet, well-lit, and distraction-free area for your child to do homework. Make sure they have all the necessary supplies.
Limit screen time: Restrict time spent on TV, video games, and other digital devices. Excessive screen time can interfere with sleep and attention span.

Free & Reduced School Meals for Students

Worthington Schools offers Free & Reduced-Price Meals for students who qualify. A new application must be submitted each school year—eligibility does not carry over from the previous year. If you haven’t yet applied for the 2025–2026 school year, we encourage you to do so as soon as possible to avoid any interruption in benefits. For more information and to access the online application, click HERE. Paper applications are also available in the school office.

Student Lunch Accounts

Families can add money to their student's lunch account through My Payments Plus by clicking HERE. You can also use MPP to track your student's account and see much money remains on it. My Payments Plus is also used to pay other fees, like high school parking permits and AP testing fees.

Brookside uses a car loop for parents who choose to drop their children off in the morning. Please be sure your child is ready to exit the car in a quick, but safe manner on the passenger side only. We do this for safety puproses. Please keep your speed to a crawl and please be patient. Now and then we have family members who are not familiar with our process or some are simply new to our school community. Feel free to park in the front parking spaces to drop your child off should you not use the car loop.

Thank you in advance for adhering to our guidelines. 🙂

Please have your child arrive to school and be an active and engaged learner by our tardy bell at 7:40am. It is important that your child arrives on time as school attendance is calculated by the minute and accumulates quickly when tardy.

If your child will be absent for any reason, please call (614-450-5300) or email (dwadkowski@wscloud.org) attendance. If you know about a planned absence, please share that information prior to the absence, especially extended absences.

Arrival occurs between 7:30am and 7:40am. The tardy bell rings at 7:40am.

We would like to extend a warm welcome to the new members of our school staff:

• Macayla Core - DLS teacher

• Claire Sauer - 4th science/ social studies

• Brandi Herron - SLP

• Darlene Benson - DLS assistant

• Heather Disalvo - DLS assistant

• Chloe Kocel - IS

• Julia Sakowski - Mental Health Specialist

Join the PTA (pretty please?)

Your PTA membership dues help fund fun events and support Brookside staff. It’s the perfect way to make a difference and you can choose your commitment level. Join here: brooksidepta.com/join.

Mumkins - Set up your child's account by 8/21!

The annual Mumkin sale starts August 21st! Parents will need to register their child's account prior to selling Mumkins. Once registration is complete, a fundraising link will be created for you to send to family and friends! Register your account here.

Marathon Milers - Sign up by 9/2!

The Brookside Elementary Marathon Milers is a free program and it’s the perfect way for your child to run, play with friends, and earn fun tokens for meeting their goals. Sign up by 9/2 to get a free Brookside Marathon Milers shirt! Learn more and join here: brooksidepta.com/marathonmilers.

Dear Elementary Parents,

Worthington Schools is excited to announce its growing partnership with Securly in safeguarding students. Securly is used to monitor students’ online content, blocking access to inappropriate websites and materials on our school network and school-owned devices. Starting with the 2025/26 school year, Worthington Schools will make the Securly Home app available to elementary families.

Chromebook Content Filtering

District-owned Chromebooks will now have similar content filtering whether they are at school or away. This means that Chromebooks will have a base level of filtering no matter what network they are on. Content filtering is an uphill challenge and a very fine line to ensure students have access to the content and resources needed for effective learning while keeping harmful material at bay. While Internet content is ever-changing, our goal is to ensure a safe online experience.

Parental Control

Parents will have access to a website and mobile app, through Securly, to adjust their student’s district-provided Chromebook filtering levels when the device is away from the district network. You can determine the appropriate categories and sites your student has access to. More details can be found at our Parent Securly Information.

Activity Alerts

Worthington Schools' building leadership receives alerts when activity, such as searches or sites visited, indicates a student may be considering self-harm, harming others, or other inappropriate behaviour. This service was implemented so that school administrators are able to partner with you to provide a safer online experience. While these alerts are not perfect, we feel it is an important tool in ensuring your student’s safety

We take student safety very seriously, and online safety is part of the overall approach. If you have questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to your principal. Or if you need specific support from Securly, you can contact them at homesupport@securly.com.

Additional resources can also be viewed below.

Securly Getting Started Video

Securly Home App Walkthrough (English).pdf

Sincerely,

Worthington Schools

Worthington Connects is a community-driven organization dedicated to supporting local families in need year-round. We partner closely with schools to identify families who could benefit from assistance and rely on generous donations from the community to make our efforts possible. Every contribution helps us provide meaningful support to those in need.

If you would like to donate or get involved, please visit https://www.worthingtonconnects.org Families seeking assistance are encouraged to reach out to their school counselors, who work with us to connect resources to those who need them most. Together, we can make a lasting impact in our Worthington community!

Direct donation: https://www.worthingtonconnects.org/giving-page-3

For the safety of children, do not send any nut or peanut items to school in your child's lunch, snack, or school party item as we are a nut and peanut free school. It could literally mean life or death to another child. Thank you in advance for your understanding and compliance.

Please be sure you are observing road safety laws and educating your student(s) as well. Please always stay vigilant.

• Pedestrians: Where neither sidewalk nor shoulder is available, pedestrians shall walk as near to the outside edge of the roadway and only on the left side of the roadway, facing traffic. Any pedestrian upon a roadway shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway. Cross streets at crosswalks or intersections.
• Cyclists: Cyclists should ride on the right half of the roadway, riding with traffic instead of against it. Please wear a helmet!
• Drivers: Yield the right-of-way to pedestrians at intersections and crosswalks.

Field Trip volunteers/chaperones must have their volunteer badges. If you are interested in volunteering in our school or for a field trip. Please go to the district website and follow the instructions HERE.

CONTACT INFORMATION: Parents, if you have not done so this year, please make sure to verify/update information in the Emergency Data Review through the parent portal. You can access the portal* on the WCS website. This process must be completed every year in case of an emergency and in order for your child(ren) to participate in class field trips. Instructions for using the parent portal appear here.

The Special Education Road Map has been translated into 21 different languages!!

This roadmap is helpful to all families, especially families who are just beginning the special education process.

Worthington’s Special Education Key Communicator Committee strives to build positive, productive and collaborative relationships and partnerships amongst the educators and community of families whose children receive special education and related services. We will engage in two-way communication, with the goal being to provide a circle of influence where we can share out and learn from and with each other.

The key communicators will convey information from their building to the committee, as well as information from the committee to their buildings.

The Key Communicators for Brookside are Sandra Sell at snsell74@gmail.com and Emily Smith at lightseekerem@hotmail.com 614-563-3687. Please reach out to either of our communicators if you have questions or topics to discuss.

Title I, Part A (Title I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESEA), provides financial assistance to local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools with high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic standards. Our school receives Title IA funding.

Parents/families of students in our building have a right to know about teacher qualifications and state-mandated assessments. All teachers providing Title I interventions are properly licensed for their positions and anyone can search licensure information on any educator at https://core.ode.state.oh.us/Core4/ODE.CORE.Lic.Profile.Public.UI/ . In addition to being linked here, these documents are available on the Title IA page of our school website.