Chester Ronning School
May 2026
Principal's Message
Hello again, Chester Ronning School Community.
Before I get into my usual communication about Chester Ronning School at this time of the year, I want to share that we will be replacing 10 of our school-owned Chromebooks in June, thanks to the incredible efforts of our School Council. The school division provides enough devices to ensure a ratio of one device for every three students. Any additional devices must be purchased and replaced as necessary by the school, and CRS is responsible for 51 school-owned devices. This year, 10 of those devices are "end-of-life" and must be replaced at a cost of nearly $5000. Next year, another 12 will need to be replaced. Our School Council makes it possible for us to maintain our fleet of Chromebooks to ensure that students and teachers have the devices they require for learning through fundraising such as the hot-lunch program. This year, they have committed $1500 from their Friends of Chester Ronning Society, and the remaining $3500 will be covered by money raised from the sale of hot lunches.
I have a few reasons for sharing this information:
1) I want our school community to be aware about operations of the school, and to understand how our Parent Council works with us to ensure that students have access to the tools and learning experiences they need, while also keeping costs to families down.
2) I think it's important to clarify that, in addition to being a convenient lunch option for some families, our hot lunch program is also an important fundraiser for our school. The money raised through hot lunch sales supports a range of activities and events that benefit students. In addition to Chromebooks, revenue from hot lunches reduces costs of field trips for all families, and ensures that every student can participate in field trips. Every hot lunch you buy, benefits our school!
3) Finally, I also want to highlight the efforts of our Parent Council to support all CRS students and families. Our Council Chair, Michelle MacLeod, will no longer have children at CRS next year, and I want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to join me in thanking Michelle for her many years of service and support to CRS. We have had a small but mighty group of parents leading the way on our Parent Council the last few years, and they would always love to recruit more parents to be involved. Perhaps some of you will be available to join the CRS Parent Council in 2026-2027.
Now, back to my regular May message...
As you know, May marks a time in the school calendar when the transition to the upcoming school year begins. Currently, teachers are nearing the completion of curriculum, year-end field trips and activities are booked and plans for farewell assemblies and celebrations of learning are underway. For families with students who will be aging-out of our K-5 school, you may be aware that École Charlie Killam School has scheduled an Open House on May 26, from 5:30-7:00 pm. The ÉCKS staff and Miss Carley, our Mental Health Capacity Building coach, have already begun the orientation process and our Gr. 5 students are scheduled for an orientation visit to the middle school on Tuesday, May 12. If you have a child in Gr. 5, you may be interested in checking out the ÉCKS website: https://ckillam.brsd.ab.ca
And, if the plan is for your child to return to CRS in the fall, plans for the 2026-2027 school year are already beginning here too! We have already started the processes to determine things like teacher assignments, classroom locations and, soon, creating drafts of class lists. A great deal of thought and energy from our entire staff will go into creating the best plan possible to ensure success for all students. It's extremely complex work that takes all kinds of different variables into account. Requests for specific teachers and/or specific classmates are not part of this calculus, however.
Staff configurations, specific teacher assignments and the students who will be attending in September can and often do change between this time of year and the arrival of September - sometimes those types of changes continue well into the next school year. So, although I will always appreciate the information that I can gather when parents and guardians share insights about their children, please understand that I will not guarantee that any requests for specific classroom arrangements in the upcoming school year can or will be fulfilled. Thank you for your cooperation in this and for trusting our staff as we begin the work of building the next successful school year for your child and for the 300 or so other students that we are privileged to work with each day!
If you have questions about this process, or about anything else, please don't hesitate to connect with me by phone or email.
Hope Mission - No Child Hungry Walk-a-Thon
There's one more thing, I want to share. Over the past three years, Hope Mission has become an important partner for Chester Ronning School and for many schools in our school division. Hope Mission has benefitted countless CRS students through numerous programming opportunities and through their support of our lunch time nutrition program in the form of sandwiches, cut fruits and vegetables, and other snacks. Year after year, Hope Mission provides thousands of lunches to schools, and hundreds of suppers and extra-curricular programming opportunities to BRSD students and families!
The CRS school community has an opportunity to give back to Hope Mission so they can continue supporting students and families in our communities. CRS staff and students will be participating in their No Child Hungry Walk again, on June 3rd. If you would like to make a donation to Hope Mission's campaign, please visit: https://www.canadahelps.org/s/jTyW2g
Thank you!
Yours in Education,
Reid Lansing,
CRS Principal
School Bell Times
8:00 am - Outdoor supervision of students begins
8:15 am - School Starts; Please do your best to have students here on time.
10:05 am - Morning recess
11:20 am - 12:00 pm - Lunch Break
1:45 pm - Afternoon Recess
3:00 pm - Dismissal
There will be no early dismissals this year.
Breakfast Club
We will offer a quick grab and go breakfast snack. The students will be given a few minutes to finish their breakfast before the school day starts. There will be no early entry to the school.
Mabels Label
How many items did your child lose this year? With this win-win solution, you can create custom labels for your child's items (boots, jackets, lunch kits, etc.) while supporting Chester Ronning's fundraising efforts that go toward supporting our students!
https://mabelslabels.ca/en-CA/fundraising/support
City of Camrose Transportation
The City of Camrose would like to provide an update on a couple upcoming changes to the Community Bus. Starting Tuesday, July 2nd the City will be launching a revised route AND will no longer be charging a fare.
Hope Mission Monthly Meal Supplement
Families can text or call for more information on our program.
Phone: (780) 314-8162