Brookside Bulletin
School Newsletter for Brookside Families
- September 1 - No School (Labor Day)
- September 9 - PTA Meeting 7:00PM Brookside Library
- Extended until Sept 11th - Mum Sale!
- September 23 - Mum delivery & pick-up 5:00-7:00pm
- September 24 - Picture Day
- October 13-16 - Conference Week
September is Attendance Awareness Month, and Worthington Schools is kicking things off with a special partnership! We’re teaming up with Stay in the Game and our regional partner, the Columbus Crew, to promote strong attendance and keep our students “in the game” all year long.
Why does attendance matter so much? Missing just two days of school a month can add up to over three weeks in a school year—that’s considered chronic absence. And just like on the field, being part of the team every day makes all the difference for learning, growth, and success.
Throughout September, schools in Worthington and across our region will be celebrating with fun, themed activities to highlight the importance of showing up. Together, we’ll cheer on our students and encourage everyone to build strong attendance habits.
Families are key teammates in this effort. To learn more, check out Stay in the Game’s Family Resources. You can even show your support by taking the Attendance Pledge—let’s make attendance a winning goal!
By working together, we can keep our students in the game and set them up for success—on and off the field.
See a video from members of the Columbus Crew HERE. And, then sign the STAY IN THE GAME pledge.
Mumkin pickup is on September 23rd from 5-7pm on the Brookside front lawn. McGinnis’ Grill food truck will be there so you can also pick up dinner and your Mumkins!
The PTA is in need of volunteers to help organize the mums off the truck and help parents with their pickup order. Please sign up here to help with Mumkin pickups.
The Brookside PTA
board@brooksidepta.com
Brookside is looking for volunteers to build reading skills with kindergarten students. Even if you only have 30 minutes a week, our kindergarten students would love to welcome you! Read below for more information and click HERE or on the flyer to register. Following registration, a program coordinator from our school will be in touch with more information. https://forms.gle/hS88KFCup7iGwhEf6
Parents, grandparents, and community members tell us all the time that we have wonderful teachers, office staff, specialists, assistants, custodians, bus drivers, etc. Now it is your chance to recognize a Brookside staff member for their outstanding dedication, commitment to excellence, and genuine care for others. This is your opportunity to share how you, as a valued member of our school community, have experienced the positive impact of their hard work and uplifting attitude at Brookside Elementary. Simply click the link and fill out the form to nominate an outstanding staff member. Thank you for supporting this new initiative.
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.
We are hosting Girls On The Run at Brookside this fall. This extra curricular opportunity allows girls in grade 3-5 to gain mental and physical stability in their life through a variety of lessons while training for a 5K. Mrs. Sayre (formerly Miss Heinlen) and Mrs. Brinkerhoff (formerly Miss Woerner) are going to be leading this opportunity. If you are interested in this please take a chance to look at the flyer to find details about getting involved. If you have any additional questions please contact ebrinkerhoff@wscloud.org." See this FLIER for more information.
Dear Worthington School Families: Circle of Grandparents (COG) is a character education program that operates in the Worthington School District, having been established in the year 2000. With the support of Worthington Schools and the nonprofit Partners for Community and Character, senior volunteers use community-chosen qualities to teach students the importance of good character. We’re looking for volunteers! Our goal is to have a grandparent in each Worthington School elementary classroom. As a “Grandparent”, you can draw from your own life experiences and individual talents to teach concepts of character to your “adopted” class. No classroom or teaching experience is required, COG will provide support and materials to you through monthly, optional meetings. You do not have to be an actual grandparent to participate, however, if you are a grandparent to a child in the Worthington Schools, you may request your grandchild’s class. Any “Grandparent” has the option to choose the school and grade level they wish to assist. This is a wonderful opportunity that benefits all who are involved. Interested in learning more? Please contact Jim McElligott at jamestmcelligott53@gmail.com.
Please read this INFORMATION SHEET to understand what we look for in volunteers.
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. Now and then we have family members who are not familiar with our process or are simply new to our school community so your patience is appreciated. 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.
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.
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.
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.
- 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.
Please be sure you are observing road safety laws and educating your student(s) as well. Please always stay vigilant.
FIELD TRIP CHAPERONES
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
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.
Special Education Key Communicator
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.