Banyan Parent Bulletin

Banyan Family,

Thank you for your donations and support for Mary's Place in Ocean Grove. We wore pink, decorated posters and signs, made encouraging artwork outside, ran, and even raised over $270 with our fun run and collection. It is so great that we are such a kind and generous school. We will be sending an encouraging note and the donation to Mary's Place soon.

We had a new student, Jacob, start his Banyan journey with us. Please remind your children to say hi and make him feel welcome here.

Next week:

Parent Teacher Conference registration is open on Monday. Conferences will be held in early November during our early dismissal days.

We will recognize Dyslexia Awareness Month on Tuesday. Please wear purple and show your support for learning differences. We are a school that specializes in dyslexia, were we offer comprehensive reading programs baed on the principles of the Wilson Reading System.

Please have your child wear Banyan Shirts (Green) on Wednesday.

Our first School store is next Friday 10/23. Our Applied Math students choice the items we sell, price them and work the school store. Please send your child with small denominations of money. Items are priced from $1.

Next Friday, we wear CROCS is you have them. It is National Croc Day on 10/23.

We have our first Saturday Social next Saturday. So far we have 10 students signed up. We need 15 to run this exciting structured playdate. Please email with any questions.

After Saturday Social, the PTO is doing an Ice Cream Social.

The following week we have a super busy one (October 26th):

We have Special Person's Day, the Book Fair, Halloween Trunk or Treat. So far we have 16 families participating.

Parent Teacher Conference registration is open on Monday. Conferences will be held in early November during our early dismissal days.

As always, please reach out with any questions.

Best,

Heather Rotolo

hrotolo@banyanschool.org

National Croc Day 2026 falls on Friday, October 23, offering a perfect start to a comfortable weekend. It’s the ideal day to slip into your favorite pair of clogs and celebrate unique style.

Parent Teacher Conferences will be held on November 2nd-4th. School will run on single session schedule on those days with no lunch served and dismissal at 12:30 PM. Evening conferences will be on 11/2 from 6:00 PM to 8:00PM and afternoon conferences will be on 11/3 and 11/4 from 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM. The online scheduling process will begin on the Parent Portal from October 20th until October 30th.

Families will be able to register for conferences for both teachers and related service professionals on the Parent Portal. Picture prompts are listed below. Please keep in mind the following guidelines:

• If you have a teacher for more than one period, please make sure to schedule only two blocks so the teacher has enough time in their schedule to meet with all of their parents.

• Try to give yourself a break in between conferences so that you have some wiggle room if conferences are running late and you don't miss your time.

• While the conferences will be in person, please email the teacher if you would like a zoom link or phone conference at the time you set them up.

• If possible, please arrange for child care at the time of your conferences. If you bring them with you, the child will have to be in the classroom with you during the conference.

• Some part time staff, like Ms. Paserchia and other special areas, may not be available for all of the conference blocks. Feel free to email them to set up a phone call at a mutually agreeable time.

NJSLA Testing Information

We are required by statute (N.J.S.A. 18A:7C-6.6) to annually notify parents and guardians of any statewide student assessment or commercially developed standardized assessment that will be administered over the course of the school year. This school year, students in grades 3 through 8 may participate in the following standard assessments: NJSLA or the DLM.

NJSLA English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics - 4/19/27 through 5/21/27

NJSLA Science (Grades 5 and 8 only) - 4/19/27 through 5/21/27

DLM - 4/5/27 through 5/28/27

Students will receive the testing accommodations as indicated on their IEP. If you have any concerns about your child and participating in the assessment, please contact Rachel Trainor at rtrainor@banyanschool.org and your child’s case manager.

Other Standardized Assessments

Upon enrollment at Banyan School, students participate in the following standardized assessments as part of our educational program:

-WRMT-III: Woodcock Reading Mastery Test, Third Edition

-WRAT5: Wide Range Achievement Test: Math Computation portion only

-WIST: Word Identification and Spelling Test

The WRMT-III & WIST are administered once per year at the end of each school year, WRAT is administered twice per school year- beginning and end.

In the afternoon of 10/30/26, we will do a trunk or treat from 1:30pm - 2:30 PM. The children will change into their costumes after lunch. Please make sure that masks and weapons are not included in the costumes. Costumes should be school appropriate.

We need parent volunteers to provide the trunks - if you are available, please email me at hrotolo@banyanschool.org. Parents can come between 12:30 PM - 1:15 PM to set up their trunks. The nurses have created a list of safe candy to distribute listed below. Students will be guided by their teachers in small groups, and we will have the students come out in small shifts to prevent crowding.

On that day, we are asking all staff and parents to park only in the designated rows so that our children can move from car to car without leaving our designated "safety circle," which will have all cars parked facing away from each other, and trunks facing in.

As your view our parking lot, we will ask that no one park in the row closest to the building. All should park in either Row 2 or Row 3 as pictured below, filling in the spaces from right to left, creating a safe area in which the children can circulate:

Row 3 - Faces tress and Hollywood Avenue

Row 2 - Faces building

Row 1 - Closest to building, should remain empty

(a diagram is listed below)

Following the Trunk or Treat, the children will re-enter the building for small group activities in their homerooms. Parents who wish to take their children home early should sign them out in the office.

Thanks in advance for your cooperation! We look forward to seeing those of you who can join us, and wish you all a safe and happy Halloween!

We have filtered water coolers around the building.

Fall Club Options can be found below. Feel free to discuss the offerings with your child. Club choice and decisions will be made during the school day. This is just an informational presentation for family conversation.

Please click here for our agendas, minutes, and financials.

Ice Cream Social 10/24/26

Book Library Fundraiser ongoing

If you are interested in helping our school in a real, practical way, this is the perfect opportunity to step up. The fact is that our PTO sponsors so many amazing events throughout the year! Unfortunately though, continuing many of those hinge on the board and volunteers we have. And as several of our current board members are stepping down for various reasons, this is a really pivotal time for our PTO. Be a part of it!

Please email us at banyanpto@gmail.com to nominate yourself or another parent, or if you have any questions about the open positions. We've had a great year; let's keep it going!

Here is a link that explains what each position does. PTO board position roles click here

PS - All board positions can be shared. So, if you're interested but worried it may be too much for you, run with a friend!

October 2 Grace

October 3 Amy

October 4 Balina

October 5 Elliot

October 7 Angelina

October 14 Valentina S.

October 21 Akin

October 23 Finn

October 29 Efe

October 30 Ziya

RSVP the link below

Email: hrotolo@banyanschool.org
Website: https://banyanschool.org
Location: 12 Hollywood Avenue, Fairfield, NJ, USA
Phone: (973) 439-1919
Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063632976200