The last few days of a school year are such a special time for staff and students. I'm sure you remember it from your school days; it's a feeling that stays with you forever. I always feel lucky that my job allows me to experience that "last few days of school" feeling every year. As we say goodbye to this school year, I want to acknowledge how much we've been through and how much we've overcome together as a community. Our students are resilient, wonderful little humans, and you've done a great job keeping them focused on school and the importance of doing their best, even when times are hard. Thank you, parents, for making school a priority in their lives this year. They deserve a bright future, and we know that their education is the road that will get them there.

As you might already know from the Buncombe County Schools announcements on social media, Mr. Billy Harrell was announced as the new principal at Weaverville Elementary. I'll be working with him over the coming weeks to help him transition and get him all the information he needs for a successful start to the 25-26 school year. Here's a copy of the post from BCS Facebook Announcement:

"Billy Harrell will serve as principal of Weaverville Elementary. Currently the assistant principal at Valley Springs Middle School, the long-time educator has also served as an assistant principal in Haywood County and taught at Erwin High School and in Georgia.

“Weaverville Elementary has tremendous teacher leaders, and amazing students who start studying leadership skills from the day they arrive,” said Mr. Harrell. “I’m proud to help continue that tradition, and look forward to meeting the Blackhawk family.”

Thank you for a wonderful three years at Weaverville Elementary. I have learned so much from this special place, and I can't wait to see your children again as they transition to North Windy Ridge in 5th grade!

Sincerely,

Mary Nichols

WvES Principal

Keep Scrolling for Information about...

• Weaverville Community Center Family Fridays Summer Schedule
• Advisory Council Applications
• Transportation Survey for Rising 5th Graders
  
• North Buncombe GIRLS and BOYS Basketball Summer Camps - Dates and Information Below
  
• Videos from Leadership Day Opening Ceremony

As Always...

• Be sure to follow us on Facebook, AND take a look at our Weaverville Elementary Youtube Channel to see videos of all the awesome things from past years!
• Check out our PTO website AND our PTO Facebook page, too!

Previous Weeks' News from the Nest

• If you need to check your child out early, please check them out BEFORE 1:45 pm. We will not be checking students out the last 30 minutes of the day as this interrupts instruction for all students.
• If you need to make a dismissal change for your student, please call the front office before 12:30 each day.
• Do not enter the car line from Main Street. Please use Yost St. Please respect our school rules that keep others safe.

Buncombe County Schools Calendars

• Monday, June 9th -
• 4th Grade Promotion Ceremony - 12pm
• 3rd graders walk to Lake Louise at 8:15 am
• Tuesday, June 10th - Last Day of School, and EARLY DISMISSAL (12:25 pm)

Dear Weaverville Elementary Families:

I hope you are all having great summer adventures! We are working hard here at Weaverville Elementary as we prepare for the new school year. One of my summer tasks is to take applications for our Parent Advisory Council.

Each year, every school in Buncombe County Schools hosts four Advisory Council Meetings. This year, we are reaching out in search of parents and community members who would like to serve on this team. Attached you will find an application that can be submitted to me through email or by hard copy to our school. My contact information is at the bottom of the application. Please submit applications by Friday, July 19th at 4pm.

The time commitment includes a minimum of four meetings per school year. Typically, one meeting is during school hours, and the other three are after school hours. If selected, we’ll work together to find times that are convenient for the team.

What is Advisory Council?

Here is an excerpt from our board policy describing the purpose of advisory councils. You can find the full policy attached to this email.

ADVISORY COUNCILS FOR BUNCOMBE COUNTY SCHOOLS

Board Policy 5001

Members of the Board of Education have a sincere commitment to the concept of citizen involvement in the Buncombe County Schools. We believe that the people want good schools, that they have reasonable ideas about the things the schools should do, and that they are willing to help the schools attain established goals. A purpose of the advisory structure is to provide informed advice to the school authorities.

The Advisory Councils might discuss and advise on such matters as human relations, school

facilities, school activities, community/Board of Education relations, and/or other matters related to the individual schools. Such advice to the Board can be given in the form of minutes maintained at meetings, written in such a way as to show the consensus of the Advisory Council; by direct communication to the Board members, individually or collectively, by correspondence or telephone; or by a written report presented at a regularly scheduled Board meeting.

Guidelines

Principals are to review with their district Board Member potential layperson nominations before any individuals are contacted, and prior to names being submitted to the Board for consideration.

All laypeople approved by the Board of Education must reside in the same school district as the school on whose Advisory Council they will serve.

Except as specifically allowed in this policy, no individual may serve on two different Advisory Councils during the same school year.

All terms are to be for one school year. Each Advisory Council should elect, at the first meeting, a chairman and a vice-chairman. Meetings should be held at times convenient to all members to the extent possible, with a minimum of four meetings per year required.

The superintendent shall provide guidance to principals to ensure that the principals understand the important role the advisory council plays in discussing and advising on matters relevant to

individual schools.

The principal's office shall forward the minutes by email to the Superintendent's office, where the minutes shall be kept. The Superintendent's office shall forward the minutes to the Board of Education members.

Each elementary/intermediate school Advisory Council is to be made up of the following:

1. The P.T.A./P.T.O. president (if co-presidents are elected by the P.T.A./P.T.O.,both shall be members of the Advisory Council, but each will have one-half vote).

2. At least one teacher elected by a vote of the school’s teachers.

3. At least three laypeople approved by the Board of Education from a pool of applicants based upon recommendation from the principal. These members shall reflect the racial and socioeconomic composition of the students enrolled in the school.

4. The school principal, as an ex-officio member, shall be the secretary and record the minutes.

Advisory Council Application

Solicitud de Consejo Consultivo

• If you’re using google drive, please make a copy and share with me when completed using my email.

• If you’d like to print the application and complete it by hand, please turn in to our school office or scan and email to me.

• If you complete the document electronically, feel free to send me the application directly via email: William.Harrell@bcsemail.org.

Thank you for considering this application. I look forward to hearing from our community!

Sincerely,

Billy Harrell

Principal

Weaverville Elementary School

Transportation Information (Bus and Car Riders) - Parent Survey for Rising 5th graders

Información para de transporte

Please follow this link to a Google Form where we will collect information to assist in the coordination of North Windy Ridge Buses and Car Riders for the 2025-26 school year.

Por favor, siga este enlace a un formulario de Google donde recopilaremos información para ayudar en la asignación de los autobuses de North Windy Ridge para el año escolar 2025-26.

Our PTO is a 501c3 organization that supports both Weaverville Primary and Elementary School and accepts donations year round! If you know of someone moved to give, please consider our online platform.

Your contribution is tax deductible and will go to fund initiatives within these wonderful schools! Please check out our website for more information!

https://weavervilleschoolspto.org/

Did you miss our Wit & Wisdom Showcases? Here are the videos, uploaded to our WvES Live Youtube channel, of each grade levels performance.

Parents are invited to eat with their child in the cafeteria; however, as a courtesy to other students, we ask that you do not bring outside food such as fast food and/or sodas into the school cafeteria. Parents should arrive at school in time to get a visitor’s pass and report to the lunchroom hallway five minutes before the scheduled lunch time. Please always let the teacher know ahead of time if you plan to eat with your child.

Parents are invited to have lunch with their child at the end of September. Please wait for an announcement from the principal that parents/family can come to school to have lunch with their child.

A monthly menu will be posted in the classroom and the daily menu will be read during morning announcements. Occasionally there will be a menu change due to late deliveries or snow days.

You can find links to BCS menus here: https://www.buncombeschools.org/page/menus-and-pricing

Please note that any outside food brought in for special snacks or birthday treats cannot be consumed until the last student has been served lunch. This will be at approximately 12:30 PM.Should you desire to bring in a special snack for your child’s birthday or another event, please coordinate this with your child’s teacher so as not to conflict with our lunchroom policies. In addition, any food brought into the school to be shared with students must be store bought with ingredients listed. Please allow school staff to distribute snacks due to their knowledge and understanding of students’ allergies and dietary needs. Our school also encourages healthy snacks and choices. Please refer to the School Wellness section in this handbook for more information.

Click here for more PARENT information about our Math Curriculum, Illustrative Math.

NCDPI Parent Resource Handbook - Math and ELA

Weaverville Families:

Each morning, more and more students are late for school. Each student must sign in individually, typing in either their name or their lunch number. Sometimes there are over twenty students waiting in line. Fridays are definitely the most difficult. Our front office is often supporting parents who have come by, students with medical needs, and answering phones.

Not only is it important for students to start each day on time, but it's also important that students arrive on time so that we can operate our school and front office efficiently and effectively, each morning, as planned. Having this many students waiting in a line requires another adult to sign them in because if they must type all the information in on their own, it can cause a long wait for a long line of students. They end up missing even more classroom time.

Parents, please be prepared to walk your student in from now on if they are late. You will need to park and walk them in, and you will need to help them sign in. This has actually been our policy/practice, but we have neglected to really enforce it this year.

Thank you for understanding and for making sure your child arrives to school on time each day.

I know that many families plan trips throughout the year. Please work to plan trips around school days. Our students have missed so much school, and we rely solely on parents/caregivers to make sure their students are present. Our teachers work so hard to prepare engaging and rigorous lessons. Being absent/missing too much school can cause unnecessary stress for students. If you are planning an extended absence, please email Tammy.Earwood@bcsemail.org (our data manager) so that we can document your trip with the correct paperwork.

The Edulog Parent app is AWESOME if you have a student who rides a bus! I use it for my own children. Take a moment to explore it. You can see where the bus is, and this is helpful when your bus is running late (or even if you're running late!).

• For accurate drop off /pick up times, and bus number, sign up for the edulog app. Edulog directions click here.
• Bus # Update: Bus 302 is now Bus 86.

Free Lunch Info from Lisa Payne

Do you want to know more about free lunch? I recommend every parent read through this newsletter (above) from our Child Nutrition department. You can learn how lunches are paid for, and what constitutes a whole lunch. This program depends on participation, so the more students who participate and get “free lunch” (which is at least 3 items) - the longer this program will continue. The document above has good information for parents!

Breakfast and lunch will be provided at no cost to all students this school year!

We are pleased to inform you that Buncombe County Schools will be implementing a program available to schools participating in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Programscalled the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP).

What does this mean for you and your child(ren)?

Great news! All enrolled students at Buncombe County Schools are eligible to receive a healthy breakfast and lunch at school at no cost to your household each day of the school year. Weaverville Elementary School Parents, there are no action steps for you to take at this time to participate in this program.

K-12 Prepayment will remain active allowing parents and guardians to place money on their students accounts to purchase a la carte items if they would like too. We look forward to serving your students during the 24-25 school year. If you have any questions about this letter, please contact us at Buncombe Schools Nutrition Office, 828 255-5932.

Participation matters! The more students who eat lunch and breakfast at our school increases the likelihood that this program will continue.

The WvES campus will open at 7:15 (9:15 on 2-hour delays) for morning arrival. No students may be dropped off prior to 7:15 AM (9:15 am for 2-hour delays). Students will wait in the cafeteria until they are dismissed to their homerooms at 7:40 AM (9:40 am for 2-hour delays). All students should be in their classrooms and ready to learn by 7:55 AM (9:55 AM for 2-hour delays).

Car Riders:

Please remember that all school traffic should use Yost Street (which is off Merrimon Avenue) when dropping off students and picking up students as car riders. In the morning, cars must use Yost Street to enter our car rider line, and then use Yost again when exiting the car rider line.

Please be respectful and patient. The first weeks of school are always a little bit confusing for everyone, and wait time can be longer. I promise it will improve as we move into the school year.

Students will be dismissed from class at 2:25 pm. Buses will load in the bus lane, and car riders will wait in the gym for their names to be called when their ride arrives.

All parents of car riders must use the car rider line to pick up their child(ren) in the afternoon.

Please view the illustration above to see how the car line works.

Dismissal Car Line Pro Tips:

• Pull all the way forward to the empty space, and a staff member will call for your child to come out.
  
• Please use your car tag each afternoon if you plan to use the car line. This will help the line move swiftly and efficiently.
• Please use YOST ST. to both enter and exit the car line. Use the illustration above for reference.
• If you have someone picking your child up that is not YOU, make sure this person is listed in powerschool as someone who can pick up your child. We will ask for their ID to make sure they are who they say they are. We appreciate your patience and kindness in these circumstances; we definitely want to make sure we're sending kids home with adults who have permission to pick them up!
• If you do not have your car tag with your child's name, we will ask you to come into the office and get one, and we'll ask you to show and ID. We can't do this in the car line because only our office staff have access to that information in powerschool. Please remember that this is a commitment to keeping each child safe. We only want students going home with grownups who are approved for pick-up.
• Please be patient during the first few weeks of school. The car line always take a bit longer in the beginning, but we'll get the hang of it! After a week or so, it's usually about 15 minutes.
  

Walkers:

A few WvES families live next door to the school and they are considered 'walkers'. Parents of 'walkers' may come to the gym door with their green card to collect their child/ren. If you do not walk to campus to pick up your child, this does not apply to you so you must use the car rider line. Please do not park your car and walk to the gym door to collect your child/ren.

ALL parents and visitors to campus must sign in at the office and obtain a visitor sticker (or a volunteer pass if applicable). Please note that you must sign in even if you are only visiting the cafeteria. Your cooperation in helping us to follow Central Office policy and ensuring the safety of all children is expected and appreciated.

If you have an appointment or scheduled time to be at school in the morning, and wish to walk in with your child, please still plan to follow the established procedure of coming to the office, signing the visitor registry, and obtaining a visitor tag.

Visitors will only be allowed to visit a classroom if the visitor has scheduled the visit with the teacher beforehand or if the visitor is a scheduled volunteer.

Safety is one of my top priorities, and I want to be very clear with all of our families about the ways we will keep our students safe on our campus. The following procedures and expectations are in place with safety in mind. Please support our staff and students in keeping our campus safe by following these expectations at all times.

• All visitors must check in each time with no exceptions. You'll get a badge to wear, and you must wear the badge at all times. If you do not have the badge on, our staff will politely ask if we can help you, so please be kind to staff in response.
• Visitors are only allowed to visit a classroom if they have a scheduled appointment with the teacher. We want to protect the instructional time of all students.
• All doors will remain locked at all times.
• Please do not enter the front door unless you have been buzzed in by an adult. It may seem easy to slip in with someone else who is being buzzed in, but please help us keep our safety practices in tact by following this simple request.
• If you are already inside the school, please do not open the front door for others. Please allow our office staff to safely screen each person entering the building.

Please follow this "Multi-visitor Entrance Procedure:"

1. If you have buzzed in and are being screened and you notice another visitor is arriving, please don't hold the door and allow anyone in without being screened first.
2. If the other visitor is 15 feet or less from the door, please buzz in and be screened together.
3. If the visitor is more than 15 feet from the door, please buzz in and ensure the door is closed completely after you enter.

We certainly want to encourage politeness, and we also want our visitors to understand that it is unsafe to hold doors and allow visitors in without being verified by front office staff first. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

School safety is the most important component of our day. We know we must balance safety with having a welcoming school building so that parents and community members can be part of our school. Please help us do this by honoring these safety protocols about entering our building.

Phone: 828-645-3127

Address: 129 South Main St., Weaverville, NC 28787

Email:

Mary Nichols - Principal (Mary.nichols@bcsemail.org)

Whitley Burleson - Administrative Intern (Whitley.burleson@bcsemail.org)

Maggie Wheeless - Counselor (Margery.Wheeless@bcsemail.org)

*Please email both office staff if you have a dismissal change.

Dawn Flanigan-Bryson - Data Manager (dawn.flanigan-bryson@bcsemail.org)

• attendance
• student information/records
• immunizations
• enrollment

Dawn Flanigan-Bryson - Head Secretary (dawn.flanigan-bryson@bcsemail.org)

• general inquiries
• money questions related to school
• bus questions