West Pine Elementary Cub Connection

Dear Wildcat Cub Families,

We are halfway through October (how is that possible?!) and we have lots of fun things coming up! One of our biggest traditions is Trunk or Treat, which will be on October 29th. Please see details below!

Next week, please be on the lookout for Federal Impact Aid forms coming home on Thursday, October 22nd. Even if you aren't military, please fill these out and return them as soon as possible. Please see below for more details and for links with more information.

Thank you for your continued support and for partnering with us to educate your child. As always, I am here to support your family--if you need anything at all, please let me know! 🐾🩵💛

Dr. Amy O'Neill, Ph.D.

Principal

West Pine Elementary School

aoneill@ncmcs.org

(910) 673-2004 office

(910) 603-2400 cell

• 10/22: Federal Impact Aid forms go home with students
• 10/23: Early Release (11:30am)
• 10/26-10/30: Book Fair and Red Ribbon Week
• 10/29: Trunk or Treat (5:30pm-7:00pm)
• 10/30: Q1 PBIS Reward Day (during specials)
• 11/3: No School (Required Workday for Staff; Parent Conferences)

We've got a lot of great things planned this year!

Click below to take a peek and see what is coming up.

The Moore County Schools annual Impact Aid Survey will begin on Monday, October 22nd. This survey helps ensure our schools receive the federal funding and support our students deserve.

Digital versions of the form will be available in the Infinite Campus Parent Portal under the "Documents" section beginning October 22nd, and paper forms will be sent home with students on that same day.

Parents/guardians must complete a separate survey for each child.

If you have any questions or concerns about the survey, please contact our school’s Impact Aid Representative, Mrs. Akins, at eakins@ncmcs.org or the district’s Military Liaison at (910) 947-2976.

More information is available on the district’s Impact Aid webpage.

Conferences will be held here at our school on November 3rd--please be on the lookout for a sign up opportunity from your child's teacher. Our teachers are so awesome that it may have already been shared with you!!

If November 3rd doesn't work for your family, please talk to your child's teacher. They will coordinate with you for a date and time that works for both of you.

Thank you for partnering with us to support your child!

Proofs should come home tomorrow or Monday and are due back by the 20th. If your child missed picture day, makeups are Nov 4th!

🎉Our Glow Run was a huge success! Thank you to everyone who helped set up and to everyone who showed up to support--we couldn't have done it without you!

There's no way I could possibly name everyone who helped make our Glow Run so great, but I'd like to give a huge shoutout to our awesome AP, ✨Ms. Sanborn✨for coordinating the entire event. This is just one example of how amazing she is!

Also, big BIG thanks to our bookkeeper, Mrs. Chiappetta, our Art teacher Mrs. Voight, our PE teacher Mrs. Seawell, our 🤘Rockstar PTO,🤘 and all the parent volunteers. Thank you all! 💙

--Dr. O'Neill

Did you know that you can enter an absence request/early checkout in Infinite Campus? That will make the process much smoother when you come to pick up your child early or when they are absent from school!

How to:

1. Click on the menu (the 3 lines) in the top left of the screen.

2. Click on "more" at the bottom of the menu that pops up.

3. Click on "Absence Requests" (it is near the bottom!).

4. Click on the blue "New" button.

5. Fill out info and click on the blue "Submit" button.

Parents, please double check your child's backpack before they head out the door in the morning!

We have students who are bringing toys, squishies, fidgets, and other playthings to school. This is causing lots of problems in the classroom, since students are often distracted from their work by how fun these items are.

We have also had some problems when students take them from each other, accidentally break them, or refuse to give them back to the owner. Let's work together to avoid this whole problem by not allowing those items to come to school with the kids.

Thank you for supporting us and keeping our sweet students focused on learning!

***Please know that if your student requires a fidget as a part of an IEP or 504, that is still permitted as a part of your child's IEP/504 plan. Let me know if you have questions! 😊 --Dr. O'Neill

🪨 Thanks to our amazing PTO our school now has a Spirit Rock! You may have seen it as you enter our school campus, colorfully decorated to celebrate student birthdays and spread positivity and joy. 🥰

If you are interested, here's how you can Rent the Rock:

Go to
https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/10C0F4EA4AF22A3F8CE9-65293496-spirit?useFullSite=false to find an open slot and sign up. Follow the directions listed in the Sign-Up Genius to make sure you meet the requirements. (You will pay at the time of sign-up, directly through Sign-Up Genius!)

🩵💛 Once your sign up is complete you will receive a follow-up email with helpful tips for painting. Please email PTOatWPE@gmail.com with questions.

PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) is a schoolwide approach that teaches and celebrates positive behaviors while helping students make good choices. We focus on teaching students to be respectful, responsible, and ready to learn so every child feels safe, supported, and valued. When our school and families work together to encourage these behaviors, we help our students grow, learn, and thrive!

At the end of each Quarter, students who have earned the PBIS Reward will get to be a part of a fun event during specials. To earn the PBIS Reward, students must have at least 80% positive Class Dojo points and NO office referrals for the quarter.

4th and 5th graders will be shown a training video in guidance class on how to report threats either anonymously or in person with a trusted adult. This is a Moore County initiative that is being introduced to all schools to help with school safety. Topics on the video include harming others, bullying, and self harm. These are introduced in a kid friendly/age appropriate manner. If you would like for your student to opt out, please fill out the form below.

Our school has about 415 students. In the morning, more than 350 of our students arrive by car. 😱 We are getting students into the building as safely and as quickly as we can, but it does take some time--thank you for your patience!

Here are a few tips to keep our morning drop off going smoothly:

🚗🚙1. Please pull all the way up to our very first staff member to unload so we can fit as many cars in our unloading zone as possible.

🩼🧩2. We know that some of our students are differently abled and we want to be sensitive to every child's needs! If your child needs more time/space for their arrival, please talk to admin. We will make other arrangements for your family if necessary.

🫶🫶3. Please continue to be patient and give other drivers grace in our drop off line. Everyone is just doing their best!

💗💗💗THANK YOU, thank you, thank you for being supportive of our morning procedures!

If you have a student in K-2 who is riding the bus, MCS requires that an adult meet them at the bus stop or the bus driver is not permitted to let them off. In that situation, the child would come back to the school at the end of the bus route and you would have to come to the school to pick them up.

If you have a 3-5 student getting off the bus with your K-2 child, your 3-5 student can take responsibility for the younger child if there is a note in writing from the parent stating so. Please send this note to our AP, Ms. Sanborn. She will retain a copy for our records and make a copy for the bus driver. Please note that this is a district-wide change that took effect in the last week or so. Whenever possible, please have an adult meet children at the bus stop. Safety first!

If you have questions about this, please reach out to our Assistant Principal, Ms. Sanborn, at bsanborn@ncmcs.org

Thank you for helping us keep your child safe!

Our schoolwide expectations are clear, positively phrased, and outline how we behave in different locations across our school campus. When we are doing what is expected, we are able to stay safe and focus on learning!

When students are not meeting expectations, we have a positive plan in place to not only remind students what is expected, but also to support them. Please see below for our 4-step process and know that if you are getting contacted by your child's teacher, we are on Step 3! 😱

Thank you for your support as we try to keep students focused on appropriate behavior and learning!

• 7:05am - Doors open to students (No dropoffs prior to 7:05am. Staff are not available to monitor children, so please do not leave students unattended!)
• 7:20am - First bell. Students leave cafeteria and head to class.
• 7:30am - Tardy bell. Pledge of Allegiance, moment of silence, and announcements. Students are now counted late!
• 2:30pm - Dismissal bell.

😊We encourage families to celebrate birthdays at home in ways that are meaningful for them. As a reminder, at WPE, we do not permit parents to send in birthday treats, goodie bags, or balloons.

🧁Our school celebrates birthdays at the end of each month in the cafeteria during lunch time. (July birthdays are celebrated in June.) Birthdays are a wonderful and exciting time to celebrate how happy we are that your child was born and is a part of our school! Thank you for supporting this Cub tradition!

Please access the link to the MCS Code of Conduct HERE.

For the 2026-2027 School Year, breakfast and lunch are available to every student at our school at no additional cost.

Breakfast is served to students from 7:05am to 7:20am.

Click the blue button below for breakfast and lunch menus!

At West Pine Elementary, we use Class Dojo as a way to communicate with all of our families all at once! Although it does a great job of communicating with our whole school community, this app is NOT a reliable one-on-one text messaging tool.

We cannot maintain good communication with each individual family through this system: you may think you sent us a message, not get a response, and then realize a week later that the Class Dojo server was not available at the time you sent the message. We may all think we are communicating with one another when we actually aren't because Class Dojo messaging did not come through!

If you need something, EMAIL or CALL your child's teacher. This goes double, triple, QUADRUPLE for transportation changes!!! Do not rely on Class Dojo messaging for transportation changes. And of course, if you ever have any personal or sensitive questions about your child, it should never be sent over a third party app. Those questions should be sent via email or discussed through a personal phone call.

Here are some helpful phone numbers and email addresses for our main office staff:

Our school phone: (910) 673-2004

Mrs. Akins (data manager, enrollment, transportation, parent portal, etc.): eakins@ncmcs.org

Mrs. Chiappetta (book keeper, ASDC, school fees, etc.): achiappetta@ncmcs.org

Ms. Sanborn (Assistant Principal): bsanborn@ncmcs.org

Dr. O'Neill (Principal): aoneill@ncmcs.org

Every student has a "normal" route home, but once in a while, that may change! (We call these changes "One Day Only" changes because it's generally only for one day.😉) If you need to change your child's transportation for the day, please be sure to contact the teacher or the school by 2:00pm and get a confirmation that your message was received. We always do our very very best to make sure your sweet child gets home the correct way, but if you send an email after 2:00pm or while the teacher is providing instruction at the end of the day, your message may not be received!

For everyone's sake and for the safety of your child, please make sure to contact the school with any transportation changes as soon as possible and no later than 2:00pm.

If you are interested in joining us, we'd love to have you!

President: Lauren Blackburn

Vice-President: Meaghen Catlin

Treasurer: Kelly Brady

Secretary: Krista Bergstrom

We are looking for volunteers of all kinds!

If you are interested in helping out with a specific event (such as Field Day, Teacher Appreciation Week, Donuts with Grownups, Kindergrten or 5th Grade Promotion, etc...) that is WONDERFUL!

If you would like to head up a committee, YAY!

If you are interested in helping out with ALL the things, GREAT!

If you cannot volunteer your time right now, but would love to send in supplies, WOO-HOO!

If you would like to make a monetary donation to support our students and staff, FANTASTIC!

Hopefully we are getting the point across: we are happy to have you with us in whatever way is meaningful and possible for you. 🥰

Reach out! We'd love to meet you!!!

PTOatWPE@gmail.com

Did you know that when you shop at Harris Teeter and Lowes Foods, you can support our school??

All you have to do is connect your VIC card or Lowes card to West Pine Elementary!

As in previous years, parents, friends, and family members must re-link each year in August to ensure their continued support for their child's school. Customers can link their VIC card on the Harris Teeter website or app, or simply ask a cashier to link their school at checkout using the school’s 4-digit code.

West Pine Elementary's school code is 8513.

With Cart to Class, Lowes Foods will give up to a quarter million dollars to local schools. Lowes Foods guests will link their Fresh Rewards cards and schools will be rewarded based on how much they spend on private brand products.

Do you have a compliment for a WPE staff member?

Give them a shoutout by filling out the Google Form below!