Duval Dispatch

Dear Duval Families!

Welcome back to another exciting year full of celebrations, new adventures, and great learning! Our theme this year is "Many Families, One Pod." The focus is on community and coming together as one student body. We are hoping to have lots of opportunities to connect with families and the community throughout the year.

To kick off the year, there are two things we are asking of families:

1. Family Picture: Please bring a family picture in to Open House or on the first few days of school. They will be hung up in our lobby for our "Many Families, One Pod" display!

2. Family Song: share a song that is meaningful to your family. We will be playing them each morning for morning announcements & giving your family a shout out!

Open House is Tuesday, September 1st 4:30pm-6:00pm. A reminder that it is most helpful to bring your child's supplies with you the night of open house to allow students and staff to focus on making connections and having fun the first day of school! Here is the link to grade level school supplies list.

We are so excited to welcome our Dolphins back! 🐬 We hope you’ve had a wonderful summer and are ready for a fantastic school year together. Thank you for partnering with us as we begin another year of learning, growing, and making memories at Duval. We can’t wait to see everyone on the first day of school!

Here’s to a great year ahead! 💙

Ms. Craig and Mrs. Salamone

PS. Here's our Welcome Back Video!

Click on "Translate" for your preferred language.

Clique em "Translate" para ler em português.

Klike sou "Translate" pou li sa an kreyòl Ayisyen.

Nhấp vào "Translate" để đọc bài viết này bằng tiếng Việt.

Everyone at Duval is expected to follow and support the 10 basic values that families, students, and staff agreed on during the 2024-2025 school year. Along with our theme celebrations, we will also be highlighting each of our 10 values over the course of the year. Please take a moment to read through these with your child(ren) and talk about ways we can ALL support the Duval Values.

The WH Elementary Handbook can be found HERE.

Kindergarten Meet N Greet will be out back on the playground on Monday, August 31 from 4:00pm-5:00pm. We'll read a story, hand out books, have freeze pops thanks to PTO, and give kids some time to play and say hello. Shirt colors are: Red-Rice, Yellow-Whitehouse, Green-Curley, Blue-Crouse.

K-5 Open House will go from 4:30-6:00pm on Tuesday. We STRONGLY suggest not arriving right at 4:30. If you come during a lull, or we spread things out a bit, kids will have more time to see their rooms, meet the teacher, and say hi to friends.

Backpacks with school supplies will be available by the office for families who need help taking care of those needs.

Please check out our Family Welcome Packet as it has LOTS of information for families both new and old! Information about Transportation and Class Placement are currently active in the Parent Portal.

Pacote de boas-vindas à família em português.

Pake Byenveni pou Fanmi an Kreyòl Ayisyen

One key note: Lunches and breakfasts will be free again this year. Extra snacks or ice cream (when available) need to be purchased separately.

ALL Chromebooks K-5 will remain at school. We hope this change makes it easier for students and parents, and helps us manage the devices better at school.

If you have a dismissal change from your child's regular routine, a note MUST be sent in ahead of time. Please DO NOT rely on an email or even a phone call during the day.

Please call the Duval main office at 781-618-7055 (Press 1), if your child is going to be absent or late. We take the responsibility to care for your child very seriously and we need to know your child is safe!

Please familiarize yourself with our attendance policy that can be found in the WH Elementary Handbook.The WH Elementary Handbook can be found HERE.

Attendance at school is expected of all children on a regular basis. Violations of this regulation will be governed by the provisions of Section 1, Chapter 76 of the General Laws of the Commonwealth. When a child is absent, parents are asked to call the school office prior to 9:30 AM. A signed letter from parents or guardians is expected explaining absenteeism or tardiness to school.

The school shall notify the parent or guardian if the school has not received notice of an absence within 3 days of the absence, and shall notify the parent or guardian in the event of the following:

• the student has at least 5 days in which they have missed 2 or more periods unexcused in a school year

• the student has missed 5 or more school days unexcused in a school year

The principal or designee shall make a reasonable effort to meet with the parent or guardian of a student who has 5 or more unexcused absences to develop action steps for student attendance.

The following will be considered excused absences:

• Personal illnesses verified by a doctor’s note;

• Recognized religious holidays;

• Death in the immediate family;

• Court or other official business

Students are considered tardy if they arrive beyond the school’s official start time. Students must be signed in at the school’s main office by a parent/guardian/caregiver. Tardiness is highly disruptive and students are expected to be on time for school. Chronic tardiness and dismissals will be carefully monitored by the assistant principal and may result in disciplinary action.

We would like to remind families and students that squishies, fidgets, and similar toys are not allowed at school.

Last year, we have had multiple incidents involving these items exploding or breaking open on students, playground equipment, and school furniture. In some cases, we needed to contact Poison Control due to concerns about the substances inside the toys. In addition, these items were causing distractions during learning time, social conflicts between students, and issues related to trading and sharing.

To help maintain a safe and focused learning environment, any squishies or fidgets brought to school will be confiscated and brought to the office until the last day of school or families can come and pick them up.

We appreciate your support in helping reinforce this expectation with your child before they come to school each day.

A quick shout out to the Duval Staff, each of whom has come in over the last few weeks to help clean, organize their rooms, and get things ready for our students! It fills us with such pride to see teachers so dedicated and creative, helping make our school shine for Day One!

To ensure maximum SAFETY around the building, Duval enforces a set of traffic and behavioral expectations. We maintain a section in each Duval Dispatch to reinforce those concepts.

This is a LINK to our Traffic Protocols. Adjustments or reminders will be placed here in the Dispatch.

Basics:

- Drive slowly and only ONE WAY around the building.

- Do NOT drive around the building when school is in session.

- There is NO PASSING at any time in the driveways.

- Front entry area is only used for emergencies or picking up sick children.

Each Dispatch, we have a section for Nurse Melissa to share the latest health news. We will start posting next week!

Thank you.

The first day of school is almost here! Wishing all our returning and new Duval Dolphins a great year! Please come by our PTO table located in the bus line hallway on Tuesday at open house to say hello!

We're looking forward to seeing our returning families and new families at our first PTO meeting on Tuesday, September 8th at 7:00 pm at the Duval library. We meet once a month on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm in the Duval library. The high school National Honor Society provides student members for child care. All Duval families are welcome!

The Duval merch store will be closing the first sale of the season on September 8th. Check it out now!

https://duval-elementary-merch.cheddarup.com

Thank you to everyone who has already donated to our welcome back breakfast bar for our amazing staff and teachers. If you are interested in donating, please see the attached link for details. We appreciate any support you can give!

https://firstdayduval.cheddarup.com

Upcoming PTO dates:

PTO Meeting - September 8th at 7:00 pm

Duval Merch Store Closing - September 8th

Hornstra Farms Partnership - September 14th

Napoli Pizza Partnership - September 30th & October 1st

Monster Mash - October 23rd

Basket Raffle - November 6th

Please follow our social media pages for the most up to date information. We can also be reached via email at duvalpto@gmail.com.

Aug 31 - K Meet N Greet 4:00pm-5:00pm

Sept 1 - K-5 Open House 4:30pm-6:00pm

Sept 2 - First Day for Everyone!

Sept. 4- Early Release Day. 12:10 Dismissal

Sept. 7- Labor Day. No School

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Calendar Items for the Year. Click HERE.

Flyers from the community will be posted here.

• WH Elementary Handbook

• School Lunch Menus

• Infinite Campus Log In for grades, class info. Need help? Contact Tech: 781-618-8100

• School Status (emails, texts from WH or Duval)

• YMCA Before/After School Care Information

• The WHRSD and Duval School PTO Facebook pages.

• Anonymous Bullying or Harassment reporting: call 781-618-7086

John H. Duval Elementary provides a safe, supportive environment where children are able to reach for the stars!

Email: ashley.craig@whrsd.org
Website: https://whd.whrsd.org
Location: 60 Regal Street, Whitman, MA 02382
Phone: 781-618-7055
Twitter: @DuvalElementary