Principal's Principles

Hi Gayton families!

News from the Ms. Carter, School Nurse. Please pick up all medications (prescription and over the counter) by May 29, 2026. Meds cannot be sent home w/ students. If medicines are not picked up by May 29th, all medication will be properly disposed of.

The last day of our school year will be Friday, May 29, 2026. That Friday is a half day. If your child(ren) needs a last day of school lunch, please complete this link. https://forms.gle/bwBGdCMAqMeR2c3t5

We will not be collecting student ID's this year. Please hold on to your student's ID over the summer and we will collect them in the fall. If you have a student moving schools in Henrico, the next school will collect their ID there.

We are excited to celebrate our 5th-grade students at their Promotion Ceremony on Thursday, May 28, 2026, at 9:00 AM. The promotion ceremony will take place in our gymnasium.

Due to space limitations, each student may have up to four family members attend in person. For those unable to join us, a Teams link will be shared so you can watch the ceremony virtually.

If you would like your younger siblings who attend Gayton to be present at the ceremony, please email their teacher in advance. Please note that this sibling will count as one of the four allotted family members.

Thank you for your understanding as we work to make this a special and memorable event for our students!

Yay of the Day:

PTA Executive Board Updates!
Thank you to the outgoing 25-26 PTA Executive Board members. We truly appreciate their dedication and service to our Gayton community over the years:

President- Jessica Dodson

VP of Programs- Erin Willis
VP of Membership- Jenny Horn

Gayton PTA is proud to announce our 26-27 PTA EXECUTIVE BOARD:
Newly Elected Exec. Board Members:

President- Erin Willis
VP of Programs- Sarah Rogers
VP of Membership- Jessica Allison

Returning Exec Board Members:

VP of Ways and Means- Margaret Francisco

VP of Communications- Kelsey Jessee

Treasurer - Rebecca Wooten
Secretary - Lindsay Rayfield

Other PTA News:

Excess funding requests by teachers and staff were submitted and approved by our PTA executive board.

Teacher requests (under $500) supported by PTA:

- Harrell- Book to help with strategies for teaching math skills

- Grinsell- Items for classroom organization

- Blackburn- Hardcover Blank Books for all Kg students- to encourage writing/reflect on experiences throughout each child’s Kg year

- Smallwood- Book to support creative and critical thinking skills

- Smallwood- Cooperative Learning Board Games for grades K-5— all teachers may borrow and use in their classrooms

Gayton PTA bylaws require a vote for any request over $500 (in which the amount was not listed in our initial approved school year budget.) The following items over $500 were approved by vote at the General PTA meeting on 5/19-

• $500 for Mrs. Hedrick to purchase new library books
• $1,090.50 for Mrs. Swartz to purchase a classroom set of Wacom tablets.

🎨 A message about the NEW Wacom tablets from Mrs. Swartz: My vision for the Wacom tablets is to introduce the students to a new way of making art. Some students struggle with more traditional “hands on” art and digital art can often be the hook to get them interested in art. When a student feels successful in one project, they are more likely to have interest in our other projects.

I envision using the tablets for at least one lesson per grade each year to start. I believe in hands on art education; kids come to my room and want to get messy. I want them to get messy. I have also seen a sharp decrease in the past few years in students’ fine motor skills abilities, and I know how important it is to be using those skills in the art room. I am not looking at these tablets as replacing our traditional art projects, but as more of a different way of approaching what art is and how people create art, as well as a hook to get students more interested in art than they may have been prior to a lesson with the tablets.

🐊 CONGRATULATIONS to our 2025-2026 Volunteer of the Year: Jolene Giandomenico!

🐊 CONGRATULATIONS to our 2025-2026 PTA Executive Board Volunteer of the Year: Jenny Horn!

Jolene & Jenny- Thank you for your time, hard work and leadership! We appreciate you!

VOLUNTEERS

We welcome volunteers! If you would like to volunteer we need you to complete a form each year. Here is the volunteer form. https://www.henricoschools.us/page/volunteers .

Volunteers must check in at the front office with their Driver's License and sign in. We will require you to review a safety protocol at that time. Kindergarten parents are particularly needed to help with lunch in these first weeks of school (eg. opening milk cartons, providing utensils, etc.). School lunch monitors, our custodian, and an administrator/counselor also are on duty at that time. Click the sign-up link below to check out dates and times you could help with Kindergarten lunch!

Kg Lunch Volunteer Sign-Up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080A4AABAC2BABF49-57841784-2526#/

• For liability reasons, we cannot allow younger siblings to attend with you during the school day. Thanks for your understanding.

Have a great week!

NEW HCPS/GAYTON POLICIES

40 Minute Recess, K-5: Virginia law requires all elementary students to have a daily 30 minute recess. HCPS has extended K-2 recess to 40 minutes this year divisionwide, and Gayton has extended it to K-5. All Gayton tudents will have two recess breaks during the day consisting of flexible outdoor/indoor recess. As part of this plan, students will NOT be allowed to play on computers during recess time. Our goal is to have students socially engaged with one another to develop critical life skills. A huge thanks to a Gayton group of parents who advocated for this policy to benefit our students.

Smart Student IDs: All HCPS students are expected to wear their student ID badge daily in a visible place for essential operational services such as riding the bus, attendance tracking, purchasing meals, and checking out library books. ID's will be distributed by teachers.

Support to Succeed: This summer, HCPS updated policies related to student learning with the understanding that making mistakes and the opportunity to learn from them is an important part of the process. What does this mean for your child?

• Kindergarten and first-grade students already benefit from ongoing, developmentally appropriate assessments and are unaffected by this change.

• In grades 2–5, if your child earns a “D” or “F” on a test, they will have the chance to receive remediation from their teacher, and take a retest or an alternative assignment to show what they’ve learned. The higher of the two grades will be used, up to a 70%.
  
  Your child’s teacher will communicate with you if your child qualifies for a retest. You may choose to keep the original grade instead. Please note that the policy refers to tests and significant projects, not homework or daily assignments or certain diagnostic assessments.`

Cell Phone and Smartwatch Use

As in years past, students may not have cell phones out during school. To further reduce distractions in the classroom, students must keep their cell phones, smartwatches, and other Wi-Fi-connected devices out of sight and silenced. Devices may only be used for learning purposes with the teacher’s permission. If your child has a documented medical condition requiring a monitoring device, please contact the school nurse. During class, students should keep their cell phones out of sight in their backpacks, bags, or safe storage containers provided by the school in each classroom. If a student leaves class to visit the restroom, clinic, etc., their cell phone must remain in the classroom. If a student fails to follow these guidelines, the following steps will be taken in alignment with the 2024-2025 Code of Student Conduct (insert link to Code when posted).

Gayton PTA Membership dues ($6 per member) are paid every school year. Click on the link below to sign-in or create a new account and pay your dues today — https://gaytonpta.membershiptoolkit.com/login-form?r=%2F

RESERVATIONS FOR AUGUST-DECEMBER, 2025.

Click on the link below for more information!

https://gaytonpta.membershiptoolkit.com/spiritrock

The GES Rock is a Gayton Community Builder, a tool to promote PTA or school/SCA events, and a PTA fundraiser. The Gayton Spirit Rock is for current Gayton families only.

**Please note: the PTA has blocked off dates to use the Spirit Rock to support Gayton & PTA Programs and Events. Thank you in advance for your understanding and for being flexible! We can't wait to see your SPIRIT ROCK designs!

We have shared the items below with you previously, and they are permanently linked below for your continued reference. At this time, we ask that you review/reference them (again) to have safety at the forefront in our partnership with you.

Gayton Family Handbook

Another area that is very important to fostering a culture of safety at Gayton is student discipline. Please also see the following links for your review/reference.

Student Discipline at Gayton

HCPS Student Code of Conduct.

Should you have any questions or concerns about student safety, crisis preparedness/protocols, or student discipline, please give Mrs. Reeves or Dr. Eggleston a call at 804-360-0820.

Walkers

• Only those students who are not assigned a bus are allowed to walk alone to/from school.
• Students assigned buses may walk to school if accompanied by a parent to/from.
• If you are picking up your child at the walker door, please do not arrive before 2:35. Students may still be on the playground at that time. Walkers will be dismissed at 2:40.
• Please do not park behind the school in Pine Run to pick up your child. You must use the carpool lane.

Car Riders

• If you drive your child to school in the morning, please seat him/her in the rear right seat. Do not exit the car; a staff member will assist your child from the car if needed.
• Please do not drop off your child before 7:50 or after 8:10.
• Please have your number posted prominently in your front window for PM dismissal only.
• Please be patient; the line may be long. It will go faster with each day.
• We encourage you to have your children ride the school bus.

Bus Riders

• Buses are safe. This year most of our buses will have A/C and seatbelts.
• Please be patient; the first few days of school our buses will likely be late in the afternoon.
• Kindergarten bus riders-- please see information below.

Daycare

• Make sure you inform your child's teacher which daycare he/she goes to after school..
• Daycare vans will take attendance before leaving Gayton.
• If your child is ever absent, please alert the daycare provider and the school.

Student IDs

Every HCPS student across the school division will receive a student ID on a lanyard for use throughout the school year. The white cards will include the student’s name and student number, but they will not include a photo. Students will scan their ID cards when getting on and off the bus, checking out books from the library and purchasing meals in the cafeteria. The new student IDs are part of a multi-layered safety plan and efforts to streamline operational processes at the school.

These will be provided to students on the first day of school.

Cell Phone and Smartwatch Use

As in years past, students may not have cell phones out during school. To further reduce distractions in the classroom, students must keep their cell phones, smartwatches, and other Wi-Fi-connected devices out of sight and silenced or in airplane mode during class. Devices may only be used for learning purposes with the teacher’s permission. If your child has a documented medical condition requiring a monitoring device, please contact the school nurse.

During class, students should keep their cell phones out of sight in their backpacks, bags, or safe storage containers provided by the school in each classroom. If a student leaves class to visit the restroom, clinic, etc., their cell phone must remain in the classroom. If a student fails to follow these guidelines, the following steps will be taken in alignment with the 2024-2025 Code of Student Conduct (insert link to Code when posted).

Student Medication

Written parental permission on the appropriate form is required before any medication may be administered. The school nurse or clinic attendant must administer all prescription and over-the-counter medications (including cough drops, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and cold and cough preparations) in the school clinic.

• Download the prescribed medication form.

• Download the over-the-counter medication form.

Daily Attendance

Daily learning and following established routines are essential for students, especially our youngest learners. Research shows that students who attend school regularly read better, are more proficient in math, and are more likely to graduate from high school and college. Students in every grade, including preschool and kindergarten, learn and develop new skills daily. Missing even one day of learning can cause a setback. Please take a minute to review the HCPS attendance policy and these family resources from Attendance Works.

Please see the attached maps as a reminder to Gayton's Arrival and Dismissal Procedures. Also, please make sure that all Kindergarten Bus Riders and Walkers have their small red numbered tags affixed to their backpack (distributed at open house by your child's teacher) so that the adult with the coordinating tag can pick them up from the bus stop or walker door.

Below you will find easily accessible links.