Park Ridge ES: Parent Newsletter

February 23rd-27th- Scholastic Book Fair at Park Ridge ES

February 24th- K-2 Spring Pictures

February 25th- 3-5 Spring Pictures

February 27th- Readathon Registration Opens

March 2nd - 5th- Readathon

March 3rd- PTO Meeting - 4pm - PRES Library

Just a reminder, Spring Pictures is this week! Please see the schedule below:

Tuesday, February 24th- K-2 Spring Pictures

Tuesday, February 25th- 3-5 Spring Pictures

Don’t forget! Create a Book Fair eWallet for your child NOW so they can shop cash-free, worry-free, and independently! It’s easy to set up and easy for others to contribute funds! Start here!

In the event of school closures, please find the corresponding grade-level asynchronous packet for your student(s). Physical copies were sent home with all students.

Meal Service: The federal government granted a waiver allowing school districts the option to provide take home meals to children participating in Ramadan. The meals are available to children in attendance at school from February 17, 2026 through March 19, 2026. Students may take a maximum of one breakfast and one lunch home per day. Federal regulations prohibit parent pick up or multiple day meal distribution.

If you have a student who has returned a permission slip, please send it to the front office as soon as possible so we can ensure all necessary arrangements are in place.

With so many new technologies and learning methods introduced every day, parental involvement in their child’s learning is more important than ever. To support this, our school division has partnered with Lightspeed Systems® to give parents visibility of their child’s internet usage while on school-issued devices, at home and after-school hours.

Lightspeed Parent Portal gives parents access to:

• A Weekly Student Online Activity Report. This report summarizes the student’s web browsing activity for the week. A copy of this report is sent to the parents’ email weekly.
  

• A full web-based Lightspeed Parent Portal, which delivers more detailed visibility of the student’s online activity at home.Lightspeed Parent Portal

The Book Fair is HERE!

The Book Fair will be held from February 23rd- 27th in the library at Park Ridge Elementary. We are excited to welcome this fun and engaging event that helps foster a love of reading in our students. The Book Fair is a wonderful opportunity for children to discover new books, explore different genres, and build their home libraries with titles they are excited to read. Every purchase helps support our school and classroom libraries, so thank you in advance for supporting this exciting event. We hope to see you come and pick out some great books.

PTO Read-A-Thon Fundraiser has been rescheduled for March 2–6, and registration begins next Friday, February 27. Please make sure to register for the event!

Sign Up Today!10 more days left for Kids Heart Challenge! It's not too late to sign up and earn those donations. Join our school team on the FREE & fun “AHA Schools” App or at www.heart.org/Schools and complete Finn’s Mission to learn Hands-Only CPR. We're going to make a huge impact together, Heart Heroes!

Over the next couple of weeks, all fifth grade students will learn about middle school electives, will complete a Course Selection sheet and will select their course requests in StudentVue. Counselors will be coming into classrooms to complete this task. After your student has had their class session with the counselor, please go into ParentVue to take a look at your student's electives for next year. Here is the link to ParentVue: ParentVue

Linked to this email is the Middle School Program of Studies to review the electives and instructions for how to use on ParentVue and StudentVue.

All students must be registered by March 13th. If you have any questions about middle school registration, please reach out to any of the counselors below. Thanks!

kerneg@staffordschools.net

donovanrl@staffordschools.net

koduag@staffordschools.net

Important Dates to Remember

• March 13: Registration window closes

• March 25: Parent Night at your middle school

• April 9: Student field trip to your middle school

More information will be shared soon about Parent Night and the student field trip.

Our annual DARE Basketball Game (Educators vs. Law Enforcement) will take place on March 19, 2026, at Brooke Point High School. Are you ready to show off those skills, Mr. Roble???? We are ready to cheer you on!

Our basket theme this year will be announced soon! We will start taking donations for the basket next week. So, if it's on you heart to donate, please do! If you’re able, please feel free to drop off a game to add to our basket. All donations are needed by March 12th.

Thank you so much for your support!

Park Ridge Elementary School will be hosting Career Day on Thursday, March 26, 2026, and we are looking for volunteers to help make this event a success! Whether you are a nurse, business owner, mechanic, member of the military, or work in any other field, we would love for you to join us for the morning and talk with our students about your career. We believe it is never too early to introduce students to the wide variety of career paths available to them, and firsthand experiences can make a lasting impact.

Presentations will be approximately 25 minutes long, and you will present to students ranging from kindergarten through 5th grade. Presenters are encouraged to include (but are not limited to):

• Related school subjects

• Education or training required

• Personal skills needed in your field

• A typical day on the job

• Child-friendly games, visuals, or hands-on activities

This is a wonderful opportunity to get involved at PRES and inspire our students as they begin to dream about their futures. If you are not interested but know someone who might be, please feel free to share this information or provide us with their contact details.

Thank you in advance for your time and support. We truly appreciate your willingness to participate in this rewarding experience. To sign up to participate in the event, please complete the form, Park Ridge Elementary School Career Day 2026.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact the counseling team at 540-658-6320 or email donovanrl@staffordschools.net.

Join the PRES Spirit Council in collecting pop tabs to help support the Ronald McDonald House - Greater Washington, DC.

Their Mission:

Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Greater Washington, DC (RMHCDC) provides essential services that remove barriers, strengthen families, and promote healing when children need healthcare. Collection jars will be in classrooms beginning next week!