PQ Tuesday Newsday

PQ Families,

Welcome to the heart of August!

We have reached that time of the summer when we know there are still a few precious weeks of summer left, yet we are beginning to feel the excitement—and perhaps a few nerves—of the upcoming school year. Whether we are children or adults, transitions often bring a mix of emotions. As we prepare for a new school year, our goal is to help every child feel safe, confident, and excited as they look ahead to a new grade, new experiences, and another year of learning and growing together at PQ.

Class placements will be released on e- School August 14th at 5:00 pm. Teachers, support staff, and administrators worked incredibly hard to build classrooms that prioritized academic success for all, friendships, and positive student dynamics to try and ensure the best possible learning environment for all. This process takes weeks of work, and your child’s best interests sit at the heart of every adult working to build these classes. That said, we will not be making any classroom changes after class assignments are released.

Our teachers are one of PQ’s greatest strengths! Year after year, they turn a classroom into a home for their students and allow them the opportunity to grow and learn both socially and academically. Give your child the opportunity to walk through the classroom door with an open mind and an open heart; the 2026-27 school year is going to be great!

Task 2 for this week is to sign in to Arbiter (formerly the Student ID platform) and complete district forms like the code of conduct and district photo/video releases.

Enjoy the sunshine and the week ahead.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Snowdon

Please be sure to view all of the updates and announcements below.

At PQ, Arbiter is an app used by parents to sign-off on district policies that impact your child. These policies include the district Code of Conduct and Attendance Policies, Use of Media/Photos, Internet Acceptable Use Policy and Chromebook Loaner Policy. Please use this link to access Arbiter.

Notes About Logging Into Arbiter

1. If you created an account in the past, click log in and type in your username and password.

2. If you are new to the district, click Create Account.

3. For Organization Name, type North Salem

4. Under the North Salem Central School District, click on "2024-2025 Beginning of School Information for PQ Elementary."

5. Click Register Now.

6. IMPORTANT - In the beginning, you don't have to fill in more than the first two sections - Participant Information which is your child's name, school, and graduation year and grade and the Parent Information for whoever is filling out the form. Your next step is to review the policies that need to be signed off on.

7. You need to do this for each child. If you have children in both the MSHS and PQ, make sure you are using the correct form for each child.

8. Follow the directions at the end of the form to complete the process.

Please complete this by the start of the school year for each child. Thank you!

eSD Parent Portal is an important app we use throughout your child's entire K-12 experience. At PQ, you get your child’s teacher assignment and report cards from the Parent Portal. At the MSHS, you will get your child’s schedule, grades, etc. You create this account in Kindergarten and it remains the same for your career in the district.

**This week we would like you to log on to the eSD Parent Portal. When you log on, you will be asked to verify/update your information. It is very IMPORTANT that you do this because we need to have:

• accurate phone numbers to reach you
• accurate emails to send you information
• updated and necessary emergency contacts in case we are ever unable to reach you in an emergency (emergency contacts should be people other than yourself)

Once you update your information, make sure you CLICK the VERIFY button.

If you are new to the district, you will need your child's ID number before logging into Parent Portal. Incoming Kindergarten parents will receive a letter in the mail this week that contains their kindergartener's ID number. Parents of students who are new to the school in 1st-5th grades will receive their student ID number via email soon.

If you have returning students, you would have already created a login for Parent Portal. We still need you to log in and double check that the information in the system is up to date and correct.

The eSD Parent Portal can be found on the school website. Click the button in the middle of the PQ homepage called Parent Log-ins. There is a link and a tutorial there. Here is a direct link to the eSD Parent Portal.

Be sure to do this in advance of August 14th. Your child’s teacher assignment will be posted in the evening on this date!

Please click on the link below for the 2026-2027 school supplies list.

• Kindergarten
• 1st Grade
• 2nd Grade
• 3rd Grade
• 4th Grade
• 5th Grade

Classroom Teacher Assignments will be available in the evening on Friday, August 14th on the Parent Portal.

Be sure to read IMPORTANT TASK #1 (above) to make sure you are ready to go on the 14th!

Pre-K

There is a "Family Play Date" scheduled for all pre-K families on Monday, August 31st at 10am. Students and their family can come use the PQ playground and get to know some classmates.

Kindergarten

Please remember that all of Kindergarten starts the school year off with 6 half days. So, from September 3 - 11 Kindergarten students will dismiss at 12:00. September 14th will be their first full day of school.

PQ is looking for help! We need a paraprofessional to assist with the lunch and recess shifts. The position is three hours a day Monday - Friday (11:25 am—2:25 pm). If you are interested, please email me at Dsnowdon@northsalemschools.org

August 14 - Teacher Assignments Posted

September 1 - Open House 3:00-5:00

September 3 - First Day of School

September 3 - 11 Kindergarten 1/2 day

September 4 - PTO's Kdg & New Family Social 4:00

September 7 - No School

September 9 - BOE Meeting 6:30pm @ MSHS

September 14 - Kindergarten's first Full Day of School

September 15 - PQ/MSHS PTO Meeting @ MSHS Library 9:30

September 15 - Curriculum Night Gr K-2 and Pre-K 6:00pm

September 21 - No School

September 23 - BOE Meeting 6:30pm @ MSHS

September 29 - Curriculum Night Gr 3-5 6:00pm

Website: www.northsalemschools.org
Location: 173 June Road, North Salem, N.Y., USA
Phone: 914-669-5317
Twitter: @pq_elementary