Dear Chestatee Families,

As you know both of our assistant principals, Angela Perry and Abby Gaines, will serve as principals for the 2025-26 school year. Last month, we announced that Nick Sexton would be joining the Chestatee family as one of the assistant principals.

This month, we have more exciting news to share with our Chestatee Family. On March 11, the FCS Board of Education named Mrs. Brianna Hundt as an Assistant Principal at Chestatee Elementary for the 2025-26 school year.

Many of you know Mrs. Hundt as she has called Chestatee her school home for the past 14 years. She has served as the Administrative Assistant this school year. In her 15 years as an educator, Mrs. Hundt has taught kindergarten, ESOL/EIP, fifth grade, and third grade. She also served as our Quality Work Facilitator/ Instructional Coach.

Mrs. Hundt received her Bachelor's degree from the University of North Georgia, her Master's degree from Georgia State and her Specialist degree and Leadership Add-on from Piedmont College. She is very excited to be the Assistant Principal next year!

Brianna and her husband, Lance, are the proud parents of Harper and Noah. Harper is in third grade at the T, and Noah (former Eagle) is in sixth grade at Little Mill. The Hundts live in the Chestatee area and are proud to be part of the One East Community. In their spare time, they love spending time with family, boating on Lake Lanier, and cheering for the Nebraska Corn Huskers!

We are grateful for Mrs. Hundt’s work at the T and are excited for her role next year as an assistant principal. Please join us in congratulating Mrs. Hundt on her new position!

Together we are Chestatee!

With gratitude,

Jennifer Williams

https://bpiphotography.net/view-order-photos/

We'll be sending resources for summer learning at our last APTT meeting on May 1st. If you would like an additional resource, we can send a workbook thanks to Title I funding. Please complete this form as a commitment to having your child complete the workbook. We will have a celebration in August for all summer learners.

• Please remember to send in your child’s excuse within 5 days.
• Families can send up to 10 notes from home for absences before doctor notes are required.
• On email excuses to the teacher, it’s easy to add Ms. Stacey (Sholbrook@forsyth.k12.ga.us) to make sure she gets the excuse.
• Any time you go to see the doctor, please ask for a school excuse. If you forget, contact the doctor and ask them to email or fax the excuse. Fax: 770-781-2281.
• Georgia law requires the school to send attendance letters after 5 or more unexcused absences.
• If your child is checking out from the clinic, the absence is excused.
• When you check your child in/ out on Checkmate, the absence will be unexcused. Please provide a medical excuse if you'd like the absence excused.

We are very proud to share that Abby Gaines successfully defended her dissertation today. Congratulations Dr. Gaines!

Students can be "written up" for showing the Chestatee Way! Ms. Williams calls each student to the office to get a prize and picture. She loves seeing these role models in her office.

Thank you to our Teacher of the Year, Tiffany Vorick, who represented Chestatee well and was celebrated at the Celebration of Excellence on March 14th.

Congratulations to our partner in education, Randall Brothers LLC, for being named Gold Level Program of the Year today at the Celebration of Excellence. Justin Huntley was there to accept the award for Randall Brothers.

For the past two years, Randall Brothers has supported our Construction Pathway at the T and has donated 100% of the wood we have needed for projects. Whatever we need, they provide so that third, fourth, and fifth graders have the opportunity to work together to make shelves or toolboxes. There have been many times when our STEM teacher has asked for items in the evening, and by 6 AM, she had a yes. And even better, the supplies are delivered right to the school. The ease of which we can get supplies make this program easy for us to sustain.

When many companies turn down elementary schools for programs like ours because they don’t see the benefit, Randall Brothers embraces it. Randall Brothers sees the benefit in supporting a program and the process from start to finish. They see the importance of beginning with elementary aged kids and then helping to promote construction and various careers in building at the middle school and high school levels. They are working closely with Little Mill MS and East Forsyth HS, and their next step is to start an internship program.

In the One East Cluster, we embrace the slogan, Better Together. Through their support, Randall Brothers is enriching the life experiences of students and working hard to grow career opportunities. Because of them, we are better together. Congratulations to Randall Brothers LLC for being named Gold Program of the Year!

Kelly Aucoin with Lanier Goods Co. was recognized as an outstanding Community Partner at the One East Vertical Acknowledgement Night.

Lanier Goods donated brightly colored shirts to each kindergarten class for field trips and special events to make classes easily identifiable when off campus. To our kindergarten teachers, this shirt donation brought peace of mind and a sense of security. We appreciate this partner in education so much.

Each month, we have a ceremony to recognize students in each classroom for showing the Chestatee Way. Families are invited for these special events. We love when students are responsible, respectful, problem solvers.

Thanks to these students for representing the T during the Math Kangaroo Competition on March 20th.

This international math contest challenges students with fun and complex problem-solving questions, helping them build strong critical thinking skills! We are so proud of these students for their hard work and dedication in taking on this challenge!

We are proud to announce Brigitte Bilderback as our Staff Member of the Month!

Ms. Bilderback is a former Chestatee student and is now one of our first-grade teachers. She received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Piedmont University and strives to help students reach their full potential.

Brigitte has already received nominations for Staff Member of the Month in her first year at the T. One parent stated that she is amazing to the kids in her class. Her teammates describe her as a good team member, patient, calm, and dependable. They also said that it is evident that she truly loves her students and colleagues. In her free time, Ms. Bilderback coaches lacrosse at East Forsyth High School.

Brigitte’s parents relocated to Colorado and enjoy the snow and skiing often. On Ms. Bilderback’ s most recent trip there to visit, she got engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Ernesto. She is excited to start planning their wedding and becoming Mrs. Platas!

We are very grateful that Ms. Bilderback works at the T. Congratulations to her on this great honor. A big thank you to our Chestatee Elementary PTO and Mathnasium of Coal Mountain for sponsoring our Chestatee Staff Member of the Month Program!

We need your input! Please let us know if there is a staff member who is making a difference for your child!

March 31- April 4 Spring break

April 9th: Spring pictures

April 11th: Boys' Night at Chestatee- $35 for all Chestatee Boys per family and 1 special guest

April 14th: Disconnect to Reconnect, 6:00-7:30 PM, FoCAL Auditorium

April 14-18: Exceptional Children's Week

April 15th Purple Up! For Military Kids (All are invited to wear purple to show support and recognition for military children.

April 17: 5th Grade Cap and Gowns Pictures

April 17: High Flyers Ceremony (by invite)

April 19th: Next Community Resource Saturday 10:00-11:00 AM: https://tinyurl.com/527nhds7

May 1st- APTT Meeting 3 and Input Opportunity- Virtual Meetings

May 2nd- Family Farm Night at Warbington Farms

Students and staff were recognized for showing care, collaboration, and connection.

Resources from our Counseling Department.

Resources for Food Help

Food Help- Spanish

Mentoring Info

President- Kandi Wetzel

Co-Vice Presidents- Jennifer Grindle, Liana Hall, and Nicole Tierney

Secretaries- Meg Killingsworth and Christy Pittman

Treasurer- Emily Morgan

Parliamentarian- Julia Weart

Contact our PTO here!

Boosterthon Fundraiser- over $30,000

Successful School Events, Biscuit Tuesdays, Spirit Nights

Well Established Board

Volunteer and Family Involvement

Items Purchased with PTO Funds 2023-24

2 Water Bottle Fillers

New Stage Curtains

Decorated and Designed Staff “Haven”

Decorated and Designed Professional Learning Room

$4000 in Teacher Grants

Refreshed Reading Garden and Kindergarten Garden

Carline Upgrades/ Pavilion

Clinic Supplies

Supported Vertical Alignment and Family Events

Indoor Recess Games for ALL Homerooms

Staff Morale/ Teacher Appreciation

Items Purchased So Far with PTO Funds 2024-25

4th grade STEM bins for entire grade level

Over $3000 in teacher grants so far (11/24)

Bus driver appreciation

New Camera in newsroom

Refreshed Outdoor Gardens

Staff Morale

Teacher Appreciation Items

Our book club has been reading and discussing The Anxious Generation. It hasn't been an easy read. It has been hard for me to read that I've done some things wrong. In saying that though, I can also say that I have learned a lot. If you are interested in reading and discussing this book, let me know. I'd love to set up a time to discuss with more people even. Here is more information about the book.

Email me if interested!

Sincerely,

Meg Killingsworth

Family Engagement Coordinator

mkillingsworth@forsyth.k12.ga.us

If you ask to connect your Kroger Plus card to Chestatee Elementary, they will donate a certain percentage of the profits to our school. You can find out more about how to do this if you CLICK HERE.

Publix Partners with Chestatee also. You only need to put your phone number in as you checkout. Publix will donate a certain percentage of their profits to Chestatee from your purchase!

We love our Partners in Education!

Email: chestateees@gmail.com
Website: http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/site/default.aspx?domainid=260
Location: 6945 Keith Bridge Road, Gainesville, GA, United States
Phone: 770-887-2341
Facebook: facebook.com/ChestateeES
Twitter: @chestateees