Greenland Pines Parent Connection

GPE Families,

As we wrap up another incredible school year at Greenland Pines, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of our Cougar families for your ongoing support, involvement, and encouragement. It has been an amazing year of growth, learning, and success, and we are so proud of everything our students have accomplished.

As we move into the final stretch, we want to remind families that testing is just around the corner. Please help your child do their best by ensuring they get a good night's sleep, eat a healthy breakfast, and arrive at school on time. We are so excited for our students to show what they know—they’ve worked hard and are ready to shine!

We also invite you to join us for our end-of-year award celebrations as we recognize and celebrate the achievements of our amazing students. Be sure to follow our social media pages throughout the summer for important updates, announcements, and reminders. Thank you again for a wonderful year, and we look forward to ending it on a strong and joyful note together!

Michelle Hinkley, Principal

Do you know someone interested in joining the GPE families? We will be hosting a KG Round Up on 5/6 at 5:30pm. Families are welcome to come tour our school, meet the kindergarten teachers and get help with registration.

We value the input of parents in helping us determine the best environment for your child. Please keep in mind that this questionnaire is intended as an aid for your child's class placement for next year. We will do our best to match each child with a teacher most suited for them. We do not accept teacher requests by name. If you wish to offer input, please complete this form prior to May 16th.

If your child will not be returning to GPE next year, we would also ask for you to complete this survey to let us know.

Survey Link: https://forms.office.com/r/XYMxeVjMtK

As we approach the end of the school year, we are planning a special Teacher Appreciation Luncheon to honor the hard work and dedication of our incredible teachers and staff. We would love to invite you and any local businesses to sponsor a teacher for this event.

A sponsorship of just $30.00 and will cover the cost of one teacher's lunch and activities, helping us show them how much they are valued.

If you know a local business that may be interested in hearing more, we would be happy to get in touch with them directly! Feel free to pass along their info by emailing ptavolunteersgpe@gmail.com.

Donations can be made online using the below link or via check made out to Greenland Pines Elementary and mailed or dropped off to Julie Dietrich

Thank you for considering this opportunity to make a meaningful impact on our local educators. Your support truly makes a difference.

https://dcps.schoolcashonline.com/.../57082/76/False/True?

25-26 Parent Pickup Hang Tags

Parents, are you a business owner or manager? Would you like to support your child's school? Are you interested in improving the safety of our students? You can be a Sponsor on the 2025-2026 school Hang Tags! See the attachment below for pricing and information.

• Hang Tags are used by parents when picking up their child each school day. They hang from the rear-view mirror.
• Hang Tags improve the safety of children by ensuring only an authorized person picks them up.
• Hang Tags provide a durable means to identify parents.
• Hang Tags improve the traffic flow by shortening the wait time for parents and children.
• Hang Tags are a cost-effective way to advertise your business or organization to hundreds of parents every day of the school year.

Parents will need to download the NEW DCPS app and then access rooms to see their child's classroom and message the teacher. If you do not see your child's room in the app, check if you have a linked Parent Portal account. You must have a linked account to see the room. Join today!

If you do not have a LINKED parent account, please follow these directions to get one. A linked FOCUS account is how you will be able to see your child's grades, attendance etc.

All parents will need a linked parent portal. Click the button below and follow these steps to ensure your account is linked. Without a linked account you won't have access to school emails, classroom communication, student grades and report cards or attendance. Each parent that wants access will need a parent account.

School Cash online will be used for all payments this year including field trips. Please make sure you sign up for an account today!

Link: School Cash Online

The New Worlds Initiative is a program through UF which allows students who meet the criteria below to receive the monthly books until they graduate from fifth grade. Criteria is listed below. The beginning of the year baseline data can be used to qualify students. We recommend that all parents sign up. Books will be sent if your student qualifies. The sign up is quick and can benefit your child!

The link to register is here: https://www.newworldsreading.com/fl/en/home.html

Dismissal begins at 2:45pm daily. As a reminder, the car rider line/gate will close at 3:10pm daily. Please make sure you are in line before 3:10pm this to help us get all students dismissed on time.

Please note that we do not allow any park and pickup. The only students that will be dismissed outside of a car/bus loop are walkers and they are expected to walk all the way off campus.

All students will be issued a picture ID at the beginning of the year. This ID has been placed on their backpack. Please make sure that it stays on their backpack all year. They will need this to ride the bus, get breakfast and to get lunch. If your child gets a new backpack, please move the ID to the new bag.

If a student looses their ID, a replacement badge will be printed for $5. Every child is required to have an active student ID at all times. If your child needs a new ID, please send the money and a note to their HR teacher and we will reprint.

The DCPS Food Service Department is pleased to announce that for the 2024-2025 school year, every public school in DCPS will be a part of the Community Eligibility Provision program. Under CEP, school meals are available to all students at no cost to them.

Breakfast will be served from 8:00-8:30am daily. Students wishing to eat breakfast at GPE should arrive early enough to be ready for class at 8:30am.

We have teamed up with Varsity Tutors to offer DCPS students personalized learning support when they need it. Students across the district will receive unlimited live support from highly qualified tutors in all core subject areas. They can also attend interactive extracurricular classes and clubs ie. coding and financial literacy via enrichment classes. Additionally, they can receive essay review and writing support.

How do students access the platform?

· Students click on Blended Learning, then the Varsity Tutors icon, and log in with Clever.

Parents can visit https://www.varsitytutors.com/school-solutions/duval for support for their students. There are also a document attached below for parents to get more information about this opportunity.

• May 26 Memorial Day/No School
• May 30 Last Day of School
• May 30 5th Grade Clap Out 9am (Families Welcome)

You can view the DCPS calendar here: https://www.duvalschools.org/page/district-calendar

As a reminder, we can not dismiss students after 2:15 PM or after 12:15 PM on Early Release days, per DCPS policy. In addition, please reserve early pick up for days when it is absolutely needed. We understand that appointments and emergencies come up at times but please ensure your child is in school the entire day when possible.

FortifyFL is a suspicious activity reporting tool that allows you to instantly relay information to appropriate law enforcement agencies and school officials.

By accessing FortifyFL, students can provide a description of the threat, share pics and videos and optionally submit their contact information.

• Anonymous or Non-Anonymous - You decide whether you want to include your name and contact information.

• Convenient - Submitting a tip is quick and easy using our mobile app or website.

• Include Photos and Video - You can also include photos or video with your tip report.

Are you a Changemaker? A great way to support our school is to become a Changemaker! You can directly support GPE by signing up to round-up your change from purchases. These funds make a BIG difference. Use this link to sign up and learn more:

https://go.changemaker.app/donate/greenland-pines

PTA is looking forward to another great school year!

Memberships are good for one year and help with funding the PTA programs and events. Single memberships are $10 and two person family memberships are $15.

If you are interested in joining the PTA board, we do have several open positions. Contact PTA President Valerie Wurdeman at gpeptapresident@gmail.com.

Keep up with what is going on with PTA via our website (http://gpe.my-pta.org) or our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/GreenlandPinesPTA}

What is SAC?

A School Advisory Council is an elected committee made up of parents, staff, administrators, businesses, community members and students (in secondary schools) who work together to help a school improve. By state law, school boards must establish an advisory council for each school.

Become a SAC member!

Get involved! Being a School Advisory Council member is a good way to be an important part of your child's education. Please contact Janine Santangelo at janine.santangelo@gmail.com or Michelle Hinkley at simrellm@duvalschools.org for more information.

Meeting Dates

3rd Wednesday of Each Month at 3:30pm

Meetings are held in the GPE Media Center

Next Meeting

No SAC in May - Have a wonderful summer!

Hazel Health has partnered with Duval County Public Schools to expand student health services at no-cost to families this school year. When your student needs help, they can connect with Hazel for same-day care.

Get more information and sign the parent consent form at https://my.hazel.co/duvalschools/info

Did you know that you can stay connected with GPE on social media? We will be posting events, reminders and information on the following sites:

GPE on Facebook: @GreenlandPines

GPE Website: https://dcps.duvalschools.org/greenlandpines

We need you! Interested in being a business partner here at GPE? Our business partners are invaluable here at GPE. If you own or manage a business and would like to learn more about the perks of being a GPE business partner, please reach out to Ms. O'Quinn, at (904)260-5450 or oquinnc@duvalschools.org.

Please support those who support GPE. Click on the business logos below to support these local businesses. If your business is interested in becoming a GPE sponsor, email our AP, Ms. O'Quinn at oquinnc@duvalschools.org for more information.