The December 30, 2025 Newsletter

Jan. 14 | Panera Fundraiser (Online orders all day: FUND4U promo code, 4-8pm in-store)
Jan. 15 | Bingo Night

Jan. 20 | Annual Auction Early Bird Tickets available online

Jan. 21, 9:15am | Spelling Bee

Jan. 27, 6pm | Math Content Night for 3rd, 4th, 5th Grade Parents

Feb. 9 | Clubs/ Teams/ Groups Photo Day
Mar. 26 | Class Photo Day

Mar. 28, 6:30pm | Janney Auction- SAVE THE DATE
May 13 | 5th Grade Panoramic Photo Day

🙏 A Thank You as We Close Janney’s 100th Year

As we close out Janney’s 100th year, we want to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Janney Centennial Committee for helping make this milestone so meaningful for our community.

This team brought care, creativity, and heart to honoring a century of Janney. We are especially grateful to Graham Gilmer, our Centennial Committee chair, whose leadership and dedication were central to this year’s success. Thank you as well to Chris Bobbitt, Andy Bonasera, Lauren Camilli, Chris Clements, Sara Curtin, Dave Malcarney, Rebecca Marshall-Peel, Lisa Skalet, Greg Van Wie, and so many others who contributed their time, energy, and ideas throughout the year. We also want to recognize Jordan Simon and Alicia Lloro for their partnership in advancing our garden projects, and Mike Barnhart for shepherding the centennial efforts and helping ensure the work came together so seamlessly.

To everyone who took part in marking Janney’s centennial—we are incredibly grateful. Whether you contributed time, took part in our Centennial tile project, helped paint or clean during a Beautification Day, or provided financial support, your generosity and willingness to pitch in reflect the very best of our Janney community.

We’re excited that our Centennial tile mosaic in the atrium will serve as a lasting reminder of this special milestone. Our centennial year embodied so much of what we love about Janney: care for one another, pride in our school, and a shared commitment to making it a place where everyone belongs.

To 💯 more!

With Gratitude,

Anita Siegfreidt and Jackie Ross

PTA Co-Presidents

🫶 Make Your SSF Support Go Further: A Year-End Reminder

We are so grateful to everyone who has already donated to Janney’s Student Support Fund (SSF), your generosity makes a meaningful difference for our school community! As we head into the final days of 2025, there may be an easy way to increase your impact at no additional cost to you.

The Janney PTA has partnered with Double the Donation to help families check whether their employer offers a matching gift program. Many companies match charitable contributions, sometimes dollar for dollar or more, doubling or even tripling the impact of your gift.

Employer matching gifts can be applied to tax-deductible Janney contributions, including the Student Support Fund (SSF), and some programs also extend to gifts made by spouses, retirees, or board members. Visit our matching gift page to see if your employer participates and for additional information on how to submit a matching gift request.

If you haven’t yet had a chance to make your tax-deductible SSF contribution and would like to include it in your 2025 charitable giving, you can make a gift here before year’s end.

Check for an Employer Match

Janney Auction 2026: Jaguars Beneath the Canopy

Hold onto your hats, because we are about to go on a three-month Auction ride! Jaguars Beneath the Canopy: Janney Auction 2026 will take place on March 28th at 6:30 p.m. at Janney Elementary. This adults-only event is our biggest fundraiser of the year!

👉👉 See our "House of Auction" video for more info and good vibes! 👈👈

Though early bird ticket sales won’t be available until January 20th, you can learn more on the event website, and now is a great time to start thinking about how you can get involved.

Here are a few ideas:

If you have a business (looking for a tax break?), check out sponsorship opportunities, (starting at $500) or email us
Donate brown packing paper to help students create beautiful decorations for the event. A collection box will be placed at Janney’s front door. (Photo below).
Think about whether your family has a valuable item to donate to the auction (vacation rental, event tickets). If you have something to share, submit the item’s information here and we’ll get back to you!
Winter Break is a great time to brainstorm ideas for Janney Parties. Janney families volunteer to host a party! Past parties have included kid-drop off K-Pop sing-alongs to adults-only murder mystery events to a block party for the full family. Tickets to Janney Parties are sold during and before the auction. If you are interested in hosting or learning more (even if you don’t have a party idea), email us

Expect more details on the AUCTION and how to get involved soon! In the meantime, if you have any questions or ideas for how you could support, email auction@janneyschool.org

Sincerely,

AJ Pearlman & Jami Westerhold

Janney Auction Co-Chairs

🥪 Join us to pack lunch for our unhoused neighbors!

Please join us at 9:30am on Saturday, January 17th to pack 100 lunches for our unhoused neighbors at local shelters. We'll be gathering in our home in Friendship Heights to decorate paper bags and pack them with sandwiches, fruit, and snacks. We'll have music, coffee, and a chance to hang with other Janney families.

Sign up here to bring or drop off lunch items. If you can't make it but would like to contribute, that's great too! New this year, we're asking that items be delivered in advance - this is so we can keep inventory and make a last-minute dash to the store on the morning-of if we end up short on any supplies.

Since this will be happening at our (sadly non-mansion-sized) home, we'll unfortunately need to cap attendance. Please RSVP to communityservice@janneyschool.org with the number of people you're bringing.

Hope to see you there!
Liz Scheier and Arie Rubenstein

Janney Community Service Committee Co-Chairs

🎭 Calling All Musical Theatre Lovers!

Every May our Janney 5th graders have the opportunity to participate in one of our most beloved traditions: the 5th Grade Musical! Putting on the event takes a team of amazing volunteers, many of whom are not 5th grade parents. If you want to get involved, we are looking for two key volunteer positions to help us get started:

1. Producer

Our longtime volunteer producer Michael Wietzner is no longer at Janney because his kids graduated, so we need someone who can serve as a general right-hand to the Director (5th grade teacher Ms. Jordan):

Attend parent meetings
Liaise between Director and Parents
Liaise between Director and Vendors
Co-coordinate smaller committees with Director
Lead other parents on implementing/purchasing materials/building/and breaking down the musical sets
Serve as a backstage manager during the show

*Note: The producer does NOT need to attend all the rehearsals but does check in regularly to ensure that rehearsals are on track.

2. Grant Writer

Renting equipment for the musical each year is costly and purchasing permanent lighting and sound reinforcement would be a big help to our annual performances (including the musical) and other enrichment programs. The PTA is looking for volunteers to help apply for grants through DC's Commission on the Arts & Humanities (CAH) to help us plan and expand Janney's capabilities!

👉 Contact Jackie Ross if you have questions or are interested!

🎲 Bingo Night: Prize Donations Needed

Accepting Donations NOW for Bingo Night on Thursday, Jan 15, 2026.

👉 Please consider donating any unopened toys/games to use as prizes.

Contact: Email carolyn.hoef@gmail.com or text 314-704-0922 to coordinate a pick up or you can leave them on the front porch at 4308 Ellicott St NW (near GDS playground)

➗ Math Content Night

Jan. 27, 2026, 06:00pm

Join us for a Math Content Night for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade parents!

You'll learn about the progression of math learning throughout these years and how to support students at home.

🚲 Join the Janney Bike Bus

Join Janney students and parents on Friday mornings for a fun bike bus to school! Kids on parents' bikes and kids that can bike independently are welcome to join. The group leaves 48th and Davenport at 8:20 am sharp and travels together to Janney. Join our Janney Bike Bus WhatsApp group for updates and info:

🚌 Field Trip Fees | Field trips are an integral part of your child's learning experiences that align with each grade’s curriculum. The field trip fee includes not only the high cost of transportation, out-of-school programs and logistics, but also some assemblies that occur at Janney. Whenever possible, Janney takes advantage of free events, applies for grants, and uses creative ways to reduce the costs of these opportunities. Pay the Field Trip Fee.

👪 Chaperones | DCPS requires chaperones to complete a volunteer clearance application, after which you will receive an email with background check instructions. Fingerprinting is also required as part of the process but this can now be done remotely with instructions. DCPS Volunteer Clearance is valid for 2 years. List Michael Barnhart, michael.barnhart@k12.dc.gov, (202) 282-0110, as your contact and email him your clearance letter once received.

🎨 The Art Room | The Art Teacher is collecting hardcover book jackets all year round for the newly opened Collage Center in the art room, bring them in and put them to good use!

👕 Lost & Found | Our Lost & Found is bursting with jackets, water bottles, lunch boxes, and more-- most of them unlabeled! Please come fetch before they're carted away for donations.

🦠 Communicable Diseases | Check out our Mini Guide to Communicable Diseases and stay healthy this holiday season!

🚨 Lice Guide | Please pass on this link: Download our Suggested Lice Guide

📲 Weekly Mental Load Helper

Check out our Weekly Mental Load Helper! Stay on top of Janney activities by reading our weekly newsletter and following janneyelementary on Instagram!

Janney Fall/Winter Semester Wrapped!

As we wrap up the semester, we want to say a huge thank you to the Janney community for staying engaged and connected. Check out the Janney Wrapped post (yes, like Spotify Wrapped!) to see how engaged our community has been. We're excited to keep the momentum going into the new year!

💬 Overheard A+ Janney

Do your little Janney Jaguars say the funniest, silliest, or most profound things? Don't let those gems be heard only by the Janney chickens (or just you)! Share these memorable moments with the whole community! Submit elementary school-appropriate quotes from your kids here. All contributions are posted anonymously. 👇

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🐾 Remember...

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Sign up for our Janney Parent Listserv by emailing: janneyEScommunity+subscribe@groups.io.
Our Newsletter drops every Tuesday, see the SY25-26 Archive
Check out our Website for important links 👇

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