CRPS Chronicles

Dear Conover Road Primary School Families,

We look forward to seeing you for Parent/Teacher Conferences next week. Please recall that the week of October 26-30 are SHORT SESSION DAYS. Children who are being picked up from school should have parents arrive no later than 12:40 PM. Buses will depart our school grounds promptly at 1:00 PM.

Please read this edition of the CRPS Chronicles carefully. This edition features:

-A nomination form to recognize a special CRPS Educator for Governor's Educator of the Year. Nominations are due by November 18th.

-A form to present the name of a Veteran to be honored at a campus wide ceremony that will take place on Thursday, November 12th. (Names of Veterans must be submitted no later than Wednesday, November 4th to be included in this meaningful ceremony.)

-Halloween Parade Information and Costume Guidelines

-Harlem Wizard vs. Colts Neck School Staff Basketball Game--Buy your tickets before they sell out!

We have had several children bringing personal toys, fidgets, Pokemon/baseball cards or other special items from home. Please work with your child to prevent them from bringing these items to school as they can easily be misplaced, damaged, or stolen. This support from home will help to prevent children from becoming upset and leading to an interruption of instruction. Thank you for your support.

Finally, please be sure to review your child's bus route information in Genesis. Several buses have been assigned entirely new bus route numbers and students should be familiar with these changes so that they can find their bus with ease at dismissal.

Sincerely,

Tricia Barr, Principal and Merri Milano, Assistant Principal

It’s time to get those costumes ready so that we may celebrate our school spirit and excitement for the season as we enjoy our favorite Colts Neck tradition! The Halloween Parade will take place on Friday, October 30 at 10:00 AM. Please note that this event falls on a SHORT SESSION day of school. Therefore, children MAY NOT be signed out from school early on this date. An early dismissal would not allow children to have attained the required four hours of school to be counted as present. Any early departures would result in the child being marked ABSENT–UNEXCUSED for the day.

Read the entirety of the Halloween letter for costume guidelines and parade information.

Our CRPS Gym offers just the perfect amont of Halloween chills and thrills! Students are excited to enter the (not so scary) Haunted House or traverse the obstacle couse as they walk the plank over snakes and roam through the haunted forest and bat tunnel. The Air Track magic mountain provides a quick exit from the spooky adventure! Thank you to our "ghost hosts," Mrs. Tym and Mr. Baiata for making sure that PE classes embraces this favorite holiday!

Our little game changers at CRPS have been rolling the dice on new learning and friendship adventures. It’s time to celebrate their many start of school achievements at our Fall Parent-Teacher Conferences! Our team looks forward to sharing information about your child’s first weeks of school during our Parent-Teacher Conferences from October 26-30. These will be SHORT SESSION days of school to allow for these valuable conversations. Parents will be invited to participate in your choice of either virtual OR in-person conferences. Virtual conferences will be considered our “default” program unless a parent specifically selects the “in-person” option in the Genesis portal. Teachers will send you a link for a Google Meet using parent e-mail addresses, not student e-mail addresses.

Parent-Teacher Conferences will take place as follows:

Monday, October 26, 2026

Tuesday, October 27, 2026

Wednesday, October 28, 2026

Thursday, October 29, 2026

Friday, October 30, 2025

Our team looks forward to productive and positive conversations that will allow us to share highlights of your child’s progress to date as well as to start setting specific academic and social goals for the school year. Kindly recall that conference appointments are for adults only. Please make the necessary childcare arrangements for students and their siblings to not be part of the conversation. Teachers will have to end the Google Meet or in-person conference according to the scheduled times so that they may stay on schedule. Should you experience any technical issues, please contact Mr. Phil Capasso, via e-mail at capasso@coltsneckschools.org.

As always, the educators of the Conover Road Primary School welcome and encourage parent input. We look forward to speaking with you and supporting your child’s individual learning goals in our school.

Veterans Day allows all Americans to take pause and recognize the courage, talents and sacrifices of the women and men who have dedicated a portion of their lives to keeping our Nation’s democracy strong. A tradition at Conover Road Primary and Elementary Schools has been to welcome Veterans with connections to our students, inclusive of family and friends, to a “Campus Wide Meeting” in honor of their service.

This year, our Veterans Day School Wide Meeting will be held on Thursday, November 12th at 9:30 AM at Conover Road Primary School. We will be combining the students and staff of both CRES and CRPS into one assembly so that Veterans may have an opportunity to be honored by their children at both buildings. We will be sharing this information with the students of CRPS and CRES and hope that they will be proud to extend an invitation to a Veteran that they would like to honor.

****We ask that any Veteran that is able to join us please RSVP on this Google Form before 3:30 PM on Wednesday, November 4th.****

At a recent School Wide Meeting, children were reminded that we strive to maintain a respectful, calm, and safe environment in our school, on our playgrounds and especially on our school buses! Children were exposed to a new incentive program where positive behavior on the school bus will be recognized with weekly stars. Once a bus receives four stars, they will be given a rubber duck to place on the bus dashboard.

Students are hopeful to enjoy special prizes including an ice cream party at the end of the year if they are the bus with the most amount of ducks on display!

Additionally, National School Bus Safety Week is October 19-23, 2026. Please speak with your child about how their actions on a school bus including movement, seatbelt use, and noise level impact safety conditions.

Students will take time during National School Bus Safety Week to practice important emergency drills including Bus Evacuation Drills. Our fifth grade students have been working as "COLT Captains" and are supporting younger students in securing seatbelts and following bus safety protocols.

Our CRPS Team has so many staff members worthy of recognition and celebration! Please fill out this Google Form by Wednesday, November 18, 2026 so that each nominee may be considered for Governor's Educator of the Year!

Our young innovators are working with Mrs. Niesz to create marble runs and coasters. Children are working in collaborative teams and use only paper towel and toilet paper rolls, paper plates, paper cups and masking tape to create structures that allow a marble to gain enough kinetic energy to land in a cup. Students are eager to refine their designs and make modifications that allow for tunnels, more bends and greater heights. This may be something that your family would like to create as a family challenge!

On Wednesday, September 16, Mrs. Barr and Mrs. Milano presented the CRPS Attendance Corrective Action plan to the Colts Neck Board of Education. Thank you to all of our families who took part in our attendance survey to share insights about our attendance policies and your personal experiences getting little ones off to school.

10.3% of our school's children were marked as "Chronically Absent" during the 2024-2025 school year. Chronic Absenteeism is defined as a child missing 10%, or 18 days, of an instructional year. This number falls above the state's limit of a 10% Chronic Absenteeism rate. As a result, Conover Road Primary School has to make efforts to remind families and students that regular attendance is important to your child's success. The presentation linked below will help families understand that there are only seven approved reasons for "excused absences" in the state of NJ. Parents will note that illness and family travel or other family obligations are not considered "excused" by the NJDOE.

Parents are reminded that children are expected to be in school for the duration of each instructional day and that doctor's appointments and family travel should be scheduled at times that do not conflict with the school calendar. Also, please note that it is never our intention to give the impression that it is okay to send sick children to school. If your child is ill, please keep them home until they are well so as not to infect others. If your child will be visiting a physician, a counter note from your child's visit should be submitted to our school nurse and attendance officer, Mrs. Kelleher. While this absence is still recorded as "unexcused," it is not an absence that is counted towards truancy. All absences should be reported to our school attendance line on the day of your child's absence.

Our new school attendance procedures will include a personal phone call to each family upon the occasion of your child's 5th unexcused absence. Letters will be sent on the 5th and 10th and 15th unexcused absence, and parents will be invited to an attendance improvement meeting with our school administrators at the time of a child's 10th unexcused absence.

Attendance matters and is an important indicator of your child's academic and social success. Thanks for your anticipated cooperation and support.

Please use this calendar to make note of the upcoming school events and school holidays for the 2026-2027 School Year!

• Monday, October 26-Friday, October 30, 2026--Short Session Days (Conferences)
• Friday, October 30, 2026--Halloween Parade--10:00 AM
• Thursday, November 5 and Friday, November 6--Schoool Closed for NJEA Convention
• Thursday, November 12, 2026--Veterans Day Campus Wide Meeting
• Wednesday, November 25--Short Session Day
• Thursday and Friday, November 26-27--Schools Closed for Thanksgiving Recess

Email: barr@coltsneckschools.org
Website: coltsneckschools.org
Location: 56 Conover Road, Colts Neck, NJ, USA
Phone: (732)946-0055
Facebook: facebook.com/ConoverPrimary
Twitter: @ConoverPrimary