It’s October!
It's hard to believe September has already flown by, but what an incredible beginning to our school year!
We missed you during the summer months, and reconnecting with all of our families and having our students back in the classrooms has filled our halls with joy. Along with welcoming back lots of familiar faces, we were also thrilled to welcome the many new families joining us this year.
Throughout September, our building truly came alive with energetic and eager learners fulfilling our school mission of being compassionate and caring everyday leaders.
Let’s keep up the good work!
Stronger Together
Here at New Scotland, we strive to create an inclusive community where students feel free to be themselves. It is our hope that as we learn about each other, we create a school community that focuses on relationship-building, acceptance and respect.
We have a variety of activities planned for this year that align with our theme of Stronger Together. One of the activities is our weekly student spotlight, where students are selected at random to be the spotlight student of the week.
We highlight their strengths and celebrate how they enhance our school community. Please be sure to ask your child about their classroom spotlight student! This is just one of the many ways we help build strong classroom communities, and we look forward to an amazing year ahead.
Attendance matters
We want all of our students to feel a part of our school community, and the first step is being in school regularly. Attending school regularly helps children feel better about their education and themselves. We are asking for your help to start building this habit now, so that our students learn as early as possible how important it is to make it to school every day and on time.
As a reminder, our arrival and dismissal times are:
- 8:40 a.m. | Breakfast: (K-5 students only)
- 8:55 a.m. | Doors open
- 9 a.m. | Classes start
- 9:05 a.m. | students arriving after this time will be marked late
- 3:30 p.m. | Dismissal (Barring emergency circumstances, please refrain from picking your child up early)
If your child is sick
While daily attendance and timely arrival are critically important, we recognize there are, of course, times when it is better for a student to remain home due to illness. Sadly, it seems cold season has started early this year. If your child is sick, we do ask that you keep them home to help support our classroom community and keep everyone healthy.
When possible, please notify the school office by telephone or email prior to the morning of the absence. As a follow-up to any verbal notification, we also ask that you provide a written (or emailed) excuse within five school days containing the date of the absence and the reason.
Please note that for consecutive absences of five days or more, a doctor's note is required.
Save the Date!
Below are a few important upcoming dates, but remember that this information and more is available on our online calendar.
- Oct. 3: Homecoming Parade at Albany High, meet at 11 a.m. at the tennis courts and wear your purple! Look for Ms. Ruiz!
- Oct. 7: Walk, Bike and Roll to school, more details to follow.
- Oct. 12: No School, Indigenous People’s Day/Columbus Day
- Oct. 21: PTA meeting, 6 p.m.
- Oct. 26: Picture Day
Here to help
As always, please feel free to reach out to me with any questions, comments or concerns! Thank you for your continued support!
Lesley Buff
Principal
(518) 475-6775
lbuff@albany.k12.ny.us