Express Newsletter

I enjoyed seeing so many of you at Lower School Back to School Night last Thursday night. I hope you found the evening informative and also had time to connect with fellow parents. Knowing not everyone could attend Back to School Night, the links for the State of Lower School slide decks will be posted in the OES Parent Portal . You are now able to access the classroom websites by going to the Parent Portal and looking under Division Links and Lower School. Teachers have posted their BTSN slide decks on their sites 

During the State of Lower School portion of Back to School Night LS Administration presented some background on striving to become a Beloved Community at OES and the importance of developing the skills of civil discourse as presented in the OES Principles of Civil Discourse. I encourage you all to read them and think how you might help grow these skills in your children. We also presented on how we support the academic, social and emotional skills in all our students.

Last Saturday, September 21 was the annual Lower School Fall Family Festival. The event featured an obstacle course, bounce house/slide, face painting, bubbles, arts and crafts, field games, ice cream, and a cake walk and a great number of Lower School families.  A tremendous thank you to Renee Eckert, Fay Mobbs and the many volunteers for putting together such a wonderful afternoon of family fun. 

A week of community building events across Lower School and the whole school culminates today with OES Homecoming. This large all school gathering features the Upper School soccer and volleyball teams. For details about the timing of events, parking, food and more go to the Homecoming webpage. Come help cheer on the Aardvarks loudly, proudly and positively.

As we approach the upcoming observance of Rosh Hashanah on Wednesday, October 2 at sundown and Yom Kippur on Friday, October 11, we want to affirm and acknowledge our Jewish community at OES. Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year and begins a time of introspection, abstinence, prayer and penitence. Yom Kippur is a significant and solemn day for many of our Jewish students, their families, and colleagues. Teachers will be conscientious about scheduling assignments or assessments on Yom Kippur, and will offer accommodations for Jewish students who may need to be absent. As for all important holidays for our families, we want to foster an environment where students and families can practice their faith freely without feeling forced to choose between their school and family responsibilities.

Keeping our school community safe is of the utmost importance at OES, and one of the ways we can support this is to drive carefully on and around campus. We hear frequently from our neighbors about students and parents driving inappropriately, and we’d like to work together to minimize this behavior. Here are some specific ways you can help keep the campus and neighborhood safe:

• Observe speed limits, which are 25 mph on Nicol Road and 10 mph on campus. 
• Please do not have telephone conversations in your car, even hands-free, during drop-off and pick-up times.
• When walking your child across the parking lots, please use the crosswalks.
• Avoid driving through the adjacent Montclair neighborhood, unless you live in that area.
• Always yield to pedestrian traffic.
• Follow the directions of staff directing traffic.

When we all work together, our campus is a much safer place.