September 4, 2012

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you, and your child, to Sealston Elementary School. We are eager to welcome new families & students, and to listen to the summer stories and memories of returning families and students.

I often state that Sealston is a unique and special place, and thank you for providing the collaboration necessary for Sealston to be a successful school. The collaboration piece between school and home is critical to ensure continued success of our students and school. Now more than ever, we need our parents working on the team to help educate our students.

We need our parents to be well informed. There are a few ways that you as parents can keep up to date as to what is happening in your child’s elementary school life:

*Parent Portal-http://ps.kgcs.k12.va.us/public This will give you instant feedback about your student’s academic progress. This year, you will need to open a user account, but for parents with multiple students in the division, the program will link them all together under one account. Anyone in the office should be able to assist you with this process.

*School Messenger-This is a new program that will allow the school to communicate news and events happening at the school through text messages, voice mails and email. Please make sure we have up-to-date information to allow us to get information to you quickly. This can be used to communicate school bus delays, and will be used to communicate school closings and delays to everyone in the division.

We have an active PTA at Sealston. Mrs. Amanda Helms is our PTA President for this school year. I have enjoyed working with her as we have made plans for the school year and hope that all of our parents will support the PTA and our school.

If you have concerns that arise throughout this year, please address it with the teacher as soon as it becomes a concern to you. This will allow the teacher to alleviate your concern, and prevent it from becoming an even larger one for you.

There are some new faces and some familiar faces in new places at Sealston this year:

Mrs. VanTheemsche- Kindergarten
Ms. Piper- Kindergarten
Mrs. Asbury- Kindergarten
Mrs. Cowan- Kindergarten
Mrs. Boggs- First Grade
Mrs. Anderson- Second Grade
Ms. Moss- Second Grade
Mrs. Perkins- Fourth Grade
Mrs. Johnston- Fourth Grade
Mr. Hilterbrand- Fourth Grade
Mrs. Nordquist- Fourth Grade
Mrs. Wells- Sixth Grade
Ms. Pryplesh- Guidance
Dr. Nealon- SPED
Mrs. D’Angelo- School Nurse
Mrs. Conner- Band
Mrs. Gilbert- Paraprofessional

As principal, I look forward to working with you and all of the staff at Sealston to help make your child’s elementary experience a meaningful, memorable one! I have high expectations that the 2012-2013 school year will be our best one yet!

Sincerely,

Christopher L. Bryant