Blazer’s Bulletin
September 2024
Dear RBS Family,
Nearly 10 years ago, I had the true privilege of commuting to work with my Kindergarten daughter strapped into her car seat behind me - me heading to my job as the Principal of one of our town’s elementary schools, and she, as a Kindergartner heading to her classroom 4 doors down from my office. Hanging out with her for even a few minutes every morning was a true “life highlight” - talking about what she was excited about or wondering about, singing Maren Morris together, hearing her (often funny!) perceptions of our shared school. And then, wanting to give her a bit more space as she moved into first grade (and not wanting to spend as much time talking to my direct neighbors about their children’s behavior :)…), I began here at RBS.
Fast forward to 2024, and my Gabi is now a high-schooler (which of course starts at some awful pre-sun hour in the morning) and with our hours now aligned again, I get to drop her off at school again 😊! And my HS freshman again is sharing her hopes and worries, talking about sports and friends and teachers, but definitely not singing out loud anymore (“Ugh, dad, you are not allowed!”...😂). But mostly, I have a tall young lady sitting next to me, a daily reminder of how fast this journey through childhood goes. Be sure to soak up every single moment that you can.
Now, we’re only on Day Eight of our school year, so there’s so much to enjoy and savor as we head into our first full month. I am so proud of our students for their joining or rejoining of the RBS family with enthusiasm, excitement, and an openness to all the new learning opportunities coming their way. We’ve celebrated our first All-School Assembly, enjoyed a “Sports Day” today (Go Pack Go!), and continued to take the time to build relationships, connections, and just be present and in the moment. Thank you for reinforcing our 3 B’s of “Being Nice, Being Safe, and Trying your Best” (all your students can likely recite that by heart by now!) and reminding them that positive behaviors extend to all parts of the school day - from waiting at the bus stop to safely making their way home.
We have also been talking about “Being Present,” with both students and adults, sharing ideas and having meaningful conversations about what that means and looks like to each of us during our day. We encourage you to continue these conversations and opportunities of “being present” at home, as we know that the days can be long, but the years are short!
And as a way to help everyone be present and responsive to each other, please take a look at some important reminders as the school year is up and running:
• Change to dismissal plans: If you need to change your child’s dismissal plan, please send in a note and contact the main office before 2:30pm on the day you need to change the plan. Of course, the earlier you know of the change and can share it with the office, the better! We want to ensure that all of the children get home safely and in a timely manner and your help with this before the rush at the end of the day is appreciated!
• Please make sure that you can be reached during the school day - we’ve had a number of instances since we started of not being able to reach families if a student, say, got sick during the day. Thank you for your help with this.
• And being present means being here, on time: Now that we’re past the adrenaline rush of the first few days of school, I’m noticing a few of our learners trickling into the building after the 8:50 AM bell has rung. There are so many important things that occur in the first few minutes of each school day - from a personal greeting from their teacher, to hearing morning instructions and announcements and building connections through our soft starts and morning meetings; please be sure to “beat the bell,” every day.
And mostly, a HUGE thank you to everyone for a wonderful start to the school year – there are few moments more gratifying than seeing our students’ happy smiles heading into the building each morning, ready for a lot of memory making!
-Noam, Liz, and the whole RBS Team