What's New?
From the Desk of Mr. Drouhard
Dear Amity Families,
With the passing of each month, it always amazes me how time flies. While we transition from September to October this weekend, we still fall within the month-long celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. Hispanic heritage month runs from September 15th-October 15th, and celebrates the accomplishments and contributions of people of Hispanic descent. As one part of this celebration, Amity teachers organized a building-wide activity for students from upper and lower grades to work together to decorate and build tambourines. It was a great activity to build connections between our students and celebrate amazing cultures at once!
These tambourines will be displayed in the cafeteria to give a little color and pride for our students! Please enjoy the pictures below of students working together on this project and the Frida Kahlo display that Mrs. Laine, our art teacher, has created to help highlight the pieces in the cafeteria!
Take Care,
Josh
Weekly Photo Gallery
Click the link below to access photos from all around Amity Elementary during the week!
Student Safety Training
As part of the district’s ongoing focus on school safety, we continue to review, update, and practice our school building crisis plans and procedures. Meant to help guide staff and students in the event of an emergency, these plans and procedures offer instructions on a multitude of safety issues, natural disasters, inclement weather, and building security.
In an effort to improve the safety of students and staff at Amity Elementary, our teachers will be training our students on procedures to use in the event of school lockdown. We have already gone through this process once this year, and were able to do so quickly from previous years training. A school lockdown can be used for a variety of situations. An active intruder inside or outside the building is the most intense and will be the focus of the training.
To train our students, our teachers will be using a script that is designed for grades K-6 to introduce and discuss what the class would do in an intruder lockdown situation. I want to assure you that this script does not go into specific detail regarding the violence that has occurred in schools from intruders, but rather enforces the lesson of listening to the teacher in the event of an emergency.
Listening to the teacher is the same practice used in fire drills and tornado drills.
The script will introduce students to the terminology recommended by the Department of Homeland Security of “Run, Hide, Fight” and can be used in community situations as well. Following “Run, Hide, Fight” in that order helps students to keep themselves safe. The last measure—“fight”—describes barricading doors or throwing items to disorient the intruder as a last case measure. We are not teaching students to seek out or take down an intruder within the building. Students will be taught they should always look to run and hide with the help of their teachers in this situation.
I know that these are heavy teaching lessons for our students to start learning at a young age. Our teachers know our students best, and will go through this script in a way that is tactful and informative. I wish we didn’t have to teach our students these things. The reality though is that as a school, we need to prepare our students to react and follow teacher directions in the event of any emergency.
Our students will be trained this week by their homeroom teachers. Following these training sessions, we will practice a safety lockdown once during the month of October. It will be announced over the PA that we are conducting a lockdown drill prior to the drill occuring, and will consist of the students locking down within the classroom. The drill will only last 5-10 minutes and then we will resume with our academics as usual.
Please feel free to reach out to our teachers or members of the administrative team should you have any questions.
Amity Picture Day
Amity will have its fall picture day on Wednesday, October 19th. More information will be coming out regarding how to order pictures in the upcoming Amity Minute.
Custodian Appreciation Day
Sunday, October 2nd is national Custodian Appreciation Day. I find this to be fitting, as our team deserves for this day to fall on a day of rest! I’d like to thank our custodial team of Tony Kreiner, Al Godbey, George Brewer, and Kevin Dove for all their hard work in keeping our building clean and safe for our staff and students. This team plays an integral role in supporting our academic success at Amity! Thank you!
Socktober Collections
The Amity Youth Service Club will be collecting new socks for the month of October. All of the socks collected will be sent to Sandy's Closet for our community. Please keep supporting both our Youth Service Club and our community by collecting socks for Socktober.
Smile Program Coming to Amity Elementary
Great news! Deer Park Community City Schools has again partnered with the Smile Programs…the mobile dentists to offer in-school dental care!
The mobile dentist will be coming to both Amity Elementary:
Wednesday, November 30 and Thursday, December 1
Professional Speaker: Building Resilience in Students
On Thursday, October 6th, Deer Park Schools is excited to welcome Dr. Brooks Gibbs to the district. Dr. Gibbs is a social psychologist and one of the top speakers across the country on raising emotionally resilient kids and teaching students to live by the Golden Rule; treating others how you want to be treated! Dr. Gibbs has a humorous and engaging way to help students learn how to regulate their own emotions while also teaching them how to solve social problems.
Throughout the day on Thursday, October 6th, Dr. Gibbs is going to speak to all of our students in grades K-12 and then we will be holding a parent session at Crawford Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. for any and all parents in the district.
We hope that you all consider attending this important and informative session on Thursday, October 6th at 7:00 p.m. in Crawford Auditorium.
Details
What:
Dr. Brooks Gibbs Parent Session
Raising Resilient and Emotionally Strong Children
When:
Thursday, October 6
7 p.m.
Where:
Crawford Auditorium
Deer Park Jr./Sr. High School
Who:
Any and all Deer Park parents are invited to attend this FREE session!
October Lunch Menu
Due to supply issues, lunch menu options change frequently based on availability. The most up-to-date menu is below, however, please continue to check the Deer Park Food Services website for the latest information.
Looking Ahead
Please mark these important dates on your calendar!
In Case You Missed It
Lunch Charge Policy
This is a reminder to parents that once a student reaches $30 of charges on their account, they will be provided with a minimal lunch which includes a peanut butter sandwich (or equivalent for those with allergies), a fruit, a vegetable, and a milk. Once they pay their charges, students can resume purchasing a lunch of their choice. For questions on your student's lunch charges, contact the main office.
Deer Park Youth Basketball Registration
If you're interested in playing Deer Park Youth Basketball this year, you have until Oct. 17 to sign up! Visit http://www.dpbasketball.org for more information or to sign up today!
Harvest Night
We are excited to announce that we will be hosting our Fall Harvest Night on Thursday, October 20th. Harvest night runs from 6:00-7:30 with a variety of events spread throughout Amity Elementary. From 6:00-7:00 there will be literacy games and activities at each grade level run by our teachers. Our book fair will also be open that night for purchases which benefit our Amity Library. At 7:00 the 3rd grade class will hold a performance in the gym. This event is free for all, so please mark your calendars.
Breakfast at Amity
Just a friendly reminder that students must purchase breakfast to enter the cafeteria between 7:30-7:45. With the expiration of the USDA’s Free Meals for Students initiative, breakfast will no longer be free for all students. I just wanted to put this on parents' radars so that charges from breakfast don’t pile up. If you believe you might qualify for free breakfast and lunch due a financial hardship, please see the information below.
Free and Reduced Lunch Updates
As you may recall, the past two school years all public schools, including Deer Park Schools, took advantage of the USDA free meals waiver for students. Unfortunately, this program expired on June 30, 2022. This school year, Deer Park families will once again have to pay for their school meals.
For Deer Park families who may continue to qualify for free or reduced meals based on income or other qualifying factors, please complete the free and reduced meal application form online through FinalForms. If, for some reason, you are having trouble accessing the form through FinalForms, you can print off a hard copy and email the completed hard copy to Brianna Listermann at listermann.b@dpccsd.org. You may also turn the hard copy into Betty Hollander at the Board of Education office located at 8688 Donna Ln., Cincinnati, OH 45236. The hard copy of the free and reduced application form can be found here:
Staying Connected
There are multiple ways to stay connected to Amity Elementary School.
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Newsletter: All parents who have completed FinalForms should receive Amity Weekly Newsletters. If you are not currently receiving them, please register for the e-mail communication. To register, simply go to https://www.deerparkcityschools.org/ and click on the button on the bottom of the page that says “Subscribe to District News”.
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Twitter: Follow Deer Park Schools for the most up-to-date news and happenings at @DeerParkSchools or @DeerParkAmity
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Facebook: Follow us at Deer Park Community City Schools.
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Inspiring & Empowering Lifelong Success
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