August 2024
Welcome back to another exciting school year at Coolidge School! As the principal of this wonderful community, I am thrilled to welcome our returning families and extend a warm greeting to those who are new to our school. We hope you had a restful and enjoyable summer, and are ready to embark on a year filled with learning, growth, and memorable experiences. Our dedicated staff has been working diligently to prepare for an engaging and productive year ahead, and we are committed to providing a nurturing and stimulating environment for all our students. Go Cougars!
Here is the BOE-approved 2024-2025 student calendar.
There is still time for summer learning. Here are some links to support learning at home and to help prepare students for the year ahead:
How to Support Math Skills at Home (From Mrs. Mendes)
Suggested Summer Reading Activities (From Mrs. Zivkovich)
Keep Reading and Learning All Summer Long
Wyckoff School District- Summer Reading Lists
Parents will be able to access class placement for their child(ren) via the Genesis Parent Portal after 3:00 PM on Monday, August 26th after they complete their child/children’s respective school form. ALL parents must log on and fill out the respective school form for each child (the CCE Form is for Coolidge School) before being able to see their child’s homeroom teacher (or schedules at the middle school). The form must be filled out and submitted for ALL children before viewing any tabs on Genesis. New families will receive an email from the Genesis Help Desk regarding setting up their parent portal login information. If you do not receive this email or have any difficulty logging into Genesis please contact the helpdesk at Genesis HelpDesk: genesis@wyckoffps.org.
Kindergarten Orientation will take place on Wednesday, September 4th from 2:00-3:00. Parents and students should meet on the "upper blacktop" on the left side of the school just before 2:00. Students will go with their teacher and classmates to their classroom while parents will meet with Mr. Famularo.
Grade 1-5 students new to Coolidge School are invited to our "buddy day" orientation on Tuesday, September 3rd at 12:00 PM. During this time students will take part in a “getting to know you” activity with a new classmate and will tour the school. If you have any questions or have not received information about this please reach out to our school counselor Mrs. Mapes at amapes@wyckoffschools.org.
If you ordered school supplies through the PTO, those supplies should have already been delivered to your home. Please reach out to the PTO with any questions at coolidgeptopresident@gmail.com. If you did not order supplies and would like to review the supply list please click here to access the list on our website. Please note, supplies for Kindergarten students are provided by the school.
Welcome back Ms. Paton (3rd grade) and Mrs. Barone (Kindergarten) to Coolidge School!
Welcome, Mrs. Zapantis (4th grade) to Coolidge School! Mrs. Zapantis comes to us with extensive experience teaching various elementary grade levels and as a reading specialist.
Congratulations to Mrs. Han who will be our new media specialist this year! Mrs. Han was most recently a 2nd-grade teacher at Coolidge School.
Welcome to Mr. LaMorte as our technology teacher! Mr. LaMorte has served a variety of roles throughout the Wyckoff Schools, including technology teacher at Sicomac School.
Here are the grade-level staffing rosters:
Kindergarten: Mrs. Barone, Mrs. Britting, Mrs. Visbeen
1st Grade: Mrs. Auxter, Ms. O’Connor
2nd Grade: Mrs. Aloia, Mrs. Garcia, Ms. Jurkiewicz, Mrs. Magna
3rd Grade: Ms. Dulmage, Mrs. Sangiorgi (Lindsay), Ms. Paton
4th Grade: Mrs. Doughan, Mrs. Ten Kate, Mrs. Zapantis
5th Grade: Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Mitas, Ms. Tracy
New Student Buddy Orientation- 9/3 12:00 PM
Kindergarten Orientation- 9/4 @ 2:00 PM
First Day of School- 9/5 (minimum day 1:05 dismissal)
Second Day of School- 9/6 (minimum day 1:05 dismissal)
WEF Color Run @EMS- Saturday, 9/7 @EMS
School Picture Day- 9/17 (more information to follow)
Back to School Night- 9/24- 6:30 PM (schedule to follow)
Visit our website for Friday Folder Handouts
Visit the Coolidge PTO's website for handouts and PTO-related information.
Parents may view our Parent/Student Handbook and Code of Conduct on our website. Here are some important highlights from this document that will help reinforce safety, security, and an academic focus:
Smart/Apple/Gizmo Watches & Cell Phones
Limiting distractions to the educational learning environment is extremely important for our students to meet academic and social/emotional success. With that being said, Gizmo, Apple Watches, and other types of Smart watches are not allowed to be worn by students during the school day and students are not allowed to carry cell phones. Students will be asked to place their smartwatches and cell phones in their backpacks during school hours. If you would like your child to bring these items to school, they may keep them turned off in their backpacks. You can reach your child by calling the main office. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we want our students to be as focused as possible on their school work and the learning environment.
Dress Code Policy
Per the Wyckoff Board of Education Dress Code Policy, “hats, hoods, visors, and other headgear”, including baseball hats are not permitted to be worn in school. Students may wear these items when outside for recess or on designated spirit days. Additionally, “extremely low-cut, tight-fitting or transparent clothes, bare midriffs, and suggestive clothing” are prohibited and should not be worn.
Student Attendance
Although it is understood that children may need to miss school occasionally due to illness or other reasons, the importance of regular attendance cannot be overemphasized. Regular attendance is essential to a child's academic and social growth. Students who frequently miss school lose valuable learning/instructional time, exposure to class content, and opportunities to develop positive relationships with classmates. Consistent and regular attendance promotes routines and consistency for students and maximizes academic achievement. Parents are encouraged to schedule vacations, medical appointments, and other activities for their children for times when school is not in session and to promote consistent attendance.
Wyckoff Board of Education Policy #5200 outlines our full attendance procedures and regulations. Please note that students who accumulate ten or more unexcused absences are considered truant, pursuant to N.J.S.A 18A:38.27. Additionally, the New Jersey Department of Education defines chronic absenteeism as being absent for 10% or more of the school days, regardless if the absence is excused or unexcused.
Volunteer Guidelines
We are very appreciative of parent volunteers who serve pizza and bagel lunch at school, assist in the media center, or volunteer in some other capacity. With that being said, safety, security, and the orderly operation of the school must take priority. Please review the following guidelines when volunteering at school, especially for pizza and bagel lunch.
General Volunteer Guidelines:
All visitors must sign in at the main office. You will need your driver’s license. The visitor’s badge must be worn clearly on your shirt/jacket.
When volunteering in the school you are not permitted to take photos or videos of students. Do not text photos or send updates to parents as to how their children are doing.
Do not use student bathrooms. If you need to use the restroom, you must report back to the main office and you will be directed from there.
Exterior doors cannot be propped open at any time (even for a few seconds).
When you have finished volunteering, you should report back to the main office to sign out.
Pizza and Bagel Lunch Volunteer Guidelines:
Your job is to make sure the students have the food they ordered. Do not sit down and join the children at the lunch tables. It is their time to socialize with their classmates.
You are not responsible for supervision or “watching students” at lunch.
Although your parenting instincts might compel you to intervene, get involved with students, impose discipline, or try to help, the staff are responsible for the care of the students.
When finished with your shift, you should leave the MPR and sign out at the main office.
Parents are not permitted to walk around the school, visit the door of their child’s class, or stay in the MPR after their assigned shift.
Students should arrive at school between 8:35-8:50. Students will not be permitted to enter the building before 8:35 unless for a scheduled class or program as there will not be supervision available at that time.
Upon arrival at school, students will report directly to their classroom doors. See drop-off procedures below, but typically students in grades K-2 will enter via the front entrance and students in grades 3-5 will enter via the back doors by the baseball field.
For safety and security reasons, parents are not permitted to enter the school with their children at this time.
The late bell sounds at 8:50. At this point, attendance will be taken and classes will begin preparing for the day of learning ahead. Any student arriving after that time should enter via the main entrance (the back door will be locked) and report to the main office.
If you have a K-2 student you may use the front circle for drop-off. You can drop off your older child here as well as long as you have a K-2 student. Students should exit quickly from the right side of their cars. Exiting the car on the left-hand side is dangerous and slows traffic. Students will enter the school via the main entrance and report directly to their classroom. The goal is to keep traffic flowing. Cars should continually move up. When exiting our parking lot, all traffic must turn right towards Wyckoff Avenue.
Our main parking lot (along the gym/MPR on route 208 side) should be used for drop-off for students in grades 3-5. Students must be ready to exit vehicles from the right-hand side. Exiting the car on the left-hand side is dangerous and slows traffic. The goal is to keep traffic flowing. Students will enter the school via the doors by the baseball field and will walk to their classrooms. When exiting our parking lot, all traffic must turn right towards Wyckoff Avenue.
Please use common sense and make safety a PRIORITY when driving on our side streets and parking lot at dismissal. Let's be courteous to each other and our neighbors who live on the side streets adjacent to Coolidge School. For safety reasons, our main parking lot will be CLOSED when the parking lot reaches capacity. Cones will be placed at the parking lot entrance indicating that the lot is full. Please plan accordingly and do not try to circumvent this rule. Depending on the time of year and the weather, the lot may be closed by 2:45 and other times will never get closed. Please do not enter the front circle or staff parking lot after 2:45 pm. This presents a safety hazard and is disrespectful to those following the rules.
Grade K-1 students will be dismissed from the “upper blacktop” doors.
Grade 2 students will be dismissed from the main entrance doors.
Grade 3 students will be dismissed from the doors by the back baseball field.
Grade 4-5 students will be dismissed from the “lower blacktop” doors.