Ross Road Parents and Families,

Welcome to a new week! We almost have the first month of school behind us.

Although this year looks different than usual, we still have ways for you to get involved and support your kids’ school. But first of all, we want to start by introducing ourselves. Your PAC Co-Chairs are Denise Dehestani and Linda Munro. Together with the amazing Ross Road PAC Executive team for 2020-2021, we want you to know that ALL Ross Road parents are members of the PAC by having a child at Ross Road School. Each of you play a vital role in making Ross Road a great place for our kids to grow and learn.

Did you know what the PAC funds do in our school?

So many of the things your children enjoy that enhance their learning – For example laptop computers, I-pads, arts performances, Bike To School Week activities, new furniture for the library, books for the library, math games, balls for games at recess and lunch, and new yoga mats for the gym – all these items are funded by the PAC to benefit the school.

October 7^th: PAC Meeting for all parents

Mark your calendars! The PAC is holding a general meeting and all parents are invited. This year we continue to meet via Zoom. We will share some easy, small time commitment and COVID-19 friendly ways to support the students and teachers. Road PAC General Meeting

October 7, 2020 07:00 PM

Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89074686907?pwd=bFJIemRlcU9rNUFSMkc3Rk1hNkNNQT09

Meeting ID: 890 7468 6907 & Passcode: 202491

Fresh Schools 

Please sign up for Fresh Schools today!

It is our new online communication tool to stay connected to your school community. Parents will self-register, providing student name and a contact phone number and email address. (You have the option to keep this information private, but still receive messages from other class parents.)

The PAC is compiling class lists for you to stay connected to your class community for events, fundraisers and activities we have planned for this year!  Please click the link below to get started:

https://www.freshschools.com/app/schools/ross-road-elementary-a8baaa27-ec8c-478e-9d07-dc6517402936/register

Class Assignments If you’ve already signed up, please log in to your child’s profile, “edit” and choose your child(ren)’s class(es) from the drop-down “class” menu.

Class Reps

We are looking for a Class Rep for your class; it’s a great way to get involved, especially this year.

Please contact Beck for more information or to volunteer: rossroadclassrep@gmail.com

We need you-here’s how you can help

Simply put, there are things at Ross Road that can’t happen without the help of parents. Although we are unable to hold the big fundraiser events of the past this year, here are some ways you can help.

Class Reps – We are looking for one parent to serve as a class rep for each class. To become a class rep for your son or daughter’s class, contact Beck Williams: rossroadclassrep@gmail.com

Ross Road Valet (crossing guard) – We need your assistance for 25 minutes in the morning. We have gone from 15 to only 2 parent volunteer crossing guards for weekday mornings in front of the school. Volunteer for one morning a week for the year, or for a set period or as an occasional helper. Tell us what your availability is. This is a vital role that keeps kids safe and traffic flowing at school drop off time. Contact parent Ed Lathioor at e.lathioor@gmail.com for more information. 

Gardening committee – Do you have a green thumb? We need a couple of parents who can help with beautifying the school grounds starting with the garden area around our school sign. Contact rossroadpac@gmail.com if this is a fit for you.

Safety Reminders

We all need reminders sometimes. The school is asking all families who ride bikes to school to get off the bike and walk it when you reach the school ground, and not to ride bikes on the school grounds before and after school. Also, a reminder to dog parents that dogs are not permitted on school ground at any time, and bylaw officers from the District of North Vancouver do periodically check this is being followed.

Dear members, friends and associates,

CPF North Vancouver is holding its virtual Annual General Meeting at 7pm on Tuesday September 29. We welcome both members and non-members to join us to learn more about the work that we do and for information on how to support your children’s French-language learning in the North Vancouver School District.

To receive the link to the virtual AGM meeting, please email cpfnorthvan@gmail.com.

By joining our AGM, you will learn about the highlights of being a CPF member:

• French summer camp
• Free tutoring
• Resources in French
• Scholarships
• Events
• Our advocacy work 
• Volunteer opportunities for parents and students (current vacant positions: Secretary, Treasurer, School Reps)

Do you know anyone who might be interested in joining CPF? This is a particularly good time to join as all memberships are free this year! Due to this year’s special circumstances, CPF has decided to:

Automatically renew for one (1) year all expired individual members and organizations

Offer all new memberships free of charge for the first year. Sign up or renew your membership or find out more about this year’s membership drive. Feel free to share the link widely.

We hope to see you on September 29!

À bientôt,

Jessica Young

Canadian Parents for French: North Vancouver Chapter
Email: cpfnorthvan@gmail.com
Website: www.cpfnorthvan.ca
Facebook: facebook.com/CPFNorthVancouver
Twitter: twitter.com/CPFNorthVan

Instagram: instagram.com/cpfnorthvan

Hello Ross Road Families,

We understand that the start of the school year can be challenging for busy families especially during these unique times.  Although things will look different this year and there will be new routines and protocols to become familiar with, we are confident that the staff at Ross Road has things in place for a successful school re-entry.

The PAC will continue to be your parent community at Ross Road (in a more virtual way) and provide a link between families and the school. With the district-wide measure to limit parent entry to schools and manage movement within schools this year, the PAC cannot hold its usual events and activities. This year we must look outside the box to find new ways for building community and supporting our school. We welcome your participation and encourage you to share your ideas with the PAC at rossroadpac@gmail.com.

PAC meetings are taking place virtually this year and parents are invited to attend. Our general meetings are on October 7th, February 3rd, and May 5th.  The link to join each meeting via Zoom will be sent out a few days before.  Parents are also welcome to join the PAC executive meetings and the dates can be found on our PAC website.  If you are planning to attend a PAC executive meeting, please contact rossroadpac@gmail.com to request an invitation to Zoom. 

Before & After School

Please remember! This year it is important that families do not hang around the school and playground before and after school. The school is working really diligently to put health and safety measures in place but they could end up pointless if families disregard safe practices by congregating.

Let’s not blow all their hard work with the ‘Hi How was your summer?” chats!

Valet Volunteers Needed

The Valet Service helps keep kids safe by managing congestion in the drop-off zone during the morning rush. This vital program needs your help to keep going. We need more parent volunteers to step forward and help with the crossing guard duties in the mornings by helping out 8:20 am to 8:50 am, one morning per week or as an occasional helper.

Please contact Ed Lathioor at e.lathioor@gmail.com to learn how you can help keep the valet service run smoothly.

Fresh Schools – please sign up today!

Did you sign up yet? This is a great platform for PAC communication which many other schools in North Vancouver are using. And best of all you won’t have to fill out as many paper forms!

Fresh Schools is our new, paperless way to stay connected to the school community. Class Reps will use this platform to share class information; Parents can use it for birthday invitations and play dates… all right at your fingertips.

Sign up here today to be sure you don’t miss any classroom information!

Munch a Lunch

At this time, hot lunch programs are not permitted to operate at elementary schools in North Vancouver. While there is a possibility it may be re-started later in the year, we just don’t know. Given this uncertainty, the PAC will be issuing refund cheques to all the Ross Road families with a credit in their Munch a Lunch account due to the cancellation of the program in spring 2020. We ask for your patience as we process all the refund cheques. We will advise you as soon as possible when the cheques are ready and how they will be distributed to you.

If you would like to donate your Munch a Lunch credit to the PAC, please let our treasurer Connie know by emailing: treasurer@rossroadpac.ca

After School Programs

Unfortunately, this year we are not able to run the popular after school programs that we have enjoyed for the last few years. North Vancouver School District has cancelled all rentals on school property due to COVID-19 and this extends to after school programs at North Vancouver elementary schools. This decision will continue to be assessed throughout the year. In the meantime, the PAC looks forward to bringing back extra curricular activities at the school as soon as we are able to.

Getting in touch with the PAC

If you would like to get involved with the PAC, or have any questions, comments or suggestions for the PAC Executive, please send us a message: rossroadpac@gmail.com

Denise Dehestani and Linda Munro, Co-chairs, Ross Road PAC

Hello Ross Road Parents,

Greetings from the Ross Road Parent Advisory Committee. We hope you have enjoyed some relaxing family time with your kids this summer, in spite of the current added challenges of life.

We know parents are anxious for information. Important updates were sent to parents from North Vancouver School District (August 26) and Ross Road School (August 28). Please take a moment to read the information from the district and the school regarding the NVSD Stage 2 Restart Plan. We encourage you also to complete the survey for parents, attached to the school district letter, to share your thoughts with NVSD.

We also know that parent involvement at school will change this year due to COVID-19. We are learning more about how we, as parents, can support both the school and each other this year, and we will continue to update you as we learn more.

With September approaching, as Dr. Bonnie Henry reminds us, let’s be kind and be calm, particularly to our teachers and school administrators who are doing their best to support our kids in during uncharted circumstances.

Thank you!

Linda Munro, co-chair  & Denise Dehestani, co-chair

Fresh Schools – please sign up today!

Fresh Schools is our new, paperless way to stay connected to the school community.

Class Reps will use this platform to share class information; Parents can use it for birthday invitations and play dates… all right at your fingertips.

Sign up today to be sure you don’t miss any classroom information! https://www.freshschools.com/app/schools/ross-road-elementary-a8baaa27-ec8c-478e-9d07-dc6517402936/register

Need Labels for Back to School? 

We have a fundraiser for that!

Ross Road PAC receives 20% back from any sales made through our Ross Road PAC link: www.oliverslabels.com/rossroad

Spirit Wear

Ross Road has SPIRIT… yes we do!

Show your Spirit by wearing our school logo on T-shirts, hoodies hats… and face masks.

We have some new (and familiar) colours coming soon!

Cob’s Bread Dough Raiser

Looking for a way to still support the Ross Road PAC, and locally owned businesses?

Next time you’re shopping at Cobs Bread Park & Tilford, make sure you mention Ross Road School and 5% of your purchase will donated to our school PAC

March 24, 2020

Dear Ross Road Parents,

How are you holding up? I know some of you, like me, are working from home with kids around. All of us are working to maintain a sense of normalcy for our kids at a time when things don’t feel normal. Remember, we will get through this together (but apart).

SpringFEST: Usually at this time of the year, the Ross Road Parent Advisory Council (PAC) is busy making plans for Kilometre Club, SpringFEST, the annual staff appreciation lunch and other events at our school. However, with schools closed, this changes all our plans. Although we had hoped to carry on with plans for our annual spring carnival on May 29, after careful consideration, and with heavy hearts, the PAC has decided to cancel SpringFEST this year.

Munch a Lunch: The spring Munch a Lunch orders for the remainder of the year have also been cancelled. Parents who placed a spring Munch a Lunch order a few weeks ago will receive a credit in their account that will be applied to your order next school year. If you have any questions, please contact rossroadpac@gmail.com.

Playgrounds closed: As you may have heard, North Vancouver School District has closed all school playgrounds and school fields to reinforce the current need for social distancing due to COVID-19. Signs have been placed on our school playgrounds to notify people the playgrounds are closed. Please respect the signs. These measures are not forever, but they are important right now. Follow NVSD on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for updates from our school district.

News & updates: On March 22, BC’s Ministry of Education and the BC Teachers’ Federation released a joint letter saying they are working on solutions for K to 12 learning continuity for the spring. The Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils (BCCPAC) is involved as well and is sharing information with PACs and all parents in BC via the BCCPAC Facebook page.

Please feel free to contact the Ross Road PAC executive team at rossroadpac@gmail.com with any questions and we will do our best to help.

Lastly, I hope you and your family find things that bring you together as a family in this time of social distancing at home.

Wishing you all the best,

Linda Munro, Chair

on behalf of the Executive team of the Ross Road PAC

Happy Family Day! We hope you are enjoying this long weekend.

The PAC General Meeting is this Wednesday February 19th. All parents invited!

Ross Road parents are encouraged to attend the PAC general meeting on February 19th, 7pm in the Ross Road Library.

At this meeting, we will vote on funding purchases such as library furniture, a sand table for kindergarten students, art supplies, laptops computers, classroom resources, learning support tools and laptop computers needed for the school. See our list of proposed expenditures here: Feb 2020 PAC Budget Expenditures for Voting on at Ross Road PAC Meeting

Did you know thanks to PAC fundraising, the school will have an artist in residence this spring who will work with all classes on art projects working with clay.

Come get informed and be involved in the decision-making for your school!

The Agenda for this meeting can be found here: PAC General Meeting Agenda February 19, 2020

Free Babysitting will be available if needed so email rossroadpac@gmail.com to request babysitting.

Lots of Love, and FUN at the Valentine’s Family Dance

Thank you to everyone who supported the PAC’s first Family Dance. The evening was a huge success! Not only were we able to raise funds to benefit the students of Ross Road, we also brought together families for a fun, active evening that strengthened our school community. We had over 215 people attend, who hit the dance floor for classics including the Hokey Pokey and the Macarena. Of course Old Town Road received a few requests but we also rocked out to a little Thunderstruck!

Kids, and parents alike, also enjoyed the photo booth and silly props. An email was sent to all participating families to share digital copies of these photos. If you didn’t receive the email link for the photos you can contact us at rossroadpac@gmail.com

A great BIG thank you to our sponsors who helped to make this special evening a true success:

• Jordan Hurdal eXp Realty
• Mosaic Homes
• Darwin Construction

Thank you also to all the volunteers that helped out during the dance. We look forward to making this an annual event.

Making Sense of Anxiety with Colleen Drobot

The NVPAC and Upper Lynn, Ross Road, Lynn Valley and Boundary Elementary Schools’ PACs, are pleased to invite you to a presentation from registered counselor and educator Colleen Drobot on MAKING SENSE OF ANXIETY IN CHILDREN AND YOUTH

* Open to parents all schools in the Argyle FOS

FREE, but pre-registration required.Please sign up here:

www.eventbrite.ca/e/making-sense-of-anxiety-with-colleen-drobot-tickets-94004047637

After School Programs for Spring

Look out for the Spring after-school program schedule which will be sent home with the kids soon!

CPF