West Family Members:
That is a phrase your child will hear a lot this year at West Elementary. We certainly know it is true. For kids, like adults, the future is made by the present. We know, for instance, that a student’s success in high school can be directly traced to his/her success in elementary school. It is a long-standing economic fact that the more education a child has, the greater his/her lifetime earnings will be. For us at West, we see it as a critical component of our job to help students – even those in the early grades – begin thinking about life after high school.
We are going to prioritize this idea in a variety of ways this year. For our 5th graders, we will likely have a field trip later in the year to the University of Southern Indiana and/or the University of Evansville, giving students the opportunity to see a college campus and envision themselves as a part of it. Further, one of the parent programs we’ll hold this Fall will feature a bank official who will help parents begin planning and saving for their child’s post-secondary education. Stay turned for more details on these and other exciting programs.
We strongly encourage West families to reinforce with your student that their tomorrow begins today. We want all of West’s children to be engrained with the idea that high school will not be the end of their education. As the principal, I want every West student to walk through the halls of this school embracing the idea that “I am going to go to college, trade school, etc…”
I ask all West’s families to partner with us on this important mindset.
- Drop-Off and Pick-Up Procedures: As in previous years, students may be dropped off at West’s front entrance no earlier than 7:30 a.m. Students can be picked up after school by following the traffic flow in front of the building. For the safety of students, visitors, and staff, we ask that you remain in your vehicle and let one of our staff members escort your child to the vehicle.
- Student Breakfast and Lunch: The cost of a student breakfast is $1.25, while lunch is $1.95. As in previous years, students may deposit money in their cafeteria account.
- While every school year is different from the one before it, you will notice a few new things here at West this year. By the first day of school, our playground will have a new blacktop and play areas for students. We also will continue to explore a partnership with the University of Southern Indiana to bring a foreign language program of some sort to West; a program which has been shown to dramatically raise student achievement in a variety of ways.
You will see any number of new faces on the West staff this year, faces we hope you and your student will get to know over the course of the school year.
On behalf of our staff, I want to welcome you and your student to a new school year here at West. We once again look forward to partnering with you to help make your child’s tomorrow everything it can be.
Sincerely,
Amanda Wilson
West Elementary School
