New Families and Whitfield
Welcome to all of our new families! Whether this is your first child enrolling at Whitfield or your fourth, we are thrilled to have you as part of the Whitfield community.
What should you be thinking about as you prepare to join us in August?
1. Ruth Greathouse, our principal, has students' class requests and has been creating students' schedules. She works during the summer so please feel free to contact her with any questions you may have about classes this fall.
2. New students and their families have information about summer work, and ordering summer and school year books online from MBS Direct; books will be shipped directly to your home. If you are interested in reading more books, the English department has additional suggestions for you. In mid-July, you should have received information about school supplies.
3. Emily Chrysler mailed all new families their students' matches with high school ambassadors. Your ambassador is a great resource for parents and students alike. Please let Emily know if you have any questions about this program.
4. Similarly, members of the Parents Council will be reaching out to you by phone later this summer.
5. Parents have been terrific about turning in all of the paperwork necessary to start the school year. Should you need additional copies, please follow the links below:
a. For new students entering grades 6-8 or new students joining us in high school and not playing a fall sport, the health form must be completed and submitted prior to the first day of school. Any new student entering the high school and playing a fall sport must submit this form prior to the first day of athletic practices, which is Monday, August 6, 2012. Please contact Sara Rodney or Pam McReynolds with any questions about the health form.
b. High school athletes must complete and return the MSHSAA athletic form, in addition to reading information from MSHSAA about concussions.
c. Please return the permission for medication form to Pam McReynolds by August as well.
d. If your child intends to play lower school sports next fall, please complete and return the middle school athletic registration form to Mike Potsou, Assistant Director of Athletics. Know that your child may add a sport later in the year but this preliminary registration allows Coach Potsou to begin planning for the year.
e. We offer shuttle service for those families living east of Whitfield. If you intend to take advantage of this service, please return your completed shuttle registration form to Cyndy Alverson as quickly as possible.
6. Please check your Whitfield e-mail regularly for updates during the summer. Marena Lewis can help you should you run into a problem with your Whitfield e-mail.
7. Parents often ask us about what students wear to Whitfield. You will see a variety of choices among the kids with the overarching theme being "clean, neat, and appropriate". We're linking you to a page that gives you more specific information and examples. We encourage students to ask us before wearing an outfit to school about which they are unsure!
8. One more reminder about the importance of checking your parent e-mail account. All student bills are sent via e-mail. The link in the e-mail will be available for 14 days.
9. Students receive planners in August. You may want to add dates to your personal calendar now. You may access an abbreviataed school calendar here. The complete, searchable calendar is available on our Web site and is updated regularly.
Whitfield is open all summer so please contact us with any questions you may have. We're happy to help your transition go as smoothly as possible!
