News and Announcements

Saugie Spotlight
This week's spotlight shines on… celebrating our amazing staff! It is truly impossible to put our gratitude for the SES staff into words, but this week the staff appreciation committee was hard at work allocating time, energy, your generous PTA funds, and donations from local businesses to make the week special for all of the amazing staff at SES! A bagel spread greeted everyone in the staff lounge on Monday morning, a candy bar fit for a magazine shoot welcomed them on Tuesday, Mr. Frosty’s truck offered tasty end of the day treats on Thursday, and a delicious Friday lunch ended the week on a high note. Additionally, our daily Luck of the Draw gave staff members a chance to win gift cards and goodies from local businesses each afternoon! Thank you to 5th graders for helping to emcee the Luck of the Draw. All of our SES families who sent in teacher treats and supplies really helped round out the week for our classroom teachers as well! While the tone of the week was full of fun, our appreciation for the challenging work our educators do is serious and heartfelt every week of the year. CLICK HERE to view some pictures from the week.

Saugie’s Checklist

• Order your Spring Fest tickets HERE

• Sign up for the Running Club’s 2nd Session HERE

• Tools for Schools Latest News HERE

• May Lunch Menu
   

Week at a Glance

Friday, May 6th, 7:45am	Last Running Club for Session 1
Friday, May 13th, 7:45am	First Running Club for Session 2

 

Save the Date

Monday, May 16th	Walkathon Begins
Monday, May 16th, 7pm	Board of Education Mtg. - SHS Cafeteria. Live streaming is available HERE or on Cablevision Channel 78 and Frontier TV Channel 99
Friday, May 20th, 5-7pm	Spring Fest: Museum Night and Outdoor Party at SES
Sunday, May 22nd, 1-3pm	SpEd Community Fun Day @ GFS Playground
Monday, May 23rd	Author Grace Lin visits SES

Brought to you by the PTA
Special Education
SpEd Community Fun Day is back!  SpEd kids preschool-Grade 8 and their families are invited to join us for good times at the GFS playground. Sunday, May 22, 1-3 PM (rain date: June 5). Ice Cream Truck!  Caricaturist!  Police Car and Firetruck!  And, most importantly, the fellowship of our SpEd families.  Brought to you by the Special Education PTA.  Please RSVP to:  Westportspedpta@westportps.org.

 

PTA Volunteers for 2022-23 School Year

Want to help out at SES? The PTA is currently recruiting new volunteers for the 2022-2023 school year! If you’re missing our SES family and want to be involved, now is the time! We need your help to continue to make SES the terrific place it is!  Unfortunately, if these positions are not filled, some of the activities might be canceled.

 

Some positions we have available are:

Fall Fest Family Funday: A fun, outdoor, family fundraiser for our whole SES community 

Art Smart: Help kids get creative in the classroom and create a magical museum night

Sports Event: Let’s get SES together to enjoy a Sound Tigers Game

Sunshine Committee: Show our gratitude to the staff throughout the year

Parents Night Out: (grades 3-5) Looking to get out and get social?

PTA Membership / Directory: Are you organized? Help manage our directory and promote PTA membership

 

To learn more about any of these positions please contact Alexis Donnerstag at senoski@gmail.com or Swapna Raj at swapna.raj.n@gmail.com.

 

SES PTA Membership
It is not too late to join the PTA! PTA membership dues are a big fundraiser that help us with staff appreciation, student enrichment, and community building.  Becoming a member requires NO volunteer hours. Field Day, One Book Two Schools, and countless amazing initiatives need you and truly cannot happen without your support. CLICK HERE to join! To view the membership communication from September CLICK HERE.

The SES Scene

Spring Fest: Museum Night & Outdoor Party 

Come together for the biggest night of the year! Spring Fest is TWO events on the SAME NIGHT. The inside of the school will be transformed into a globally themed Museum Night, displaying the year long efforts of the ArtSmart Program as well as free refreshments, Pack Your Bags Luck of the Draw project, and a community art project. Museum Night is FREE! That's right! Totally FREE! Outside of the school is our Outdoor Party, where we will celebrate our community, the arrival of spring, and the geographies that represent our individual heritage. Wristbands, purchased either in advance or at the door, are required for the outdoor party. Wristbands include dinner, dancing and activities. Ice cream vouchers can be purchased in advance for an additional cost. 

 

Wristbands $15 in advance, $20 at the door. NO RAIN DATE; in the event of rain, Spring Fest will be held entirely inside. Ticket sales close Friday, May 13th at 5pm. Buy your wristbands, ice cream tickets, Luck of the Draw tickets, volunteer, learn more, and get excited, HERE. 

 

Family Heritage Flag Project
Celebrate your heritage AND help us decorate for Spring Fest! Use a piece of poster board, or cardboard, or big piece of paper and draw the flag or flags that represent the countries – and or states – from which your family comes! These flags will be assembled and displayed on the tennis courts during Spring Fest. Alternatively you can “loan” your family’s real flag! We will take good care of it. Flags will be collected the week of May 16th. Keep your eye out for an email with more details next week.  

 

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I)
We continue with May’s AAPI Heritage Month. Did you know that the first woman of color elected to Congress in 1964 was a third-generation Japanese American from Hawaii?  Her name is Patsy Takemoto Mink, and she was instrumental in the passage of the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act, which protected girls from being discriminated

against in school.  It was renamed Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act in 2002.  Click HERE to learn more.

We are committed to making DE&I a priority in our district and support the entire Saugatuck Elementary School community. If you want to help or have questions, thoughts, or ideas, we would love to hear from you. Your SES DE&I reps – Nat Smitobol and Jane Smith can be reached at ses.dei2020@gmail.com.
 

Follow us on Instagram!
@thesaugiescene is a great source where you’ll find all things SES, including news, announcements and community events!  We are excited to invite all members of the SES community to join and follow along! PTA membership is not required. Simply submit THIS FORM, then head to instagram and request to follow.  We look forward to seeing you there!
 

School Dismissal Manager

Please CLICK HERE to review Principal Messler’s email regarding dismissal procedures.

Visitor Policy
View the latest visitor policy as of 2/28/22 HERE.

Health & Safety

Superintendent Scarice’s latest Covid-19 update HERE.
Tools For Schools information regarding indoor air quality HERE.
 

Westport PTA Council
Check out the council’s website HERE.

 

A Scoop of Thanks to . . .

. . . our fabulous staff appreciation committee, Lara Danbeck, Alyssa Daniels, Alexis Donnerstag, Leah Kovach, Valentina Lopez, Rachel Herman and Ann Topper, for putting on an unforgettable week for our Teachers and Staff.  

. . . our local vendors, Rizzuto’s, Viva Zapatas, Mexica, Bar Taco, Pure Barre, Pop Up Bagels, Kneads Bakery, Little Barn, Manna Toast, Granola Bar, Mrs. Londons, Local Luxe (SES mom owned!), Paul Albert Salon, Dream Spa, Baked by Bri (SES mom owned!), The Home Cook CT, Planted by Maura (SES mom owned!), Stew Leonard’s, Stop & Shop, Sunoco, ASF, CookUnity.Com, 99 Bottles, Blow Dry, Glow Bar, Whip, Starbucks, Local to Market, Beauty Counter, Gaetano’s Deli and Westport Hardware, who so graciously donated to help make this Teacher Appreciation week the best ever! 

. . . Elizabeth Hand, Ilana Matz and Cory Tebbutt for transforming the bulletin board at the main entrance into a cheerful Spring scene with information about everything going on at SES this month!

. . . Third grade student Jacob Smith for advocating on behalf of all the students with March birthdays. We are so proud of you for letting us know how you felt!

Contact The Scoop: If you’d like your announcement or event to be included in a future edition of the Scoop, complete THIS FORM by Tuesday at 5:00pm to request submission in the following week’s Scoop. (Flyers or attachments need to be approved by Principal Beth Messler (emessler@westportps.org) and PTA Co-Presidents Amy Herrera (herrerasespta@gmail.com) and Julie Fitzpatrick (fitzpatricksespta@gmail.com). Contact the Scoop (saugatuck.scoop@gmail.com) with any questions or just to say hello. 👋