August 15, 2022
Dear RIS Families,
As the summer is winding down, our school is bustling with excitement! It has been a summer of transitions here at the Rutland Intermediate School. As many of you know, we said goodbye to an unprecedented number of retirees at the end of last year. This means we will be welcoming many new faces at RIS this year. We have new classroom teachers at each grade level, new special educators, new (and additional) counselors, a new specials teacher, a number of new paraeducators and a new front office administrative assistant.
We have identified three main goals to focus on throughout the school year. In no particular order, we will continue to strengthen our RIS community both classroom and school-wide and maintain a safe and healthy learning environment for all. As a means to accomplish this, we will continue to emphasize our school-wide expectations: Be Kind, Be Brave, Be Your Best, Be You! We will also continue to utilize Restorative Practices to repair harm and resolve conflicts. Lastly, we plan to strengthen and bring more consistency to our Language Arts curriculum.
As we look forward to starting this school year as a “normal” year, here are a few important dates to note. On Thursday, August 25th, our fabulous PTO is sponsoring a Back to School Family Fun Event. There will be fun activities and ice cream from 5:30-7:00pm. The First Day of School for students will be on Wednesday, August 31st. They can arrive at school any time between 7:45am and 8:00am. We will have staff on hand to help guide everyone where they need to go. Breakfast will be available at our two main entrances, Library Avenue entrance for bus riders and Church Street entrance for car riders and walkers. One more date to get on your calendars is our in-person Open House. We have scheduled this for Thursday, September 15th from 5:30-6:30. We hope to see you at both family events!
Your child will be coming home with a Student Handbook for the 2022-2023 School Year. We ask that you review this handbook and return the last page as an acknowledgement that you have read the information contained within it. (This will also be emailed to you by the end of this week so you can get a start on reviewing it and to ensure we have your email on file.) If information needs to change for some reason and/or as important information arises, we will let you know as soon as possible. This will likely be done through our School Messenger system. It is important that you keep your contact information up to date with us. This includes your address, phone number, email and emergency contacts.
With only a couple weeks left in summer break, I hope you are able to spend the time doing fun activities together as a family. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call school and ask.
Yours in partnership,
Kerry Coarse
Principal