From the desk of Cherie Swader
February 25, 2008

Dear DES Family and Friends,

As many of you are aware, we have had a great deal of illness among students, faculty and staff. We are working very hard to make sure the building/facilities are clean, sanitized and disinfected and that everyone is mindful of the importance of hand washing.

As always attendance is important and is one of the performance standards that determines our AYP progress, but we also want to make sure that if a student is running a fever and/or throwing up he or she remains at home. It is also imperative that we have a current/updated telephone number to reach a parent or designated contact that is able to pick up a child in case of illness or emergency.

Congratulations to Tessa Bradbury and Houston Poston for the great job they did at the county-wide Oratorical Contest. Tessa placed 2nd among the female competitors and Houston who placed 1st in the male category will go on to represent Dade County at the region competition. Tessa, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Bradbury is a 5th grade student in Sharon Turner's class. Houston is the son of Jeff and Julie Poston (Julie is a 5th grade teacher at DES) and is a 4th grade student in Jane Anne Austin's class. The Oratorical Contest is sponsored by the Trenton-Dade Optimist Club. We appreciate this civic organization and their continued support of our students.

Over the past two weeks Dade Elementary School faculty, staff and students have participated in several benevolent projects providing money and donations of needed items to the tornado victims in Jackson County Alabama. We are proud of our faculty and students for their generous gifts and spirit of love for neighbors in need.

Fifth grade students will be taking the Georgia State Writing Assessment on Thursday, March 6th. Please make sure that your child gets to bed early and eats a good breakfast. These are both important initiatives which can help students focus on test day (as well as everyday). The CRCT (Criterion Reference Competency Test) will be given to students in grades One through Five - April 21-25. This is also a state mandated test that determines the schools AYP standing as well as the student promotion/retention status in grades 3, 5, and 8. We have a few CRCT (3rd/5th grade) preparation workbooks available at a reduced cost of $11.00. If you are interested in purchasing one of these workbooks, please contact Leonda Smith. There are a limited number of books at this price and they will be offered on a "first request" basis. Practice tests are also offered on-line, and you may contact your child.s teacher for that information.

Please mark Thursday, March 20th on your calendars - that will be our Early Release Parent/Teacher Conference Day. Conferences will be held beginning at 1:00 (students will be released - bus and car riders - at that time) and can be scheduled through 7:00, with a 4:30-5:00 break for teachers to eat dinner. You will receive a sign-up sheet from your child's teacher in the next few weeks. Please make sure you sign up for a time to meet with your child's teacher as well as pick up your child's 3rd nine week report card.

Pre-K registration will also be held from 1:00-7:00 that day.

A CALENDAR CHANGE- Students will attend school on Friday, March 28th. This will be used as a weather make-up day. STUDENTS WILL BE OUT OF SCHOOL ON FRIDAY, MARCH 21ST (GOOD FRIDAY), AS ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED.

The 2008-2009 Dade County School System Calendar is available now on the county web page.

We would again like to recognize our many volunteers and thank you for all you do to make DES such a great place to learn. You are a valuable resource to our school and community and we appreciate all of your efforts. THANK YOU!!!!!

Dade Elementary School is focused on student learning and our aspiration is to prepare every student as he or she progresses through each grade level. We are dedicated to the responsibility of helping each child achieve the target of becoming a high school graduate and setting post-secondary goals.

Cherie Swader
Principal
Dade Elementary School
"Hand In Hand - We Learn Together"