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November 2009
News from the Head of School
Congratulations to the PTO for organizing a wonderful, fun filled fall festival last Saturday! Everyone seemed to be having a great time with plenty of good food, fun activities and outside play. It was a perfect combination that led to happy kids and relaxed parents. Thank you again for organizing the event and I hope we can make this a Taylor School tradition.
Unfortunately, much of my time month has been tracking student illnesses and reinforcing systems in the school for illness prevention. We seem to be holding up better than a lot of schools and I applaud our parents for cooperating and keeping their children home when they are sick. I also appreciate our faculty and staff who have worked hard to supervise the children and build good hygiene practices into the school day.
I met with the Rensselaer County Health department last week to talk about their plans for vaccination clinics in the schools. For now, I urge parents who want their children to have the seasonal and H1N1 vaccine to work with their pediatricians to get your children vaccinated. This will likely be the fastest way to receive it. The health department will begin holding clinics in the schools as early as next week. Because the school is located in the Troy City School District, any student from the Taylor School may be vaccinated with parental permission through their clinics. They plan to have one afterschool clinic where parents can bring their children to be vaccinated. I will let you know when I receive any additional information on timing and schedules. Once we have a date, I will send out the forms needed to bring to the clinic. Again, the decision to vaccinate your child is up to you. I am hoping to give our families as much information as possible so they can make informed decisions.
It is unlikely that we will have to close the school due to illness unless we have high faculty/staff absentee rates. Feel free to give me a call if you have other thoughts or ideas.
On a lighter note, the chill in the air reminds me that we do sometimes close or delay school because of the weather. We will send home our specific procedures for closing in our e-newsletter this week. I try to make the decision and get the announcement on the television news stations by 6 a.m. While it is rarely an easy decision to make, please know that I try to balance the needs of busy families with the safety of the students and staff of the Taylor School.
Save the date! It is hard to believe but the “Innovate and Create” Celebration Dinner and Auction committee has already begun planning for our annual spring fund raiser. On May 15th we will gather at the Troy Country Club to celebrate the success of our school as a community. This year we are recognizing the Children’s Museum of Science and Technology (CMOST) and their Director, John Graydon Smith, for his work in making science and technology an accessible and joyful learning experience for children in the Greater Capital Region. Anyone who is interested in helping with this event can drop me an email.
Stay warm,
Wendy
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