Meriwether Lewis Elementary School

September 24, 2008 Newsletter

The September 24, 2008 Lewis Elementary School newsletter is now available for download. Highlights are listed below…

Free and Reduced Meals Applications: IMPORTANT NOTICE!!!
The deadline for carry over of Free and Reduced Lunch status is drawing near. In October students who qualified last year, but whose families have not yet applied for the current school year will be denied Free and Reduced Meals status and will be required to pay the full amount.

If your family qualified last year, or may qualify this year, please submit a new Free and Reduced Meals application. PLEASE do so as soon as possible. Additional copies of the form are available in the school office. Note: be sure to factor in all siblings in the home, not just those that attend Lewis.

Even if your child does not eat the school lunch and breakfast, Free and Reduced status directly effects our school funding and staffing and in addition, enables families to qualify for reduced fees on other school activities and services such as band instrument rental and participation fees for school clubs.

Registration Materials Reminders
If you have not yet done so, please return the forms as soon as possible. Without completed registration forms and the medical statement, students can not be allowed to participate in field trips…

Safety Drills
We have already held a fire drill this year, and plan to do another soon. In addition in the coming weeks Lewis will participate in a safety drill regarding securing the building in the event of police action in the neighborhood. These drills are being coordinated by the school district’s office of security and our Portland Police Student Resource Officer, Harold Hayes. The drill involves securing students in classrooms with doors locked and window blinds pulled. The goals of these drills are to make sure that students and staff know what to do in an emergency situation. If you have any questions concerning this please contact me.

Arrival and Dismissal Times
Please note that students should not be coming to school before 8:30. We do not have any supervision on the playground until that time. Breakfast is served in the cafeteria beginning at 8:20 am. Dismissal is at 3:00 pm. Students who ride their bikes or skateboard to school should not be riding those on the playground before or after school.

Saturday Academy Classes
Saturday Academy offers enrichment classes for students in grades 2 – 12. Information is available in the school office or on their web page at http://saturdayacademy.org

Meyer Boys and Girls Club Program
The Meyer Boys and Girls Club now has a bus that picks up students at Lewis to take them to classes and activities at the Meyer Boys and Girls Club in Sellwood. For more information, please contact the Meyer Boys and Girls Club.
Sellwood Boys and Girls Club
7119 SE Milwaukie Ave. Portland, OR 97202
Voice: 503.232.0077

Lewis PTA Auction News
It is Auction Time again! We need Volunteers to help with procurement, planning, and marketing. If any of these sound interesting, please come to our first auction meeting on October 3, 2008 at 9:00 am in the school library. We look forward to your help and support. Angie Toops, Auction Chair.

Join the Lewis PTA
Applications are available in the office. We hope you will consider becoming a part of our PTA. The PTA provides our school with additional resources and activities that help to enrich the educational experience at Lewis. In addition the PTA puts on many family events such as movie nights, family dances, and school carnivals. We greatly appreciate the work and dedication of our PTA officers and members and hope that you will consider joining them.

Lewis Events Web Site
Lewis has an events website!  This is a website devoted to updating you about events at Lewis School.  Currently, the information on this site is about the upcoming Lewis Holiday Bazaar and as new events come up they will be added to this site – lewisevents.org.  

Holiday Bazaar: Deadline Extended?
The Holiday Bazaar committee has been so impressed with the vendors who have applied for the November 8th Holiday Bazaar.  You can find the current list of vendors at the lewisevents.org web site – click on the ‘vendor’ tab.  We have extended our deadline for the Lewis Holiday Sale to October 3rd.  We really would love to see some child art in our school’s Holiday Bazaar.  See child application sheet or ask for one at the office