By May Clark –
The new ConVal School Board chairman, Butch Estey, has instituted a new recognition award. He is accepting nominations for very special ConVal staff members in three categories approximately once a month: support staff, teachers, and administrative staff. The first three awards were given at the April 3 board meeting, and our very own Jo-Ann Hopkins was one of the first recipients of the award. We are so pleased that she has been recognized for her excellent work and tender care of all of us at DCS!
Meanwhile, April has been full of activity! Our PTO has run a wildly successful Read-a-Thon for our students, with a goal of 28,000 minutes read in two weeks. We’ll have a special celebration lunch to recognize all of our wonderful readers on May 4. We were fortunate to have a couple of visits from Skippy John Jones, a Siamese cat who aspires to be a Chihuahua, played by Dublin’s own Charlie Imhoff, as well as Super Bookworm (yours truly) and her new sidekick, Bookmark Boy (Woody Stockwell). Vicki Brown masterminded our Literacy Night, on April 19, where we all had a wonderful time with our presenters. We are so grateful to our PTO and to the Dublin Community Foundation for their support of this special event, as well as all the fun of Turn Off TV week!
Now that April vacation is behind us, we are focused on our last six and a half weeks of school. We look forward to the return visit of Mark Ragonese, an artist who will spend two days with us creating a village. He came to us last year, and helped us create the wishing flag display you may have seen near our garden. And speaking of gardening, we have lots of seedlings growing, including onions, leeks, lettuce, and peas and spinach. The students are working hard to keep up with the watering, planting, and weeding.
This month we will accomplish the last rounds of our annual testing (NECAP science for grade 4 and Aimsweb for everybody), one more Walk to School day, and a visit from the South Meadow School musicians. We’ll also finish up the Lend-an-Ear program visits, and the last of our six-week Healthy Me after-school program, run by Louise Danforth of the Healthy Teeth to Toes program at the Monadnock Hospital. We will have our usual Memorial Day Observance on May 25, with our grade 4/5 band playing.
This is the time of year when we feel like we’re on a roller coaster ride, all downhill! The events are fast and furious, and we are always happy to have our community members come and visit! And I don’t want to miss putting in a plug for the 5K race/run/walk for Emily Brnger on Saturday, May 5, starting at DCS at 9 am. Come one, come all!
May Clark is Teaching Principal at DCS. You can reach her at 563-8332 or mclark@nullconval.edu.