Welcome New Shepherd Families!

We want to extend a warm welcome to all new Shepherd Elementary Families and, of course, a Welcome Back to those currently in our community! These Shepherd Bulletins are released weekly during the school year as a way for the PTO community to remain informed on news, correspondence and events. Please encourage Shepherd Families to register for A to Z so they can stay updated!

Volunteer Opportunities

Fall Fest Event Leads Needed!

The PTO Executive Board is looking for two volunteers to lead this year's Fall Fest on Sunday, October 20, 2024.

Fall Fest is an important fundraiser for the school and a fun day where the community comes together to enjoy family-friendly activities in support of Shepherd. The time commitment is short-term, and we have received support from previous Fall Fest planning efforts to assist our new volunteers. If you can support this key community project, please email info@shepherd-elementary.org.

2024-2025 Committee Chairs

The school year is here, and the Shepherd PTO is looking for Committee Chairs to support its annual engagement, advocacy, and fundraising activities!

These Committee Chairs are critical to the execution and planning of many of our PTO efforts. We are grateful that a handful of Committee Chairs plan to return, but our goal is to secure co-chairs for all committees next year, so we are always looking for more volunteers. More information on the committees can be found on our website.

If you are interested in chairing a committee for the 2024-2025 year, please sign up via our Sign-up Genius.

Any questions can be directed to info@shepherd-elementary.org

Upcoming Events

1st PTO Meeting

The first PTO Meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 18 at 5:30 PM, both in person and virtually. We will tackle a range of subjects from budget to upcoming events to committees. We hope you can join us! More details will be available soon!

Back to School Night

Please mark your calendars for the Back to School Night on Thursday, September 12 from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM. More information to come!

4th Annual Shepherd Park Weed Wrangle

You are cordially invited to the 4th Annual Shepherd Park Weed Wrangle on Sunday, September 22, from 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM at Shepherd Field!

In celebration of National Public Lands Day, we'll be planting native trees, shrubs, and other perennials on the slope where we've been removing invasive plants and building a walking path. All are invited—bring your family or a friend, and bring gloves and a shovel if you have them. No planting experience is needed. Light refreshments will be provided.

If you haven't been to the field in a while, we hope you'll stop by on the 22nd to check it out. The native plants we've planted over the past four years are really starting to thrive!

Save the Date: Fall Family Photoshoot Fundraiser

Join Shepherd PTO to raise money for Shepherd and have beautiful family photos ready for your holiday cards and gifts!

We are partnering once again with the AMAZING Katie Jett Walls for mini-sessions on September 28 & 29. More info on location and times coming soon!

Shepherd Elementary School Star Achievers

SESSA Board Needs You!

Shepherd Elementary School Star Achievers (SESSA) is currently looking for parents and community members to volunteer to join the SESSA Board of Directors for the 2024-2025 school year. While SESSA has professional staff to lead and run the day-to-day programming, a small board of Shepherd Elementary parents and community members oversee the organization, its staff, and operations. The board is critical to the success of the program!

The Board meets virtually monthly. The time commitment is minimal, estimated at no more than 2 hours a month. We welcome anyone interested in joining, especially if you have grant-writing and/or fundraising experience! Without parent or community member involvement, there are no Star Achievers. Please contact the SESSA Board of Directors for more information and an application at sessaboard@gmail.com.

In Case You Missed It

Welcome Back, Principal Russell

Principal Russell is set to return from maternity leave on September 30th! We have all missed her and look forward to welcoming her back to our school. In the meantime, we want to extend a heartfelt shout-out to Assistant Principal Coles. Thank you, AP Coles, for your hard work and leadership!

Uniforms & Where to Buy

Shepherd Park Elementary is a uniform school. Students wear the following Monday - Thursday:

Bottoms: Navy
Tops: White
Sweaters: Matches Uniform

On Fridays, students can wear their Shepherd Mustang Gear. Looking for uniforms? SES partners with Lands End to receive up to 3% rebates back to SES when purchased through their website. Use School Code 900131202.

Giving Back through ShopRaise

We've partnered with ShopRaise to earn rebates for everyday purchases. Please help us support and promote our program by doing these 3 simple things:

Click this link to get the ShopRaise app
Use tools in the mobile app to share it with family and friends
Shop online to support and help us reach our fundraising goals!

Staying Connected

Shepherd Elementary Groups.io

As a reminder, the Shepherd PTO has a Groups.io that can be used to communicate with the community. To actively join our Shepherd Elementary School Parents groups.io, please click here and select the blue button that says "Apply for Membership in this Group." If you have any questions, please email info@shepherd-elementary.org.

Shepherd Elementary Calendar

You can also add the Shepherd Elementary Google calendar to your personal Google account. Log into your Google account and navigate to the Shepherd Elementary Calendar website. In the lower right-hand corner of the calendar, there's an icon that says "+ Google Calendar." If you click this icon, it will redirect you to your personal Google calendar and prompt you to "add" the Shepherd Elementary calendar. More detailed instructions can be found here.

Time to Support the 2024-2025 Shepherd 180 Fund

Help the Shepherd PTO fund lots of great events, initiatives, and extra circular efforts at Shepherd this year by donating to the 180 Fund.

It's called the 180 Fund because there are 180 instructional days in the school year and your donation of a dollar a day per student helps the PTO support sending students on offsite field trips, funding teacher educational wish lists, putting on school plays and concerts, updating outdoor playground equipment, funding additional academic supports, and hosting school-wide events! This budget really helps us give our students even more unique, meaningful and enriching opportunities each year.

Any contribution is always much appreciated. And as a reminder, your contribution is 100% tax deductible. Thanks for your support!

Upcoming Events

Back to School Night

1st PTO Meeting

Shepherd Park Weed Wrangle

Fall Family Photoshoot

Parent-Teacher Conference (no school)

Professional Day (no school)

Indigenous Peoples' Day (no school)

Fall Fest

Dates

Thursday, September 12

Wednesday, September 18

Saturday, September 22

Saturday-Sunday, September 28-29

Thursday, October 10

Friday, October 11

Monday, October 14

Sunday, October 20

Follow Shepherd PTO on FB and Insta

Keep up with the latest updates, events and fun things going on at Shepherd by following our FB page (@ShepherdElemPTO) and Instagram (@shepherd_elementary).

SUBJECT: Shepherd PTO Bulletin - 9/5/24