Thank you to all the families who attended our first Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) meeting of the year! It was a wonderful opportunity to introduce the PTO, discuss our role in supporting the school, review the budget for the upcoming year, and engage with our school leadership. 

Your presence and participation are vital to fostering a strong community, and we appreciate your commitment to enhancing our students' educational experience.

For those who would like to revisit the information shared during the meeting, please click here to review the slides. We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting on Wednesday, October 16.

Please mark your calendars!  Fall Fest, the PTO's annual fall FUNdraising effort, is returning to Shepherd and will take place on Sunday, October 20th from 12 PM - 4 PM.  

For those families that haven't been to Fall Fest before, 14th St. between Jonquil and Kalmia will be closed for the festivities. There will be bounce houses, a DJ, carnival games, arts & crafts, cotton candy, popcorn, snow cones, and more! 

Sponsorship Opportunities

Do you or your friends own businesses that would be interested in sponsoring Fall Fest? Sponsorship opportunities are available at various levels, each offering unique benefits such as promotional visibility at the event, social media recognition, and more.

If you know of any businesses that would like to support our school and gain exposure in return, please encourage them to contact us at pto@shepherd-elementary.org. Together, we can make Fall Fest a memorable event for everyone involved! Thank you for your support!

Please join Shepherd’s PTO and the Health & Wellness committee along with students, parents and staff for the National Walk & Roll to School Day event on Wednesday, October 9th.

Either walk, bike or scooter from home along your customary route or meet us at one of three meet-up locations to join a “walking school bus.” 

The meet-up locations are:

• Marvin Caplan Park at the corner of Alaska Avenue and Holly Street NW– Group will leave promptly at 8:10am.
• Triangle park at the corner of Luzon Avenue and Van Buren Street NW– Group will leave promptly at 8:00am.
• Lowell Field at the corner of Kalmia and 17th Streets NW – Group will leave promptly at 8:10am.

We will need several parent volunteers with the walking buses.  Please email pto@shepherd-elementary.org if you can help.    

Thank you and we hope to see you on the walk to school! 

SESSA's "No School Day" schedule is now on our website. "No School Days" are a full day of coverage provided by Star Achievers for DCPS professional development and parent-teacher conferences. We are not open for holiday/vacation breaks. Our program starts at 9am and ends at 6pm, with a 3pm pick up option as well. No school days are open to any current Shepherd Elementary student, current SESSA families will have to enroll for NSD's if needed. They are not included in your monthly tuition. If you have any questions on how NSD's operate feel free to ask eric.viera@sesstarachievers.com. Link is attached here for sign ups.

Thank you all for your input on our SESSA enrichment questionnaire. Sign-up for enrichments will be available Monday, September 23. We have identified the most popular programs and are working with the school to get a set schedule that works around any Shepherd Elementary teams, clubs, performances, meetings, and events. SESSA clubs are open to the entire school; however, current SESSA families take priority for enrichment classes. If a class does not fill up, we will gladly invite non-SESSA families to join our extracurricular activities. 

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.