Deer Park Elementary Message from the Principal

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principal

Good morning Deer Park Families,

It is hard to believe that another school year has come and gone, and summer is quickly approaching! The last few weeks have been filled with so many fun activities, celebrations, and performances. We know these will be lasting memories that each of our children will take with them into summer. As we close out the school year, we also like to take time to reflect on many of the highlights that made the year so special!

This year, the school was able to reopen fully and bring back many school-wide events that had previously been shut down. Many families were able to join us for both our Family Lunch Day in September as well as our Annual Bucky’s Thanksgiving BBQ in November. We have held multiple books fairs, strings, band and chorus concerts, the strings SOLO spotlight, and school-wide assemblies such as Joe Romano’s Magic Show, Prismatic Magic Anti-Bullying Show, and our Winter Sing-Along. Several of our students also had the opportunity to participate in this year’s All County Chorus Festival, the Art Show at Westfield HS, ECO club, Bucky’s Run Club 5K and Bucky’s Bash.

Additionally, we were excited to begin many new traditions this school year. Each quarter we held a Quarterly Awards Ceremony and pizza lunch to honor the academic, behavior, and wellness achievements of many of our students. We recognized 299 of our students and their families at these events. In November, we held our first Veteran’s Day Celebration. This was a beautiful event that honored many of our Deer Park family and community members who serve or have served in the military through songs, poems, and student essays. In March, several staff members competed against Coates ES in what we hope to become our Annual Basketball game. We look forward to a rematch next year! To highlight the diversity in our own community, our School Equity committee held Celebrate Deer Park Family Night. This was a great event filled with traditions, food, fun and entertainment. Our Physical Education department hosted Family Fitness Night where families came to participate in activities and games that would promote physical fitness and a healthy lifestyle. Our new track was built behind the school in collaboration with our PTA. Every Monday we have welcomed students and their families to join us for Movin’ Mondays where we can enjoy music and exercise as we kick off our week. On average we have about 40-50 students and parents participating each week. At the end of the year, our 6th graders put on a beautiful musical of Disney’s Moana. What an amazing performance!

Field Trips came back in full force across the school. Students had the opportunity to visit many fun and exciting places as well as engage in learning opportunities. Students were able to travel to the National Symphony Orchestra, Eleanor Lawrence Park, Leesburg Pumpkin Village, Frying Pan Park, the National Portrait Gallery, Skate N Fun Zone, Udvar-Hazy Museum, Cedar Point ES STEAM Lab, Camp Highroads, and Monkey Joe’s to name a few. We look forward to adding more fun trips to the experiences our students will have next school year.

Our wonderful PTA also supported many events that brought families and community together. We had a wonderful turnout at Bucky’s Fall Festival as well as our spring event Bucky’s Block Party. Students enjoyed the inflatable obstacle courses, yard games, face painting and the dunk tank. All students were able to participate in our Annual Fun Run. The PTA also held multiple family movie nights, a Winter Glow Dance party, and STEAM night. These were all fun ways to spend time with family and friends!

We also have many academic celebrations as well. Students met our school-wide goal of doing 175,000 minutes on Lexia during the month of February. As a result, we celebrated with Bucky’s Fun day. A tradition we hope to continue. Based on end of year data, 95% of our students across the school met or exceeded one year’s growth in reading. We will share more specific SOL data in August, but we are well in the green for full accreditation across all content areas this year. Additionally, we rolled out a school-wide introduction of Zones of Regulations at the beginning of the year followed by monthly lessons, created and opened Bucky’s Rest Stop, placed breathing zones strategically throughout the building and added sensory pathways to both upstairs and downstairs hallways. We also had 188 students participate in small group social emotional lessons throughout the year.

The end of the school year also represents a time to say goodbye to some of our families and staff members. To our 6th grade families who have a youngest or only student being promoted today, thank you for making this community an amazing place for our kids. We wish each of your children the very best as they continue their academic journey next year at Stone Middle School! To those families and staff members who are off on new adventures, we hope that this next chapter brings you much happiness. To our retirees, Cindy Jeter, Betsy Whiting, Dayna Flanagan, Precious Burger, and Liz Rauch, thank you for your many years of dedicated service to our children and Deer Park. You have left an imprint on our school community that will not be forgotten!

We hope everyone has a wonderful summer! Take time to enjoy this beautiful weather and time with friends and family. We look forward to seeing you when we return in August!

Warmest Regards,

Bob D'Amato, Principal and Heather Hitz, Assistant Principal