Welcome

Dear Bridger Families,

WELCOME to a new school year! We are looking forward to a very exciting year. We are pleased that your child will be attending Bridger School. I particularly want to extend a warm welcome to families that are new to our community. We have a dedicated and enthusiastic staff, who will be working many hours in these challenging times to provide a well rounded program for our children.

We have had a quiet summer at Bridger. Custodians are busy cleaning and preparing rooms for our fall opening. The garden is being watered and weeded while the dandelions are having a blast growing through the brown grass.

Despite the economic doom and gloom for education, we have a number of changes in staff to report. As many of you know we had some staff retire and we had some staff move. The budget cuts hit us in ESL and SPED. Still, this year we are welcoming eight teachers new to Bridger or new to a grade change.

• Kindergarten, Neighborhood, Beth Raisman
• First Grade, Neighborhood, Katherine Polizos
• Third Grade, Neighborhood, Cathleen Martin
• Fourth Grade, Neighborhood, Andrea Schmidt
• Fourth Grade Spanish Immersion, Julia Collins
• Counselor, Ben Hildner
• Learning Center Teacher, Ellen Brotherton
• SLC-B K-2 Classroom, Sean McGinnis
• SLC-B Paraeducator, Anthony Apilado

We are all looking forward to a renewed sense of community here at Bridger. There are many parent and child activities planned, as well as many opportunities to volunteer in the building, in classrooms and on field trips. I encourage all parents to take an active role in their child’s education by attending PTA, open house, Parent-Teacher conferences, and other school sponsored activities. Check the School calendar for dates and read the monthly newsletter for reminders of school events.

Important dates for August and September:

• REGISTRATION: The school office will be open for registration and information beginning August 19. Please stop by for information or to register. If you would like to know the name of your child’s teacher, you may phone the school at 503-916-6336.
• Community Care Day, Saturday, August 28th, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Join volunteers to help beautify and renovate our school. Choose garden work or weeding.
• Fall Packet Stuffing, join other parents/family to help the school prepare Opening Day Packets, Monday, August 30th, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
• Kindergarten Picnic. This year the kindergarten teachers will be hosting a picnic Thursday, September 2 at 5:00 for all families with enrolled kindergarteners.
• FIRST DAY of the school: Tuesday, September 7th. School hours this year will be 8:45 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with free breakfast for all at 8:15 a.m. Kindergarteners will be starting Friday, September 10th. If you have a Kindergartener, please look for a letter from your teacher, coming soon.
• First PTA Meeting, Wednesday, September 8th, 6:00 p.m. Important information about the school year will be discussed.
• Back to School Open House, Thursday, September 23rd, 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. We are looking forward to seeing you at our Back to School Open House. Meet your child’s teachers and see where they will spend the next 10 months of the new school year.

Thank you for all your support in the coming year.

Sincerely,

— Principal Tina Daily