Welcome to the Rangeley Lakes Regional School RSU78 Website!
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Nestled in Western Maine’s beautiful lakes and mountains region is the picturesque village of Rangeley, a community of about 1,000 full-time residents, lying 38 miles from the nearest stoplight, Dunkin Donuts, and McDonalds. Rangeley Lakes Regional School houses approximately 230 students, kindergarten through Grade 12, all under one roof. This uniqueness allows our students and staff to work together as a team from the first day of school until the day seniors walk down the aisle to receive their diplomas.
Please take a moment to explore our website. In so doing, you will discover information about our school, students, staff, and teachers, and the work they are doing together to ensure that the achievement of academic excellence is our primary goal and function .
Our hope is that you will visit our website often to see what new horizons we are exploring. |
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August 16, 2010
Dear RLRS Parents and Guardians,
What a wonderful summer we have had with lots of sunshine and warm weather! I hope you have enjoyed time with friends and family during these beautiful days. As August winds down and the upcoming school year approaches, the RLRS staff has been working diligently to put into place plans for a great new year. The purpose of this letter is to provide you with information regarding the start of school.
School Opening
Included in this mailing is a copy of this year’s school calendar. Students return on Wednesday, September 1, and unlike past years, school will be in session on the Friday before the long Labor Day weekend. School begins at 7:45 a.m. and students are tardy after 7:50 a.m. School ends at 2:17 p.m., except on Tuesdays when students are dismissed at 1:30 p.m.
Bus Information
With the reorganization of the new Rangeley Lakes Regional School District, bus routes have changed. The bus route schedule is included in this mailing, and we welcome Debbie Elmes as the new driver for Dallas students. Both Debbie and Mike Lowell, from Sandy River, will be picking up students in Rangeley this year, so please advise your children that they may be picked up by a different bus and driver than last year. Students who live on Allen, Center, and Pleasant Streets and the Overlook will need to walk to the corner of Route 4 for pick up.
As some of you know, we have struggled during the last few years with trying to find the best way to configure the traffic pattern for school pick up and drop off. This year, we will be returning to the original intent of the bus loop, which was designed to provide a safe place for students to be picked up and dropped off without interfering with personal vehicles. Therefore, buses ONLY will be permitted in the bus loop this year. All field and athletic trips will also depart and arrive in the bus loop. Middle school and high school students will be allowed to enter the school from the door to the high school hallway. All students and buses should arrive after 7:30 a.m.
All vehicles will drop off and pick up students at the sidewalk to the main entrance of the school. Drivers are advised to park in the parking lot in order to avoid a long waiting line. Traffic will be one-way and one-lane for safety purposes. The crosswalk is still available for use in crossing from one side of the parking lot to the other. We really appreciate your flexibility and cooperation in this final change to the bus/vehicle issue, a change approved by the new RLRS District Board.
Code of Conduct/Student Handbooks
The Code of Conduct and Student Handbook will be available online at the opening of school at www.rlrs.info. A hard copy can be obtained at the main office. These documents have been revised to cite policies that are also available on the school website. Consequently, they are considerably shorter in length! As always, please feel free to contact me if you have questions about any policy, protocol, or procedure in place at RLRS.
School Supplies
Teachers have sent letters to students in their classes regarding school supplies. Since then, the Rotary Club has contacted the school to inform us that it will purchase supply items for the following classrooms:
K-Each student will receive all supplies listed on the sheet with the exception of headphones, water bottle, lunch box and the paper products for crafts.
Grades 1 will receive a soft plastic pencil bag that will include pencils, crayons, glue sticks, erasers.
Grade 2 will receive soft plastic pencil bag that will include pencils, markers, crayons, glue stick and spiral notebook.
Grade 3 will receive soft plastic pencil bag that will include pencils, pens, ruler, erasers, scissors, makers, and crayons.
Grade 4 will receive soft plastic pencil bag that will include pencils, pens, crayons, markers, ruler, and small pencil sharpener.
Grade 5 will receive a soft plastic pencil bag that will include pencils, pens, small pencil sharpener, ruler, eraser, and markers.
The Rotary Club will be providing the middle school with lined paper and the soft plastic pencil bag that fits a three ring binder.
The Rotary Club will also attempt to find calculators to have in the classrooms.
Rotarians will deliver these items to the classroom on the first day of school.
Thank you, Rotarians, for your generosity and for absorbing some of parents’ back to school costs!
Infinite Campus
Infinite Campus is our new student data system. EDLINE will no longer be in service. Our goal is to have the parent access portion of the system up and running by the end of September. Please bear with us as we work out the quirks in this new program, which will be fabulous once we all become familiar with it. Watch for updates in the Principal’s Notes section of the weekly parent newsletter!
PTA
Our PTA has been working tirelessly throughout the summer to raise money for the new RLRS playground. I want to take this opportunity to thank Lissa Gumprecht, Meg Shelton, Katie Pye, Kerry McMillan, and all of our other PTA members for their efforts on behalf of our RLRS students. The Playground Committee, with the support of the Rangeley Rotary Club, has managed to more than double the playground “coffers” this summer in addition to winning a $4,000 grant from the Maine Community Foundation. The first meeting of the school year will be Tuesday, September 7th, at 6:30 p.m. in the RLRS library. Please mark your calendars (note the change in day of the week!) and become part of this dynamic group!
New Staff
With the retirement of Coach Danforth, our own “Tom Ball,” we are thrilled to welcome Stacy Knight as our new PE/Health teacher. Stacy, a graduate of RLRS, comes to us after teaching in Southern Maine. He is excited to be returning to his hometown, and we are thrilled to have his expertise and energy on our staff.
Ms. Pogoceanu will be teaching the middle school and high school Spanish classes this year. Although the elementary students will no longer have Spanish classes, they will pick up additional time for art, music, PE, and/or technology.
In closing, I want to invite you all to feel free to stop by my office at any time. My door is open, and I encourage you to share your concerns and celebrations or just stop by to say hello and pick up a piece of chocolate!! I am looking forward to a wonderful, new school year, my fourth as principal!! Where DOES the time go?
Enjoy what’s left of the summer! See you September 1st!
Sincerely,
Dr. Sherry Connally
Principal
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