Hello Jaguars!
Welcome to all who are returning to our school and those who are here for the first time – we are so glad to have you in the Joyner family!
August 28 will be here before we know it, so I just want to take a moment to introduce myself and welcome you to the 2017-18 school year. In case we haven’t met yet, I’m Cyndi Soter O’Neil and I have the pleasure of serving as your PTA president this year. This will be our family’s sixth year at Joyner – my daughter is starting 4th grade and my son (a proud Joyner grad) is in 7th grade at Carroll.
We have some new faces this year, including an ever-expanding kindergarten cohort (hello, six classes!) and a terrific interim principal to get us off to a great start (thanks, Mr. Chappell!). But whether this marks your first or your tenth year at the JYJ, please know that you play an important part in making our school a family, and we hope you’ll take advantage of all the ways (small and large) to get involved in school and the PTA.
Just in case you would like to mark a few things off your to-do list before school starts, here’s a top 10 list of things you can do from the ease of your computer to streamline the back to school process:
1. Join the PTA and make your No-Fuss fundraiser contribution. At Joyner, we don’t ask kids to sell wrapping paper, candles, cookie dough or coupon books. We simply ask that you make whatever donation you can to help us cover the many wonderful things that the PTA does for our teachers and students. You can join and donate online through this link: https://jyj.memberhub.com/dues. If you prefer a paper membership/ contribution form, download them here (English or Spanish) or check the letters coming from the school next week — just fill out the form and bring it with you to Meet the Teacher or send it in to your child’s teacher.
2. Complete the online JYJ PTA volunteer form to let us know your interest in PTA volunteer opportunities. By filling out the form, you’re not promising anything long term – but a committee chair will get in touch with you to see what would be of interest to you.
3. Sign up in MemberHub and/or update your directory info. If you are new to MemberHub, complete this form and we’ll get you into the JYJ Hub: https://jyj.memberhub.com/join/9bpx9e. If you’re already in the JYJ Hub, take a moment to update your info. Once class lists are made available, volunteers will place you (and your children) in the proper classroom and grade level hubs, so be sure to add your children’s information when you join MemberHub.
4. Follow the JYJ PTA Twitter account – find us @pta_joyner and tag us when you have news to share.
5. Check out the PTA website, complete with a glossary of JYJ terms, list of committee chairs and other helpful info.
6. Buy school supplies (find lists here) and add money to your child’s lunch account here.
7. Make sure you have your calendar marked for back-to-school events, including Meet the Teacher (Aug. 25 drop-in between 8-9:30 for 1st-5th grades, Sept. 1 at noon for kindergarten) and Open House (Sept. 7 starting at 5 p.m.) Check out the school/PTA calendar and link it to your own Google Calendar.
8. Be on the lookout for JYJ swag. Order forms will be available soon to get your Joyner t-shirts, hoodies and more!
9. Read the weekly NewsFlash, delivered to all MemberHub subscribers inbox each Wednesday morning throughout the school year (catch up on past editions here). Be on the lookout for your packet from school (which includes your teacher assignment). Letters are scheduled to be mailed by Aug. 18.
10. Enjoy the final days of summer and get those back-to-school outfits ready!
Cyndi Soter O’Neil
2017-18 JYJ PTA President