Principal’s Letter

View this week’s message from Hastings Principal Louise Lipsitz.

Field Day is coming and we need your HELP.

Date: Thursday, May 30th, 2019
Time: 9:00am – 11:30am
Location: Lincoln Fields, Lexington

In this beloved tradition, Hastings girls and boys will have a blast working as teams through a fun, high-energy (and sometimes wet!) game course. This year’s event will be held off site at Lincoln Fields and need lots of volunteers to help with the whole event or even just part of it. Please sign up and help us make this another great field day for the students.

End of the School Year BBQ

Date: Thursday, June 6th, 2019
Time: 5:00pm – 7:00pm
Location: Bridge School Playground Area, 55 Middleby Road, Lexington

The annual Hastings Year End BBQ is a fun way to end the year, say goodbye (until next year!), and enjoy some BBQ food. Hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, veggie burgers, pasta and potato salads, baked beans, watermelon, drinks, and DJ entertainment will be served. The rising 5th grade class will be selling ice cream treats (cash only) to begin their fundraising efforts for next year.

Please RSVP by THURSDAY, MAY 30 at 5pm to help us plan food quantities. Be sure to indicate ages of all children as we take that into account when giving Whitsons the final headcount.

NEW THIS YEAR – Given the impact this event has had on the overall budget in recent years (almost $5,000), this year we are asking each attending family to pay $5 toward the cost of this event. The $5 fee covers all members of a student’s IMMEDIATE family (i.e., parents & siblings). We are asking for an additional $5 for any EXTENDED family members (i.e., grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins) who would like to attend. ONLY SIGN UP AS A QUANTITY OF 1 AS IT IS ASKING HOW MANY FAMILIES YOU ARE SIGNING UP. You will enter the total number of people in your family in a separate box.

ALSO NEW THIS YEAR – As part of the arrangements made to allow us to use Bridge School for this event, we MUST provide bathroom coverage throughout the event. Please click here to sign up for a 15-minute slot outside the bathrooms (making sure no one wanders in the school) or one of the other volunteer roles needed to make this event a success.

Hastings PTO Open Positions for 2019/2020 School Year

Do you have ideas for the PTO for next year? Please join us, share your ideas, and work to make them happen! We are asking Hastings community members help to fill the following open roles – particularly those of you with kids currently in grades K-2:

● Family Math Night Coordinator

● Treasurer Co-Chair

● Big Backyard (Grade K-1 Coordinator)

● Math Olympiad (One 4th Grade Parent)

● School Committee Liaisons

● ACT

Please email president@hastings-pto.org for more information or to offer your help.

Family Math Nights Coordinator: Family Math Night involves parents and children working together on fun and engaging self-paced and group math activities. This is one once a year event split into three days for Grades K-1, 2 and 3 and 4 and 5.

Treasurer Co-Chair: The treasurer, along with two co-presidents and secretary, serves as an officer of the Hastings PTO. She/he is the steward of the PTO’s funds, responsible for preparing the annual budget, receiving donations and income, disbursing payments in accordance with the adopted budget, and overseeing financial and tax reporting (with support from a contracted accounting firm). Given the role’s importance, the treasurer serves for a term of two years to help ensure continuity and smooth financial operations. Those who are interested in the role are encouraged to contact the current treasurer, Julia Weng, at treasurer@hastings-pto.org with questions.

Big Backyard Coordinator: BBY K/1 Coordinator – coordinate the walks for Kindergarten & Grade 1 by working with classroom teachers to schedule walks (1 walk per season: Fall, Winter, Spring), identifying volunteer walk leaders, and ensuring appropriate supplies are available prior to each season’s walk. Time commitment is roughly 4 hours per season.

Math Olympiad Co-Chair: Co-chair for Math Olympiad will work with the existing chair to organize 10-morning meetings during the school year, register the team, print out the test copies, enter student test scores online and find parent volunteers to help with test scoring and explanation. It is about a 20-hour commitment in total. Since only 4th and 5th grade students are included in the contest, the co-chair should ideally be a 4th-grade parent who gets familiar with the event and passes the info on to the younger class. Hastings students who love math learn materials and questions beyond their regular classes and benefit from the parents’ involvement.

School Committee Liaisons: The purpose of this committee is to view the LPS School Committee meetings and take notes for the community

ACT: Arts Created Together (ACT) is an important enrichment program made up of parents and staff which focuses on ways to enhance the educational programs at Hastings through arts experiences. The Committee meets regularly throughout the year and brings musicians, authors, artists and other enrichment programs to the school.

SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING AND UPDATES

If you’d like to stay updated on school building projects and other community updates (sports teams, club registration as well as community posts), please join the Hastings Families Google Group at http://bit.ly/HastingsFamilies.

NEXT MEETING:

Date: Tuesday, June 4th, 2019
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: 1625 Massachusetts Ave, Selectman’s Meeting Room

UPCOMING MONTH’S CALENDAR

5/23 Thursday	8:55 – 9:30 am	All School Meeting
5/27 Monday	All Day	No School – Holiday – Memorial Day
5/30 Thursday	Field Day	Lincoln Field (students will walk)
5/30 Thursday	7:00 – 8:00 PM	Final General PTO Meeting, Hastings Cafeteria
6/4 Tuesday	7:00 PM	School Committee Meeting

6/5 Wednesday	9:30 am – 10:45 am (Hastings students) 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm (Hastings students) 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm (Hastings family and friends)	5th Grade Play The Lion King Jr.
6/6 Thursday	5:00 – 7:00 pm	End of Year BBQ, Bridge School (rain date June 11th)
6/11	7:00 pm	Tentative School Committee Meeting
6/13 Thursday	12:15-3:15 pm	Family Friends
6/14-15 Friday- Saturday	See LEF website for details and tickets	Lexington Education Foundation Celebration for Education weekend (www.lexedfoundation.org)
6/18 Tuesday	8:45 am – 12:15 pm	Last day of school – half day
6/18 Tuesday	7:00 pm	School Committee Meeting, 1625 Massachusetts Ave, Selectman’s Meeting Room

Bulletin submissions are due on Mondays by 12:00 pm and should be made online.

Visit the Hastings PTO website to find more information and helpful resources. And don’t forget to join us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1493554707397661/.