News Details

Dear OHS Families,

This week marks our final full week of school for the year.  It has been quite a year, challenging in many ways, as together we worked through this stage of pandemic mitigation strategies.  It ended up making for a busy end of the year as events and field trips were pushed back to this spring.  I think for many of us this year was extra challenging because we have used up our collective pandemic patience.  Thank you for maintaining your patience so well during these tricky years.  The positive events we have had the last weeks have been rejuvenating in many ways as we are able to come back together.

One huge support year after year is our OHS PTA.  The PTA provides so much to our school and community in time from volunteers, organization, gifts, events that build climate, and staff support.  The board members on the PTA provide leadership and guidance and give a great deal of their time, energy, and brain power to keep our PTA thriving.  Thank you to all who volunteer in large and small ways to make all the activities, events, and programs so successful.   

PTA Presidents Thank You

Two people who volunteered in very large ways this year are our two PTA presidents, Emily Lusk and Tara Van Horne.  Emily and Tara have made themselves available to all, been aware of all the needs of our school, and have lead our PTA during this challenging year.  On top of all that, they are fun to work with and bring joy to the role.  Thank you, Emily and Tara! 

At this past week’s PTA meeting, the new board members and presidents were sworn in.  I am looking forward to working with our new presidents, Juliette Tiriolo and Karla Connors, and our new board this coming year.

Moving Up

This is a big week for the fifth grade as we end the week with their Moving Up Ceremony.  We are looking forward to celebrating this wonderful group of students moving on to the middle school next year.  The celebration will include songs by the group, memories of their favorite moments, awarding of certificates, and the slideshow of photos from their time at OHS.  As they also have their beach trip this week, it is one very full week for them. 

Extreme Science Program

This Wednesday, grades 2-5 will be participating in a special STEM program/presentation sponsored and organized by the PTA.  Thank you, Melissa Salvatore and Dana Mazzarella for planning the Extreme Science presentation.  Grades K and 1 already participated in the program when they came a few weeks ago.

Staffing Retirements

It has been a few years since we have had any staff retire and this year we are ending up with three wonderful people retiring.  We wish them all the best on their next endeavors and thank them for their many years of service and dedication to the students of OHS.

Marsha Brennan, who has been a staple of our grade 3 team for over a decade now, will be retiring at the end of the school year.  She is looking forward to time with her grandkids and time for the sports and other activities she enjoys or has been wanting to try.

Sheila Simpson, a paraeducator in our special education department for 23 years, will be moving a little deeper into Connecticut for retirement and looks forward to more time with her kids and grandkids. I know Sheila will make the most of the time.   

Nancy Albert, a special education trainer in our CLC, will be making this 18^th year at OHS her last.  Nancy is wisely not rushing into deciding what retirement will look like for her.  Knowing Nancy, she will be staying busy! 

Thank you, Marsha, Sheila, and Nancy, for giving so much of yourselves these many years.  You have enriched our school community and you will be missed.

2022-2023 Section Updates

As we approach the end of the year, we are getting a better picture of how many classes will be in each grade level and who will be teaching those sections.  As of now, it is looking like we will have four sections of each grade K and 1 and three sections of each grade 2-5.  While it was looking for a while like we might have enough students for a fifth section of first grade, it is now looking less and less likely.  You never know what will happen over the next few months, but as for now we will plan on four sections of grade 1.

We have a few moves in teacher placement planned.  Melissa Velez will be moving from grade 2 to grade 3.  Melissa has many years of upper grade experience and is looking forward to working with the new team.  Rebecca Wicke will be moving back to grade 1 from kindergarten as was the plan when she moved to kindergarten last year.  In kindergarten, our fourth teacher will be Courtney Jamison who comes to us from Sherman School with a great reputation and many years of experience in kindergarten.

Here is the list of all the grade levels as they stand now.  Please also understand there may be changes over the summer:

K	Courtney Jamison, Marimina Milas, Ellen Sigmund, Ann Marie Soto
1	Parvin Ghazian, Jill Miller, Amy Selter, Rebecca Wicke
2	Wendy Accomando, Sheila Cashel, Mary Tapia
3	John Grammatico, Deanna Renzulli, Melissa Velez
4	Wendy Elmore, Caryn Fleming, Brenda Perry
5	Cody Berrgeron, Celia Edwards, Liz Finck

 

Enjoy the last full week of school,

David