Tami McKotch

RHJ Elementary Principal and Director of Special Education Services
(716) 569-7031        tmckotch@frewsburgcsd.org

Dear RHJ Families,

Welcome back!  I can’t tell you how happy and excited we are to see all of your children back in school.  I’m sure that I’ve said it before but I must say it again, there is life and joy that returns to our building when the students return and especially in these strange times, we sorely need that feeling!

We will continue to place heavy emphasis on social/emotional learning again this school year.  We continue to be concerned about the effects that COVID has had on our students even though we were in person last school year.  We want to continue to provide them with as much support as we can.  Our guidance counselor, Ms. Cusimano, will be working with all grade levels to provide this support in the classrooms through the Second Step program.  Also available to provide support and resources to our students and families are our School Psychologist, Mrs. Rhodes and School Social Worker, Ms. Covey.  Mr. Martin Murphy has been appointed as our new Dean of Students here at RHJ.  He will be another "friendly, adult face" that can help our students when they are having difficulties as well as handling disciplinary issues that may come up. 

We have a lot of events coming up so I wanted to take a moment to share them with you.  Our Virtual Open House will take place on Tuesday, September 14th and Wednesday, September 15th.   We are also happy that we can bring the NED assembly back to our building virtually.  NED's Mindset Mission is a character education program that centers around three important messages that have lifelong relevance: Never give up, Encourage others and Do your best. During the assembly, students will learn about the importance of these three life skills while also enjoying storytelling, magic, humor and yo-yo tricks.  More information can be found at: http://www.mindsetmission.com/assembly.html

Our first round of NWEA testing will be held between 9/13 and 9/24.  This testing provides us with one of the data points that we use to determine AIS groups for both reading and math.  Students will be placed in groups for intervention once we are finished reviewing the data.

School pictures will be taken on 9/28 and 9/29.  More details on picture day will be sent home shortly.

As we continue on during this unsettling time of COVID, I thank you for trusting us with your children. We continue to try to give your children the best academic experience possible while maintaining their safety and social emotional well-being. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you should have any concerns or questions or find yourself needing additional resources. Our parents are valuable partners to this entire process and we look forward to continuing to work with you together this year.

Sincerely

Tami L. McKotch

RHJ Elementary Principal/Director of Special Education