Starting Off Our 2024 Year

Starting Off Our 2024 School Year

Principal’s Message:

Hello ECA families,

Tomorrow will be our first day of school.

We have 66 students enrolled at ECA.

Kindergarten - 7 students

Grades 1&2 - 16 students

Grade 3&4 - 14

Grades 5&6 - 16

Grades 7&8 - 13

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There are a few things to plan on as you arrive at school tomorrow morning:

  • The front of the school is divided into two areas. There is parking in front of the upper grade wing and there is parking in front of the library and down. As you arrive tomorrow, if you are planning on parking and dropping your child off, try and stick to the parking areas. I understand that many of you have children who are in both lower (K-4) and upper (5-8), so choose what works best for you.

  • Every morning, I will be standing out and checking students into the school. I plan on being out there from 7:45 - 8:05. If you come after 8:05, you will need to check your child in at the front office. The front office doors are locked and you will be able to check in and be let in. Students in grades K-4 and 7-8 will be going to their homerooms every morning. Students in 5&6 meet in the library while I am checking students in. We do have an aide who supervises the students in 5&6.

  • If you are planning on dropping your child off and pulling away, there is usually a line that forms at the library's back door and goes down towards the lower wing. Please be respectful of those parking and walking their children to classes.

  • If you would like to walk your child back to their classrooms, you can do that in the morning. Many parents take first-day photos.

  • We have a wonderful community that we are part of here on Zephyr Way. Our neighbors have asked us to remind you to please keep your speed at 25 mph or slower the whole length of the road. There are several pets that are loved and we want to keep everyone safe.

  • In the next couple of days, our office staff will be sending out emails to verify pickups that are in the Teacher Ease system. Many families that are returning this year called in last year to update pickups, but the names were never added to the Teacher Ease system. When our office staff prints out reports of who can pick up children, it is out of date. Please log into the system and double-check the pickup names. This will help things run smoothly at the end of the day.

  • Our kitchen has a few more inspections to pass, so our stove isn’t ready to start cooking. All students will be eating in the kitchen/cafeteria area this year. As final inspections are passed, we will let you know more about a hot lunch program. For now, plan on packing a lunch for your child each day. We have three microwaves in the lunchroom that students can use. There are between 20-30 students in there at a time. Please try and limit microwave items to warming. Also, we will have some plasticware in the lunchroom, but it is not our policy to provide eating utensils for students bringing lunches. It is another cost that we try to minimize to help keep tuition down. Thank you for helping us keep our costs down.

  • Our school day is from 8:00-3:30. There will be after-school for those who have signed up. For parents picking up their children, we ask that parents of students in grades 5-8 generally park in front of the upper wing, and parents in grades K-4 park in the lower wing. Again, sometimes we have parents who pull up without parking and we send children out to vehicles. Children are checked out from school every day even during general pickup. As we learn about vehicles and drivers, this may take a little time for the first few days. Our goal is child safety.

We are excited to start this new year with you, and we look forward to a fun week. This first week is a 4-day, M-Th week.

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Announcements & Upcoming Events

  • Monday, September 4 - Labor Day, No School.

  • Thursday, September 7 - ECA Back-to-school-Night, more information coming this week.

  • Friday, September 8- ECA’s first 1/2 day Friday

  • Thursday, Sept. 14-Sunday, Sept. 17 - Bible Camp for 7th & 8th Grade students

  • Friday, September 22 - ASB Beach trip to Florence and the Oregon Coast

Doug Gaylor