EC Principal Letter

Dear ANCS Elementary Families,

We are all excited about our upcoming fall break starting next week. While students are off for the full week, teachers will enjoy a morning together as a full K-8 faculty and staff focusing on our DE&I work and then have time to finish parent conferences and work in their classrooms in the afternoon. Every time we have a break we see an uptick in students being checked out of school early on the Friday before. If you are planning to pick up your child up early on Friday, please do so before 2:10. The end of the day is a very busy time for us and adding a lot of early check outs can make it more hectic. It is also helpful to let your child’s teachers know if you are planning an early pick up so they are prepared. Thank you for helping us with this.

Please have your ID with you when you come to school for any time other than morning meeting or dropping off/picking up your child. Anytime you enter the building to go anywhere other than the front desk area, you need to check in using the visitor management system. This system requires a driver’s license. Please understand that this is for security purposes and we appreciate everyone’s compliance.

As I mentioned in my last courier letter, October is Digital Citizenship month. We are kicking off our year-long digital citizenship learning beginning the week of October 16! Throughout the school year, we will be using the Digicit Framework: Digital Safety, Media Information & Literacy, Digital Well-being, Social Responsibility to help guide our instruction. We hope you can join Ms. Rogers, Ms. Shelley, and Ms. Tottenham for Parent University: Digital Life and Learning: Digital Citizenship in 2023, on October 30th right after Morning Meeting, 8:15-9:15. We are planning an informative, interactive event where we will be talking about all things digital citizenship including: Wellness, Safety, Using Tech for Good, School Resources, and more.

Finally, I wanted to let you know that I will be on medical leave from October 20th until after Thanksgiving break. I am grateful to have such a wonderful and capable assistant principal, Nicole King. She will be holding things down in the building while I am out, along with support from Dr. Pullen and Ms. Laurent.

Thank you all for your continued partnership as we move through this year. It is truly a blessing to be part of this school family.

Wishing you well,
Lara

Lara Zelski

Lara Zelski began working at ANCS in 2007. Previously, she worked at the Howard School and taught art, Spanish, reading and math. She taught 6th, 4th, and 2nd in DeKalb County. She taught 4th and 5th grade in Decatur and then moved to Title One reading and math instruction for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. She taught 5th grade at the ANCS elementary campus for two years.