We have had a great time with the “Freedom Walk” today, and as always, I was impressed by the creativity of our staff and the interest of our students.  Good job, and special thanks to Melanie Montemayor and her committee for putting this together.  Also this week we welcomed two new creatures to our menagerie: a canary named Kiwi and a gecko who has been named Garrett by the children at Hollis where he will live.  Kiwi will be housed on the main campus and was donated to us by Ms. Jennifer Ensley.  Students were busy this week with trips to Pet Smart, Miracle Hill, Home Depot, Haywood Mall, AC Moore, and not to be forgotten, bowling. 

We have received a request from the Greenville Children’s Museum for feedback on the extent to which our visits there have been meaningful for students.  This is a part of their fundraising effort, so if you as a parent or you as a teacher would like to write up a statement of support elaborating on how the museum positively impacted our students, I know that the museum folks would like to hear from you.  You can send your statements to Linda Hill and she can get them to the right place.  Also, you might be interested to know that our local DDSN is getting a new name and going forward will be called Thrive Upstate.  The new name and face were unveiled this week at a celebration attended by Linda Thigpen and her husband, and is being done in an effort to more accurately portray the role of the organization as a nonprofit dedicated to providing services for individuals with disabilities.

IEP meetings are in full swing and will be ongoing for the next several weeks.  We want these sessions to be positive experiences for everyone, so parents, please feel free to share any concerns you may have regarding your child or thoughts about programming that will be beneficial.  Also, we have a date for our next PTA sponsored parent “Lunch and Learn”.  It will be on April 14 at noon, and the topic will be “Transitioning from Washington Center ---What are my options?”  Our guest speaker will be Elise Hardin with DDSN, now renamed Thrive Upstate, and Sharon Russo will be sending out invitations prior to the event.

Next week will be Dr. Seuss week and lots of activities are planned, including a parade through our main building on Tuesday by Sara Collins students dressed in their Dr. Seuss character costumes, and at Hollis, a “Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast” for parents.  Also on Wednesday we will have visitors from Leadership Greenville touring our building, meetings some of our students and teachers and hearing about the program we have here.  We look forward to their visit.  On Thursday of next week PTA will meet at one, and I am sure will be focusing on plans for the April 9 Walk, Roll and 5K Run. 

Dates for your calendar include:

March 15 when we will go to Wade Hampton High School for their drama group’s performance of “The Ugly Duckling”; March 24 when progress reports go home; and, March 11 when we will host a group from the Governor’s School for the Arts for an “instrument zoo”.  Our students will have an opportunity to see and touch all kinds of orchestra and band instruments.  Spring break will be March 28-April 1 and possibly March 25 since we still have that day on hold for a snow day if we need it.

I think that sums it up for this week.  Enjoy the beautiful weekend ahead and we will look forward to seeing everyone back on Monday.