The school year got off to a great start----- first with Meet the Teacher on Monday, and then with school on regular schedule beginning on Tuesday. See pictures on our website. Our theme for 16-17 is, It’s a Colorful World, and all year we will be enjoying the red, blue, green and yellow shirts provided for students and staff by the PTA. Also, take a look around when you are in the school foyer and front hall as we have posted multi-colored art work from Amanda Wakely’s classes. Last spring the students did bottle cap paintings and participated in an egg throw on canvas with paint filled egg shells ---all this to decorate our halls for school opening. Also last spring, students from the Fine Arts Center took photographs of all the Washington Center at Hollis children, framed them, and sent them back to be hung in the hall, along with a number of wood paintings. Many thanks to the Fine Arts Center students for their support. Our Hollis hallway is going to look really nice when we get everything up.

PTA met this week and approved several budget items --- one of them being money for us to publish a yearbook in the spring, so that will be something for all of us to look forward to. Also, beginning at the end of September, they will again be sponsoring the Cherrydale Farms fundraiser. Thank you to our PTA for all they do for us, and I hope each of you will join this year and find ways to get involved here at school. 

Today we had our first fire drill of the year, and we will have another next week in that we are required to conduct two during the first ten days of school and one a month subsequently. Weather was good, and everyone got out quickly.

Please read, complete and return all the forms from the student packets your received. We especially encourage you to apply for Free or Reduced meals for your student--- even for ones who are homebound, tube fed or who have alternate diets. The information submitted is used to determine eligibility for additional federal funding for the school. Also, we are asking for multiple emergency numbers for each student. We all too frequently have situations in which we need but cannot reach a parent at any of the telephone numbers we have, so if you could help us avoid the problem this causes, we would be most grateful. 

A quick update on the nature trail to be built on the property directly behind the school-----The district posted a “Request for Qualifications” in the paper for three weeks this summer, and firms were invited to apply for the project. The closing date was August 18, so we should be choosing a landscape architectural or engineering firm very soon. The Eastside High School folks are busy making plans for their Spirit Week, so we will let you know details about that when we have them. Their support and that of other donors will enable us to build a nature trail for our students that will be really special. 

Remember ---no school on Monday, September 5; picture days are September 20 (main campus) and September 21 (Hollis). Also, Challenge Day at Bob Jones will be on September 30--------always lots of fun. Applications for Participation in Special Olympics for students who need to