Mansfield's Messages

Please VOTE for The Robot Warriors!!!

Teasley's FIRST Lego League team, The Robot Warriors, is competing for a chance to have their spoiled milk detection device professionally patented. Last year's winners of this competition visited the White House earlier this week where they demonstrated their invention to the President as participants in the 2nd annual White House Science Fair. Online voting will be one way this year's finalists are selected. Please go to www.mooph.us and follow the voting link or sign up to follow the team. Vote daily until March 1st. Thank you for your support.

A Message from the Superintendent

A message from the Superintendent:

Cobb County School District is committed to providing quality education for all students. Each school in the district has developed a school strategic plan to identify specific goals and activities that will address the unique needs of its students.

Feedback from staff, parents and community members is important to the school strategic planning process. Your participation in School Improvement Survey will provide feedback about the quality of educational services and programs in our schools.

Your responses to the survey are anonymous. Results will be provided to the principals later in the school year and will be used, along with other information, to identify priorities for the school.

We invite you to take a few minutes, respond to the survey which can be found at this link:

http://www.cobbk12.org/sisurvey

The survey will be available until February 10, 2012, and should take about 15 - 20 minutes to complete. Your opinions are vital to the future of our schools and through participation in this survey you become active in helping your child’s school principal identify critical issues to be addressed.

If you have any questions concerning the survey, please contact the principal at your child’s school.

Respectfully,

Michael Hinojosa, Ed.D.
Superintendent

Morning Drop Off - THANK YOU!!!

Beginning in this new year, we implemented a change here at Teasley that is common practice at most schools.....requiring those that drop students off in the mornings to park and escort their student into school IF they arrive after 7:50 a.m., when school officially begins.   This week has been a HUGE SUCCESS and I want to thank all of you for making the extra effort to arrive at school on time!!  Our main purpose is to get the students into the classrooms by 7:50, when the school day starts so that instructional time is protected!!  When students trickle in for a while in the mornings it is quite distracting for the students and the teachers!!  Keep up the great work and know that we truly appreciate your efforts!! 

Change for Buses

Teasley Families - Effective immediately, we will no longer be able to allow students to ride any bus other than their assigned bus because our buses have reached capacity with assigned students.  Transporting students that are not assigned to that bus will now be the responsibility of the parent or guardian.  We appreciate your understanding of this effort to ensure the safest possible transportation for all of Teasley's students.  Thank you!!

Leslie Mansfield, Principal

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Life has been quite busy around Teasley!!  Some of the highlights from November are:

• 2nd Grade's Veteran's Day Performance - what an honor it was to have over 40 Veterans in attendance to be honored by our 2nd grade students, led beautifully by our music teacher, Mrs. Mungin.   They did a great job reminding us of the service and sacrifice that so many have made for our freedom here in the United States of America.  I truly appreciate the assistance of so many staff members and parents that helped make the performance such a huge success!!  
• Prospective Parent Coffee - we welcomed a large group of prospective Teasley families to come in and tour the school and hear a little bit about life at Teasley.  I was very proud to tell our guests of all of the great things going on in our classrooms and around the school!!  There will be at least two additional Prospective Parent Coffees after the first of the year, so stay tuned and pass the word to families in your neighborhoods that may have children that will be school age for the 2012-13 school year.  
• Teasley's Thanksgiving Feast - this year we brought back the tradition of having a traditional Thanksgiving meal where families were invited to join their children for a special time together.  Congratulations to our cafeteria staff, led by Samir Braich, who did an incredible job of feeding about 400 extra people in the cafeteria over two days!!  Thank you to those who were able to join us and especially to the wonderful parent volunteers who made the event run smoothly!!  This is sure to be a tradition that continues, so please plan to join us next year!!

These are just a few of the things that have been happening around Teasley, so you see that we have been QUITE BUSY!!  The Teasley staff is thrilled to have made it to this Thanksgiving break and we look forward to having time to rest and enjoy our families and friends!!  I am sure we will all spend some time reflecting on the school year so far as well as all of the things for which we are thankful.  I know I will, and I also know that on the top of my list is TEASLEY ELEMENTARY!!!  It is such a blessing to me that I get to work with a wonderful staff, be surrounded by the cutest and smartest students in Cobb County, and also get to know all of the families that partner with us at Teasley.  Thank you for entrusting your students to us and working with us for the success of every student at Teasley.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

We will hit the ground running when we return to school on November 28th!!  A couple of the major things coming up are:

• Holiday Breakfast - Saturday, December 3rd (9:00 - 12:00)
• PTA & Kindergarten Performance - Thursday, December 15th (6:30 p.m.) 
• The last day for students and staff before the Winter Holiday break begins is Thursday, December 22nd

So, hang on for a very full four weeks when we return to school after this week off.  I hope you all enjoy this wonderful holiday!!

With gratitude, 

Leslie Mansfield

 

WANTED.....SCHOOL COUNCIL MEMBERS!!!

Each Georgia public school is to have an operating school council which includes the following members: the principal, two teachers, four parents/guardians (two must be business owners), and at least two community business persons.  The school council may advise and make recommendations on any matter related to school improvement and student achievement. The purpose of school councils is to “bring communities and schools closer together in a spirit of cooperation to solve difficult education problems, improve academic achievement, provide support for teachers and administrators, and bring parents into the school-based decision-making process.”

 

The School Council should meet four times during the school year and I would love to know if you would be interested and willing to serve on the School Council for Teasley.  If you are interested, please email me at Leslie.Mansfield@cobbk12.org.  I look forward to hearing from many of you!!  Please indicate whether or not you are a business owner, as we must have two on the council.  Thank you!!

What's Been Happening Around Teasley

It is hard to believe that we are halfway through September and also halfway through the first nine-week grading period.  This past week has been a particularly busy one around Teasley!  The week started with the Vinings Civic Club having their monthly meeting at our school.  They have taken an interest in our campus revitalization efforts and made a very generous donation of $3,000 to our PAWS Foundation.  This donation is a start to building our outdoor classroom in the courtyard between the 200 and 300 hallways.  We are all incredibly grateful for their support!!

On Thursday evening, our wonderful music teacher, Roxanne Mungin, kicked off the year for our Treble Tone Singers with the assistance of Marcia Moore, one of our 1st grade teachers.  What a fantasticly attended event as families and students were able to hear about the exciting year ahead.  I can't wait to hear the beautiful music as they begin practicing this week.  

The week ended on Friday evening with the 4th & 5th grade dance, hosted by the 5th grade committee.  What a fun time!!  I was so proud of our students' great behavior and quite impressed with their dancing skills!!  They looked fantastic, too!!  Thank you, 5th Grade Committee, for such a great event!!  

The greatest accomplishment this week was the completion of our School Strategic Plan for the 2011-2012 school year.  For our student performance goals this year, we will continue to focus on math and writing.   We will work to improve our overall school performance by focusing on communication with Teasley families and improving student behavior.  A link to the complete strategic plan is posted on the main page of the Teasley website, just under the top banner.  You can also see the overview version by viewing the document posted below. 

Download Strategic Plan Overview

Thank you for all the amazing support as we have gotten this year well underway.  It takes all of us working together if we truly want Teasley to be...... "the best little school in Georgia!!"  

Hope to see you all soon!!

Ms. Mansfield

Common Core Georgia Performance Standards Broadcast

On Sept. 21, 2011, the GA Department of Education will host a web-delivered broadcast through Georgia Public Broadcasting to introduce to all stakeholders the upcoming Common Core Georgia Performance Standards (CCGPS).  For more information, please view the attached letter or visit http://www.gpb.org/education/common-core. 

What: GA DOE Common Core Georgia Performance Standards Web-Aired Broadcast

 

When:  September 21, 2011 

Time:  3:00PM-4:00PM; 4:00PM-5:00PM (repeat broadcast)

(Please note that an archived version will be made available the following day and a close-captioned version will be made available within three days.)

 

Access Information:  http://www.gpb.org/education/common-core

All initial broadcasts and replays will be aired through this link.

 

CCSD Guidelines for Student Absences Sept. 19-23, 2011

 
TO: All Principals
FROM: Alice Stouder Donald Dunnigan, Ed.D.
Deputy Superintendent Chief Human Resources Officer
DATE: August 24, 2011
SUBJECT: Guidelines for Student Absences the Week of September 19-23, 2011

 
As you are aware, some of our students’ families previously scheduled out of town trips during “Fall Break” (September 19-23, 2011). As anticipated, the change in the school calendar has prompted procedure questions regarding these particular absences.
The absences considered excused in accordance with State Attendance rule 160-5-1-10 and O.C.G.A. 20-2-690.1 are as follows:

1. When personally ill and when attendance in school would endanger their health or the health of others.

2. When, in their immediate family, there is a serious illness or death which would reasonably necessitate absence from school. Immediate family is defined as mother, father, siblings, grandparents, step-parents or legal guardian.

3. Observing religious holidays, necessitating absence from school.

4. When mandated by order of governmental agencies (examples: pre-induction physical examination for service in the armed forces or a court order).

5. Children may be excused from school attendance when prevented from such attendance due to conditions rendering school attendance impossible or hazardous to their health or safety.

6. Children who attend court proceedings relating to their foster care or who are serving as Pages in the Georgia General Assembly shall be credited as present by the school for days or class periods missed from school for this purpose. A student in foster care means a student who is in a foster home or otherwise in the foster care system under
the Division of Family and Children Services of the Department of Human Services.

7. A student may be granted an excused absence not to exceed one day in order to register to vote or to vote in a public election.

8. A student whose parent/guardian is in military service in the armed forces of the United States or the National Guard, and such parent/guardian has been called to duty for or is on leave from overseas deployment to a combat zone or combat support posting, shall
be granted excused absences, up to a maximum of five (5) school days per school year, for the day or days missed from school to visit with his/her parent/guardian prior to such parent/guardian’s deployment or during such parent/guardian’s leave.

Due to the above list, any students who will be out the week of September 19-23, 2011, due to a family scheduled trip, will be marked unexcused, however, we ask that teachers be flexible
with regard to make-up class work and homework for that week. Please ask your teachers to give applicable students the class work and homework before the students are absent and students will turn in the work (for which they will receive credit) upon their return to class.

Thank You!!

It is hard to believe that we are close to finishing our third week of school!!  I want to take this opportunity to thank you ALL - students, parents and staff for all that you have done to make this such a wonderful beginning at Teasley.  We have had some wonderful events, but what stands out the most to me is Open House.  That is such an important night to communicate classroom routines, procedures, expectations and curriculum.  Attendance was wonderful, which tells me that we are well on our way to working together to make this a wonderful year for all of our Teasley students.  A child's success in school depends greatly on the communication between the school and home.  I urge you to get involved and make every attempt to attend school events this school year.  Thank you again for all you're doing to support your students and Teasley!!