Thunder News Flash – September 24, 2017

There are many people in our community that need prayers. In particular, I ask that you pray for Mrs. Krammer as her older sister, Mary Karpes, passed away suddenly from a heart attack on Thursday morning. Please keep Mrs. Krammer and her family in your prayers.

Ms. Joanne Samuel has decided to take a full time teaching position in the Abbotsford School District. We thank her for her years of service and we wish her well in her new endeavor.

Parent Support Group (PSG) will be having it’s first meeting of the school year on Thursday October 5th at 8:30am, after drop off, in the St. James and St. Ann’s kitchen. This meeting will serve as our AGM. Those in attendance will form the quorum, and spot election will be held for the executive for the 2017-2018 year. All parents/guardians are welcome to attend.

If you would like more information, please email the school office and they will give you my contact information.

Heidi Calzavara, Treasurer

The school is asking families to take a look at their uniforms and if they have uniform pieces that are in good shape and no longer fit their children to please consider donating these items to the school’s consignment program.

St. James and St. Ann’s Elementary School is implementing a new Medical Administration Policy. The policy is designed to ensure your child’s safety. In consultation with medical professionals and pharmacists, the following procedures will be followed:

1. It is always preferable that students receive any type of medication at home under parent/guardian supervision. We do not want students carrying medicine such as cough syrup with them at school.
2. If you feel that it is necessary that your child take medication at school then you must fill out the permission letter, which can be picked up at the school office. No exceptions. We do not want children carrying prescription drugs or over the counter drugs with them.
3. With prescription medicine, the drugs must be blister packed, in their original packaging from the pharmacy, and a Medical Administration Record (MAR) produced by the pharmacist must accompany the prescription. All of these requests are reasonable and pharmacists are used to these requests.
4. With over the counter drugs like Advil or Tylenol or Allergy pills, the school requires that the medicine is given to the school in its original packaging having never been opened. Only brand new medicine will be accepted and the school will not administer any medicine that has expired. Again, we would prefer parents to administer medicine to children in the morning before coming to school.
5. Before administering Advil or Tylenol or any over the counter drug, the school will call the parents to seek verbal permission as well as to inform them of the time in which the medicine was administered. We do not want parents administering Advil at 8 am and the child asking the school for Advil at 10 am. Due to the potential dangers and risks, the school must receive verbal permission from parents. If parents are not reachable by phone the school will not administer the medicine. The exception is those students with severe allergies who have a care plan in place instructing the school to administer allergy medicine right away.
6. Children with Asthma should carry their inhalers with them and it is the parent’s responsibility to check for expiration dates.
7. When possible, children with severe allergies should carry an Epipen with them. However the school understands that this is not always possible. In these cases, the classroom teacher should have an Epipen as well as the school office.