Notes and Reminders for Week of August 15

Dear Families,

Welcome to the start of the 2016-17 school year. It was great to see so many returning and new faces here today! We now have 99 students throughout the school. We have come a long way from 14 in a converted mobile home back in 1999. We are so happy to have you all as part of the Bhaktivedanta Academy community.

Below are a few notes as we kick off the year:

Lunch
Radha’s Kitchen will be making lunches available for pre-order beginning Tuesday, September 1. Generally, lunch will be available for order on Tuesday, Thursday and Ekadasi (see note below). Ordered lunches will be pre-packed and delivered to the school in time for your child’s class meal time. 

Lunch times this year are:

• Bhakti Bhavan - 11 a.m.
• Audarya Bhavan - 11: 35 a.m.
• Madhurya Bhavan - 11:45 a.m.
• Krishna Sharanam - 12:15 p.m.

If you are bringing lunch for your child, please deliver it to the school office 15 minutes before their class lunch time.

Drop-off / Pick-up
Our first morning utilizing our new parking lot generally went very smooth. One point of clarification – The drop-off / pick-up area is the marked yellow lane in front of the school. Fully pull into this lane to allow pass-through traffic to circulate past. Students should exit from the passenger side of of the car. Drivers: please remain in your vehicle if using the drop-off / pick-up. 

In the coming week we will install additional signage and markers to make everything a little clearer. Thank you all for your patience as we all get used to the new traffic flow. 

Beginning next week, we will begin accepting all pre-k students in the drop-off. An iPad will be on hand to sign-in/out as needed.

Temple Tuesday
Students in Audarya Bhavan, Madhurya Bhavan, and Krishna Sharanam start school on Tuesday at the New Raman Reti Temple at 7:20 a.m. This will begin on Tuesday, September 1. Please come directly to school at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow and next Tuesday. 

PE Uniforms
Students in Upper Elementary and Middle Years (Madhurya Bhavan and Krishna Sharanam) are required to wear a PHE uniform for physical and health education (PHE). Formal PHE classes will begin the week of August 29. Approved uniform tops and bottoms may be purchased from Lands’ End (school code 900163411). We are looking into the possibility of having some PHE uniforms available for purchase from a local vendor. We will have more information by the end of the week.

Beginning of Year Ceremony Reminder
Our annual beginning of year ceremony is this Sunday at 5 p.m. This is a special ceremony in which we inaugurate the start of school with kirtan and vedic ceremony to attract auspiciousness for the coming school year. Students should come well dressed in school uniforms (if they have them) and groomed neatly for the occasion.