Welcome to Jefferson Elementary

Happy Labor Day! 

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend. Looking forward to this week, a couple of things to note:

Picture Day is Friday, September 5th. Picture forms will be coming home on Tuesday. Please return them with your student on Friday or before. 

Dutch Football Elementary Night! 

 HPS K-5 students are invited to participate in pre-game and halftime activities at the Dutch Football game on Friday, September 5, at 7 pm.

• All K-5 students and their families will be admitted FREE!
• All K-5 students will be allowed to run the field and welcome the Varsity football team before the game.
• All K-5 students are invited to participate in an on-field event during halftime.

Parent information night is Tuesday, September 9th, from 5-6 pm. Come learn about how we support your students at school, how you can get extra out-of-school resources, and ways you can give your feedback and get involved. 

Our year is off to a great start! 

Please remember to take 5 minutes to fill out the Educational Benefit Form, to ensure we are able to get all the funding we need for extra support for all of our students. 

Thanks, and see everyone tomorrow morning!

Gentex is sponsoring the 2nd Annual Districtwide STEM Night on Thursday, September 25, 5-7pm in the HHS Commons

• Chemistry Experiments
• Robotics Demonstration
• LEGOs
• Virtual Reality Games
• Community Partners
• and more!

Whose paper plane can fly the furthest? Fold and fly your plane in the Paper Airplane contest to see if it's you! 

Talk to your STEM teacher to learn more!

HPS K-5 students are invited to participate in pre-game and halftime activities at the Dutch Football game on Friday, September 5 at 7pm.

• All K-5 students and their families will be admitted FREE!
• All K-5 students will be allowed to run the field and welcome the Varsity football team before the game.
• All K-5 students are invited to participate in an on-field event during halftime.

GoDutch!

Happy Monday! Today started with a rainbow, so we know it's going to be an awesome week!

This year, I am going to send out a weekly Newsletter with upcoming important information. 

For this week just a few things:

Wednesdays are early release, so students are dismissed at 2:36 pm. 

No School Friday or Monday (8/29-8/31) for Labor Day weekend. 

Tuesday, September 9th from 5pm-6pm, we will be having an information session for parents. Come learn about how we support your students and how you can best get involved. The meeting is only for adults, but we will have a movie playing with supervision for kids that come. I will also be sending out the presentation for those of you who cannot make it. 

If you have done so yet, please fill out our Educational Benefits Form. This is for everyone to complete and ensures that we get all the possible funding we can to support your students! It will take you about 5 minutes to fill out. We would love to be the first school to get 100% of our families signed up!

Educational Benefit Form

We have loved having your students here the past few days...getting to know our new students and seeing how much our returning students have grown over the summer! 

Have a great week!

Holland Hospital invites all students, families, friends and faculty to join us for the annual School Nurse Fun Run on Thursday, September 11 at Holland High School.

Jefferson Elementary is luck to have Cynthia Alvarado as our new Dean of Students this year:

I am thrilled to be joining Jefferson this fall as the new Dean of Students. Prior to this role, I served as Dean of Students at West for four years. I’m a proud Holland native, bilingual in English and Spanish, and a graduate of Hope College, where I earned a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work with a minor in Spanish.

A fun fact about me—I’m an avid reader and always enjoy discovering new books.

I’m truly excited to become a part of the Jefferson community and look forward to connecting with each of you in the months ahead.

Contact Cynthia at 616-494-2505

Completing the Education Benefits Form is a key step to unlocking essential support for all HPS students. Federal & state resources are allocated based on the income data collected through this form. Without this data the district could lose out on critical funding. 

Holland Public Schools is implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Bus Expectations across our district's transportation services. This initiative aims to create a safe, respectful, and responsible environment for all students who utilize our school buses.

Welcome back to Jefferson! We are working hard to get everything ready for our students and families. We hope you had a fabulous summer filled with play and rest with friends and family. Things stay steady here except for a few things. The biggest change is that Mrs. Heinritz, our Assistant Principal, has moved over to West Elementary as their new Assistant Principal. However, we are excited to welcome Ms. Alvarado as our new Associate Dean of Students. Ms. Alvarado has been the Dean at West for the past few years, and she is excited to join our community and meet all of our amazing students and families! 

Next week we are kicking things off:

Class information will be available on your Parent Portal starting Monday, August 18th. 

Open House on Tuesday, August 19th from 4 pm-6 pm. Come to meet your teachers, see your classrooms, listen to a short info session presented by me (4:30 & 5:30), and much more. 

School Starts on Thursday, August 21st. 

     The playground and breakfast opens at 8:15 am and school starts at 8:30 am. 

     School ends at 3:36 pm (Wednesday for early release it's 2:36 pm)

Drop-off and Pick-up Procedures

• Students can only be dropped off at the curb by the playground gate (not in the outer lane of the parking lot or in front of the building). Please pull your vehicle all the way forward to the curve, by the playground gate, to unload your student(s). If you wish to walk your student to the gate, you must park in a parking spot and walk them to the playground gate (no parents allowed inside the playground). 
  • If you are bringing your student(s) to school after 8:30, you will need to park and walk them into the office to sign them in. 
• Kindergarten Pick-up: Kinder students and their older siblings will be picked up at door #13 on VanRaalte. 
• 1st-5th grade Pick-up:Pick up is from the main parking lot. Students will stay with their teachers until they see their ride. Older siblings will stand with their younger siblings to make a one-stop. There is a drive lane and a pick-up lane. The pick-up lane is along the curb, please do not park in the pick-up lane. Pull forward until it is safe to load your student(s) and then exit in the drive lane (inside lane). This keeps traffic flowing, pick-up quick and easy, and students safe. 
  • You may also park in a designated parking space and walk across the crosswalk to pick your child up from their teacher. Please use the crosswalk. 
  • Do not motion for your child to cross the parking lot to get in the car. We want to keep students safe!
• More Important Information:

• Visit our Back-to-School webpage for the 2025-2026 Academic Calendar and links to other important information:

  • ·Classroom assignments and Class schedules will be available on Parent Portal on Monday, August 18.  
  • Suggested School Supply Lists
  • Completing the Education Benefits Form is a key step to unlocking essential support for all HPS students. Federal & state resources are allocated based on the income data collected through this form. Without this data the district could lose out on critical funding. 
  • Lunch & Breakfast will be served at no cost to ALL Hps Students in 2025-2026. Learn more about Nutritional Services.
  • Check your Parent Portal for bus stop locations and times.
  • Books & Games provides K-5 students with an hour of supervised reading, homework help, and games, plus a free breakfast an hour before school starts each morning. Students must sign up in advance to attend.
  • Back-to-School Information. Read more about Student Health & Wellness, HPS Non-Discrimination Statement, Photo/Video Release, and much more.
  • Stay in touch with school. HPS uses Remind to provide two-way communication with families. A Remind account has already been created for you using the information you provided on your Parent Portal during enrollment/registration.

  
  I'm excited to see you all at our Open House on Tuesday, August 19, 4-6pm at the school. School starts on Thursday, August 21. 

See you soon,

Mrs. Folkert, Principal

The first day of School is Thursday, August 21.