Dear Cottonwood Family,
Welcome to October! This year is moving right along. I am impressed with our wonderful students, teachers, staff, parents, and PTA! Cottonwood is an amazing school but the building is nothing without the people.
With October comes a change in the weather. Please send your children with clothing that is appropriate for the weather of the day. Utah is well known for having all four seasons in one day. Kids need to be outside and enjoy recess and will be sent out for their breaks. The change in weather also brings a lot more parents driving their children to and from school. Please be mindful of this and make sure your child, and all of our students, are safe. Please keep your speed down and use the appropriate pick-up and drop-off zone and only park and/or wait in designated spots. Please also be mindful and courteous to our teachers and students who are working to keep your children safe and the flow of traffic moving. Thank you also for not idling your cars while waiting to pick up students after school.
Halloween is still 4 weeks away, but it’s time to start thinking, if you haven’t already. We will celebrate Halloween on Thursday, October 31st. (Please note that this is a short day schedule and no school on Friday.) Our parade is held OUTDOORS (weather permitting) starting at 9:15 a.m. We will parade around the entire perimeter of the school. All parents will have a front-row view of their child as we parade. YAY! Please bring your lawn chairs and dress warm! In the event of inclement weather, the parade for parents will not be held. Rather, we will create a virtual video for parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, etc., to enjoy. Unfortunately, our building is not set up to accommodate hundreds of visitors as well as all of our students. It is not a safe environment and is not approved by the Fire Marshall to cram hundreds of guests inside our building. Rather, we will make it fun for our students and enjoyable for all to view. Thank you for your support and understanding!
We ask that you send your children to school already in their costumes. We will NOT allow students to go to the restrooms to put on or take off make up or paint their hair. This becomes a managerial nightmare and creates a major mess in our restrooms. We prefer that students not wear face make-up simply because they will be in it all day. Children AND adults are NOT allowed to wear masks or anything that covers their faces or bring any weapons or facsimile of a weapon. Please help us with this so we don’t upset or disappoint your child when they are not allowed to participate.
There are a few guidelines for costumes: costumes must be school appropriate and can be worn comfortably all day; cannot cause a disruption to others; blow up costumes can be “on” during the parade only and must allow for easy movement throughout the parade; must be able to sit comfortably and walk with them on; no full face masks—like Darth Vader or other Super Hero full face shields. All of these items can be saved for the actual night of Halloween celebrating.
We will have class Halloween parties provided by room parents. If you are helping with class parties it is important that you know that there will not be any parent access into the building before or during the parade. If you are helping with the parties, please obtain a visitors pass at the office as soon as the parade ends. As a reminder, all visitors/volunteers MUST enter through the main office doors.
We appreciate your help and support. Thank you for helping us follow the rules, be safe, and make this a memorable day for our students.
Again, thank you for all you do! I sure love this school, the teachers, students, and parents!
Sincerely,
Principal Cooper
