Parent Magazine Volusia April 2019 | Page 7

FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT Spirit (Deltona); Sugar Mill (Port Orange); Woodward (Deland) elementary schools. The program will operate 4 four days per week, from Monday through Thursday, beginning Monday, June 10 to Thursday, August 1. School hours are scheduled for 7:37 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Although breakfast and lunch are served free to all children, transportation is not provided. To participate, a child must: • be 5 years-old on or before September 1, 2019; • be a resident of Volusia County; and • have a current, valid summer 2019 Certificate of Eligibility from the Early Learning Coalition of Flagler and Volusia Counties – (386) 323- 2400, (386) 736-5010 or www.elcfv.org W elcome to the April edition of Volusia Parent Magazine ... We have had a great school year so far. I have had the opportunity to visit dozens of classrooms in our Volusia County Schools and see all the wonderful, educational activities. February was Black History Month. All month long, our schools engaged in arts and crafts, presentations, and focused on the wonderful and groundbreaking contributions of African Americans in our country’s history. As the school year progresses, we want families with young children to know it’s not too early to start thinking about summer VPK programs. The School District of Volusia County will provide a free Voluntary Prekindergarten Program this summer for families of incoming kindergartners who have not taken advantage of the state’s free Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Program. Studies have shown that students who attend VPK generally do significantly better in kindergarten than students who did not participate in VPK. Registration takes place at the student’s home zoned school during early registration between the hours 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5; Thursday, March 7 and Wednesday, March 27. The following sites may be selected during registration: Indian River (Edgewater); Palm Terrace (Daytona); For more information, call (386) 734-7190, extension 33210, or visit the school district’s website at http://myvolusiaschools.org. Click on the “Parents” icon. Once there, click on “Programs” in the Toolbox, and then select “Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK).” “Summer VPK” is listed in the menu on the left. Thank you and enjoy this edition of Volusia Parent Magazine. JAMES T. RUSSELL, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS The Volusia County School board includes (L to R) Mr. Ruben Colon, Superintendent Tom Russell, Chairman Carl Persis, Mrs. Linda Cuthbert, Vice Chairman Ida D. Wright, and Ms. Jamie Haynes (back row). Colon and Haynes were voted onto the board in November. Colon is a clinical informatics specialist at AdventHealth and Haynes is a former teacher. VIS IT U S ONLI NE AT WWW.PARE NTM AGAZINE FLORIDA .COM V O L U S I A parent M A G A Z I N E | 7