Principal Newsletter – September 2, 2022
Happy Friday!
Teachers worked hard this week getting classrooms ready to welcome students. Special thanks to the PTA volunteers who brightened our days with treats and love. We are looking forward to seeing students back in the building!
You should have received your student’s teacher assignment via email today. If you didn’t, please email Kristina Cerise.
Your teacher assignment email includes lots of important information about arrival and dismissal procedures, health protocols, and more. We’re keeping this newsletter short so that you can focus on reading the teacher letter closely.
Enjoy your holiday weekend.
PTA Volunteer Opportunities
Interested in leading student safety patrol or another role? Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0C4EAAAA28A5F49-20222023
Upcoming Events
9/7 First Day of School (Grades 1-5), no early release
9/12 First Day of School
Principal Newsletter – August 26, 2022
We’re back to our routine of sending Principal Newsletters on Friday mornings. This time of year, it’s a lot of logistics and reminders to help us make the start of school smooth for students and families. We promise there will be more fun information to share once students are back in the building.
Teacher Training and Treats. We are excited to welcome teachers back to school on Tuesday. Want to brighten their days with some treats? Sign up here.
Transportation. SPS anticipates driver shortages that will result in some school bus routes not running this year. The transportation department has not notified families or schools which routes will/won’t have service, so we don’t yet know how this will affect Lawton families.
Principal’s Welcome Back Updates
The PTA regularly posts Dr. Deno’s Principal newsletters here on the PTA website. However, these back-to-school announcements warrant their own post!

Good morning,
The Lawton Elementary front office is back open and busy preparing for the year ahead. We hope you’ve had a great summer and are making the most of these final weeks.
We are excited to welcome 1st through 5th grade students back to the building on Wednesday, September 7thth (first day for kindergarten is September 12th). Bell times remain the same as last year. School entry bell will ring at 7:50am, with
Principal Newsletter – August 19, 2022
Good morning,
The Lawton Elementary front office is back open and busy preparing for the year ahead. We hope you’ve had a great summer and are making the most of these final weeks.
We are excited to welcome 1st through 5th grade students back to the building on Wednesday, September 7thth (first day for kindergarten is September 12th). Bell times remain the same as last year. School entry bell will ring at 7:50am, with students expected to be in their classrooms and ready to learn at 7:55am daily. School dismisses at 2:25pm except on Wednesdays when it dismisses at 1:10pm. Please remember that while all other Wednesdays in the year are early release days, the first day of school is not and
Call for Enrichment Providers
The Lawton Elementary PTA is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with 6crickets to manage and support after-school enrichment programs starting Fall 2022. The goal of the program is to bring the best, most-engaging enrichment programs to Lawton Elementary students to develop the whole child and help them explore their interests, discover their passions, love learning, and build social-emotional support through interest-driven, project-driven teamwork. Our enrichment programs will teach classes which may include STEM, chess, performing arts, sports, and more.
The approach we take is community enrichment where we partner with quality enrichment providers and community partners to teach the programs on school campuses. We firmly believe that this approach
Have a great summer, Lawton Dolphins!
Enjoy your summer, Lawton students and families! We’ll see you next year!
As a reminder, Jump Start for new kindergartners will be August 15-19.
The first day of school in 2022-2023 will be Wednesday, September 7th for grades 1-5.
The first day of school for kindergartners will be September 12th.
Principal Newsletter – June 17, 2022
Friendly reminder that school dismisses one hour early today – 1:25 dismissal.
Thank you for a terrific school year!
Seymour Kaplan Award
This week we honored our 5th graders with a promotion ceremony that celebrated all their growth so far and sent them off to middle school where we are excited to see them continue to grow. Thank you to the many volunteers and 5th grade families who made the event so special and helped with set up and take down. We were particularly proud to honor Grace Desilets and Zoe Whissell-Cote with this year’s Seymour Kaplan award. Seymour Kaplan Award recipients are nominated by their peers for their work in building relationships and treating everyone with dignity, kindness, and respect. Congratulations
Principal Newsletter – June 10, 2022
June is such a fun month. The learning continues amidst lots of fun special events.
This week:
- Classes redeemed WAVE tickets for frozen treats and celebrations;
- 4th and 5th grade students took walking field trips to rock climb, golf, and explore Discovery Park;
- Lawton Dolphins showcased their skills and talents in our Talent Show; and
- The whole school enjoyed Field Day activities.
Ask your students to share which activities they most enjoyed and to think about the countless volunteers who donated their time to make these events engaging and fun.
End of Year Close-Out
At this point, the following should have been returned to school:
- Student devices and chargers
- Library books
If you still have books or devices at home, please make sure they
Principal Newsletter – June 3, 2022
We are entering the final few weeks of the school year and they are busy weeks! Here’s a summary of key dates and what to expect.
PTA Year-End Celebration – Friday, June 3rd
Who: All Lawton families invited
What: Zumba, face painting, tattoos, and treats. (Secret Sausage available for purchase)
When: June 3rd, 5 pm – 7 pm
Where: Lawton Playground and upper fields
Why: To see old friends, meet new friends and gather together
Library Book Returns – Friday, June 10th
Please help us get our collection back by searching your home for library books that need to be returned. Not sure what your student has checked out? You can see library info in The Source. All books need to be returned by Friday, June 10th.
Principal Newsletter – May 27, 2022
Our children see and hear so much, but sometimes don’t know how to interpret what they are seeing. In the aftermath of tragic events, it is important to listen when they have questions and support them to process their feelings. This looks different depending on the students and their ages, but it is important for children to have space to ask questions and process what they are seeing and hearing.
Below are some resources gathered by SPS to support you
Girl Scout Troop 41696, in partnership with the Lawton PTA, (and MES & Blaine), continues their Food Drive now benefitting low income seniors in the Magnolia neighborhood! They are assembling Thanksgiving Dinners in a Bag and are asking for the following:
🛍️2 gallon ziploc bags
🦃Cans of turkey or chicken
🍲Boxes of stuffing mix
🥔Bags of mashed potatoes
🥘Packets of gravy
🥫Cans of green beans
🍇Bags of cranberries
🥐Muffin/scone/biscuit mix
🧈Spray oil
🥣Rectangle baking trays
Drop off donations this week in one of the blue bins!
Lawton’s PTA (and MES & Blaine) are partnering with Magnolia Girl Scout Troop 41696 for a holiday Food Drive! From now through December 11, Girl Scouts will be collecting specific donations to provide to local families and seniors experiencing food insecurity. 🚨Now through Friday Nov 6, the Girl Scouts are asking for donations of: 🎂Boxes of cake mix 🍰Jars of frosting 🥤12oz cans of lemon lime soda 🕯️Birthday candles 🍽️Disposable cake trays 🛍️Medium/large birthday bags These will be assembled and donated to the Ballard Food Bank as “Birthday Cakes in a Bag” in honor of GS founder Juliette Gordon Low’s
Lawton Students Speak Up! 🗣️ After rumors circulated in our 4th and 5th grade classrooms that there would be no Halloween celebrations at Lawton this year (since Halloween is on a Saturday), our impassioned students wrote a letter to Ms Clagg, the staff, and our PTA. Ms Clagg’s response: “When I received this letter, I beamed with pride. As a former high school Social Studies teacher, this kind of civic action on the part of 10 and 11 year olds embodies my core values as an educator: to develop thoughtful, well-rounded citizens who engage in productive discourse and positively contribute



