The Bear Bulletin www.lex5.k12.sc.us/Ballentine.

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A South Carolina Red Carpet School
An Exemplary Writing School
2006 State Winner of the S.C. International Reading Assoc. Exemplary Reading Award

The Bear Bulletin

VOLUME 8, ISSUE 9 SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

From the Principal

Robin W. Bright
“Excellent” Report Card
Rating
2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06,
New District Policy
2006-07, 2007-08 & 2008-09 For the safety of our children, Lexington District 5 is implementing a new
Closing the Achievement Gap policy requiring office personnel to check all IDs of guests visiting the
Recognition 2003-04, 2004-05,
2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08 & school. Please be sure to bring your picture ID with you when you come
2008-09 into the office. We also ask that you not be offended when we ask for
identification. While we recognize most of our parents, we are required to
check all IDs. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Calendar of
Events District Five eNEWS
E-News is a service that allows parents and community members to sign up to receive
September e-mails regarding Lexington/Richland Five. With District Five e-news, you automatically
• Sept. 13: Happy receive news of interest to you at your selected email address(es). Even better, e-News
Grandparents Day! is an opt-in service. You tailor the service to meet your needs by selecting only the cate-
gories of information that are of interest to you. Examples of categories include Breaking
• Sept. 23: Early Re-
lease Day, 11:40 News, Board Briefs (synopses of board meetings), Emergency Dismissal Notification
dismissal and more. Also, you may opt-out-of e-News or change your e-News categories at any
time, by simply revising your information on the district web page. Sign up at
October www.lex5.k12.sc.us/emailSignup.cfm.
• Oct. 5: Sonic Night,
5-8 p.m. Elementary District Honor Choir Auditions 2009-2010
• Sept. 9: Picture Our Elementary District Honor Choir will hold auditions for all interested 4th and 5th
Day! graders.
• Oct. 12: Student If you were in this choir last year as a 4th grader, you still must audition for this year.
Holiday, Teacher
This group meets once a week on Wednesday afternoons from 3:45 - 5:00 at Irmo Ele-
Professional Devel-
opment Day mentary.

• Oct. 22: Early Re- They prepare fun and challenging vocal music for performances throughout the year.
lease Day, 11:40
dismissal
Some of our previous events have been:
• Oct. 27: Health
Screening Day • Singing at the Governor’s Carolighting
• Oct. 31: Happy Hal- • Singing in Washington DC
loween!
• Singing in Walt Disney World
• Competing at Carowinds Choral Festival

If you love to sing and would like to explore new and exciting music, you should audition
for this Choir! Auditions will be held at BES the week of September 8-11. If you are in-
terested, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Mrs. Lee.
THE BEAR BULLETIN PAGE 2

Guidance News Welcome to Our New

The TERRIFIC KIDS for this week are: Part-time Guidance Counselor
Ayrn D. Mrs. Forrester Jane Lawther!
Reilly A. Kylan B.

STUDENT COUNCIL
Letters go out this week concerning Student Council. Our first Student Council meeting is September 18th at 7:10
A.M.

HANDY HELPERS
Handy Helper applications will be going out in the next two weeks. Parents, please make sure you sign your child’s
application before Mrs. Weaver receives it. Thank you!

NEW STUDENTS
Welcome to our new students. We are so glad you are here. You are now in Bear Country! We are Ballentine!

RED RIBBON WEEK

It may seem a little early, but we are looking forward to Red Ribbon Week here at Ballentine! The dates are Octo-
ber 19th to the 23rd. We are preparing a special rope for this special week, and we will need some red ribbons to tie
around the rope. The ribbons should be at least a foot long so that we can tie many ribbons around the rope. Our
special message for that week is “Making Good Choices”. You may stop by the guidance room, starting now, with
your child to tie the ribbons onto the rope if you’d like.
(The ribbons don’t have to be ‘all red’, they just need to have red in them.)

Reading is at the Heart of Everything We Do!

Libraries Linking with Literacy … Mrs. Gramling and Mrs. Beachler
The summer reading logs for No Book Left Unread are in. As a result, more thank 165 students
attended the Summer Reading Victory Party on Friday, September 4th. Each reader enjoyed a
popsicle and chose a new book for their home library. Results of No Book Left Unread indicated
that BES readers enjoyed reading more than 195,000 pages.

Top readers at each grade level were:

Kate in Ms.Metz kindergarten class read 4,555 pages.
Tatum in Mrs. Hoffman’s first grade class read 3,018 pages.
Ragan in Ms. Hite’s second grade class read 4,172 pages.
Neil in Ms. Braswell’s third grade class read 2,931 pages.
Manzi in Mrs. Setzer’s fourth grade class read 10,107 pages.
Kaitlin in Mrs. Davis’s 5th grade class read 4,072 pages.
Ian in Mrs. Davis’s 5th grade class read 4,032 pages.
VOLUME 8, ISSUE 9 PAGE 3

Swine Flu Update

The H1N1 flu (swine flu) has continued to affect our state during the summer break and
has been declared a worldwide pandemic. We expect this flu virus to spread more now that
schools are back in session. We need your help to prevent the spread of flu among our children.
Information on the H1N1 flu (swine flu) continues to change quickly and we will not be
notifying parents every time a case is confirmed. If a family member is pregnant or has health
concerns, please contact your personal physician for guidance. Families should have plans for
child care in the event that school must be closed.
The H1N1 flu (swine flu) spreads the same way that regular seasonal flu viruses spread, mainly through the
coughs and sneezes of people who are sick with the flu. It can also spread when a person touches an object or
surface that harbors flu germs, then touches their eyes, nose or mouth.
The best way to prevent the flu is by getting your flu shot each year. We expect that a vaccine to fight the
H1N1 flu (swine flu) will be available later this year. Please watch for its availability and discuss vaccination with
your school nurse or other health care provider.
You can also slow the spread of flu by doing the following:
⇒ Talk with your child about hand washing. Frequent hand washing with soap and warm water helps remove
germs and viruses. Children should wash their hands for about 20 seconds or as long as it takes to sing the
“Happy Birthday” song twice.
⇒ Teach your child to cover his or her mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing and then to throw
the tissue away. Your child can cough or sneeze into his or her upper sleeve if no tissue is handy. Wash
hands afterward.
⇒ Encourage your child to eat healthy foods, exercise, and get plenty of rest.
⇒ Keep your child home if he or she has a fever of 100 degrees or higher and a cough or sore
throat for which there is no known cause. Call your child’s school and tell them your child’s
symptoms. In most cases, your child can return to school after he or she has been fever
free for at lease 24 hours without taking fever-reducing medications.
⇒ Make sure the school has a way to reach you during the school day. Students who become
ill at school with flu-like symptoms must be sent home.
We greatly appreciate your help and understanding.

Ballentine Elementary
School District Five of Lexington and Richland Counties does
not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, sex or 1040 Bickley Road
handicap in admission to, treatment in or employment in its Irmo, SC 29063
programs and activities. The following persons have been
designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination Phone:
policies: Dr. Angela Bain, Title IX Coordinator, and Marlene
Metts, 504 Coordinator, 1020 Dutch Fork Road, Ballentine, SC (803) 476-4500
29002, (803) 476-8100. Fax:
(803) 476-4520
THE BEAR BULLETIN PAGE 4

School District Five of Lexington and Richland Counties welcomes input and suggestions from our commu-
nity and from our parents concerning Title I funding and Title I programs. The following is a DRAFT of a
District Parent Policy we are considering. We are asking parents and community members to review the
document and give us feedback, suggestions and/or recommendations for revisions as we work to make
this a document that reflects the climate and the needs of our community. Please forward your comments
or suggestions to Sara R. Kearns, Coordinator of Academic Assistance and Professional Development,
School District Five of Lexington and Richland Counties, 1020 Dutch Fork Road, Irmo, SC 29063 or feel
free to drop suggestions by the District Office.

Parent Involvement Policy – District Written Policy

District Five encourages, supports, and values the participation and involvement of parents and fami-
lies in the educational experiences of their children. The District recognizes each parent as their
child’s first teacher and acknowledges the powerful influence of parents on their child’s life. The Dis-
trict, therefore, is committed to developing family-friendly schools, offices, and programs to welcome
and serve parents and families in positive and supportive environments.
Parents are involved in the development of the LEA (Lead Education Agency) plan and the process of school review and improve-
ment by being part of a planning team that develops an overall Parent Involvement Policy. In addition, all parents are surveyed.
This plan is distributed to all parents with children participating in Title I schools and to the community at large. An annual evalua-
tion of the effectiveness of parent involvement will be conducted.
District Office staff provides technical assistance, coordination, and support to participating Title I schools. To assist these schools,
District Office staff will be available to assist in the writing of the Title I grant, assist in procurement, attend school improvement/
renewal team meetings, assist the schools in implementing effective parent involvement activities and Parent-Teacher organization
meetings. Additional responsibilities will be to provide assistance in any area requested to bring about school improvement and in-
crease parental involvement. The District will assist each school in the development of a school-level Parent Involvement Policy.
District Office staff will also see that state and federal guidelines are followed.
The schools and parents will build the capacity for strong parental involvement by entering into School-Parent-Student Compacts
with staff and families of students attending Title I schools. Compacts are signed by the Principal, Teacher, Parent, and Student.
Efforts to increase parent involvement will also include annual conferences to accommodate varied family schedules. In addition, an
annual meeting for parents/families of students served in Title I schools will be held to provide information on Title I legislation,
instructional programs and the desired outcomes for students of Title I Targeted Assistance schools. Parents will impact policy-
making via opportunities to serve on School Improvement Councils, completion of parent surveys, preview of Title I plans in each
school Media Center and/or serving as mentors or through other volunteer efforts. Schools will provide a number of Parenting ac-
tivities during the year such as Technology, Literacy, Math/Science, Fine Arts, Testing, Cultural Celebration, Academic Information,
and other student performance/academic presentations.
The Parenting Program served through Title I will coordinate and join together with other programs by inviting parents to attend
parenting classes, Adult Ed classes, workshops and seminars offered by the District and/or state. Additional efforts will be made to
work with other community programs to provide information and assistance regarding Title I Targeted Assistance programs.
An Advisory Team will meet annually to review and improve the plan. The team will assess the effectiveness of the Parental In-
volvement Policy and its impact on the academic quality of the schools. The team will analyze parent-night signature sheets to deter-
mine the rate of parent participation. The team will further identify any barriers to parent participation. Plans will be developed
based on these findings to make necessary improvements or revisions to the plan.
Regarding funding, the District will reserve not less than one percent (1%) of the total Title I allocation to carry out parental involve-
ment to include family literacy and parenting skills. In addition, each school will reserve at least 5% of their Title I allocation for
funding Parent activities.
District Five will also implement the following provisions as set forth by No Child Left Behind:
Parental Choice will be offered if a school is labeled as “persistently dangerous.”
Public School Choice will be offered when a school is labeled as a “low performing school.”
Supplemental Educational Services will be offered for before- or after-school utilizing tutorials, Academic Assistance, or remediation
for eligible students in schools labeled as “low performing schools.”
Highly Qualified Teachers will be placed in schools. Parents have the right to ask the school administration if a teacher possesses
proper certification to teach the grade and content area he or she has been assigned. The District will ensure that parents are notified
if students are taught for more than four consecutive weeks by a teacher who is not highly qualified.