NewSplash
Pine Island Academy
Home of the Dolphins!
September 25, 2022
STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART OF MRS. RIEDL
Dolphin Families, 

As we come upon the end of September, we have much to celebrate at Pine Island. The greatest celebration is that we are almost fully staffed. As you may have heard, many schools throughout our district are still challenged with staffing. At this time, we are hiring Associate Teachers due to growth and non-instruct. This is a celebration as we continue to grow at Pine Island and throughout St Johns County.

Another celebration is with the addition of the PSA, morning drop off and dismissal have been expedited. Be sure to read more about it below from Deputy Gordon.

Additionally, our days are filled with parent volunteers and our PTO has been working hard to provide families multiple opportunities to get involved. This is what being partners in education truly mean!

Finally and most important, our students continue to thrive as learners. Students have been engaged in project based learning, working collaboratively with peers and even across grade levels. These experiences are what keep our students engaged, happy, and eager to be learners.

We are looking forward to parent/teacher conferences coming up very soon and can't wait to celebrate the achievements of your student with you.

It is great to be a Pine Island Dolphin!

Much Appreciation,
Mrs. Riedl, Principal
Please read through each section of the NEWSplash to ensure you have all the details. 
CALENDAR:

  • 9/27 - SAC Meeting; 3:15; Media Center
  • 10/3 - Middle School Parent/Teacher Conferences
  • 10/5 - K - 5 Parent/Teacher Conferences
  • 10/10 -
  • Middle School Parent Teacher Conferences
  • K - 5 Parent/Teacher Conferences
  • 10/12 - K - 5 Parent/Teacher Conferences
  • 10/13 - PTO Trunk or Treat Fall Social; 5:00 - see below
  • 10/14 - Middle School Dance - see below
SCHOOL WIDE UPDATES
District Accreditation Family Survey -

  • Cognia, the organization that oversees our district’s accreditation, is conducting a review of our school district this year.
  • Cognia has created surveys specifically for families in our school district.
  • Please complete Cognia’s Family Survey to assist the district in our continuous improvement process.

  • Click on the Survey Link to share your feedback. Thank you
Pre-order Your Yearbook!

Yearbooks tell our stories and keep our memories. Visit www.buytheyearbook.com and enter school code 708608 to pre-order your yearbook at the lowest price of the year!
Individual Fall Pictures (Retakes and New Students) - October 4

  • Orders placed in August should arrive any day now and will be sent home.
  • Individual Fall Retakes and students who enrolled after August 30 will be taken on Oct 4.
  • If you purchased pictures in August, please return that packet of pictures in order to have a retake.
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Youth Resource Deputy Update






First and foremost, I truly appreciate all the PIA families and their effort to adjust to the new traffic patterns this year for Pine Island Academy. Last year we were often times still unloading students in the parent pickup line up until 8:20 a.m. while enduring a lot of traffic congestion during both pickup and dismissal times. 

This year a new traffic pattern was developed in conjunction with a dedicated St Johns County Sheriff’s Office PSA to accompany the crossing guards. The implementation of the dedicated personnel and traffic pattern has reduced our pickup and dismissal times considerably. 

On average we are getting the students inside before school begins and the congestion at the intersection has been reduced to 20 minutes or less once student drop off begins in the morning and student release begins in the afternoon. 

Due to this reduction we have been able to revert the traffic intersection back to normal function faster and lessening the impact of those travelling eastbound and westbound on Pine Island Road.
 
Please continue to be patient and attentive within the active school zone so we can maintain a safe environment for the students.
 
Thank you,
Deputy Joshua Gordon
St Johns County Sheriff’s Office
Lost Textbooks

Any student who has misplaced a textbook that has been assigned to them will have to pay to replace it through SchoolPay. Please follow the following process to replace a textbook:
 
  1. Parent should complete the Textbook Replacement Request Form through this link: Textbook Replacement Request Form (FOR PARENTS) School will send fee details to parent using the request form submitted.
  2. Non-refundable payment should be submitted through SchoolPay through this link: https://www.schoolpay.com/link/PIAtextBooks22-23
  3. Once payment and request have been received, the replacement textbook will be ordered.
  4. When replacement has been delivered to school and received, the student will be asked to pick-up the resource from the Media Center.
 
Thank you for your support, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us. 

Please note that this link should only be used for textbooks and not lost media books.  
Art Donation -

Veterans' Day is coming!

  • We will be hosting our annual Pine Island Veterans' Day Parade to honor our veterans!
  • We need your help collecting egg cartons so students can create decorations for our event.
  • Please send in paper egg cartons only (no styrofoam) to Ms. McKay before November 1st. Thank you!
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New Family Information

WELCOME NEW FAMILIES!

ELEMENTARY UPDATES
Parent/Teacher Conferences - 

K – 5 – Parent/Teacher Conferences
  • Conferences will be scheduled Oct. 5, Oct. 10, OR Oct. 12 for all K – 5 families.
  • Teachers will be sending home sign up information very soon.
  • We are hopeful that our families will make this a priority as celebrating student successes and partnering in each child’s education is very important at Pine Island.
Thank you.
MIDDLE SCHOOL UPDATES
Parent/Teacher Conferences - 

  • Middle School Conferences - 
  • Monday October 3rd - 2:30 - 6:30
  • Monday October 10th - 2:30 - 6:30

Middle school will be hosting parent-teacher conferences at the school from 2:30-6:30 on Monday October 3rd and Monday October 10th. It will be an open forum where you will have the chance to check in with any of your student’s teachers.

Please let us know if you are attending by filling out this survey by Friday September 30th. Please just let us know the day you plan on attending, not the specific teachers you plan on meeting with.


Important Information 

  • Parents are free to conference with any teacher they want I let them
  • May have to wait in line
  • Conferences will be no longer than 10 minutes
  • Should a longer conference be needed, please reach out to schedule at a different time. 
ATHLETIC UPDATES
Keep updated with our PIA athletics by visiting our -PIA ATHLETICS link
PTO UPDATES
PTO Meeting Updates -

See below for most recent information from PTO Meeting.
Trunk or Treat - Oct. 13

🎃 Save-the-Date for our Fall Social next month Trunk or Treat!

Thursday, October 13th
  • 5 - 7pm at Pine Island Academy
  • Join us for a fun evening event!
  • Trunk or Treat with a grade level competition & winner!
  • DJ & Photo opps with Fin
  • Food for purchase - 904 Burgers, Trasca (please preorder) & Jeremiah's Italian Ice
  • Popcorn provided by the PTO
  • Bring your own trunk or treat bag or decorate one at our craft station!
  • Complete a scavenger hunt to get a prize!
  • Performances by our Cheerleaders & Dance Team!

Please let us know if you & your family plan on attending!

RSVP is optional & open through the event. If you forget to RSVP - you can still attend.
Your RSVP just helps us plan for how many people to expect. Thank you!!

CANDY AND NON-CANDY Treat DONATIONS

  • All students are encouraged to bring in one bag of candy or non-candy treats to be distributed on behalf of your class!
  • Donations will be collected in the classroom.
  • Please send in donations between 9/26-10/7.
  • Donations are not required but we are super appreciative of any donations we receive to help make this event a success! 
Middle School Masquerade Dance

Get your dance moves ready! 
 
Middle School Masquerade Dance
October, 14, 2022
5:00-7:00pm
PIA Cafe 
 
**RSVP required**
Please RSVP by 10/10 
Please submit one RSVP per student
Charleston Wrap Coming Soon!
 
Our Charleston Wrap fundraiser kicks off soon! Lookout for our Charleston Wrap fundraising info coming soon and get ready to check off your holiday gift list! You’re going to LOVE what you see, and your support will help us reach our fundraising goal!