October Message from Dr. Risius
We have had a fantastic month of school at Royal Oaks! The children are making new
friends, enjoying their subjects and their teachers, and learning the ROYAL expectations of
our building. I enjoyed visiting every classroom to share the district bullying and weapon
policies (Policies 514 and 501) as well as reading a fiction book about bullying. The students
learned that bullying is a repeated occurrence of something that makes them feel sad/angry
emotionally or physically. While talking about bullying, the students and I came up with these
strategies that could be done if they were ever bullied:
1) tell the person firmly to STOP, 2) tell a school staff member, 3) tell their parents/guardians,
4) ignore it and walk away, 5) ask the person if they wanted to play with them/work with
them, and/or 6) make a joke of it.
October is Unity Month (National Bully Prevention month). On Tuesday, October 7, all
students will participate in “Kindness in Chalk”. They will write kindness messages and draw
pictures with chalk on our Royal Oaks sidewalks. October 23 is National Unity Day, and we
are asking for students and staff to wear orange to show the we are united about stopping
bullying. Check out the Unity Month 2019 in this newsletter for more information about this
month at Royal Oaks.
Every school in Minnesota is required to have five fire drills, five lockdown drills, and one
tornado drill every year. These drills are very important to be sure that our students/staff know
the procedures that we need to follow in case there truly was a fire, lockdown situation, or a
tornado.
Every child (and adult) needs to feel safe at Royal Oaks. By talking about bullying, following
the Board policy about weapons, and practicing intruder, tornado, and fire drills we are showing our focus and dedication to uphold safety at our school. Please contact me via e-mail
(srisius@sowashco.org) or phone (651-425-4703) if you have questions/concerns.
Looking ahead…..Royal Oaks will have our Fall Parent Teacher Conferences October 28
and 30. These conferences are a very important time for you and your child’s teacher to visit
about your child’s progress so far this year, to share any concerns that the teacher may have,
and to hear your concerns/joys about the year so far. The conference sign-up link is available
here and on our Royal Oaks website at the bottom of the home page. We look forward to
having you come to school and meet with your child’s teacher! Nonclassroom teachers will
also be available for you to visit with them, so please stop in their rooms as well!
Our
October Newsletter is filled with articles about what is happening at Royal Oaks this
month. This is a great way for us to share information with you about Royal Oaks Elementary
School. Thanks for reading our newsletter.
Have a great month!
Dr. Susan Risius
Principal