Welcome back to school – what an exciting time of the year, especially for all the children! We hope your family has had a fun, relaxing summer!

I am Delaine Botelho and I am serving as your interim PTA President until our Back-to School Night and General Membership Meeting on Thurs., Sept. 23rd.  We will be holding a special election that evening. Please come out to vote and meet your 2010-2011 PTA Executive Board! I have been an active volunteer at Dutrow for four years and look forward to my new role as your PTA President.  I am married to John and we have two sons, Evan who is in 1st grade at Dutrow and Carson who is in 4th grade at Nelson Elem.

We are a very active school with events for the students and their families scheduled throughout the year. Please read and save the "Volunteer Opportunites" calendar found in the first brown envelope to go home at Open House. This gives you a month-by-month listing of the events the PTA has planned so far for this year. Mark your calendars right away for our first Spirit Night on Sept. 30th at Chick-Fil-A and the always popular "International Fall Festival" on Saturday October 23rd from 10-3. Like all of our events, these are great opportunities to meet and socialize with other Dutrow families and the Fall Festival is a great day to log some required volunteer hours!

By joining the PTA for $5, you will not only receive the required agendas for your child(ren) that attend Dutrow, but you will assist us in providing educational and entertaining programs to the students, as well as support for our teachers. Other easy ways to support our school are to clip those Box Tops and sign-up at boxtops4education.com to benefit our school, attend the bookfairs and encourage your child(ren) to participate in this year’s Reflections program entitled “Together we can…”. Also, information will be coming home this fall about a new fundraiser that will feature your child(ren)’s very own artwork – I think you’ll be very pleased.

I am looking forward to a great year and I really want you to be part of it – so please JOIN the PTA, come to the meetings, volunteer and attend events that not only provide necessary funds for our school but allow us the chance to bond as a Dutrow school family!

Thanks for your support,

Delaine Botelho

We need YOU to join the PTA Board!  Our Nominating Committee:  Kelli Paul, Claudia Sellers and Elisabeth Deaton are currenlty seeking interested persons to serve on the PTA Board who want to share their time and talent to keep Dutrow PTA's momentum going strong to continue making this a great learning environment for all students and staff.  Plus we have a great time working together with all the volunteers throughout the school - we know you want to be a part of this great group!  PTA Board Job Descriptions can be found in the Document Library under General Information for your review.  If interested in serving, please contact one of the Nominating Committee Members today!

This year is shaping up to be our biggest and best year of WatchDOGS participation at Dutrow Elementary since we started the program almost 3 years ago. This would not have been possible were it not for the many father figures in our school who continue to step up and make a difference in our children's lives.

So, for those of you who might be wondering how revered the program is, it has been featured in our local newspaper twice in the last 4 years; once for the program's effectiveness in York County and just again on October 18th. This latest article talked about how effective the program has been in Hampton City Schools. The article can be found here.

For you "DOGS" that have already signed up to participate, let me again say, "Thank you!" For those of you still on the fence, let me reiterate that this program is not only important and incredibly beneficial to kids, but may turn out to be the most fun you'll have during your entire work week.

REMINDER: If you have placed an order for WatchDOGS uniform or kid's shirts, please don't forget to submit your payment to the front office (checks payable to "Dutrow PTA")