Happy New Year, Dutrow Families!! I hope you all had a great winter break! We are back to school and work now and the PTA is back to work for you too! We already had our first event of the New Year - the Winter Dance and boy, what a success it was!! If you didn't join us this year, you missed a great family fun time! Be sure to plan to attend next year and join the almost 700 Dutrow Dolphins who filled the Denbigh High School gym to dance the night away! Thanks to the Family Events Chairwoman, Christina Buckingham and all the volunteers who helped to make this event a smashing success!

Later this month, we'll be honoring our Reflections participants and winners at assemblies on Jan. 26th. Congratulations to all the students who participated and did their best work to show other what "Diversity Means" to them!

We also have Dutrow Spirit nights to look forward to on the 3rd Thursday of every month. On January 19th, we'll be hanging out at Sweet Frog frozen yogurt and on Feburary 16th we'll be dining at Jason's Deli. Please join us for yummy food while we raise money for Dutrow PTA programs!

Don't forget the GMM either! The 4th Thursday of the month is our traditional night for PTA General Membership Meetings. It's the time to catch up on what we have done for our students and what we are planning in the near future! Plus we have family activities after the business meetings too!

Thanks for your continued support and I look forward to seeing you at school, at events and at Sprirt Nights!

Delaine Botelho

We need YOU to join the PTA Board!  Our Nominating Committee:  Donna Heilman, Caroline White 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")

This year, we are excited to present to you our newly redesigned Dutrow Elementary PTA website!

This website is the culmination of many volunteer hours and will hopefully serve as a great way for you to get information that is important to you and your child about what your PTA is accomplishing and involved in at Dutrow Elementary.

Some highlights of the new features are:

• A cleaner, graphically rich site design
• A newly redesigned calendar feature
• A document library of common documents and forms
• On-line "Become a Volunteer" form
• On-line volunteer sign-in form
• Latest information from the Newport News Council of PTAs
• Latest information from the Virginia PTA

Additionally, some new features will be coming very soon. If you have comments or suggestions about the site, please contact me at webmaster@nnptas.org.

Enjoy the site!

For those of you who have not decided how or when to share your time volunteering, please know that there are many opportunities to support your student(s) and the school. You can volunteer during the day here at school in various capacities – I promise we’ll find you something you’ll enjoy OR there are always things that can be done at home on your own schedule.

Please know that volunteering doesn’t have to be a big commitment, we are grateful for even the shortest amount of time you can give and everyone doing a piece will connect us together for a beautiful outcome.

Donna Heilman is our Volunteer Coordinator and she’ll be happy to work with you to find the right spot – please contact her by filling in the "Become a Volunteer" in the menu on the left or clicking here.

Keeping in mind that the PTA keeps the parents and teachers associated to ensure that we provide the greatest learning environment for our children, you as PARENTS play a huge role.

I want to personally invite you to attend the monthly PTA Board meetings that are held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 6:30pm in the library – it is a great chance to participate in the planning of activities and programs that will benefit our school.

Also, I encourage you to attend the monthly PTA General Membership Meetings (GMMs) so that you can stay connected. Any time that you have a suggestion/question/concern, please feel free to contact me using the contact link on the right or click here.