Posted: July 5, 2021

Families of Shortreed,

We made it!

It was not the year any of us expected but we all rose to the challenge in so many ways and had another very successful year at Shortreed!  Thank you so much to the entire community for all your flexibility, patience and support this past year!

As always, I want to start by acknowledging that the Langley School District works and learns on the unceded ancestral lands of the Matsqui, Kwantlen, Katzie, and Semiahmoo First Nations. 

Last week, we started off with our first-ever “heat day”. This was yet another curveball that was thrown our way but, once again, our community found a way to come together, move some stuff around and make sure that our final (half) day together on Tuesday was full of memories, moments, celebrations, connections, and farewells.

We started off the morning with a virtual assembly in which we said farewell to the following staff:

• Ms. Ratzlaff – She will be moving on to a different school next year. We are thankful for her calm and positive qualities that she brought to Division 7 on Fridays.
• Mrs. Hobbs – She was working Wednesdays in the library and we are so thankful for the wonderful care she brought to our students and staff. Students always loved the read-alouds from Mrs. Hobbs.
• Mrs. Sherwin – She was working as a noon-hour supervisor this year and will now “officially” move into retirement. The kind and caring “Mrs. Shortreed” will continue to be part of our community through volunteer work (Eco-tigers and reading with kids) and we are so thankful for her consistent help on the playground this year.
• Ms. McKay – She will be taking a one-year leave next year. We are so grateful for all the efforts she has put into our library to ensure it is a wonderful learning space that is full of diverse books that encourage a love for reading. We truly appreciate all her efforts in getting both the Indigo Love of Reading and Thank You for the Music grants that help our school in so many ways.
• Ms. McCabe – She will be moving on to a different role next year (TBD). We loved Ms. McCabe’s sense of humour and kind, caring manner with her students (and beyond) in Division 7!
• Ms. Michl – She will be moving from her role as an SEA into her career as a teacher next year as she completes her university classes and practicum experience. We will miss her dedication, care and connection with so many students and staff at Shortreed.
• Ms. White – She will be applying for SEA positions in schools for next year. We are grateful for her care, dedication and flexibility this year… and her incredible toolkit of strategies to help so many kids.
• Ms. Heemskerk – She will be applying for SEA positions in schools for next year. We will miss her sense of humour, positivity and the many ways she works to reach students where they are at!
• Ms. Toby – She will be moving into a different teaching role next year (TBD). We are so grateful for her passion for literacy and equity along with her compassion, empathy, and love for her students and families.
• Ms. Rafighi – She has accepted a position at Langley Fine Arts School. It has been a goal of Ms. Rafighi’s to have some deeper conversations and reflections with students and the chance to work with secondary school students will make this possible. We are incredibly thankful for all her dedication to literacy instruction at our school as well as her care and leadership that has helped our staff on our journey of Truth and Reconciliation. We will miss her dearly but are thankful for the 4+ years that we got to spend with Ms. Rafighi!
• Mr. Touzeau – He has been moved to Douglas Park Elementary as Vice-Principal. Be sure to watch the videos and slideshows that were sent out to families that show our immense gratitude for the past 9 years that Mr. T has spent at our school. He has brought out the best in hundreds of students and staff and we will do our best to carry on his legacy. In case you missed our video tribute to him, you can watch it here. As someone shared, we knew we had to eventually share Mr. T with other schools… but are so thankful for the past 9 years. Our PAC president Amy Synesael presented him with a wooden guitar signed by the entire school and our staff presented him with a drum (with a beautiful eagle on it) made by local artist Carman McKay.

In the assembly, we also shared a slideshow of some of the fun memories of the past 3 months at Shortreed. This private link was emailed out.

Following the assembly, our grade 5s had the chance to head out for a Grade 5 Farewell Walk around the school while all our classes cheered them on to wish them all the best at BGMS!

On Wednesday, our grade 5 and resource/LA team stayed after school to provide our Grade 5 families with a Grade 5 Farewell outdoor walk-through event. Staff had a chance to share their appreciation of the students and the students had a chance to receive a Shortreed swag bag and get a photo with their teacher.

With a few staff members leaving, we can share some of the changes and a few of the new staff members who will be here next year:

• Ms. Deanne Lakatos will be joining us as an SEA. She has most recently worked at Parkside and has an extensive background in working with students who need some extra care and support.
• Mrs. Kirk will be moving to work in the library next year. She will continue to build on our culture of literacy at our school. We are also so thankful for her awesome care, dedication, and love for the grade 4 and grade 4/5 classes who got to spend time with her over the past 3 years.
• Mrs. Creech will be working one day a week with Mrs. Graham as a grade 2 teacher next year. We are so grateful for all the care and innovative ideas she has brought to our school as a grade 2 teacher this past year!
• Ms. Carmen Mostat will be joining us as a grade 4/5 teacher. She spent the past year as an intermediate teacher at Douglas Park Elementary and brings a real passion for supporting and connecting with students. She also has a strong athletic background as a former university and semi-pro soccer player!
• Ms. Kristen McFarland will be coming to our school as a K/1 teacher. She has worked the past few years as a primary teacher at Douglas Park Elementary and brings a huge heart for supporting kids and families with literacy and social-emotional learning. She also brings an instructional leadership aspect from her past two schools.
• Mrs. Lee-Anne Tarasoff will be coming to Shortreed as our new Vice-Principal. Mrs. Tarasoff is coming from Belmont Elementary and has an awesome reputation in the district for working incredibly hard for her students and staff. She has a strong background in quality instruction in the classroom (James Kennedy, Wix-Brown, and Belmont Elementary Schools) as well as school leadership. She has taught grades 1-7 and will be teaching grade 3 next year (her teaching partner TBD).

Show Us Your Summer Reading Pics!  As a way to encourage some summer reading, we are hoping you can share your pictures with us! Simply post a picture (that is public) of your child reading in the summer and tag us on Facebook or Instagram. You can also use the hashtag #shortreedreads. If you are not posting publicly, feel free to email or message us the photo through social media.

Orange Shirt Orders for September 2021  An email was sent on Friday with information for ordering Orange Shirts. We are ordering the shirts that feature a Tsimshian artist through a company called Native Northwest and all proceeds go to Orange Shirt Society, BC Aboriginal Child Care Association, and Reconciliation. Shorts are $20 each and all orders must be in by tomorrow (Tuesday) at midnight and can be ordered here. Payment can be made in September.

School Supplies  You can now order supplies online and/or download the lists and shop on your own. All the info is here.

Calendar for 2021-2022  Watch your inbox for an updated Shortreed Calendar. A reminder that you can also subscribe to our calendar on your mobile devices here. It looks like things should be close to “normal” for next year… yeay!

Summer Food Hub! Shortreed (Mondays 1:30-3:00) and Parkside (Tuesdays 9:30-11:00) are the sites for the Sources Food Bank summer food hub!

Aldergrove Speedway Pedal Go-Karts this summer at the old Aldergrove Mall

On behalf of all of us at Shortreed, thank you, again, for all your support and we hope you have a wonderful summer!