We hope everyone has a great time at today’s Sneak-a-Peek and Popsicle Party! We’re so happy that school starts on Monday and we are looking forward to seeing the school full of smiling kiddos! Scroll down for all the information you need about transportation, including carpool procedures and bus rider information. See you soon!

August 8 – First Day of School

Kindergarten Note: 11:30 dismissal on August 8 and August 9 for Kindergarteners. Kindergarteners will need to bring a snack on the first two days of school but will dismiss before lunch.

Boo Hoo Party: Bring a cup of coffee with you and stay a while after drop-off to mingle with other parents at our All School Boo Hoo Party in the front circle, from 8:00-8:30! The Roar Store will be open, too!

School Supplies: If you have purchased items through First Day School Supplies, they have been delivered to each classroom, so you’re all set! If you did not purchase items through First Day School Supplies, school supplies lists by grade can be found here. Families who did not bring school supplies to their child’s classroom during the All School Sneak-a-Peek and Popsicle Party can bring them on the first day of school.

Car Rider Numbers: Car rider tags will be distributed to new families on the first day of school, if they did not get one at the All School Popsicle Party. Returning families will continue to use the same number. Please work with your child to learn his or her Car Rider Number before school starts, or even consider writing it on their tote bag/tag.

Transportation

On the first day, many PPE parents choose to walk their children to the school’s front entrance. Parking is encouraged on Priest Road and Willshire Drive, and it gets crowded! Note that buses and the car line will run, so walking students to the front entrance is purely optional. During the first week of in-person school, all methods of transportation tend to be slower than normal – please plan accordingly.

Bus Riders

If you live more than 1¼ mile from school, you should receive information from the MNPS Transportation Department that details your child’s bus route number and pick-up and drop-off times and locations. This information can also be accessed here.

There is also the Remind App that helps parents keep up with their bus. To join, send a text message to 81010.  The content of the message should be as follows:

• For Route 1 Pink Bus please text @ppebus1
• For Route 2 Orange Bus please text @ppebus2
• For Route 3 Blue Bus please text @ppebus3
• For Route 4 Purple Bus please text @ppebus4
• For Route 5 Yellow Bus please text @ppebus5

Walkers

Students are eligible to be walkers if they live in the school zone and are close enough to school that bus transportation is not provided. Walkers are dismissed through the door near the back playground. The preferred method of dismissal for all non bus-riders is the car rider loop.

Car Rider Protocol – Arrival

Drop off begins at 7:40am, and students must exit out of the passenger side of their cars. The front doors close at 8:00am, so students are encouraged to arrive between 7:45 – 7:55am. After 8:00 am, parents will be required to walk children in, and sign them in at the front desk.

In order to prepare your child to exit your car, please have them ready with tote in hand, and goodbyes finished, once you cross the first Tiger Paw. Remember – parents, grandparents and other caretakers, please do NOT exit your car during drop off.

• Please use the following map to guide your approach to Percy Priest. EVERYONE MUST APPROACH THE SCHOOL FROM PRIEST ROAD. From Priest, turn right onto Otter Creek.
• Please use the right margin of Otter Creek as you approach the school entrance (your right tire should nearly be in the grass!).
• If you cannot pull up to the Tiger Paws, PLEASE WAIT ON OTTER CREEK. Turn into the loop only when cars begin to move. If your vehicle can fit within the first set of tiger prints, you may enter the circular driveway. If not, please remain on Otter Creek Road and to the far right of the shoulder to allow buses and other vehicles through.
• While you are in the loop, please stay as far left as possible to leave room for buses.
• NEVER PASS A CAR!
• Please do not park on the Percy Priest Campus unless you wait in line and use a marked parking space. DO NOT PARK IN THE GRASS ALONG OTTER CREEK. There is no safe path for your child to enter PPE if you park in the grass; kids must walk between cars if they do not enter from the pickup line.
• We want to be good neighbors at PPE! Otterwood and Hounds Run have asked that we not park in their entrances. Neighbors living on streets adjacent to Percy Priest have also asked that we not park in their yards. Please represent PPE well by respecting their wishes.

Car Rider Protocol – Dismissal

Dismissal begins promptly at 3:00pm. Parents, grandparents, and other caretakers are encouraged to begin lining up before 3:00pm along Otter Creek and Priest Road. Cars may not enter the Percy Priest circle until dismissal begins and Ms. Cathy waves cars into the circle.

** Have your car rider number ready to go and visible. This number is used to call your child out front. The PPE staff will enter your car rider number information into an app which displays in the classrooms.  When seeing their car rider number, your child will exit the building at their assigned door and make their way to your car.

Place your car in park, step up from your car door and when you see your child walk out, wave to indicate your location (please do not walk up to the front steps to retrieve your child).

Once the lane of cars is safely within the two sets of paw prints and in parked position, and the car rider numbers have been called, the students will be released as ONE group to then walk to their respective cars.
Once all students are safely within their vehicles, all cars will be dismissed from the PPE staff at the end of the line.

Round One Dismissal – The first group of cars lined up in the semi-circle will resemble the graphic included in this document, including buses in the third row.

Rounds Two, Three, and Four Dismissal – The first round of cars and the buses leave the semi-circle, and Mrs. Cathy or another school representative will wave your car in when it’s your turn. Cars will be lined up in three rows between the Tiger Paws. Once you are in your spot, please put your car in park and wait for students to be dismissed to your car. You will be able to exit your car at this point to let your child know where you are in line. Teachers will dismiss children to cars by turning a STOP sign to GO or SLOW.

A huge THANK YOU to Osborne State Farm for sponsoring all of our Back to School activities. Sponsorships help us underwrite the costs associated with things like kindergarten totes, new family yard signs, the popsicle party and the Family Picnic, and we are so grateful for the support of Osborne State Farm!

If you or your company would be interested in sponsoring the PTO event or fundraiser, please contact Margaret Crane (magsuga@yahoo.com).

Other School Information

Tiger Cup Save the Date – September 12th

The Percy Priest PTO will kick off its first fundraising event of 2022-23 school year with our annual TIGER CUP golf tournament on Monday, September 12th.  Enjoy 18 holes of golf with PPE friends, family and/or neighbors at Old Natchez Golf Course in Franklin. Tee off will be at 9:30 am and will conclude mid afternoon. Back by popular demand is Mamas and Mimosas….a one-hour golf lesson followed by drinks, snacks and conversation in a beautiful setting. We are in need of volunteers, sponsors and participants for this event. Please reach out to Kass Benchoff kassbenchoff@yahoo.com with any inquiries. More details about registration to come next week.

Upcoming Events

August 18 – Open House
September 6 – Fall Picture Day
September 9 – Family Picnic
September 12 – Tiger Cup Golf Tournament
October 6 – Songwriters Night

Calling All New Percy Priest Tigers!

Please let us know if you are new to Percy Priest and are interested in having a returning family serve as a “buddy” to help you get acclimated at the school by filling out our Buddy Request Form. Buddies serve as friendly faces, resources for questions you may have, and connectors as you begin at our school. Tell us about yourself and we’ll match you with someone who would love to know you!

Pre-loved PPE Attire Needed!

It is that time of year- time to clean out your Tiger’s closet before school starts! We will be accepting gently used clothing items or accessories that have PPE’s logo for our inaugural “Percy’s Vintage Closet” sale this fall! More details to come, but anything you’d like to pass on to another Tiger, please drop off on the school’s front porch. Any tops, bottoms, accessories with PPE logos on them that are gently worn, are all accepted! Look for the marked plastic bins that say “Pre-loved PPE attire” and we’ll take it from there. Thank you!

How to Volunteer

We need your help to make next year the best year yet at Percy Priest! Dedicated and engaged parents are a key ingredient to making our school the great school that it is. There are big and small volunteer opportunities throughout the year. Please check out our volunteer form and let us know what things interest you. We’ll be in touch with more information.

We particularly need returning parents who are willing to be “buddies” for new Percy Priest families, simply serving as a friendly face and a point of contact.

If you have questions of any kind, please contact us at presidentsppe@gmail.com. Thank you!

How to Stay Connected

Add PPE happenings to your calendar automatically!

You can subscribe to our PTO calendar and have all of our events show up on your calendar, so you never lose track of important dates! Following the links below will prompt you to subscribe to the calendar via your preferred calendar app. Any time the PTO updates an event through the website, it will update on the calendar of all subscribers (how often your calendar pulls updated info will be based on your individual personal settings – every 5 minutes, 1 hour, 1 week, etc).

For Calendar Apps (apple calendar etc), go to: webcal://www.percypriest.org/?post_type=tribe_events&ical=1&eventDisplay=list

For Google Calendar, go to: https://www.google.com/calendar/render?cid=webcal%3A%2F%2Fwww.percypriest.org%2F%3Fpost_type%3Dtribe_events%26ical%3D1