PTO Newsletter 1/24/25
Our hearts are with the students, teachers, and families of Antioch High School, and all of Nashville, as we process the tragic events of yesterday.
The school counselors, Mrs. Baxter, Mrs. K-B, & Mrs. Kelley are available to support your children. Please reach out if you have concerns or questions.
Two helpful resources are listed below:
Managing your distress in the aftermath of a shooting
Talking to kids about school shootings: Advice to ease their anxiety
We are here if you need anything, today and in the days to come.
Warmest hugs,
Your school counselors
diana.baxter@mnps.org
kristin.keiper@mnps.org
jessica.kelley@mnps.org
Important Dates
Note: Dates are subject to change. The BEST way to stay updated is with our PTO Google Calendar – view and subscribe here!
- January 30: Field Trip (1st Grade)
- January 31: Navigator Day
- January 31: Talent Show (now one night!)
- February 3-7: Teacher Appreciation Week
- February 7: Field Trip (2nd Grade)
- February 8: Belmont Basketball Game Fundraiser
- February 10-12: Used Book Sale
- February 14: Valentine’s Day Class Parties
- February 17: No School (Professional Development Day)
- February 18: Read-A-Thon Begins!
- February 21: Read-A-Thon PJ Day
- February 23: Parnassus Spirit Night
- February 25: Family Skate Night
- February 27: Percy’s Reading Party
- February 28: Navigator Day
Upcoming Community and Fundraiser Events
Come support our 2nd-5th grade kiddos! Want to get involved and volunteer? Sign up here!
Thank you so much to those of you who have already sent in so many great books! We are still accepting book donations! We welcome books that are appropriate for Kindergarteners through 5th graders, and we especially need chapter books. Donation bins are on the PPE front steps.
This event happens about a week ahead of the Read-A-Thon so the kids will get excited and have “new” books to read. Each book is $1 on February 10th and 11th. On February 12th, the books are buy one get one free! Your children will have the opportunity to shop the sale during the school day. Go ahead and set your reminder to send your kids with cash for the sale before all the good books are gone!
We need volunteers to help us work the sale. Sign up here. Feel free to reach out to Gillian Stewart, gstewart0707@gmail.
Get ready for one of our favorite community events of the year – Percy’s Reading Party (Feb 27)! We are busy planning a great night of activities, reading, Percy the Tiger appearances, themed fun and special snacks. Want to be part of the planning crew? Email Megan Gesell to help out meganmgesell@gmail.com.
Spring Auction: March 29th at Richland Country Club
Save the date for the best night in the Spring to have a ball. There will be music, food, dancing and fun items to bid on to help support our school.
TICKETS ON SALE SOON!
Auction Volunteers Needed!
It’s time to get working on the biggest party of the year – the Percy Priest Spring Auction – and we need your help NOW! Join the Auction Committee to get our incredible catalog of silent auction items secured. It’s an easy job you can do from home, and we’ll provide you with contact information plus scripts for calling/emailing potential and repeat donors. The more people we have contributing their time to this important PTO fundraiser, the easier the task! Please email percypriestauction@gmail.com.
General Announcements
Teacher Appreciation week is coming soon!! The Teacher Appreciation team will be showering our teachers with love the week of February 3-7 so watch for ways to sign up to help. Thank you SO MUCH to Jamie Kuhlman and Vicki Lubnick who have been leading our Teacher Appreciation committee for several years. You both are amazing!
PPE Chess Program – new spots open!
The PPE Chess Program and Team has a few open spots on a first-come, first-served basis. The Program meets on Wednesdays after school until 4:20pm. Please email Coach Igor at igorzhislin@gmail.com for more information.
PPE Yoga Club
Spots remain for K-2 grade classes (Tuesdays) and 3-5 grade classes (Thursdays) so sign up today. The fee includes a yoga mat and 10 sessions led by the Small World Yoga team. Sign-ups will close on Friday, 1/24!
We are a UniCycle partner! Once our closet is full of what we need here, we’ll share any extras with @unicycle.nashville to get to another school’s closet or a specific student in unstable housing through their close work with @mnps_hero. All sizes needed, and coats and NEW underwear are welcome, too!
Brrrr! Cold weather is upon us so don’t forget to bundle the kiddos up! Layers are great since room temperatures fluctuate. And don’t forget to check lost and found if items don’t make it home.
Watch this space for updates, FAQs, important information and more.
For now – we need your stories! Parents and students, send us either your FAVORITE MEMORY of PPE so far or WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE MOST with the new building. Email these to PresidentsPPE@gmail.com and we will start featuring a “GOODBYE” (fave memory) + “HELLO” (future memory) every week in the newsletter!
Update 1.23.25
Our new building construction is on track! Teachers will move into the new building over summer and our back to school “sneak-a-peak” will be a brand new experience for everyone. Demolition of our current building will start over summer. The Spring PTO event will involve a tribute to our current building for all the great memories and years it has supported our students, teachers, and staff. This will be a big event so if you are interested in being part of the planning crew, follow this link and click “Spring Event/Tiger Dash”.
FAQ 2: When will I get to tour the building? Some special 2024 Auction winners are taking their VIP tours over the next few weeks but we have great news. The General PTO meeting was moved from January to March 18 so that we could offer a sneak-a-peek! Stay tuned for more information about our March meeting that will be all things “Navigating Transitions” and will include a peak in the new building.
Fundraisers
Yummy Cookie Decorating Kits – buy before 2/9!
Help celebrate this Valentine’s Day with a cookie kit from My Sweet Dessert! The cookie kit includes 6 undecorated cookies, 3 colors of icing, 1 spatula and 1 bag of sprinkles. Orders can be placed now through February 9th and pick up will be from 2:30-4:00 on February 12th. If that date/time doesn’t work please feel free to reach out to Marcy Burridge to make other arrangements. Order cookies here!
Belmont Basketball Game Fundraiser
Come cheer on the Bruins and support our school Saturday, February 8 when Belmont takes on Missouri State. Purchase tickets here and Belmont donates money back to PPE!
Get Involved!
Come Have Lunch!
Parents, grandparents and special friends are welcome to eat lunch with students! To help us with space and accommodating guests, we ask that visitors sign-up to come eat lunch using the bookings link below. Please be sure to select the correct grade level and teacher. When signing-up, we also ask that you only sign-up for one day at this time. Thank you for your help and we hope to see you for lunch soon. Sign up to come eat lunch with your student!
Grandparents and Special Friends Email List
We know there are many grandparents, family and special friends of PPE students who would like to be involved. You can keep up with the latest news by signing up for the PPE Grandparents, Family & Friends List here.
Small Fundraisers Spotlight
For a list of all of our ongoing small fundraisers, please visit our Small Fundraisers webpage.
How to Stay Connected
Email Lists
New families – Be sure to sign up for our school newsletter, which includes grade-level information each week. Register today.
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), click here.
For Google Calendar, click here.