Hello and welcome to Stoddert!
On behalf of the entire parent community, we want to welcome you to Stoddert! This website and the information on it is written and maintained by volunteers from Stoddert’s Parent Teacher Organization (PTO). The PTO works with the school to provide the most up-to-date information on what is happening at school and posts it here on this website.
On this page you will find a few things about the school and the classrooms. This is quite a bit of information, so please take the time to read through as there are a few action items. We hope that you find this page helpful.
If you have any questions about the PTO, please reach out to us at communications@stoddert.org. We would love to hear from you and personally welcome you to Stoddert!
ENROLLMENT
If you are new student to Stoddert, please visit the DCPS enrollment website for more information and to find the necessary documents for enrollment. If you have any questions, please contact the front office.
CLASS COMMUNICATION
Each teacher has their own way of communicating with the families in their class. Please check with your child’s teacher about how they like to communicate with families.
Room Parents
Each class as one or two (maybe three) parents who serve as room parents. Their job is to support the teacher and be a liaison for the rest of the families in the classroom. This could be anything from organizing classroom events and volunteer to supporting the teacher with communications and more. If they have not reached out to you already and introduced themselves, please ask your child’s teacher who your room parents are.
The Green Folder
Each student at Stoddert is provided a green folder. Each teacher uses the folder differently and might use it to communicate homework assignments or send home papers on a weekly basis. The school administration and the PTO also use the folder to send home flyers and important information that is going on school-wide.
SCHOOL-WIDE COMMUNICATION
Website
The school’s main source of communication is www.stoddert.org. The website is for the entire school and it is maintained by the PTO. Please check it often and regularly for upcoming events and information. There is a calendar function with loads of important dates for the entire year.
The Chalkboard
This is the name of the PTO’s weekly email, which is sent Sunday mornings at around 9am. In addition to the website, the emails are an important source of school information. Please sign up for the Chalkboard and make sure that you read it when it comes out each week. Sign up here. Even if you have provided your contact information to the office and/or your teacher, you must still sign yourself up for the Chalkboard emails. In addition to the weekly Chalkboard emails, you might get mid-week reminders about important events and information.
Emergency Communication
Emergencies are communicated through school’s ROBO call/text system. Please make sure that your contact information is accurate with the front office. School closures and delays due to weather are communicated through DCPS’s website.
Please read this notice about the difference between general and emergency communications.
SCHOOL-WIDE ACTIVITIES
PTO Dues
The PTO is a huge part of the mission at Stoddert. The suggested dues are $400 per family. You can contribute right here.
The PTO dues might seem odd to you if you are new to Stoddert or new to DC. However, the city does not fully support each school. It is on the parent community to fill in the gaps programmatically and financially.
Each and every student benefits from the PTO’s financial contributions to the school, including a stipend to each teacher so they don’t have to use their own money for classroom supplies. This money is also used for books, subscriptions to online math and reading sites the children will use throughout the year. The PTO supports the garden and science lab, pays for the maintenance of the school grounds, pays for the school’s website and subscriptions, and so much more.
Volunteer
The school needs your help! There are many opportunities throughout the year to help out the entire school. Stoddert is only so amazing because of the incredbile volunteers that are doing all kinds of jobs – everything from helping in the garden to attending a PTO meeting to staffing one of the events. We all work, we are all busy and the good news is that there are volunteer opportunities for every schedule, even jobs we don’t know about yet! Please consider getting involved and finding your own way to help out the entire school.