Hello WAAS Families!

As we begin our final countdown until the start of school, I want to share with you important information regarding WAAS Apparel, Lunch and Open House.

WAAS Apparel
Just a reminder that August 13 is the deadline to place your first order of WAAS apparel.  You will have other opportunities during the year to order, but the company must have specific cut off dates. August 13 is that first cut off date.

Samples of Tshirts and athletic wear are available in the front office.

Lunches
The New Hanover County Health Department requires that any lunch vendor we use must have catering license and insurance, and they must prepackage all lunches and hand deliver to each student.  Basically, parents and teachers can’t touch the food.  It is getting more difficult to get vendors to deliver and stay for an hour to distribute the food.  Parent pick up and delivery to school is not an option by State and County Health Department rules.

As a means of providing our students with the best possible lunch choices and  meet the North Carolina and New Hanover County Health Department regulations,  WAAS will be using My Hot Lunchbox.com (MHL) as a tool to help with the solicitation of vendors who will deliver to school and distribute the food.  In addition, parents can order and make payments online.
  

MHL negotiates the lowest price with the vendor and then adds a percentage for their fee. There is no cost to the school.  Since MHL can use vendors for other schools, this could help with the negotiations of prices. (I know that St. Mark plans to use this company this fall.)   Parents will order and pay on line, and this company will handle all transactions. 
My role is to  recommend and approve preferred vendors.  For this year, I have recommended Tropical Smoothie and  C Street Mexican Grill as they are the two favorites among students. We are still negotiating for the third vendor.
The obvious advantages are that we can continue to offer a lunch service, recruit a variety of vendors and parents can pay on line.  The disadvantages are that the price might go up a bit, and it won’t be as “personal,” meaning that I won’t have the capability to add, delete and make adjustments to student’s orders.
MHL has a copy of our school calendar, and they will be aware of field trips and inclement weather.  
As in the past, our lunch service will not begin until the month of September.  As the time gets closer, I will send you the instructions as to when and how to place your order.  We will also post the link to our website. Students will need to bring lunch to school in August.
All things considered, I believe this partnership with MHL will serve us well.
Open House
Open House is scheduled for Thursday, August 13  6:00-7:00 pm. It is intended for the students to get their schedule, put school supplies in lockers, get questions answered and become familiar with the building before the first day of school.  There will not be a formal meeting, but the teachers and I are available to answer questions.
Students should report to the following teachers upon arrival as they will have their schedules and locker assignment:                                              
                                                               4th/5th Grade  Mr. Adams
6th Grade        Mr. Simon
 7th Grade        Mrs. Puritis
   8th Grade        Mrs. Keating
We look forward to seeing you on August 13, if not before!
Beth Upton
Director