Family Newsletter 10/2/2026

October 2, 2026

Dear Whiton Families,

This week, we welcomed the Neshanic Station Volunteer Fire Company for a special visit with our PreK–2nd grade students. October is National Fire Prevention Month, and our students had the opportunity to learn important fire safety information from our local first responders. A big thank you to our first responders for taking the time to visit with our students and to Ms. Coste for organizing this wonderful experience!

We also practiced bus evacuations this week. Our students did a wonderful job learning and practicing what to do in the event of an emergency while riding the bus.

Beginning Tuesday, October 13, we will be making some changes to our dismissal procedures. These changes are intended to improve the flow of dismissal and, most importantly, help keep our students and families safe.

Adults picking up students with last names A–L should use the door located in the side alley next to the cafeteria, to the left of the gym.

Adults picking up students with last names M–Z should use the door on the far side of the cafeteria, near the back playground. This is the entrance with the steps and ramp leading to the door.

For safety reasons, the side purple playground will be closed during dismissal.

Families who would like their students to play after signing out may use the back playground only and should remain in the area between the pavilion and the back playground.

Please use the designated walkways when leaving the school. Students and families should not walk between buses in the bus loop.

All other dismissal procedures will remain the same. Please remember:

One goal of these changes is to help our buses leave school more efficiently and arrive at their stops in a more timely manner. Families who meet students at the bus stop should plan to arrive at their usual stop 5–10 minutes earlier than they currently do. If a bus arrives at a stop and an adult is not outside to receive the student, the student will be brought back to Whiton for pick-up.

Next week, October 5–9, we will be celebrating our Week of Respect!

What does respect mean to our students and staff? We asked members of our Whiton community to share their thoughts. See our video here.  

We will also be celebrating Respect with a Spirit Week. Please see our Flyer for the daily themes and join us in celebrating respect, kindness, and our Whiton community!

Today, we held our first all-school assembly of the year and had the opportunity to celebrate our September Hoot & Holler winners!

Congratulations to the following students, who were recognized for demonstrating our September Character Strong trait of Respect. We are so proud of the way these students model respect and help make Whiton a welcoming and caring place for everyone!

Abbie (Hernandez)

Mia (Harwood)

Cora (Ackerman), Emma (Amato), Easton (Apsley), Hallie (Cifuentes), Elena (Cordero), Nihira (Fitzgibbon), Zachary (Ollis/Reilly), and Lydia (Struble) 

Madelyn (Arencibia), Christian (Bitner), Hudson (Bula/Ortiz), Kiara (Eelman), Olivia (Jankowski), Brooklyn (Meechan), Cameron (Palko), and Aksa (Petronella/Santangelo) 

Fatima (Cole), Ella M. (Corrales/Mega), Alejandro (Coste/O’Shea), Ava (Francescone), James (Hanna/Perez), Michael (Lewis), and Aarshya (Smeraldi)

Emma (Andresen), Callie (Bockus/Zelnick), Mishka (Colon), Disha (Conklin/Smith), Madison (Donaway/Natale), Alissa (Janiec), Mason (Moor), and Jesus (Racine/Roman)

Every day matters, and it is so important that our students are here! Please keep in mind that, in order for a student to be marked “present,” they must be in school for at least four hours. The four hours do not have to be consecutive. If your student needs to leave school for an appointment, please make every effort to bring them back to school afterward so they can continue their learning. Whenever possible, please consider scheduling appointments first thing in the morning or toward the end of the school day. Every day matters, and every minute of learning counts!

Should your student be absent or tardy, please remember to enter it into Genesis. If your student will be an early dismissal, please also enter it into Genesis by 2:00. 

Just a reminder that parent pick-up is at 3:45 p.m. in the gym. Beginning October 13, parent pick-up will take place in the cafeteria.

If you would like your student added to the parent pick-up list, you must email both the office (wesoffice@branchburg.k12.nj.us) and your student’s teacher. Please note that parent pick-up information cannot be entered into Genesis.

All parties must be notified by 2:00 p.m. on the day of the pick-up.

Please remember that you must bring your ID for all parent pick-ups. 

Lastly, if your student attends aftercare, and their dismissal is going to be changed, please include the office, teacher and Mr. Diana at Jointure (pdiana@jointure.org) on your email. 

Please park in the designated spots in the parking lot at all times, you should NEVER park in the bus lane. 

The Book Fair, sponsored by the PTO, will run from October 14th–21st. Each class will have an opportunity to visit the Book Fair during their regularly scheduled library time. The Book Fair will also be open for families on Tuesday, October 20th, from 4:00–6:00p.m. for anyone who would like to shop together. If you are picking your student up from dismissal that afternoon, please wait until after the buses have left before coming to the front entrance to enter the Book Fair. If you will be doing parent pick up that day, please remember to email the office and your student's teacher before 2:00 p.m. so they are on the pick up list.

We will also be celebrating Halloween this year, with our parade beginning at 9:20 a.m. Please use this link to find all of the information regarding our Halloween celebrations at Whiton.

Please review the Health Services information here for guidelines regarding when your student should stay home from school. As a reminder, please do not send your student to school with a fever. Students should also not come to school if they have been given fever-reducing medication before school in order to lower their temperature.

Please contact our school nurse, Nicole Bonaduce, at nbonaduce@branchburg.k12.nj.us with any questions.

PK Families: Please remember that flu shot verification paperwork is due to the nurse by December 1.

PTO Membership information can be found here. 

If you are interested in volunteering in the lunchroom, please click here. Be sure to read the information at the top of the link. 

Please find information on the BEF here.