Friday marks the end of an era at AEA as Mr. DeJesus leaves his pre-K classroom to begin his (much deserved!) retirement. On Thursday, we presented him with a card and a $100 Visa card from the PTA on behalf of our entire school community. Mr. DeJesus, in addition teaching so many of our students in pre-K, also knew many more from his Artist in Focus programs, and delighted everyone with the very best — and very biggest — Halloween costumes.
We know many of you would like the opportunity to say “thank you” as well, so Michael Samuels has volunteered to help the PTA make a photo book for Mr. DeJesus. If you’d like to contribute, you can send a photo of Mr. DeJesus with your student, or your student today holding a sign that says “thank you,” or a picture they’ve made for him, or even a very short message to be included. We’ve already received some great contributions from AEA alumni, and more are welcome. Please send a photo to 303pta@gmail.com before Friday, Feb. 25. We’ll mail the final product to him when it’s done.
Many other AEA teachers were feeling the love this week, thanks to the spending our members approved at our last meeting. The PTA has funded buying the rights to the 4th grade’s spring musical, art supplies for Mrs. Bates’s class, a color printer for Mr. Koines’s classroom, and seating for Ms. Rodriguez’s class. We’ve encouraged all the teachers to reach out to us to consider any needs they have.
We hope everyone has a restful and healthy midwinter break!