Originally delivered on 3/31/2025 6:00 am

SUBJECT: OHS Weekly Flash | No school today, early dismissal Tuesday

Weekly Flash

March 31, 2025

IN THIS NEWSLETTER:

  • Updates from Principal Smyth 
  • PTA Funds March update
  • Next PTA meeting April 11
  • Share your spring holiday recipes with the Culture Committee
  • OHS textile bin can recycle your damaged items
  • Donate gently used items for the FPS Green Team Spring Resale
This Week
  • March 31 - NO SCHOOL (Eid Al-Fitr)
  • April 1 - Early Dismissal, 1:40pm (Staff PD)
  • April 3 - Parent Social at Boca Grille at H. Smith Richardson, 7-9pm
Looking Ahead

**Follow us on OHS Families Facebook & OHS_Families Instagram to stay in the know, and check out our OHS PTA website!**

Dear OHS Families,


I hope you are all doing well!


Following the busy week of conferences and progress reports, our teachers have been engaged in continuing their professional learning in literacy. We had the HMH Coach visit us this past Friday, and she spent time working with each grade level to plan for the rest of the year’s literacy instruction. Mrs. Morello facilitated that work, and Mrs. Morello will continue the professional development this Tuesday after school. The teachers continue to learn and plan according to the needs of the children in their classrooms.


A few important reminders/notices for this week:

  • Tuesday, April 1st is an early dismissal day. Students will be dismissed at 1:40 PM.

  • April 1st is the grade 5 math testing for middle school placement

  • We also finish up our Parent/Teacher conferences on Tuesday afternoon

  • April is Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month, and Wednesday, April 2nd specifically, is World Autism Awareness Day! We welcome anyone to wear blue to celebrate Autism Awareness, or red to promote Autism Acceptance!

  • Wednesday, April 2nd is also Paraprofessional Day! We have many wonderful paras at OHS, and we could not meet the needs of all our children without them. We recognize and celebrate their terrific work on Wednesday!

  • Wednesday is also a Mill River in-school program for grade 5.

  • On Thursday, students in Mrs. Rahn’s class will attend the Fairfield Museum

  • ASA’s continue this week - please make sure your SDM is updated accordingly.


Again, to our families who celebrate Eid Al-Fitr, I hope you have enjoyed the holiday!

Have a terrific week ahead! Take care.


Sean F. Smyth, Principal

PTA FAQ: What do our PTA funds get used for?

One of the questions we commonly get is, "What do our PTA funds get used for?"

Along with funding programs like author visits, and offsetting costs for field trips, we also use our PTA funds for donations to school-related causes and to get recess equipment.

This month, here's some of the things that we used PTA funds to support:

  • Mill River Wetlands, $100 Donation for 2024-2025: Every year, we make a donation to the Mill River Wetland Committee which many OHS students benefit from their programming and hands-on field trip experiences.
  • High School Scholarship Foundation of Fairfield, $350 Donation for 2024-2025: Every year, we contribute funds for an OHS scholarship. Every year this is awarded to an OHS alum who is graduating from FLHS. 
  • Recess Equipment: We regularly replenish recess equipment and just purchased a dozen basketballs, a dozen playground balls, jump ropes and legos. 

Our PTA budget is developed every spring and all PTA members have any opportunity to provide input and vote on the budget.  You can view this year's approved budget on our website. For any questions on our budget please contact Melissa Miller, Kate Fierman, Yemi Chudoba, and Lexi Cummings. 

Next PTA meeting April 11

Our next PTA meeting will be held next Friday, April 11 at 9:15am in the APR. We'll hear updates from Mr. Smyth, get the latest info on our spring PTA events, and hear a presentation about the new language arts curriculum that launched this year from Mrs. Morello. We hope to see you there!


Any questions? Contact Melissa Miller.

Share your spring holiday recipes

With many spring holidays coming up, such as Eid Al-Fitr, Passover, and Easter, many of us are going to be cooking with our families. The OHS Culture Committee is collecting recipes that we will post on our website.  


Share your family recipes with the OHS Culture Committee by Monday, April 7 and feel free to include 1-2 sentences about how this recipe is meaningful to your family.


Any questions? Contact the OHS Culture Committee. 

Spring cleaning? We can help you declutter! We have two options to help you reuse and recycle your goods:

Bring used or damaged items to the OHS textile bin

You can recycle your used and damaged textiles at the white bin in the upper loop of the OHS parking lot.  You can donate clothing, shoes, sheets and blankets, towels, and even stuffed animals. The textiles can be turned into cleaning cloths, stuffing and insulation - so it's a perfect spot for anything with holes, ripped, or worn out! Find the full list of accepted items here. The PTA receives funds for each ton of materials collected. If the bin is full, please do not overstuff or leave clothes at the side of the bin. It's picked up weekly, so please try again!

Donate used items to the FPS Green Teams' Spring Resale

Please consider sharing your gently used items with the FPS Green Team! There will be a collection box in the OHS lobby collecting donations towards the town-wide Green Team Resale. You can shop the donated items on April 26 from 12-3 at Sherman. Funds raised by the sale will support the Green Teams throughout Fairfield Schools.


Questions? Contact the OHS Green Team.

Have news to share? Email Jen Braunby 10am Friday
to include in the following Monday's OHS Weekly Flash.

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