Child Check

A free Child Check screening for children birth to age 4 will be held from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 15 in Kilby Shores Elementary School. Children are checked for vision, hearing, speech, language and development delays. If you need transportation, call 538-2523. Child Check is sponsored by Suffolk Public Schools and The Children’s Center.

School Board meeting

The Suffolk School Board will hold its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, Jan. 15, beginning at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, located on the second floor of the Municipal Building at 441 Market St. Normally, the board meets on the second Thursday of each month, but they changed the January meeting date because Suffolk Public Schools did not return from Winter Break under Monday, Jan. 5. Administrators will present a proposal for new high school attendance zones to take affect with the September opening of King’s Fork High School. A public hearing on the proposal will be held in February, and the board is expected to vote on a new zoning plan in March. The Jan. 15 meeting will be broadcast live on the city’s Municipal Channel (Charter Cable 8) and rebroadcast on WSPS-Cable 6, the school division’s educational access channel, at 8 a.m., noon and 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20 through Sunday, Jan. 25.

School holiday

Suffolk Public Schools will be closed Monday, Jan. 19 for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Holiday.

A family of readers

The parent workshop &uot;Building a Family of Readers: Literacy Activities for Families&uot; will be presented by Patricia Spriggs, parent relations facilitator for Suffolk Public Schools, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, beginning at 6 p.m. at Mount Zion Elementary Schools. Designed for parents of students in the Early Start 4-year-old program, the workshop is free and open to all parents. Call Ms. Spriggs at Elephant’s Fork Elementary School at 925-5555 for more information.

Perseverance

The Character Trait for Successful Living for the month of January is Perseverance, which is defined as having courage to pursue your goals, regardless of difficulties, opposition or discouragement.

Mid-term exam

The end of the first semester means schedule changes for students. Mid-term exams will be given at the middle and high schools from Tuesday, Jan. 20 through Friday, Jan. 23. Early dismissal for all schools will be in effect for Wednesday, Jan. 21; Thursday, Jan. 22; and Friday, Jan. 23. Middle and high schools will dismiss at 11:45 a.m. Elementary schools will dismiss at 12:45 p.m. Only elementary schools will serve lunch. All students will be out of school on Monday, Jan. 26 for a teacher clerical day. All students will also be out of school on Tuesday, Jan. 27 for a staff development day.

Social Services Info Night

The Special Education Parent-Teacher Resource Center of Suffolk Public Schools will present a Social Security & Social Services Info Night, beginning at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 26 at King’s Fork Middle School. Representatives from these community agencies will discuss the Medicaid program and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program in relation to helping families of children with disabilities. Too often families don’t apply for benefits because they don’t know they are eligible. This session is designed to help parents learn the facts. Call the 925-5579 for more information.

GEDs

New adult student orientation for the local Even Start family literacy program will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 28. Sponsored by Suffolk Public Schools, this program offers parents and primary caregivers of young children the opportunity to work toward earning a General Equivalency Diploma (GED) or to learn English as a second language. Parents attend Even Start classes with the children. Free daycare, transportation, breakfast and lunch is provided for both. The program also emphasizes parent-child together time to equip parents to be a strong &uot;first teacher&uot; for their children. The local program is called PREPP – which stands for Partnering for Reading, Educational and Parental Preparedness – and it is housed at The Pruden Center for Industry and Technology. Call Even Start director Darlene Dockery at 925-5651 for more information on the upcoming orientation.

Tribute to MLK Jr.

Driver Elementary School is doing a musical tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. each morning on the announcements.

In addition, Jeanie Baird, music teacher at Driver Elementary School, will lead students in a musical tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and other famous Black Americans at the PTA meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m.

Call library media specialist Deborah Vaughan at 538-5405 for more information.

New phone numbers

Effective Jan. 5, the administrative offices of Suffolk Public Schools have relocated to its new facility in the renovated Professional Building, located at the intersection of Main and Washington streets. The entrance to the building is in the rear facing the Commerce Street parking lot. The post office box for Suffolk Public Schools will remain the same – P.O. Box 1549, Suffolk, Va. 23439-1549. The main fax number will be changed to 925-6751.

Other new telephone numbers are:

Administration: 925-6750

Finance: 925-6754

Accounts Payable: 925-6755

Payroll: 925-6756

Human Resources: 925-6758

Elementary Instructional Services: 925-6759

Secondary Instructional Services: 925-6760

Public Information: 925-6753

Pupil Personnel: 925-6761

Purchasing: 925-6762

Special Education: 925-6764

Superintendent: 925-6752