SOLON & BEYOND: RSU#74 students get learning packets

by Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percy
grams29@tds.net
Solon, Maine 04979

Good morning, dear friends. Don’t worry, be happy!

My many, many thanks for the Solon School news, I didn’t think I would be getting any more of them for quite awhile.

RSU #74 Schools deal with Coronavirus pandemic: Due to the coronavirus pandemic sweeping through the state and nation, Solon Elementary School and the other schools of RSU #74 closed on March 16. We miss our students and hope we can be together with them again soon.

During this closure, teachers and staff have prepared learning packets to be delivered to students’ homes once a week to keep students in the routines of school. We thank parents and guardians for working with students at home to do the work. Remember that you can e-mail your child’s teacher or call him/her at the district’s Call Center at (207) 635-3278 Monday through Friday from 8 -11 a.m., for help or answers to any questions you may have.

In addition to sending home learning packets, the district has provided take-home breakfasts and lunches available at the school and other hubs around the district from 11- noon, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Teachers are calling or e-mailing their students’ families once a week to touch base and see how they are doing. That is a good time to ask questions about the learning packet work or to let us know of any needs that you have that we could help with.

We thank the families, the students, and the staff for working together to get through this unprecedented and challenging time for all of us. We’re all in this together and we will make it through!

PTO Fundraiser Changes:

The Solon PTO ran a calendar raffle fundraiser during the month of March. Students were in the process of selling tickets when the school shut down on March 16th. The drawing for winners was scheduled to take place in April.

The fundraiser will still take place when we return to school, when ever that happens to be. The tickets that have already been turned in will be held, and students can bring in additional tickets and money when we return to school. Details about how we will conduct this raffle will go home with students at that time.

The PTO thanks you for your support of this fundraiser to enable them to provide special activities for our students.

Our fifth grade teacher Mr. Corson ran his annual Kitty Kats basketball program at the Solon School this winter. Most students in grades K-5 participated in this program in which they learned basketball skills and drills while practicing sportsmanship and team work. On February 12, students demonstrated their ball handling skills to music for their families and friends at a Kitty Kats Basketball Fun Night.

Because Mr. Corson is retiring from teaching at the end of the school year, this was the last Kitty Kats Program. Corson started the program at the school in 1983 and has run it every year since then (except for the two years he worked at CCS). To recognize and thank Mr. Corson for his many years as the coach of the Kitty Cats Program at Solon Elementary School, the staff and students presented him with a basketball signed by all the players and staff and a banner to hang in the gym to commemorate his 35 years of service. Thank You Mr. Corson!