Dear Branchville Families, 

Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year at Branchville Elementary School! We hope you all enjoyed a fun and restful summer.  As we embark on this new school year, we are extremely excited about what the faculty, staff and PTA have in store for our BES community!

The PTA helps support and run many different programs in partnership with the school.  There are dozens of programs that we organize, fund, and facilitate each year for students and families. A sampling of our programs include Path to Zero, Come Play School, the Scholastic Book Fair, 5th Grade Musical, Beaver Boogie, Beaver Bucks, Field Day, After School Enrichment, Invention Convention, and DEIB. We also underwrite fees for guest authors and other assemblies and enrichment opportunities, coordinate the yearbook, maintain the garden on the school grounds, and so much more. 

We are always looking for volunteers in a variety of roles, now more than ever as we are back to a typical school year with events in full swing!  There are plenty of opportunities to help out with programs that already exist, but we additionally welcome new ideas and will help support in any way we can.  If you are interested, please let us know and we’d be happy to point you in the right direction. We can be reached at board@branchvillepta.org. 

Our BES PTA website at www.branchvillepta.org has all the important information pertaining to upcoming events and programs. For your convenience, links are provided to make purchases and sign up for activities at BES easier. You can find the lunch menu, school calendar and many other helpful links there. We hope this will be your go-to for everything PTA.  In addition, there is now a Membership Toolkit app! Membership Toolkit is our website platform, and the app will seamlessly help you access everything on the PTA website.  It will help notify you anytime we send a message, and give you quick and easy access to the directory, calendar and more. 

With all of this in mind, we highly encourage you to join the PTA; your membership provides you with a vote, access to the online Branchville Student Directory and PTA communications. The Directory is only available to members and is essential for communicating with other BES families! Our eBlasts, a weekly email, are the best way to stay in the know for all things BES; on our website, click the blue button that says “Register and Join the PTA'' and register to receive the eBlasts. Please take note, if you do not register for the PTA, you will not receive the weekly eBlast emails nor will you have access to the Directory. Plan on registering when you have received your child’s class assignment by going to branchvillepta.org.  When you register, you can list your child’s teacher, and you’ll be able to see other families in the same class as well. 

Finally, we want to stress that the PTA and the school administration are very open to hearing any concerns, suggestions, or questions you may have.  Before you take to social media to air your ideas or concerns, please let us know what’s on your mind by emailing us at board@branchvillepta.org! Mr. Margolus has asked us to emphasize that his door is always open as well. Just call or email Catherine in the main office (cbasso@ridgefieldps.net) to set up a time to talk to Mr. Margolus. We all want to work together to make sure that all students and families continue to have a positive experience at BES.  

Welcome (or Welcome Back) to BES! Let’s have a great year! 

Warmly,

Katherine Voellmicke and Deanna Nayes

BES PTA Co-Presidents

board@branchvillepta.org