A Letter from Our President

Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year at Mountain Park Elementary School! I hope that you and your loved ones are staying safe and doing as well as possible during this global
pandemic.

As the newly appointed President of the Mountain Park PTO, I am supposed to craft a letter that is full of excitement and encouragement. Yet, as I sit at my computer, the
uncertainty of this school year is – for lack of a better word - overwhelming. There are still so many unanswered questions: Will we end up going fully remote? What events and/or
sports will be allowed? Will any of us parents/guardians have access to the building? And the list goes on….

That said, I am still welcoming you. I am still encouraging you. And I am still excited to be President of the Mountain Park PTO. I am thankful that I am not sick, and that no one in
my family is sick. And I am cherishing this time at home with my two boys (and two dogs– one of whom is a brand-new addition!), getting as involved as I possibly can. Because
if things were “normal,” I wouldn’t be able to be President of the PTO. If things were “normal,” I would be commuting three hours to/from Philly every single day to run Investor
Relations for Comcast.

As we enter this challenging school year, I am asking for your support and your involvement. I would love for you to join us in any activities we are able to have - whether
they are in-person or conducted virtually. We still need volunteers. We still need fundraisers. And above all else, we still need to provide as much normalcy to our kids as
we possibly can. There are so many ways you can help - just your membership makes a difference.

To give you some background on what we do: the PTO funds all of the enrichment programs provided at Mountain Park. For our students, that has been school assemblies,
in-class science presentations, 5th Grade yoga instruction, 5th Grade writing instruction with BJ Ward, an author’s visit to the school, and many more. We’ve provided teachers
with a grant of up to $125 to fulfill any classroom needs. For the school, we have purchased new folding chairs for the gym/cafeteria, we have provided air conditioning
units for the classrooms, and we gifted the gym/cafeteria with a fresh coat of paint. In the past, our fundraising efforts have included membership dues, the annual Scholastic Book Fair, the Spring Walk-a-Thon, and our always-too-much-fun Adult Social...to name a few. We don’t know what’s in store for us this coming year, but I promise we will do the best we
can whatever the circumstance.

Please note two important dates - Back to School Night on September 16th and our first PTO meeting on September 14th . For your convenience, we offer some morning PTO
meetings and some evening PTO meetings, and minutes are always posted online if you can’t make it. At this point, all events will be conducted via Zoom, so please look out for
details in upcoming emails.

One last thing - The PTO sends a lot of important correspondence through e-mails. To stay up to date as well as receive a detailed calendar from the district, please be sure to
become a PTO member and send the form in your welcome packet back to school as soon as possible. Please do this even if you have received e-mails from the PTO in the past. And also continue to check the PTO and school websites often for updates - www.bhpsnj.org.

I strongly encourage you to join the PTO. Your gift of membership (and extra donation, if you choose) is greatly appreciated - as this might be the main source of fundraising this
particular school year.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

I thank you in advance for joining!

Please stay safe. Stay hopeful. And stay in touch.

Warm regards,
Marci Ryvicker
President, Mountain Park School PTO
646-831-4821 (c) mt.pk.pto@gmail.com