Welcome new and returning families to South Mountain School for the 2024-2025 school year!

The South Mountain School (SMS) PTA is a volunteer organization that promotes the partnership between the families of SMS students and the teachers, administrators, and other staff at our school.  Our goal is to build a supportive and inclusive community that provides for the educational growth of all our students.  Our efforts include:

• Organizing community-building events for school families, such as our Back-to-School Ice Cream Social, Fall Festival, Skate Night, and School Fair
• Facilitating enriching in-school assemblies and other programming, including music and dance performances, author visits, and other speaker talks
• Supporting enhancements to the campus grounds, such as the greenhouse at the Big School and outdoor learning gazebo at the Annex
• Holding fundraising social events, like our biennial Casino and Auction Night and school family-hosted Mixers

The community-building events, programming, and resource support we provide to the school are funded by our various fundraising efforts throughout the year, including the Book Fair, Annual Fund campaign, and, this year, Casino and Auction Night.  

We rely on parent/guardian volunteers to carry out all our activities and events.  We hope that you will consider signing up to help.  Your participation is essential to executing these events and is a great way to meet other school families.

If you haven’t done so already, please register/sign in on our website and complete the Parent/Guardian and Student Information forms for the 2024-2025 school year.  Even if you are a returning family, you must sign in and update your details to ensure that you receive all relevant information from us and the school for this school year.  

While on the website, consider becoming a member of the PTA.   The cost is $10 per year for an individual membership.  We hope that everyone will join and participate so that our organization can optimally serve all our students and families.  Membership also gives you access to our directory of school families who have elected to share their information. 

Additionally, to ensure that you are apprised of the latest SMS news and events, we encourage you to sign up for our newsletter and join our Facebook group.  

If you need financial assistance to purchase a PTA membership or to attend any of our events during the year, please contact Principal Kevin Mason (kmason@somsd.k12.nj.us) or Social Worker Shazaan Napoleon (snapoleo@somsd.k12.nj.us).  Your request will be honored confidentially.  

We are honored to serve our incredible students and school community.  Let us work together to cultivate, strengthen, and support the robust relationships, resources and spirit we enjoy at SMS and to help our students continue to thrive.  

Please join us for coffee and breakfast treats in the Big School cafeteria on Friday, September 6, at 8:15 a.m.  Take advantage of the opportunity to say hello to old friends and to meet some new ones!  We will hold our first general membership meeting of the year directly after the coffee.  We encourage everyone to stay and learn more about what the PTA does and ways to get involved.  

Let’s make it a wonderful year!

Warmly,

Meisha Williams Bertels, PTA President

Jillian Howell, PTA Vice President

The rest of the PTA Executive Board