Principal's Message

Please click here to join Mr. Clayton's message group to receive the weekly Friday message along with other key information throughout the school year. Reach out to Mr. Clayton via email if you have any questions about joining.

Reminder about Morning Drop-off, Carpool and Dismissal

Monday, August 4th, is the first day of school. Parents can walk their child to class for the first two days of school starting at 7:15am. On Wednesday Aug 6th, regular morning routine will commence with students walking independently to their classroom. Parents can drop them off at the front entrance. There will be plenty of patrols and staff to ensure that students safely get where they need to go.
Morning carpool starts at 7:15am (see map below)
Students can enter their class at 7:30am (prior to this they can go to the cafeteria) and the tardy bell is at 7:45am (after which a parent/guardian must sign the child into school at the front office.
Dismissal will start at 2:10pm each day. Please have your carpool/walker numbers for pickup.

2025-2026 Fall Spirit Wear is available to order online!

Last day to order Spirit Wear is Friday, August 8th

Be on the lookout this fall for Winter Spirit Wear

Bus Route Information

Please see this attachment for information regarding morning bus routes for Vanderlyn for the 25-26 school year. Reach out to ANDREA_GILLETT@dekalbschoolsga.org if you have any questions.

Parking Decals for the 2025-2026 School Year

We recognize parking can oftentimes be a challenge when visiting campus. This year, to better manage our parking lots and limit use by individuals not affiliated with Vanderlyn, we’ll be distributing parking decals like the one shown above.

These decals should be placed in the bottom corner of the driver’s side windshield and will help us ensure that parking remains available for teachers, staff, and parents throughout the year. You can pick up your decal in the front office with Ms. Gillett. Please limit to 2 per family. All other visitors can pick up a temporary tag from the front office when visiting campus.

Vanderlyn Supply Lists

2025-2026

Click here for a supply list by grade!

If your business is interested in becoming an Annual Sponsor or you would like to learn more, please contact us at vanderlynannualfund@gmail.com

Opportunities for 4 th and 5 th grade students

Students in grades 4 and 5 are invited to apply to be morning Library Helpers or members of the Vanderlyn News Crew Team. Students who have accepted the opportunity to be a safety patrol are not eligible. Library helpers are asked to commit to a minimum of 2 mornings per week (7:05-7:30). They will help assist in the operation of the library through manning the circulation desk, shelving books, assisting with special projects, keeping the library presentable, etc. Vanderlyn News Crew Team members meet daily from 7:05 to 7:40. Our news crew writes scripts and films news episodes that are shared with the school.

Interested students may pick up applications in the library. Alternatively, families may fill out this online form to receive applications via email.

Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Team

Students who will be in the 4th or 5th grade next year can start preparing now for the October tryouts for Vanderlyn’s Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Team. Following tryouts, the team meets once a week after school, day TBA. The Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl is a fun, quiz-bowl type competition. At the Bowl, students strive to "buzz" in and correctly answer questions about the current year's elementary Georgia Children's Book Award nominees faster than the opposing teams. For more information, click on this link.

In October 2024 Dekalb County Schools announced a process, the Student Assignment Project, to comprehensively evaluate its approach to assigning students to schools, including school boundaries, use of existing buildings, and the process for assigning students to specialty schools (i.e. magnet, IB, language). In addition to a thorough review of available data including current and projected attendance levels, the District has hosted a series of meetings to share what they are doing and solicit input from the community. All meeting recordings and notes are available at this link. The Student Assignment Project will culminate in Winter or Spring of 2026 with a report of recommendations that will be presented to the Board of Education for consideration. The district is asking parents to review notes and be proactive with any feedback and comments before formal recommendations are formed. You can reach the SAP committee to give feedback via the website at: https://www.dekalbschoolsga.org/sap/contact/.

Lunch guests starts September 8th

Download the App now! Add a grade level when you scan your receipts. The App will show which grade level has earned the most BoxTops for Vanderlyn.

Connect your BoxTops account to your Walmart account by 8/31/24 and earn and additional 50 points for Vanderlyn.

Curious how Vanderlyn is performing?

Moving to Dunwoody and want to know how schools compare?

Statewide Assessments. Check out Dekalb County’s new Data Dashboard available at https://www.dekalbschoolsga.org/data-dashboards/accountability-reports/. This Dashboard includes information from the Georgia Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA). The GOSA provides school reports for all public elementary, middle, and high schools in Georgia. These reports include information such as:

performance on statewide assessments,
make-up of the school’s student body, and
graduation rate for high schools.

These reports also include each school’s College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI). CCRPI is a comprehensive school improvement, accountability, and communication platform that measures college and career readiness for all Georgia public school students.

Click here for Vanderlyn’s latest CCRPI. In the area of Content Mastery, Vanderlyn earned a perfect score of 100.

State Level Awards. In 2023, Vanderlyn earned the Literacy Leader distinction from the Georgia Department of Education for outstanding reading achievement, with Vanderlyn students achieving 96% mastery in Reading on the Georgia Milestones assessment. Our school has consistently been recognized by the Georgia Governor’s Office of Student Achievement as a High Performing School, including winning the Platinum Award in the Highest Performing category in both 2011 and 2015. Vanderlyn was named a 2011 Georgia School of Excellence by the State School Superintendent, placing Vanderlyn in the top 10% of schools in the state.

STEM Certification. Vanderlyn is AdvancED STEM and Cognia certified. We have completed this arduous process twice!

Family and Community Involvement. Our families and local community are integral to Vanderlyn's success. Vanderlyn celebrates annual events such as STEM Career Day, National STEM Day, PBL Showcase, Passport to the World, Vocabulary Hat Parade, Art Showcase, as well as musical and dance performances. VanderDash, our largest school-community event, annually raises over $20,000, and has funded teacher training and improvements to the school, including playground updates, mobile computer carts, laptops and grade level tablets, our outdoor Courtyard Classroom, media center & staff lounge upgrades and flexible student seating.

Student Competitions. Our students regularly win accolades in the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl, state-level Science Olympiad, Econ Games, DCSD Technology Fair, and Math Olympiad.

Safety and Security: The safety and well-being of students is Vanderlyn's top priority. Vanderlyn has received an average score of 100 on our Annual Safe School Audits.

Vanderlyn Featured in DCSD Video

Vanderlyn was featured in DCSD Superintendent Horton's most recent newsletter, "Hitting the Road with Horton". Click here to watch the video!

Dekalb Superintendent Visits Vanderlyn

Vanderlyn welcomed Superintendent Dr. Devon Horton this week for a quick visit! Dr. Horton plans to visit every school in Dekalb County School District by the end of this school year. These visits are designed as an opportunity for the Superintendent to hear from principals, teachers, students, parents and community members their thoughts on what is happening in the school and community and also suggestions for how we can improve as a district. The Vanderlyn team thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Horton's visit!

Congratulations, Vanderlyn!

On Friday, September, 15th 2023, State School Superintendent Richard Woods honored schools across the state that demonstrated high achievement in Reading on the Spring 2023 Georgia Milestones Assessment. This award is presented to administrative literacy leaders who have recognized the importance of building a culture of literacy within a school by offering literacy professional development, instructional resource support, and/or developing specific literacy programs to build capacity and increase student literacy achievement.

Vanderlyn was recognized as the top performing school in the DCSD with 96% achievement rate on the 3rd grade Georgia Milestones in Reading! State Superintendent Woods presented Vanderlyn with the prestigious Literacy Leader Award Banner for outstanding achievement in reading. Kudos to our amazing 3rd grade team, Mrs. Hamilton, Ms. Kaye, and Ms. Garcia (Spring 23) who exceeded the bar in literacy instruction!

Your help is needed! Please consider volunteering your time and joining one of our PTO Committees (click here for descriptions of each!). To learn more about how you can get involved or for information about chairing a committee, please reach out to vanderlynelempto@gmail.com.

Outdoor Classroom Dedication

On May 16, 2023, the Vanderlyn PTO, on behalf of our families and staff, dedicated the Outdoor Classroom to Mrs. Crenshaw as a special recognition and appreciation for her 15 years of service, dedication and leadership as Vanderlyn’s principal.

Mobile App Directory and Calendar

PTO members can access the school directory and calendar from the Membership Toolkit App. This App is currently available for free in the Apple and Google stores.
You can toggle between up to 4 organizations you belong to using Membership Toolkit.
Subscribe to the calendar by clicking on the menu bar (top left) > gear icon (settings) > Manage Subscriptions

Website Directory and Calendar

PTO members can access the school directory HERE. To update your family’s account and publishing preferences for the Directory, click HERE.
Add important school dates to your personal calendar (Google or Mac Calendar). To subscribe to the calendar, click HERE > subscribe to “Vanderlyn Elementary PTO - Dekalb County SD, GA Calendars”.

Weekly Newsletter