Ocean Gate PTO

06/24/2026

As we close this chapter, I want to take a moment to thank every family, staff member, volunteer, and supporter who stood beside the PTO throughout the years. Your support, encouragement, and willingness to help made every event, fundraiser, and special memory possible.

This year was unlike any other. While facing the heartbreaking reality of our school’s closure, our PTO continued to show up for our students, staff, and community because we believed they deserved every moment of joy, celebration, and normalcy we could provide.

On a personal note, many of you know that I worked full-time while serving as the PTO President and am currently 7 months pregnant. There were countless days filled with meetings, emails, event planning, and running from one responsibility to another. But I was far from alone. Every one of our PTO officers balanced jobs, families, personal commitments, and countless responsibilities of their own. Yet, whenever our school needed us, they showed up. Together, we spent countless hours planning, organizing, fundraising, decorating, attending events, and doing whatever was needed because we cared deeply about our students, staff, community, and building relationships with families!

None of us did this for recognition. We did it because Ocean Gate Elementary meant something special to us. We wanted our children, teachers, and families to feel supported, celebrated, and loved, especially during such a difficult and uncertain year.

I am incredibly grateful to the PTO Board, our volunteers, our teachers and staff, and every parent who donated, attended an event, shared a post, or simply offered words of encouragement. You helped us create lasting memories during one of the most difficult years in Ocean Gate Elementary’s history.

To the staff, thank you for always welcoming us, partnering with us, and putting children first. Mrs. McCue and Mrs. Parliman as our teacher liaisons, worked TIRELESSLY to help us, and had to come to school every day with a smile on their beautiful faces despite the circumstances. To the families, thank you for trusting us and supporting our efforts every step of the way. Your belief in what we were trying to accomplish made all the difference.

While our school building may close its doors, the spirit of our Gators will live on through the friendships, memories, traditions, and community we built together. We just wish we had more time together.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for allowing us to serve this incredible school community. It has been one of the greatest honors of my life.

P.S. I have been in constant contact with the PTA President at Potter. Although many of our Gators will be heading to different schools, if anyone is interested in getting involved with their PTA, please feel free to message me and I would be happy to connect you with her. 💚

With love and gratitude,

President Stacie Gentile & the PTO 💚🐊

06/24/2026

Dear Gator Families,

We wanted to share that we will be keeping the Ocean Gate spirit wear store at Farro’s open for the time being. Our hope is to maintain it as a way for our community to continue celebrating and remembering the school that means so much to all of us.

As we move forward, we know there may be a few details to work through along the way, but our plan is to keep the store available and adjust as needed. We believe our Gator pride doesn’t end with the closing of our school, and we would love for families, alumni, staff, and community members to continue having a way to show their connection to Ocean Gate Elementary.

Our goal has always been to be there for our Gators, both past and present, and we hope this is something we can continue to offer as a lasting piece of our school’s legacy. Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to keeping the spirit of Ocean Gate alive.

Once a Gator, always a Gator. 💚🐊

06/22/2026

We want to extend our appreciation to our Ocean Gate Police Department for bringing popsicles to our Gators on their last day. Officer Vinny and our local municipality have been a TREMENDOUS help throughout the years, making sure our kids get to school safely during snow storms, making sure our building is protected, our dances are safe, I can go on and on! Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for us, you are forever appreciated. 💙

06/21/2026

Some of our Gators got together this morning to spread a little extra love and encouragement before the last day of school tomorrow. There’s some chalk by the 2nd grade classroom if any of our littles would like to write some words of encouragement. We ask everyone to be respectful (you’re on camera), and chalk on the sidewalk only. We will be picking up any leftover chalk, tonight 🐊✨

06/18/2026

Congratulations to the 6th grade class on their graduation! The last class to ever graduate from Ocean Gate Elementary School 💚 the PTO has always been there to support our 6th Gators with cake, central shirts, refreshments, and last but not least, the Louise Hottenstein award! 🥇

Thank you to our family, friends, and staff for being there for our Gators during their graduation. We had some special visitors as well that made the day extra special. ✨

06/18/2026

We extend our gratitude to the exceptional PTO parent volunteers who played a significant role during yesterday's event. It is truly gratifying to witness everyone unite to create a special and exciting experience for our children. Our mission remains steadfast and unwavering! 💚🐊

06/16/2026

🏆 WINNERS ARE IN! 🏆

Please join us in congratulating the winners of our prize drawing! 🎉

Prizes will be available for pickup in the main office beginning June 17. Please be sure to pick up your prize by Friday.

Thank you to all of our teachers who make everyday a special one. We appreciate you so much! 💚✨

06/15/2026

One of our PTO’s final missions was putting together summer reading bags for all 139 students of Ocean Gate Elementary School. This project involved a great deal of planning, hard work, and many late nights.. But we did it!

Tomorrow at dismissal, every child will go home with a tote bag containing two brand-new, age/grade appropriate Scholastic books, along with bookmarks, pencils, and pencil toppers to encourage summer reading.

To our parents, guardians, and families: please help keep our children reading all summer long. There is nothing more powerful than nurturing a love of learning and helping young minds continue to grow. We hope these books inspire adventure, imagination, and a lifelong passion for reading.

Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your children’s journey. ❤️📚

06/13/2026

For clarification, our Field of Dreams Trip was the entire school’s annual field trip. This year, a field day component was incorporated off campus to make the experience even more special for our students.

We have received several questions regarding why a traditional Field Day was not being held at the school. In collaboration with Mrs. Marousis, the PTO has planned an on-campus Field Day/Gator Games Day as part of our end of year BBQ celebration.

As many of you know, there have been numerous changes to our EOY activities as we work to make this final year at Ocean Gate Elementary School as meaningful and memorable as possible. We appreciate everyone’s patience, understanding, and support as we navigate these changes and prepare for our final week together.

Continuing to operate as usual while planning special events and honoring the legacy of our school has been a challenge, but one that our PTO has embraced wholeheartedly. We are incredibly proud of all that has been accomplished this year and are deeply grateful for the support of our families. We truly could not have asked for a better school community! ❤️

06/13/2026

We are looking for parent volunteers for our BBQ/Field Day at the school. Once again, slots fill up fast. You’ll be assigned your station upon arrival. 💚🐊 thank you so much!

June 17th is our end of year BBQ/Field day at the school! If you can contribute to our special day, we are in need of volunteers. Thank you!