Hello and Welcome to JBE!

We are thrilled to welcome you to the JBE Family! My name is Brittany Kalivas and I'm the President of JBE One (aka PTO and Endowment combined into ONE awesome group).


What JBE One Does: The goal of JBE One is to raise $200k annually to pay for our Greenhouse teacher, Technology teacher, support Field Trips, our Boat Building Program, extra staff spoiling appreciation and so much more. You can check out our full budget on our jbeone.org website under Parent Info, JBE One, then Financials.


How JBE One does it: We have a rockstar Executive Board made up of 13 parents and they, along with their teams, make all the magic happen - from the Color Run Capital Campaign, Staff Appreciation Week, Back to School Nights, extra teacher support and so on! We're always looking for new faces! There are WIDE varieties of ways to get involved. Learn more on the site under Parent Info, Volunteer and sign up to get on the lists!


Neighborhood “Nests”: At JBE, we have created neighborhood groups that each have a Captain. Their job is to loop you in and make sure you, and all your neighbors, know all about what’s happening at JBE! The majority of information will come out from our Principal and our Newsletters, but your Hood Captain is a WONDERFUL resource! Enclosed is a list of captains - please reach out directly to your Captain to get looped in! Or if you have any issues, please email me directly at president@jbeone.org.


Uniforms: Are sold periodically throughout the year on the jbeone.org site. If you need uniforms and the window is closed, please reach out to us directly and we’ll help! Uniforms@jbeone.org and make sure to get an orange Field Trip shirt if you’re new!


We look forward to meeting you and your kiddos! We are here to help!


With a JBE Smile, Brittany and the whole 2025-2026 Exec Board


  • President - Brittany Kalivas
  • VP - Melissa Rollins
  • Secretary - Rachel Barry
  • Treasurers - Miheala Coopersmith and Meredith Flandy
  • Communications - Eleanor Leary
  • Strategic Initiatives - Sarah Beaver
  • Fundraising - Bridget Read
  • Faculty Relations- Amelia Smith and Leanna Boatwright
  • Community Building - Camille Berge and Sarah Williams
Back to JBE One
Principal Fountain's Message To Families

Dear Families,

 

I hope you are having a wonderful summer. I am enjoying some extra time/energy to read (reading for pleasure is very hard for me during the regular school year). I read Nick Offerman's Where the Deer and the Antelope Play and now I am reading Let's Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco, Etc. by Jeff Tweedy.

 

We all know that reading over the summer is one of the VERY best things our students can do. Not only does it prevent the "summer slide," it increases vocabulary and thinking skills. But did you know it is just as important for our kids to be read TO (even those big 5th graders!)? Children can comprehend much more complex and higher-level stories read to them than they are able to read independently. Take advantage of summer and bond with your family over a good book, maybe share your favorite childhood novel as a family! It's not too late to sign up for the CCSD/CCPL summer reading challenge to motivate and reward your family members for reading or listening to a read-aloud.

 

Then, wherever you are (near or far!), snap a photo of your kiddos/family reading and post them to Instagram with the hashtag #JBEGlobalReadership. And don’t forget to tag @jamesbedwardselementary so we can share how our global leaders are also global readers!

 

As you probably recall, last year we merged PTO and the Tom Lee Endowment into JBE One to be as efficient and as effective as possible. I am so looking forward to collaborating with JBE One to take JBE to the next level! Moving forward, there will no longer be a JBE Update from my office AND a JBE One newsletter, we are merging our communication into this JBE One Update -check out the message from the JBE One president, Katie Edwards soon.  

Love,

Principal Fountain

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