November Newsletter

We had a great first quarter and we had a high percentage of parents attend the Parent/Teacher Conferences. Thanks for coming and as always for partnering with us to help provide your children a good learning experience.

It has been fun to watch our students compete this fall in their many activities. Congratulations to Collin McCoy for qualifying for the State Cross Country meet and to our Softball Team that advanced to the district final game. They ended up being the only Class C Softball team that beat the eventual state champions. Also, our Football Team is 9-0 in the regular season and just won their first-round playoff game.

As some of you know, we have been working through a facility audit the past six months and are now beginning to work with the same company to help us with some Master Planning. We had two meetings for parents the night of Parent/Teacher conferences and had some of you join us. There will probably be more meetings scheduled this year and we’d love for you to be able to participate in some of these meetings.

I am continuing to try and meet with retired Fillmore Central staff periodically for coffee. We have done this a few times and hope to meet each quarter during the school year. It is great for me to be able to connect with people who know the history and traditions of Fillmore Central. It is also fun to share some of the things that are going on at school. If you or someone you know is a retired staff member and you’d like to join us please call (402) 759-4955 or email Kenna in my office and give her your email contact information. Her email is kenna.marchand@fillmorecentral.org. We’d love to have you. Our future dates are December 6th, February 8th, and April 10th. We will send out times and places as we get closer to those meeting dates to our email list. Again, please contact Kenna if you or someone you know should be included.

I had these in the October newsletter, but wanted to continue to remind everyone:

Severe Weather

The decision to have a late start or to cancel classes is difficult and often there are people that have differing opinions on the severity of the weather or road conditions. Please remember that you ALWAYS have the ability as parents to decide to send your child to school late or even to keep them at home due to road or weather conditions. We are in a large school district that covers many square miles. Weather and roads can vary a lot from one side of the district to the other. Our families that live on gravel roads often have different conditions than our families that live in town. Please make the best decision for your family on these days.

We will alert you to late-starts/closings through our social media – website, Facebook, automated calls, and our text alerts. We will also call 10/11 news and have it on their closing alerts.

Sometimes we may have a late-start to give us more time to make a final determination on canceling classes for the entire day. If we announce a late start, it is still possible that we could announce a closing prior to the late-start time.

Lunch Bills and Accounts – new change – Please Read

This will go into effect in January

There was a Board Policy Change affecting student lunch accounts. The new policy states that:

If a student has no funds available to pay for a meal, the student will be permitted to charge up to five meals. Thereafter, if a student has no funds available, a limited “courtesy meal” option, such as a plain sandwich will be provided.

Students who qualify for free meals will not be denied a reimbursable meal, even if they have accrued a negative balance from other food purchases. School staff may prohibit any students from charging a la carte or extra items if they do not have cash in hand or their account has a negative balance.

Busing

We continue to need help driving school buses. We have nearly had to cancel/postpone field trips due to our lack of drivers. If you know of someone that might be willing to be trained and possibly drive a morning route, afternoon route, or both – please let them know we are hiring. Drivers start at $23.92 an hour.

I am excited for November and all of the fun activities and events that take place during 2nd quarter. We’d love to see you at some of our events.

• Wednesday, November 1st, 1:05pm Dismissal
• Monday, November 13th, BOE Meeting @ 7:30pm
• Friday, November 17th, Mid-Quarter Reports Sent Home
• Tuesday, November 21nd, Monthly Assembly
• Wednesday, November 22nd, No School
• Thursday, November 23rd, No School
• Friday, November 24th, No School
• Monday, November 27th, 7:00pm EPAC meeting

Medication For Students

Please do not send medications to school with your child. Medications must come to school with the parent/guardian and given directly to the school office. Thank you for your help ensuring the safety of our students.

Cold weather and snow will be here soon. Please send appropriate seasonal clothing (hats, gloves, boots) so your child can fully participate in outdoor recess. It is helpful to have items marked with your child’s name or initials so they can be returned if lost.

Bikes/Scooters

Many students ride bikes or scooters to school throughout the school year. Please ensure your child can safely handle this responsibility. Although children often enjoy riding bikes/scooters and their travel time can be lessened, walking on the sidewalk may be a safer option for some.

Do you know the hidden value of your child's homework?

Homework gives your child an opportunity to practice the skills she is learning in school. But did you realize that it also teaches important life lessons?

When your child completes homework on her own, she learns:

• Responsibility. Your child learns the importance of fulfilling her obligations. She also learns to hold herself accountable for her mistakes and successes.

• Perseverance. Most parents want to protect their kids from frustration. However, making your child's life easier now will only make it harder in the future.

• Time management. Learning how to manage her time in order to get her homework finished is one of the most valuable skills your child can learn.

• Initiative. Homework can help your child learn how to be self-motivated. When she chooses to complete spelling assignments a few days before they are due, she is showing initiative.

Reprinted with permission from the November 2013 issue of Parents make the difference!® (Elementary School Edition) newsletter. Copyright © 2013 The Parent Institute®, a division of NIS, Inc. Source: J. Rosemond, Ending the Homework Hassle, Andrews & McMeel Publishing Company.

What is Early Development Network Services Coordination?

Services Coordination helps families of children with special needs below age three:

• Find services to meet developmental, educational, financial, health care, child care, respite care and other needs

• Work with multiple providers to make sure services are provided as needed

Why is Service Coordination Needed?

Nebraska families of children with special needs have found it difficult to locate needed services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and then to coordinate the services with the providers.

Who is Eligible for Services Coordination?

Eligible families are those with an infant or toddler below age 3 who has a disability or developmental delay and qualifies for special education through the public schools.

Year round services coordination is provided.

There is no cost to families.

How Can Families Apply?

To request Early Development services for your child or to refer a child, call the local number below. With prior parental permission, referrals may be made by anyone who suspects a developmental delay in an infant or toddler.

CONTACT: Beth Lightwine at ESU6-Geneva office (225 North 17th, Geneva, 402-759-3143).

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• Wednesday, November 22 – 24 – Thanksgiving Break
• Wednesday, December 6 – Early Dismissal
• Monday, December 11 – 7th-12th Grade Winter Concert
• Monday, December 18 – K-6th Grade Winter Concert:
• Thursday, December 21 – Early Dismissal at 1:20pm
• Friday, December 22 – Wednesday, January 3 – Winter Break

Parent-Teacher Conference

It was great to see so many parents in attendance at the fall parent-teacher conferences, held October 18th. Research has shown that students, whose parents take an active role in their child’s education, are more likely to graduate from high school and experience success in their career. If you were not able to attend the Parent-Teacher Conferences, I encourage you to continue to communicate with your child’s teacher throughout the school year and check PowerSchool regularly.

Red Ribbon Week & Bully Free Schools
Red Ribbon & Bully Free Schools Week was held the week of October 23 – 27 to educate our students on the importance of being bully free and the dangers of illegal drugs, alcohol, and tobacco use. Activities were held throughout the week and Fillmore County Sheriff Roemmich spoke to students about the dangers of drug and alcohol use; and saying no to drugs.

Early Release-Professional Development

Wednesday, November 1st there will be a 2 hour early dismissal for students. These early-dismissals allow teachers to participate in professional development opportunities designed to improve student performance and meet our school improvement goals. For middle school students, the 2-hour early dismissal time is 1:20 PM. Athletic practices will not be held for Middle School student-athletes on the days that we have scheduled early dismissals.

Seasons Changing

Now that fall has officially arrived, we can count on cooler weather quickly approaching. Students may need to bring a few clothing options (sweatshirt, jacket, coat) that will allow them to be comfortable while inside or outside during the day. By dressing appropriately for each day’s weather, your student will be more comfortable before school, during school, during recess, and after school. Also, students who are properly dressed are significantly less likely to miss school due to illness.

Thanksgiving Break

Fillmore Central Middle School will be closed from Wednesday, November 22 – Friday, November 24 for Thanksgiving break. Classes will resume on Monday, November 28, 2023.

Winter Concerts

The Winter Concert for students in grades 7-12 will be held on Monday, December 11th at 7:00pm. The Winter Concert for grades K-6 is scheduled for Monday, December 18th at 7:00pm. Concerts will be held in the Fillmore Central High School gymnasium. I hope to see you there!

Fall Activity Season Thank You

The fall activity season is winding down and I would like to thank everyone who had a hand in helping to run any of our fall activities. It takes a lot of help to make sure things run smoothly, and we are fortunate to have a school and community that is willing to go the extra mile to help provide opportunities for our students. We are able to provide compensation for much of this help, but there are also lots of events that are done solely on a volunteer basis, and this is greatly appreciated. I would specifically like to thank John Schelkopf, Nick Treinan and Matt Frey for their help with the preparation of the softball fields for our games this year. They battled some pretty poor weather, but were able to have the fields in great shape come game time every week.

Fall Activity State Qualifiers

This fall we have had three individuals/teams qualify for their respective state events. Collin McCoy qualified for the NSAA State Cross Country Meet which took place on October 20th at the Kearney Country Club. Collin finished the race in 19:13.2, which was good enough for 86th place. Carson Asche qualified for the FFA State Land Judging Contest in Broken Bow which was held on October 25th. Carson finished in 35th place out of 142 competitors. The FB team has also qualified for the NSAA State Playoffs and is currently set to host Malcolm in the quarterfinals on November 3rd.

Attendance

I generally always write about the importance of attendance a couple of times each year. I really hate to jinx myself, but our overall attendance so far this year has been fabulous. In fact, this has probably been the best first quarter in quite some time, even better than last year. This can also be reflected in the fact that our academic ineligibility list and ICU list are as small as they have ever been at this time of year. Our students and staff are doing a great job of keeping high academic standards a priority. Also, as a friendly reminder, if a student misses school for a medical appointment, we kindly ask that you as a parent or guardian provide documentation from your medical provider so that we can mark that accordingly in PowerSchool. Generally speaking, students are allowed to miss no more than 10 days each semester. Please refer to the student handbook for clarification, or feel free to contact the office with any questions.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent-Teacher Conferences were held on October 18th. This fall we had about 60% parent attendance. We would welcome any feedback regarding the format and if there is anything we can do to make this event better, please feel free to shoot me an email at ryun.theobald@fillmorecentral.org.

November 1st

Early Dismissal

1:05/1:20/1:35p.m.

November 13th

School Board Meeting - 7:30p.m.

November 22nd - 24th

No School - Thanksgiving Break