Prairie City Elementary News

I can't believe it, but we have been in school for 100 days! In person! This has not been an easy task, but the teamwork between all community members and school personnel has made it possible. Thank you for all you have done and will continue to do to put student and staff safety, health and learning first and at the center of your decisions. We are truly living out the stronger together notion.

I appreciate the support you parents and community members have shown to the staff at Prairie City Elementary. I see the hard work that the PCE staff put in every day to make it a great place to be while they make learning, eating, playing, exercising, singing, building, painting, exploring and problem-solving exciting and fun. Our students are truly blessed.

Please, when you get a chance, take a moment to thank a teacher, counselor, support staff, nurse, nutrition worker, custodian, secretary, director or fellow administrator. They would humbly accept the compliments and kind words for all of their love and dedicated work shown to your children. I am fortunate to see it every day.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Ver Helst

Parent-teacher conferences will be held on Tuesday 2/16 from 4-8pm and Thursday 2/18 from 3-7pm. These conferences may be held in-person or virtually. You should have received a Sign Up Genius link as an invite to sign up for a conference. You have the CHOICE for it to be via Zoom or in person. Please indicate that in the notes on the sign up. If you plan to visit with teachers in-person, please follow the district's mask mandate when in the building.

We look forward to sharing information about your child's progress and to hearing what questions, needs and ideas you have for partnering with us for your child's education!

If you have any questions about the Sign Up genius scheduling process, please do not hesitate to reach out to our secretary, Becki Vasseau at bvasseau@pcmschools.org or by calling the Prairie City Elementary office at 515-994-2377.

Remember, no school Friday, February 19 due to conferences.

Thank you!

Mrs. Ver Helst

Check out our Scholastic book fair that the PTO sponsors. It will again be in person during the week of Parent Teacher Conferences. Stop by and find your children some great books and you can consider donating books to your children's teachers for their classroom libraries. These books make great gift ideas!

United Way of Central Iowa Homework Helpers Hotline connects volunteers with students (K-12 in Polk, Warren and Dallas counties), to provide free over-the-phone support, assistance, and encouragement outside of school hours. Students, parents and care providers can call 2-1-1 from their telephone where you will be prompted to select '7' to speak with a United Way Homework Helper. The free hotline is available from 3:00 – 8:00 p.m., Sunday through Thursday. If students live in Jasper County, simply choose a zip code from Polk County to get through.

In the safety of yours and other's children, please do not drop them off in the north parking lot in the morning before 8:00. Those lanes are reserved for busses at that time. Preschool parents are the only parents allowed to drop off at the northwest red doors at 8:00 for preschool to start at 8:05 after the busses are cleared. Pulling into that lot if you are not a preschool parent also causes traffic to back up on Plainsmen road and puts children at risk when darting through the busses and others driving through. Those lanes are for traffic in motion and are unsupervised.

Although I can not patrol or make rules for the city street of Plainsmen Road, I am advising that you refrain from dropping your children off on that road. That too is extremely busy, dangerous and busses are turning in and again, it is not a controlled or supervised area. Please take the time to drop them off in the south lot. Your child can walk through the school and out to the playground to wait for school to begin. By design, parents are to always drop off and pick up in the south lot of the school. This is both supervised and controlled for that purpose from approximately 7:45-8:00 and after school from 3:15-3:30. There will be no students allowed to be picked up after school in the north lot/lanes. That is for bus loading and shuttle bus unloading only after school. You will be asked to move out of the lane and go to the south lot. There are handicapped parking spots in the south lot as well for use with pick up and drop off should you need that.

The only time it is appropriate to pick up or drop off a child in the north lane is during the hours of 8:15-2:45, during instructional time for appointments or if they have become ill at school and need to leave. That will ensure that there are no busses or other school related vehicles in motion. Officer Choat has been assisting with monitoring this process because I have asked him to. I have seen some safety risks that had me very concerned. Thank you in advance for helping us to keep your children safe and thank you for giving friendly reminders to each other or to those that pick your children up for you. Mrs. Ver Helst

Email: sverhelst@pcmschools.org
Website: www.pcmschools.org
Location: 309 East Plainsman Road, Prairie City, IA, USA
Phone: (515) 994-2377