Pirate Gram

AMI Reminder: With inclement weather in the future forecast, please remember IF we miss a day of school and Dr. Johnson deems a day an AMI day, students will need to complete that day's portion of the AMI packets that were sent home in December. This work will be due the next day we are back in school. Completion of this work determines whether your child is counted "absent" or "present" for that day of instruction. Please contact your child's teacher if you have any questions.

Attendance Update: Over the past two years, we have been more relaxed on our attendance policy due to mandated quarantines and recommendations. With those mandates being lifted, we feel we must bring back the emphasis on good attendance practices for our students. We learned from the pandemic, our students need to be in school to learn.

Currently, we have 76.8% of our students who have 90% or better average attendance. This is well below the State of Missouri’s requirement for us to have at least 90% of our students with 90% or higher attendance.

Therefore, we have updated our attendance policy and procedures when it comes to students missing an excessive number of school days in a semester. While we know students get sick, we also know that many students are missing for other reasons beyond sickness that could be avoided.

The updates include:

• At four absences in a semester, a letter will be sent to families of students reminding them of the importance of good attendance.

• At five absences in a semester, a phone call will be made to set up a time to meet to complete an Attendance Contract between the school, student and parent to determine a plan to eliminate future absences.

• At six absences, a referral will be made to the Stone County Juvenile Department.

• At seven absences, the student will need to attend summer school to make up for lost learning and he/she may be considered for retention.

We do not want students who are sick attending school, therefore, if a student is out due to sickness, doctor’s notes provided for these instances will be considered on a case by case basis when days are missed.

Utilizing Carline: Please remember to either utilize the carline to drop your student off in the morning or park and walk your student into the building using the crosswalk. We have had some parents dropping their child off from the parking area and having them walk across the carline. This is NOT safe and should not be happening!

iReady Testing is Complete for Middle of the Year: We are excited to announce students have finished taking their iReady Reading and iReady Math Diagnostic 2 Tests. We saw great growth from the beginning of the school year! Students who met at least 50% of their Stretch Growth Goal will get to tape Dr. Rogers to the wall in the cafeteria one day this week! We are excited to share that 239 pieces of tape will be used to hold her up!

Still Important...

Concession Stand Help Needed: CSCO needs help with the concession stands for the Jr. High Volleyball season. If you would like to help out the organization which helps our kids, please sign up here for a night in the concession stand!

Valentine's Parties: Valentine's Parties will be on Tuesday, February 14 at 2:30 PM for each classroom besides our three-year-old preschool class, which will have their party at 10:00 AM. Your child's teacher will be letting you know what is needed for these parties soon!

Balloons and Flowers: With Valentine's Day approaching, we wanted to remind everyone that students who ride a school bus from school will not be allowed to bring balloons or glass flower vases on the bus. If your child receives these items at school (any day, but certainly on Valentine's Day), he/she will not be able to take them home on the bus so you will need to make arrangements to either pick the items up or your student up.

Morning Drop Off: Parents, in an effort to be good neighbors to Rapid Roberts, we will be rerouting our morning drop off line by having parents enter off 413 and turning left from northbound Pirate Lane (the road between the school and Hwy 413) into the parking lot. This will allow excess traffic to line up on Pirate Lane rather than in front of Rapid Roberts. A map is included below.

Student Absences: If your child is absent from school for any reason, please call the office to let us know. The phone number is 417-723-5300 ext. 902.

Alternative Method of Instruction (AMI) Packets: Please keep your child's AMI packet in a safe spot. This work will only need to be completed if we have to miss school and announce a day as an AMI day. If we do miss a day, then that corresponding day's work will be due the next day we are in session.

Breakfast: If your child is a parent drop off each morning and wants to eat breakfast at school, he/she needs to be dropped off no later than 7:40 AM. We have had a few come after 7:45 and they do not have time to get to breakfast before being counted tardy for class.

SNAP and Medicaid Application Assistance: If you would like assistance in applying for SNAP or Medicaid, then please call the Elementary office so we can help you set up an appointment with someone who can help you complete the process. If you would like us to send home applications for you to complete on your own, we can do that too. Just give us call and let us know how we can help! 417-723-5300 ext 902.

January 24-25: Jordan Valley Dental Bus

January 26: CSCO Lil' Pirates Basketball League Coaches' Meeting at 6:30 PM

January 28: 3rd-5th Grade Basketball Games

January 31-February 1: Jordan Valley Dental Bus

February 2: Stone County Library Visits Preschool and Kindergarten Classes

February 3: Character Assembly of the Month at 7:45 AM

February 4: 3rd-5th Grade Basketball Games

February 7-8: Jordan Valley Dental Bus

February 7: CSCO Meeting at 7 PM

February 11: 3rd-5th Grade Basketball Games

February 14: Class Valentine's Day Parties at 2:30 PM, 3-yr-old preschool class party at 10 AM

February 17: No School: Enjoy the four-day weekend!

Website: www.crane.k12.mo.us
Location: 209 Pirate Lane, Crane, MO, USA
Phone: 417-723-5300