McClure Newsletter

Dear McClure Families,

We have had a wonderful first week back to school! Our classrooms and alive with the sounds of students learning. If you don't already follow our school Facebook page, I encourage you to do so as we will post photos of students learning throughout the year. Our Facebook page link is https://www.facebook.com/TPS501McClure.

McClure is fortunate to have such a wonderful school community. Today is our first 'High-Five Friday' which is a weekly opportunity for our community members to come cheer on our students as they enter the building on late start Fridays. Our amazing counselor, Mrs. Hight, thought of this idea. If you would like to participate, email her at khight@tps501.org.

We want to thank you for your patience during our dismissal process as we work diligently to resolve standard beginning of the year delays.

As always, please reach out to myself or our assistant principal, Dr. Berry, with any questions or concerns. We look forward to another wonderful school year!

Sincerely,

Dr. Artzer

Principal

2nd quarter-October 17th, 5:30-6:30pm

3rd quarter-January 9th, 5:30-6:30pm

4th quarter-March 26th, 5:30-6:30pm

In honor of Grandparent's Day, we will have a Grandparent's Day event Mon. Sept. 11th and Thurs. Sept. 14th. We will celebrate grandparents or any adult that attends with their student with donuts and juice. Students and their guest are welcome to eat breakfast with us from 8:00-8:40am.

Monday, Sept. 11th will be for Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade students and their guests.

Thursday Sept. 14th will be for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students and their guests.

*If a guest has a student in both primary and intermediate grades, they can choose to attend the date that works best for them.

• August 18: First Late Start Friday - Doors Open at 9:10. Classes Begin at 9:20

• August 22: 1st Quarter Kinder Kollege, 5:30-6:30pm

• September 5: PTO Meeting, 5:30-6:30pm

• September 6: House Sorting Ceremony for 3rd graders and new 4th & 5th graders

• September 11: Grandparents Day Breakfast: K-2 Students

• September 14: Grandparents Day Breakfast: 3-5 Students

• September 14: Papa John's Night

• September 20: Family Fitness Fun Night

• September 27: Family Fitness Fun Night Rain Date

• October 4: School Picture Day

The Kansas Education Enrichment Program (KEEP)

The Kansas Education Enrichment Program (KEEP) provides qualifying parents and guardians with $1,000 per eligible student to spend on approved educational goods and services. Learn how it works here.

Carpark at Dismissal

We are asking our parents who come to school to collect children to support our dismissal process. Please do not line up to park in front of the driveways of the school while waiting for dismissal to begin. We appreciate your support.

Attention Yahoo Email Users

It has been learned that Yahoo does not sync with the information system utilized by Topeka Public Schools. This means when mass information is dissemenated, those who use Yahoo will not receive it. To ensure that you receive pertenent information, it is recommended that another email account other than Yahoo is used.

Synergy Mail is incredibly useful as we can send messages from our phones; however, Synergy does not have the capability to send text messages.

You can:

• Sign up for School Messenger and receive texts that way by sending a text message of "Y" or "Yes" to the TPS short code number, 67587. You can also opt-out of these messages at any time by simply replying "stop" to one of our messages.

AND/OR

• Download the Parent Vue app from your phone's app store and set up push notifications so those notifications appear directly on your phone.

We are excited to provide meals to all TPS students free of charge for the 2023-2024 school year!

Families are still encouraged to complete the Free & Reduced Meal Application, as this information is vital for the district to receive funding for many programs, technology, and more to ensure student success.

Families may qualify for reduced textbook fees and free or reduced-cost internet from Cox Communications. Complete the application at topekapublicschools.net.

Our new system is still being updated to be able to pay school fees. Therefore, we cannot accept any fees at this time. As soon as it is up and running, we will be sure to let you know! Thank you all for trying to be so on top of it!

Interested in volunteering at McClure!? Please click HERE to complete the TPS background check form for volunteers to see all of the different ways you can help support our school, staff, and students.

Here Comes the Bus is an easy-to-use school bus tracking app that gives parents and students the ability to track the location of their school buses. It shows parents where their child's bus is on a map, and it allows students and parents to accurately gauge just when their bus will arrive.This way, children no longer have to stand outside in the dark during inclement weather for an unpredictable amount of time. It also takes security and comfort to the next level by allowing parents to track their children's buses.

TPS Transportation and Kansas Central have collaborated this week to ensure all routes have been completed and bus routes are now available to families in your Synergy ParentVue account.

Below are detailed instructions to view the route in ParentVue.

1. Please login at our district's new SynergyParentVue portal from an internet browser (Chrome, Safari, etc.) on your computer or mobile device. THIS INFORMATION CAN NOT BE ACCESSED THROUGH THE PARENTVUE APP AT THIS TIME. If you are in need of assistance logging in to your ParentVue account, please contact Information Technology at 785-438-4750 or sishelp@tps501.org.

2. Once you have logged in, if you are on a computer, click on the ParentVue tab at the top of your screen. If you are on a mobile device, click on the Home tab at the top of your screen.

3. Click on the Student Info button from your computer or mobile device.

4. If bussing information is available for your student, it will be listed under the Bus Information heading at the bottom of the Student Information page.

5. Routes are currently posted for many families, and additional routes will be posted to Synergy over the weekend for families who have new routing information or signed up after the first day of school. Please note that students must be at least 1.75 miles from their home school address to receive free transportation. The eligibility for bus services is determined by the student's home address, not a relative or a daycare provider.

6. If you have any additional questions on transportation and bus routes, please contact our Transportation Call Center at 785-295-3928, 785-295-3979, or 785-295-3904.

7. If your student receives transportation through the district and not Kansas Central, you will receive a separate email from TPS Transportation if and when changes occur.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we work to ensure a smoother experience for all families for the first full week of school.

School Instructional Hours

Mon.-Thurs.- Students enter the classroom at 8:30am. Direct instruction begins at 8:40am. Students are dismissed at 3:40pm.

Fri.-Students enter the classroom at 9:20am. Direct instruction begins at 9:40am. Students are dismissed at 3:40pm.

School Doors Open

Students are not allowed to enter school until 8:20 a.m (9:10am on Fridays) unless they are enrolled in the before school child care program, are participating in a before-school program under the direction of a teacher, or are under the supervision of a parent.

Every Friday of the school year, the doors will open at 9:10am, and school will start at 9:20am; students will be counted tardy at 9:40am. This allows time for teachers to collaborate, review educational data, and plan for the following week with their teams. Thank you for your flexibility in supporting teacher collaboration!

The District's Academic Calendar provides a quick-glance overview of important dates for parents to be aware of. This calendar includes days school is not in session, parent-teacher conferences, and start and end dates for the 2023-2024 school year.

The McClure school calendar is posted on our school website. Click here to view.

For the next 4 years including the 2023 - 2023 school year, all students in the 501 district are eligible to receive free breakfast and lunch. This is a fantastic result for all students who attend any school in 501 and we hope that our McClure families take advantage of this gift. Please click this link to review the lunch menu for the month of August.

McClure is continuing its own before and after school childcare program this year. If you are interested, please complete the registration form linked below. The form also outlines the monthly fees, times, etc.

McClure 23-24 Childcare Registration Form

**The free tutoring and enrichment afterschool program will also continue this year on Tuesday and Thursdays. The application form will be shared with families in August.

We would like to invite all parents and guardians of McClure students to attend our PTO meetings. These meetings are held monthly on Tuesdays in the library. Our first meeting is Tuesday, September 5th at 5:30 pm.

Our PTO is essential to assisting in raising funds for many school projects and instructional resources. You do not need to hold a PTO position in order to be a part of PTO. We hope to see many of you at the first meeting!

We are still in need of a PTO president for this school year. If you are interested in serving in this role, complete this Google Form.

Our room parent coordinator will reach out to families in September to elicit room parents for each class. Then each room parent will reach out to the parents in their respective classes to sign up to send snacks etc. for parties.

Email: cartzer@tps501.org
Website: https://mcclure.topekapublicschools.net/
Location: 2529 Southwest Chelsea Drive, Topeka, KS, USA
Phone: 785.438.4340
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TPS501McClure