As parents, you play an important role in ensuring strong attendance in school. Research has shown that excessive absences, tardies and early dismissals can negatively impact academic and social progress in school. Extended vacations when school is in-session are discouraged. The district attendance policy is as follows:

• 5 or more absences: 1st parent contact

• 7-10 absences: 2nd parent contact including meeting with principal

• 11-24 absences: Legal “Notice to Parents or Guardians with Non-Attendance of Children in School” sent to parent/guardian and referral to local agency

• 25 or more absences: School district takes legal action through the Juvenile Court system to return child to school

The goal of this policy is to support families, provide support services as needed, and ensure consistent attendance in school. We sincerely appreciate your support in this matter.

If your child is going to be absent, the following procedure should be followed:

• A parent must call the school absence line: 248-956-2790.

• Please leave a message with the following information: your name, your child’s name, teacher, date and reason for absence.

The absence hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please call and leave a message as early as possible.

If a child is absent and no message was left on the absence line, our secretaries will contact parents using the phone numbers entered in Skyward Family Access.

It is an expectation that our students arrive at school on time and are in their classrooms prepared to learn at 8:55 a.m. every day that school is in session. Students that are not in their classroom at 8:55 a.m. will be marked tardy and must be signed in at the main office by an adult.

The school day ends at 4:00 p.m. It is an expectation that students attend for the entirety of the school day. Children picked up early will be given an early dismissal, which is equivalent to a tardy on their attendance.

We do ask that students are free from fever (without medication) and free from vomiting for 24-hours prior to returning to school to prevent the spread of potentially contagious illness.

Additionally, please be sure to monitor for symptoms of COVID-19 and keep your child home should they experience any of the following symptoms:

Fever or chills

Cough

Fatigue

Shortness of breath, rapid or difficulty breathing

Muscle or body ache

Headache

New loss of taste or smell

Sore throat

Congestion

Runny nose

Nausea or vomiting

Diarrhea

#mustangproud

Sincerely,

Jennifer VanWagnen, Principal

• Children must exit their car on the driver's side unassisted. They must be able to unbuckle their seat belt/car booster and open and close the passenger door independently. This may mean that you need to disable child safety locks and/or practice learning these skills at home.

• Staff will monitor the drop-off line each morning and there will be staff to help your child (both outside the building and in the halls as they find their classroom).

• Your Saddle Up Pick-Up name sign must be clearly visible in the driver's side window to the staff member on duty. The staff member will alert the classroom that you have arrived for pick-up at the end of the day.

• Your student will then be dismissed and will exit the doors through the gymnasium. Under the direction of a staff member, your child will be permitted to enter your vehicle on the driver's side. Please do not get out of your vehicle to assist. We will have staff members on site who are able to assist if needed.

• Please arrive promptly to pick up your child. Students that are not picked up at dismissal (by 4:05 p.m.) will go to Prime Time Care and you will be billed accordingly

In an effort to keep the students safe and keep traffic moving, we ask that if you are driving your child to school, you utilize the drop-off loop rather than walking your child to the front door.

Failure to follow the established guidelines may warrant a special meeting with Principal VanWagnen.

September

9/20: Half Day of School, Staff Professional Development

9/20: LAYA Taste of the Lakes @ 5:00 PM

9/23: Walled Western Homecoming, Meadowbrook students invited

9/26: No School- Rosh Hashanah

9/28: No School for Meadowbrook Students-Staff ALICE Safety Training

October

10/4:PTA Meeting @ 9 AM (Meadowbrook Staff Lounge)

10/5: No School-Yom Kippur

10/6: Student Count Day

10/6: Picture Day

10/14: PTA Sponsored

10/19-10/21: 5th Grade Overnight Camp

10/21: Walled Western Annual Pink Out Game, Meadowbrook students invited

10/28: Trunk or Treat

10/31: Half Day of School (Staff Professional Development)

This is an important reminder that Tuesday, September 20th is a half day of school with a dismissal at 12:25 PM.

Please refer to our tiered dismissal times below:

12:10- Saddle Up Pick-Up and Walkers

12:15- Prime Time Care

12:20- Begin loading busses

12:25-Official Dismissal

12:30-12:32 – Departure

As a friendly reminder, parents are not permitted to enter the building or classrooms during drop-off/pick-up or throughout the day. All visitors must report to the office should you need assistance. Thank you for your help to ensure the safety of all staff and students.

Also, Door Dash is not permitted for students. Students may bring a lunch from home or purchase school lunch from the cafeteria. We simply do not have staffing available to deliver Door Dash items to students during their lunch time. Please refrain from ordering. Thank you.

Did you know that Mrs. VanWagnen provides each student with a birthday sticker and pencil on their birthday? Furthermore, birthday books are on order and will be distributed to our September birthday students very soon! If you choose to celebrate your child’s birthday at school, arrangements must be made with your child’s teacher in advance. Students will have an opportunity to choose a special class activity during their classroom celebration.

Please adhere to the following guidelines regarding birthdays :

• Food items are not permitted.

• Flowers, balloons or other personal items may not be delivered to school.

• Pencils, stickers, a game or book are each suitable options that may be donated to the class to honor your child.

• Children should not distribute party invitations at school out of respect for the feelings of others who are not included.

It is very important that you take time to review the Meadowbrook Handbook which is filled with important information, policies and procedures.

If your child tests positive for COVID-19, it is critical that the office staff and classroom teacher are quickly informed.

Please send an email to:

Jennifer VanWagnen - jennifervanwagnen@wlcsd.org

KellanWatkins - kellanwatkins@wlcsd.org

Jennifer Schloegl - jenniferschloegl@wlcsd.org

Your child's teacher

In the email, please include ALL of the following information:

Your child's name

Your child's grade

Your child's teacher

Your name

Your contact phone number

The date of symptom onset

The date your child was tested

The last date your child was in school

Type of test that was given (Home test, Rapid test at a testing site, PCR test at a testing site)

Name of testing site, if tested in a facility

*Note: Once staff are informed, the following action items occur.

1. Office reports to WL Human Resources Department

2. Families receive quarantine timeline via email from WL Human Resource Department

2. Office alerts custodians who deep clean the impacted classroom

3. Office sends a letter to the classroom of the positive individual & a letter to the entire grade level, to notify families of a possible exposure. Individual's names and identifying information is NOT shared.

Our beloved Brook was able to assist at M.H. Guest last week. We are so proud of her! #mustangproud

i-Ready is an online program utilized by Walled Lake Schools that will help us determine your child’s strengths and areas for growth, personalize their learning, and monitor their progress throughout the school year. i-Ready allows us to meet your child where they are and provides us with data to inform instruction.

All students will complete the i-Ready Diagnostic during the window of September 12-October 14. The i-Ready Diagnostic is an adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions to suit your child’s needs. Each item a student receives is based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier ones. The purpose of this is not to give your child a score or grade but to determine how to best support their learning.

The classroom teacher will communicate with families regarding when their class will complete this important assessment. In the meantime, take a look at the recommendations from iReady below:

What can I do to help? To help prepare your child for the i-Ready Diagnostic, encourage them to:

· Get a good night’s sleep and eat a full breakfast the day of the assessment.

· Try their best on each question and try not to rush.

· Try not to worry about questions they do not know—remind them that it is expected they will only get about half of the questions correct.

· Be respectful of other students who take longer to finish.

*If your teacher is requesting headphones to complete the diagnostic, please be sure to send them in. Thank you!

Thank you for your partnership! More information will be shared soon regarding how you can support your child complete online instruction at home.

During the 2022-2023 school year, breakfast and lunch will NO LONGER BE FREE for ALL students. It will only be free (or reduced) for those who qualify.

Congress voted not to extend the waiver which provided free breakfast and free lunch for all students. The waiver ended June 30, 2022.

Your family may qualify for free meals or for reduced-price meals. You can complete a free and reduced lunch application during registration in August.

If you do not qualify for free or reduced meals, you may begin depositing money into student accounts at any time to prepare for the cost of school lunches next year. Information on meal prices for the 2022-2023 school year are listed below

Breakfast costs

• $1.50 for Elementary
• $1.75 for Middle/High School

Lunch costs

• $3.00 for Elementary
• $3.25 for Middle/High School

If your student has a negative lunch account balance, we encourage you to pay it off as soon as possible and then begin depositing money into the account to prepare for the 2022-2023 school year. Pizza Day is this Thursday, September 22nd. Students must have funds in their account or bring and additional $1.75 to purchase a second slice.

Your family may qualify for free meals or for reduced-price meals. Reduced-price is $.30 for breakfast and $.40 for lunch. Completing an application is the only way to be considered for free or reduced meals next school year. Please take action now. You can complete the online free and reduced meal application located in Family Access once registration is open.

This free and reduced meal application information is critical in determining the amount of money that the District receives from a variety of State and Federal supplemental programs like Title I A, At-risk (31a), Title II A, E-Rate, etc.

These supplemental programs have the potential to offer supports and services for our students including, but not limited to:

• Instructional supports (staff, supplies & materials, etc.)
• Non-instructional services (counseling, social work, health services, etc.)
• Professional Learning for staff
• Parent and Community engagement supplies and activities
• Technology
• Pandemic-EBT

Our food service department is asking families to complete and submit the free and reduced meal application as soon as possible to ensure that additional funding for our school is available to meet the needs of our students. All information on the application submitted is confidential.

Please contact Anne Merchant at 248-956-3081 or at annemerchant@wlcsd.org with questions.

What is Youth Assistance?

Youth Assistance is a non-profit organization that offers professional counseling services and conducts programs for youth and their families who live within the Walled Lake School District. Our mission is to strengthen youth and families through volunteer involvement. LAYA is one of 26 programs of the Oakland County Circuit Court-Family Division.

If I need Youth Assistance services, how much will it cost me?

LAYA services are free to residents of Walled Lake School District. Non-residents will be referred to the appropriate Youth Assistance office.

What are Youth Assistance services?

• Referral services
• Youth and Family Counseling
• Family Education programs
• Summer Camp
• Skill Building Scholarships
• Youth/Adult Mentors PLUS program
• Youth Recognition

LAYA has a been a great resource for WLE families and continues to provide a variety of supports for our students. Please consider supporting them by attending the Taste of the Lakes fundraiser at Edgewood Country Club!

In an effort to find additional ways to celebrate our staff, the WLCSD Community Relations department requests that families fill out the information below for staff who are rock stars in their classrooms and school communities. Please complete the form below and contact Dan Durkin (danieldurkin@wlcsd.org) with any questions you may have.

A sample of what these shout outs will look like on social media and in our District newsletters can be found below.

Not receiving district and/or building communications?

If you are not receiving emails from Mrs. VanWagnen, including the Mustang Express, District Weekly Updates, please use the link below to double-check your preferences are correct.

Signing Up for SMS Messages via Skylert

In addition to receiving phone calls and email notifications from the school district in the event of a school closing or emergency, parents can also sign up to receive SMS Text messages.

Please find the helpful step-by-step instructions linked below as well as the video tutorial on signing up for SMS messages.

• Signing Up for SMS Messages via Skylert

Principal: jennifervanwagnen@wlcsd.org

Kellan Watkins

Principal's Secretary: kellanwatkins@wlcsd.org

Jennifer Schloegl

Building Secretary: jenniferschloegl@wlcsd.org

Important Phone Numbers:

Main Line: 248-956-2700

Attendance: 248-956-2790