First off, I hope your children have had a good start to the school year. I wanted to thank you for entrusting your children to Mentone Elementary. Each school day when I wake up in the morning, I know I am working hand-in-hand with a number of caring staff who want your children to have a good school experience growing academically, emotionally, and socially.

Every month, I will be sending home a newsletter to keep you informed about all the events that are taking place at Mentone Elementary. If you have social media and you have not liked us on Facebook, that is another way that we disseminate information on a consistent basis. Parents, your support continues to be appreciated.

Randy Dahms, Principal

Mentone will continue to recognize one student from each classroom every month. The criteria for these students is to work hard, give their best effort daily, follow school rules on a consistent basis, and treat others around them with respect. One student from each classroom will have lunch with the principal each month. If your child is selected, you will receive a letter in the mail acknowledging your child’s accomplishment.

Parents, please note that Mentone Elementary begins breakfast and supervision of students at 8:15 a.m. If it is helpful for you to drop your child off in front of the school that is not a problem, but please do so after 8:15 a.m. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the office. Our school has made efforts to pass out name tags to all parents who pick their child up. Please make sure that you have this name tag in your vehicle. After Labor Day, if someone does not have a current name tag, they will be asked to pull to the back of the line so we can verify the information that you are giving us. Parents, in today’s world, we continue to take safety precautions in efforts to increase the safety of your children. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Mentone’s fall picture day will take place on Friday, September 2nd. Please note that the company taking your child’s picture will be using a green background, so please make sure your child does not wear green on picture day. You will be able to go on-line, look at the pictures, and decide if you would like to purchase any of the pictures or packets. A picture day form was handed out to every student last week. Parents, in case the form was misplaced, in order to view your child’s pictures online you can go to Josten’s website at jostenspix.com. Our school code is FE28122. I hope you are able to purchase some nice pictures.

Just a reminder that during normal school days, Mentone’s office is open from 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. If you need to talk to someone directly, please wait to call until the office opens. If you leave a message that your child is ill and will be absent, that is appreciated as voice messages are checked every morning.

Parents, our teachers will work hard to communicate with you concerning your child’s progress throughout the school year. I have had a few parents share that they tried to email the classroom teacher and they have not heard back. Parents, please note that Valley has invested resources in protecting our network and making sure that outside hackers cannot get into our system. If you send an email to a child’s teacher for the first time, it might be a good idea to leave a phone message or give that teacher a note sharing that you attempted to email them. Sometimes our system’s filters will block an email that it does not recognize. Many of our staff are utilizing different communication tools (Class Dojo or Remind) to make sure that you can reach them with any concern that you may have.

Parents, over the last two years the federal government paid the cost of school lunches nationwide as part of the on-going COVID issues. This year, we have been instructed that we are now under the old system. The cost of student breakfast is $1.30. The cost for a full pay student lunch is $1.80. Please talk to your child about whether you would like them to eat breakfast in the morning before school. If you would like to see if you qualify for free-reduced lunch, please contact the school office, and set up a time to meet with Mrs. Francis. Mrs. Francis can assist you in making sure the correct form is filled out and can let you know if your family qualifies.

Over the last two years, we have not had any consistent PTO as COVID restrictions and precautions made meetings and events difficult. This is something our school would like to resurrect. We will have a meeting on Thursday, September 15th at 6:00 p.m. The front doors will be open, and we will meet in our school library. If you are looking for an organization to plug into, please consider partnering with our school. Thank you for considering!

Parents, if you would like to attend our Bulldog Bash, they will be at 8:45 a.m. on the following dates:

Friday, September 30th

Friday, October 28th

Tuesday, November 22nd

Friday, December. 16th

We want to wish our fifth-grade lady bulldogs the best of luck in volleyball this year. Go Bulldogs!