Dear CST Family,

Happy April! Well, it was cold but we got our first track meet off the ground this past Thursday! Our 7th and 8th grade track athletes took on Frontier Trail to begin the year. Next Tuesday, our 6th grade athletes will host a 6th-only meet against Mission Trail. The weather is looking a little warmer and we look forward the season getting in full swing with all three grade levels at Indian Trail on Thursday.

Our spring one act will take the stage beginning next Thursday as well. From Thursday to Saturday we’ll have 3 performances for our students and families to enjoy. The name of the musical is “All I Really Needed to Know I Learned from a Zombie”. Tickets can be purchased on Touchbase for $5/adults, $3/students ($5 in person)…check it out!

It is assessment season and students completed state reading assessments this week. See below for our full assessment calendar over the next few weeks.

Finally, a heads up that in a couple weeks we have a ½ day (4/14) with an 11:15am dismissal as well as a professional day (4/15) with no school for students.

Have a wonderful week ahead!

Rick

• Thursday, 4/7--7pm
• Friday, 4/8--7pm
• Saturday, 4/9--3pm

Tickets can be purchased through Touchbase or at the door.

Contact Mrs. Lee with questions.

mblee@olatheschools.org

Assessments:

• Week of 3/21--Kansas Science Assessment (8th only-science)
  
• Week of 3/27--Kansas Reading Assessments (ELA classes)
  
• Week of 4/11—MAP Reading (ELA classes)
• Week of 4/18—Panorama (rescheduled date--taken during WIN time)
  
• Week of 4/25—Kansas Math Assessments (Math classes)
• Week of 5/9—MAP Math (Math classes)

This is a friendly reminder to please submit your student's photos for the 8th grade end-of-year slideshow to Mrs. Samantha Collins-Payne at smcollinspayne@olatheschools.org! As you've seen in the 8th grade newsletter and in the CST parent newsletter this semester, the deadline for these photos is Monday, April 4th.

Using the information below, please submit:

1. A baby photo (newborn-toddler)

2. A 5th grade photo

3. A current 8th grade photo

It's easy to send photos! Simply email your three photos to:

Mrs. Samantha Collins-Payne at smcollinspayne@olatheschools.org

When you email your photos, please ...

1. Include your student's name in the email to Mrs. Collins-Payne.

2. Make sure to upload only JPEG format.

3. Look out for a confirmation email from Mrs. Collins-Payne. If she doesn't send one, then that means she didn't receive your email.

Questions? Contact Samantha Collins-Payne at smcollinspayne@olatheschools.org

Again, all photos are due to Mrs. Collins-Payne (smcollinspayne@olatheschools.org) by end of Monday, April 4th.

Parents,

Be on the look out for a postcard from the CST Sources of Strength group in the mail. This postcard was designed by CST students and is a fun reminder for students about when times get hard they have strengths to which they can rely.

Ms. Vohland received a grant from the Olathe Public School Foundation for $1500 to apply toward CST's service day. This money will help offset the cost transportation. Service Day will be held on April 22nd.

Mr. Haines received a grant for $2500 from the OPSF to purchase resin 3D printers for his classroom. This state of the art technology will be a vast improvement on the current 3D printers in the classroom and it offers more precise modeling for students.

Thank you to both amazing teachers the time they take with kids daily as well as the time it took to write the grant proposal. The fruits of their efforts exemplifies their passion and dedication to CST and its students! CST is fortunate to have you as champions for our kids!

• 6pm, Tuesday, May 24th
• End of Year Night of Recognition for 8th Grade Students
• All 8th grade students are invited to attend
• More details to come!

8th Grade Activity Night is May 13th!

• 6:30-8pm
• More details to come
  

This week (of 3/21) 7th graders participated in a virtual Career Pathway Fair. They explored all the high school options that Olathe Public Schools has to offer them. It was so much fun to hear their conversations with friends about their future possibilities and how it connects, or doesn’t connect, with their Personality Traits on Xello. If you are interested in viewing exactly what they did in Social Studies, you can access your students Xello account on their device through class link. Below I will also provide direct links to the video that is an overview of the Career Pathways at all high schools, 21st Century Academies, and our 2-year OATC programs.

Overview Video: https://youtu.be/JHb7E4ekKFY

Career Pathways Fair Website: https://sites.google.com/students.olatheschools.com/olathecareerpathways2022/home

Friday, our 7th grade students also participated in a team teach Bias Buster Lesson with their Science teacher and their counselor. It is just a fun time for us counselors to be in the classrooms directly with all students, and we feel it is so impactful for students to hear about personal experiences from teachers and other adults in this building. During this Bias lesson we use our own stories to help students shift through what is a bias and bust them with real life examples. This lesson can also be viewed on your student's device through ClassLink on Xello.

We’re excited to announce that applications are open for the 2022-2023 Olathe Teen Council!

Teens will be able to meet with the City Council, learn how their local government works, how to be involved and how to amplify their voice. They’ll also be able to identify specific issues they are interested in learning more about and find a way to have an impact. We have multiple volunteer opportunities throughout the year. We also hope to take some teens to the National League of Cities conferences in Kansas City in 2022 and Washington DC in 2023.

This opportunity is open to any student who will be a high schooler in 2022-2023 and lives in Olathe. We generally accept between 10 and 20 members.

Students are encouraged to apply! The application is available at OlatheKS.org/TeenCouncil. It does require a short essay as well as two letters of recommendation. Applications are due July 1.

What is Go Guardian? (device monitoring software)

Go Guardian Parent was created to help provide additional educational support to administrators and teachers by allowing parents to see what sites and documents their children are browsing and providing parents with additional internet controls at home. The app gives parents and guardians a bird’s eye view of the apps and websites that their kids are on most often and control over school-issued devices during out-of-school hours. With this perspective, parents can be made aware of what types of browsing behavior schools are seeing from students so they can all work together to encourage more effective internet browsing habits at home and at school.

See the attached PDF for more information and directions on how to download the app.

The Counseling Department would like to take a moment to share a resource from Children’s Mercy Hospital with you. Please use this link https://www.childrensmercy.org/departments-and-clinics/developmental-and-behavioral-health/prepped-and-ready/ to access information about Prepped and Ready: Parenting into the Teen Years. This is set up as a short video series that you can watch as your schedule permits. There is no cost, and if you complete a short survey at the end, Children’s Mercy will send you a great safety kit.

Topics include eating disorder prevention, home safety (including storage of firearms, medications, etc.), screen time, self-care, substance use (including vaping), and suicide prevention.

This resource will only be available for a short time, so please don’t wait!

Contact your child's counselor with questions.

6th Grade Devices

• Surface Go devices will be checked out to 6th grade and new students on Monday, August 16th. Returning 7th and 8th grade students should still have their device checked out to them last school year.
  

Extra Curricular Activities

• Students are encouraged to join CST activities! There is a strong link between school involvement and academic success. Cross Country practice begins on Tuesday, August 17 and is available to all students, 6th, 7th, and 8th. Physicals required to participate.
  

Water Bottles

• All students will be provided a water bottle from CST. Students are encouraged to drink plenty of water during the day. Drinking fountains will also be available for those without a water bottle.

Backpacks

• Students will be allowed to carry their backpacks this year to limit necessary locker trips. Students are encouraged to travel light and utilize their locker to help lighten the load.

Lockers

• All students have been assigned a hall locker and are expected to keep jackets/coats/extra clothing in their locker.
  

Two topics often asked about are cell phones and attire. The screenshots below are from the student handbook found on our website. We aim to promote a distraction-free learning environment as much as possible and we remind students that "Chisholm Trail is a school, not the pool". We want to promote a positive academic learning environment in the way we dress, speak, and behave. Teachers and admin will review a variety of topics with students as part of our beginning of year talks.

https://www.olatheschools.org/Page/8153

Access to school calendars, hour listings for buildings

District Calendar Page

Year-at-a-glance, single pager/downloadable

District Calendar PDF