Renner Back to School Newsletter
Information for the 2022-2023 School Year
Renner Elementary School
Website: https://renner.parkhill.k12.mo.us
Location: 7401 Northwest Barry Road, Kansas City, MO, USA
Phone: 816-359-4350
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RennerElementary
A Note from Mrs. Kalis and Dr. Johnson
We hope you have enjoyed your summer! We are excited to welcome your child(ren) to Renner!
Our theme at Renner this year is "Ignite Curiosity!" We want our students, staff and families to explore, take risks and ask questions about the world around them. Renner is a place where students can get curious!
Thank you for your continued support. We are looking forward to the opportunity to serve our students, as well as partner with parents this school year. If you need anything before school starts or during the school year, please do not hesitate to reach out to Mrs. Kalis at KalisS@parkhill.k12.mo.us or 816-359-5603.
Sincerely,
Sasha Kalis - Renner Principal
Denisha Johnson - Renner Assistant Principal
Important Dates
August 15: Class Placements Emailed at 4:00 PM
August 18: Back to School Night, 5:30-7:00 PM (Title I Information at 6:15 PM)
August 22: First Day of School, 8:15 AM-3:05 PM
August 31: PTA Meeting, 6:00 PM in library
September 5: NO SCHOOL, Labor Day
September 7: Early Release at 1:05 PM
September 8: Virutal Parent Orientation Presentation
September 15: PTA Papa John's Night
September 22: PTA Meeting, 6:00 PM in library
Early Dismissal at 1:05 PM (Once a Month on Wednesday)
September 7
October 5
November 9
December 7
January 4
February 1
March 1
April 5
May 3
2022-2023 School-Year Calendar
- English: School-year calendar (PDF)
- Spanish: Calendario actualizado del ano escolar (PDF)
- Arabic: تقويم العام الدراسي (PDF)
- Amharic: ዓመተ ትምህርት (PDF)
- Somali: Taariikhda Sanad Dugsiyeedka (PDF)
The latest updates can be found HERE.
Meet the Office
Sasha Kalis
816-359-5603
Dr. Denisha Johnson
Josh Brown
816-359-4350
Melissa Wiehe
816-359-4350
Meet the Support Staff
Leigh Benton
816-359-4354
Kevin Bland
816-359-6879
Tara Davis
816-359-5547
Kim McFarland
816-359-6309
Jamie Mickelis
816-359-4356
Attendance
Back to School Night: Thursday, August 18
Our Back to School Night is on Thursday, August 18! Come and meet your child’s teacher and drop off school supplies! It helps everyone make a smooth transition on the 1st day of school. Back to School Night is an open house format.
Our teachers will be providing Parent Orientation information to families on September 8th. You will receive a virtual presentation from your student's teacher which you may view at your convenience. Teachers will have contact details for any questions you may have!
Title 1 Information
During Back to School Night, Mrs. Tina Mecklenburg and Mrs. Mandy Palmer, our reading interventionists at Renner will be hosting a short information session (15 minutes) about Renner being a Title 1 school and would love for you to attend. It will be in room 112 at 6:15 p.m.
Camp Kindergarten
Kindergarten students will not be assigned a final teacher until after the first week of school. Students will be spending time with each of the kindergarten teachers. This will help them get to know all students.
Students will have a consistent classroom for arrival, lunch, specials and dismissal, during the first week of school, as this will be the student's "campsite."
Students and families will find out their teacher for the school year on Friday, August 26th at the end of the day. At that point, students will get to know their new teacher and classmates to be ready to start in their own classroom on Monday, August 29th!
Goals of Camp Kindergarten:
- Help ease the transition for kindergarten students to a new learning environment
- Assess the academic, social, and emotional needs of all incoming kindergarten students
- Build our Kindergarten community to help all students and teachers know each other
Class Placements
Incoming kindergarten students will receive a projected class placement that will be finalized by August 26th. Please see the email Mrs. Kalis sent on July 27 and above for more information.
Dismissal Procedures
For the safety of all our Roadrunners, communication is the key! During Back to School Night, please be sure that you communicate with your child’s teacher the details of your child’s mode of dismissal transportation. Families must establish their child as one of the following:
- Bus Rider (front of building): Your student's ID badge will designate their bus information. A sticker with their bus number will be placed on the back of the badge on the first day of school. Please confirm your child's bus number with his/her teacher.
- Car rider (east side of building): All families with car rider students will receive a car name tag to place in the front car window to assist teachers assisting with student pick-up.
- Walker or Bike Rider (east side of building): We are unable to dismiss from the office.
- Adventure Club (cafeteria)
Additional Bus rider information: Bus information will be in Infinite Campus on August 15 for students who are assigned a bus prior to August 5th. Our recommendation is for you to contact First Student if you have any concerns regarding your student’s stop. First Student can be reached at 816-359-4560 or contact Kay Burnos at kay.burnos@firstgroup.com.
During the year, please notify the school office of any transportation changes prior to 2:30pm. Thank you for your assistance!
First Day of School Photos
Thank you for sharing your first day memories with us! #ParkHillProud
Food Services
Students may bring their lunch from home or purchase a school lunch from the cafeteria. Students also have the option to purchase a breakfast upon arrival to school. To add money to your child’s meal account, please visit our nutrition services webpage.
Pricing:
Breakfast: $1.50
Lunch: $2.70
Milk: $0.70
Free and Reduced Meal
The program which allowed FREE meals for ALL students was discontinued at the end of last year. To qualify for free or reduced meals for the 2022-2023 school year, you must fill out a free/reduced application form. If you think your family may be eligible for Free or Reduced Meals this school year, please apply now. Go to the link HERE to access further information and apply. The information provided on the application is confidential.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to our school social worker, Tara Davis, 816-359-5547 or by email DavisT@parkhill.k12.mo.us.
If you need the application translated, please use this link. https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/translated-applications
Classroom Treats: To protect the health and safety of our students, homemade treats will not be distributed to students in the Park Hill School District. Due to allergies and other food intolerances, please consult your classroom teacher before sending any pre-packaged treats to school. Individual student snacks are allowed.
Birthday Treats
Families may send birthday treats if they want to do so, as long as they come from our list of treats that contain none of the major allergens. Thank you for understanding that all classroom treats must come from this list, because we do not have the staff capacity to check for allergens that could threaten the health of some students.
Please bring birthday treats ahead of time (two hours after the start of school, at the latest).
APPROVED BIRTHDAY TREATS
- Stickers
- Erasers
- Pencils
- Crazy straws
- Blow Pops
- Juice boxes
- Popcorn
- Smarties
- Dum Dum lollipops
- Jelly Belly
- Nerds
- Ring Pops
- Skittles
- Sour Patch Kids
- Starburst
- Swedish Fish
- Life Saver Gummies
Health Services and COVID-19
Park Hill School District continues to work closely with our community public health partners as we prepare for the 2022-2023 school year. Please review these reminders as we prepare for back-to-school.
- The CDC continues to recommend masks in our schools, facilities and buses when community levels are high, but they will not be mandated at this time.
- The district will no longer have a COVID-19 dashboard.
- For up-to-date information about our community’s case numbers, the following dashboards are available:
MARC KC Region COVID-19 Data Hub
Immunizations
Reminder from the health room: All students need to be up to date on immunizations BEFORE starting school on August 22. Documentation of immunizations must be turned into the health room. No exceptions will be made. Please call the health room with any questions or concerns at (816)359-4354.
- English: Child Care and Preschool Immunization Requirements (PDF)
- Spanish: Requisitos de inmunización para las escuelas de Missouri (PDF)
- Arabic: متطلبات رعاية الطفل والتحصين في مرحلة ما قبل المدرسة(PDF)
- Amharic: የልጅ እንክብካቤ እና ቅድመ ትምህርት ቤት የክትባት መስፈርቶች (PDF)
- Somali: Shuruudaha Tallaalka ee Dugsiga Missouri (PDF)
Kid Guard Insurance
Online Residency and Verification
Our annual online verification and residency process for returning students is open. All families must visit the Parent Portal to verify student demographic, health and emergency contact information and to submit proof of residency documents for the 2022-2023 school year.
If your family has completed the annual residency verification process, you will receive class placement information on August 15.
Visit the residency information link below
https://www.parkhill.k12.mo.us/families/verification-and-residency
Visit your campus parent portal at
https://ic.parkhill.k12.mo.us/campus/portal/parents/parkhill.jsp
PBIS
School-wide Positive Behavior Intervention & Support (SWPBS) is a systems approach to establishing the whole-school social culture and intensive individual behavior supports needed for school to achieve social and academic gains while minimizing problem behavior for all students. SWPBS is NOT a specific curriculum, intervention or practice, but a decision making framework that guides selection, integration and implementation of scientifically-based academic and behavioral practices for improving academic and behavior outcomes for all students. A central feature of SWPBS is implementation of behavioral practices throughout the entire school. SWPBS defines practices that all students experience in all parts of the school and at all times of day.
- Fewer behavior problems
- Improved school climate
- Reduction in discipline referrals
- i.e.—Every faculty and staff member will have a protocol to follow.
- Safer schools
- More time spend on instruction and less on discipline
The power of PBIS at Renner is that we have building wide expectations for all areas of the building. We use a Matrix (below) that identifies the expectation for each area in our building. The expectations focus on four key behaviors that we call PRIDE:
- Positive
- Responsible
- In Control
- Determined
- Every Day
When students demonstrate these expectations they are honored with a building wide currency (PRIDE POINTS) which they can exchange for menu items.
PTA
It's time to sign up for PTA memberships for the 2022-2023 school year. All memberships will be collected online via the below link.
Proceeds from PTA memberships goes to support the students and teachers by providing supplies and experiences.
Be sure to stop by the PTA table at Back to School Night to join!
Replinish KC
Safety at Renner
Park Hill Parent and Student Handbook:
To access our handbook, please visit our district website:
https://www.parkhill.k12.mo.us/cms/one.aspx?portalId=62500&pageId=808658
Call Box at Front Entrance: All schools in Park Hill have a Call Box at the locked Front Entrance Doors. Front entrance doors will be locked when school is in session. Office staff will ask for your name and the reason for your visit before the door is unlocked. Each time a parent or a family member visits Renner, a photo ID is required to check out a student or enter Renner beyond the school office area.
Student Check Out Process: Please be prepared to show a photo ID when picking up your child early from Renner. Students will not be allowed to leave with siblings or other family members unless the sibling or family member is listed on the child’s authorized pick-up list or verbal permission is granted by the parent by phone. A picture ID is required when picking up students.
School Supplies
- English: K-5 Combined School Supply List 2022-2023 (PDF)
- Spanish: Lista de útiles escolares para 2022-2023 (PDF)
- Arabic: 2023-2022 ي قائمة لوازم المدرسة للعام الدرا (PDF)
- Amharic: ለ2022-2023 የትምህርት ቤት አቅርቦት ዝርዝር (PDF)
- Somali: Liiska Sahayda Dugsiga ee 2022-2023 (PDF)
Save time by purchasing school supplies at School Tool Box!
Staffing
Kayley Pak: 2nd Grade
Roxanne Robke: 2nd Grade
Krista Kielty: 5th Grade
Erin Schaefer: 5th Grade
Christy Ramirez Hughes: ELD Aide
Amy Arensberg: Gifted Aide
Josh Brown: Admin. Assistant
Dr. Denisha Johnson: Assistant Principal
Josh Lorigan: Evening Custodian
Denise Scheib: Assistant Cafeteria Manager
Student Lanyards
Title I Information
During Back to School Night, Mrs. Tina Mecklenburg and Mrs. Mandy Palmer, our reading interventionists at Renner will be hosting a short information session (15 minutes) about Renner being a Title 1 school and would love for you to attend. It will be in room 112 at 6:15 p.m.
Visiting and Volunteering at Renner
Lunch Visits: Parents are welcome to join their students for lunch at school. Lunch visitors must check in at the office. We have a designated area for students with lunch guests to accommodate space for visitors. Lunch visitors may only have lunch with their own children. Any visitors who are not listed as a contact for the student will require advanced permission from the student's parent or guardian. Please contact the office to schedule lunch visits with students.
Volunteers: We welcome all volunteers into our schools and classrooms, with prior arrangements made with Renner staff. All volunteers who work with our students need to complete background screening by Park Hill. Forms for the screening are available in the Renner office. Volunteers must check in at the office and wear an ID sticker.
Are you or someone you know looking for a well-paying job that allows you to make a difference for students? If so, join our team of dedicated Park Hill School District staff members. We have full-time and part-time support staff positions open, including nutrition services, childcare, teacher assistants and substitute teacher positions.
We recently increased the pay for these positions to . . .
- Lunchroom and playground supervisor: $15.29
- Adventure Club associate teacher: $15.29 plus a $1-an-hour bonus, paid twice a year
- Nutrition services assistant: $15.90 plus a $1-an-hour bonus, paid twice a year
- Teacher assistant: $16.54
- Adventure Club site manager: $17.20 plus a $1-an-hour bonus, paid twice a year
- Specialized teacher assistant: $17.89
- Custodian: $18.61
If you know of someone who would make a great addition to our Park Hill School District family, please let them know about these opportunities.
Image & Contact Information Opt-Out
Student Medication
Approved Birthday Treats
- Stickers
- Erasers
- Pencils
- Crazy straws
- Blow Pops
- Juice boxes
- Popcorn
- Smarties
- Dum Dum lollipops
- Jelly Belly
- Nerds
- Ring Pops
- Skittles
- Sour Patch Kids
- Starburst
- Swedish Fish
- Life Saver Gummies