Dear CST Family,

Students involved in the spring one act play had a chance to show our community all they've been working on this semester through 3 performances this past week. Nice job to the cast, crew, and Mrs. Lee for their hard work and efforts over the past several weeks. The show brought lots of laughs and showed off some wonderful CST student talent!

Also a nice job to our track athletes this week. The 6th grade had their first meet on Tuesday and all grades competed at Indian Trail on a cold day and mix of rain, sleet, snow, and even some sun last Thursday. All grades are at Pioneer Trail this Tuesday for another meet.

As a reminder, this week is short with a half day on Thursday and no school for students on Friday. Looks like the weather is going to warm up this weekend so I hope you are able to enjoy.

Have a great week ahead!

Rick

Parents,

Thank you for providing supplies, food, decorations, and cooking for our staff this past Thursday in support of our KC Royals spirit day. The grill food was amazing and just what was needed. Your support for CST and its staff is much appreciated and was so enjoyed...thank you so much!

Rick

Our school-wide day of service is quickly approaching and we could use some help from a few volunteers and are also in need of some donations. Please see the Sign-up Genius: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F044CAAA62CAAFC1-2022

Questions can be directed to Krista Dueringer at kdueringercst@olatheschools.org.

Thank you!

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)

Budget Information Night

Apr. 12, 2022

Starts at 6:30 PM

Description

Join the Olathe Public Schools for an information night to learn more about the district’s budget realignment for the 2022-23 school year, followed by an opportunity for district leaders to address questions submitted by attendees. The meeting is open to all Olathe employees and community members. The meeting will be recorded and shared for those who are unable to attend in person. Email communications@olatheschools.org to submit a question for the Q&A portion of the presentation.

Safety Town Hall

Apr. 19, 2022

Starts at 6:30 PM

Description

Join the Olathe Public Schools and first responders at the district’s Safety Town Hall. This event will provide an overview of the district’s multi-layered safety and security plan, protocols and procedures in place at all of our buildings for grades PreK-12. Please note, the purpose of this event is to provide a broad overview of the safety procedures at ALL district buildings, and will not focus on any one individual building or incident. Attendees will also have an opportunity to provide feedback to district leaders regarding safety in our schools.

Contact Email: communications@olatheschools.org

• 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