Hello 8th Grade Parents,

It’s hard to believe that it is October. There are a few items that we wanted to make all 8th grade parents aware of.

Career Expo

All Olathe Public School 8th grade students will be attending a Career Expo on Wednesday, November 3, 2021. This will be held at the IRC building (Instructional Resource Center) at the district office. Busing will be provided. More information, such as CST time slot, will be made available very soon.

21st Century Academy Information and Open House Schedules

The Olathe Public Schools offers 15 unique and innovative 21st Century Academies for high school students. These academies are housed within the district’s high schools. These innovative, four-year programs allow students to build upon their interests and learn specific knowledge and skills they can apply towards their post-secondary experiences and career fields.

As 8th graders, your students will be able to begin the application and interview process if they are interested in joining one of the academies. These academies are optional. 21st Century Programs will be hosting Open House events for parents and students so that they can learn more about the programs they are interested in. More general information is also available at:

https://www.olatheschools.org/Page/9152

21st Century Academy Open House Schedule:

Tuesday - October 26, 2021

Olathe South High School from 6:00 – 7:30 pm

BioMedical Engineering, Business Finance, and Computer Science

Thursday - October 28, 2021

Olathe North High School from 5:45 - 8:00 pm

Animal Health, Geoscience, Medical Professions, and Sports Medicine

Wednesday – November 3, 2021

Olathe West High School from 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Green Tech and Public Safety

Wednesday – November 10, 2021

Olathe East High School from 5:30 – 7:30 pm

Design, Civic Leadership, and Future Educators

Thursday – November 11, 2021

Olathe North High School from 6:30 -8:00 pm (families stay for the entire time)

Distinguished Scholars

Monday - November 15, 2021

Olathe Northwest High School from 5:30 – 7:30 pm

e-Communications

Tuesday – November 16, 2021

Olathe Northwest High School from 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Engineering

Olathe Advanced Technical Center (OATC) Students apply in 10th grade.

Thursday – November 4, 2021

Open House for 8th-11th grade students from 5:30 -7:30 pm

Animal Science and Research, Automotive Collision Technology, Automotive Technology, Construction Trades, Culinary Arts, Electronics and Avionics, Healthcare Science, Welding Technology.

Applications and Interviews

After Open Houses have been completed, the 21st Century application process begins. A student interested in applying for an academy will fill out an online application during the open application window of November 17 – December 7.

Once the form is submitted, students are contacted by the academy facilitator and an interview is arranged with the students and parents/guardian to go over interests, academy requirements and suggested course enrollment. Students then enroll in the high school as a full-time student where the program is hosted. Please note: academy acceptance serves as a student’s transfer application. A separate transfer request form is not needed.

Mock Interviews

On Thursday, November 11, 2021 CST will be having mock interviews for 8th grade students that are applying for a 21st Century program. This will be an opportunity for students to receive experience talking with professionals from the community in an interview setting. The goal is to help prepare students for the 21st Century interview and future job interviews. Once the mock interview dates have been confirmed, we will email that information out to parents.

Students will be receiving this information and preparing for these events over the next several weeks. Feel free to contact CST career counselor, Rachel Iuli (@rjiuli@olatheschools.org) with questions.

These programs are known as "Wildcat After Hours" (WAH) and "Math Lab". Below are available times for students to get help with homework. Please note, we are adding a "before hours" WAH program on Monday and Wednesday as well.

***These academic programs began the week of September 6th***

Parents,

In recent week's I've been contacted by Price Chopper, Starbucks, and Carmen's Cocina regarding behavior from middle school patrons on separate occasions. Reported behaviors include:

• cursing in the store with each other
• making gestures toward customers
• blocking entry to the store
• throwing cake, breaking bottles, leaving messes
• standing on tables near the pharmacy
• climbing/swinging on tree branches
• riding on motorized handicap carts
• throwing balls
• eating donuts
• playing hide and seek

Redirection from workers has frequently been ignored or was responded to disrespectfully. Police have been called on at least one occasion this school year.

While these behaviors are often not within CST's jurisdiction, when specific information is provided we will make calls home in effort to promote positive outcomes for all without the need of law enforcement. Ultimately, however, businesses have the right to enforce their policies and expectations as they see appropriate and this could include contacting police and/or pressing charges.

As CST principal, I can share that all the businesses I've mentioned have done so much for our staff and our kids over the years with the services they provide. I value their contributions not just as a principal, but as a parent and as a community member. In our beginning-of-year talks with students, as part of representing oneself (and school) positively, we included discussion on behavior expectations at Price Chopper specifically. We will continue to do our part at CST to reinforce basic common courtesy and appropriate behavior when in public.

I'm also hopeful this awareness and communication will prompt discussion at home about the importance of responsible independence and respectful behavior in public, especially in context of these concerns. Aiming to promote a future filled with positive societal contributions and doing so with courtesy, kindness, and respect is one we can all promote as part of our home/school partnership. I'm grateful for our CST parent community and its support in doing all we can to fulfill our district's mission of "preparing kids for their future."

Rick

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

Attention!

The USDA has announced that the National School Breakfast and Lunch program will be free for all students during the 2021-22 school year. This means that students will not be charged for “combo” breakfast or lunch in the coming school year.

However, it’s vital that families who would benefit from free or reduced district registration, transportation and other fees fill out the Kansas State Department of Education Household Economic Survey to continue to receive free or reduced school registration fees, transportation fees and other fees and school costs. Please do so by going to https://onbase.olatheschools.com/forms/household_economic_survey.html.

Families will only need to fill out this survey one time to determine qualification for reduced or waived fees for the 2021-22 school year. Filling out this survey and including all children on the form also helps the district maintain important funding that makes certain educational programming possible.

We encourage all families to consider, review and complete the Household Economic Survey application. If families do not complete the application, they will no longer be eligible for reduced fees and state funding for the district may be reduced.

The 8th period on your child's schedule is our new "Academic Extension with Intervention" time. This period will take place right after 1st hour (see schedule below). At CST, we are calling this time "Wildcats WIN" (WIN = What I Need). This time will occur daily for all students and will be a time to receive a variety of learning. This time will include social emotional learning (2nd Step), reading intervention and strategies, silent reading, school-themed lessons and information, content-related materials, and student-choice learning. This time is truly intended to be a "what I need" time for students.

This intervention time will take place in all Olathe middle schools and the new bell schedule below will be utilized in most of our middle school buildings. Watch the weekly for more information on Wildcats WIN as the school year gets underway. This will be a valuable time for our students as we aim to cater more to their educational needs.

Access to school calendars, hour listings for buildings

District Calendar Page

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

District Calendar PDF