Dear CST Family,

Happy New Year! I hope you and your family were able to enjoy some time together over the break. We have much to look forward to in the new semester as a new basketball season begins (boys), spring sport conditioning will be available after school for students, and new classes begin for many of our students. Our 6th and 7th graders will begin learning about course options and enrollment for the 22-23 school year within a couple weeks of their return and counselors and admin will host a parent evening for current 6th and 7th grade parents on January 20th (see more below). Our 8th grade students will begin learning of their own enrollment options for high school very soon as well.

Continue to watch the weekly for updates and upcoming events and feel free to contact the office with questions. I look forward to our continued partnership in your child's education as we move ahead with the new semester. I wish you all a great start to the year and the happiest possible 2022 for you and your family.

Rick

CST went above and beyond by raising $3,849.16 for the Mayor's Children's Fund...AMAZING! We achieved 100% WIN time participation and our teachers did so much to support this effort. Of course, we had a "friendly" competition among the WIN classes and the top 3 WIN classes ended up being:

1st: Morrone

2nd: Haines

3rd: Rotert

ALL our students should be proud of the efforts from CST ($1200 brought in on the last day alone!)...so amazing and for such a great cause.

Thank you!!!

On Tuesday, January 18th, Chisholm Trail will be host to one of 2 bond informational meetings in the district. At 7pm, all community members are invited to attend this meeting in the CST auditorium to hear about a proposed bond to be voting on later in the spring semester. There is another offering at Santa Fe Trail Middle School on Thursday, January 20th. See more below...

Below is from the district webpage. More info at the link HERE.

In March 2022, registered voters who live within the Olathe Public Schools boundaries will have the opportunity to vote in a no tax-rate increase $298.3 million mail-in bond election that would positively impact all Olathe students and their future for years to come. Projects within this bond proposal would touch every student in Olathe Public Schools and would help the district address its needs in the areas of Growth and Reinvestment, Technology and Innovation, Student Experience and Safety.

In Olathe Public Schools, we are committed to providing top-notch educational experiences from the moment our students step foot in our facilities. With more than 100 district schools and support buildings, activities centers, fields and more, the need to improve and maintain these facilities in order to ensure our students are learning in high-quality environments has never been more important. High-quality facilities and updated equipment set the tone for what students and families can expect in our schools.

We are fortunate to have a long-standing history of support within our community and success with previous bond elections. As we think about the future of our students and education in Olathe Public Schools, the district invites patrons to learn more about the projects included in the Bond package through the information available on this website.

Key Dates

• Jan. 18, 2022 — 7 p.m., Bond information night at Chisholm Trail Middle School, 16700 W. 159th Street, Olathe
• Jan. 20, 2022 — 7 p.m., Bond information night at Santa Fe Trail Middle School, 1100 N. Ridgeview, Olathe
• Feb. 8, 2022 — Deadline to register to vote if you would like to vote in the 2022 Bond election
• Feb. 9, 2022 — Registered voters will begin to receive ballots in the mail
• March 1, 2022 — Noon deadline to return completed ballot

Tryouts for 7th and 8th grade boys' basketball begins on January 4, 2022. There was a pre-season meeting for boys interested in trying out. The document below is what the boys received from Coach Reed.

As a reminder, all boys trying out must have a physical on file clearing them to play. Please contact Coach Reed if you have any questions (https://www.olatheschools.org/Page/7154).

• While seated on the bench during games players should be masked
• Coaches and managers should be masked at all times
• While playing, players are not required to mask

Cheer

• While cheering on the sideline or performing a routine on the floor, cheerleaders do not need to mask
• All other times (sitting on the bleachers, entering and leaving the gym, meeting with coach) cheerleaders should be masked.
• Coaches should be masked at all times

Dance Team

• While performing a routine on the floor, dancers do not need to mask
• All other times (sitting on the bleachers, entering and leaving the gym, meeting with coach) dancers should be masked.
• Coaches should be masked at all times

All spectators

• Students, parents, visitors, workers, staff all need to be masked at all times while attending a game

In the weeks ahead, we'll begin providing literacy intervention for students identified through our MAP testing and reading fluency assessments in the building. This intervention will be provided during our WIN class period (8:44-9:18) and students will work in groups of 5 or less with CST teachers. All students will still be eligible for the WIN prizes described above, but may spend WIN time with one of our building literacy interventionists (one of 13 CST teachers) while they receive literacy intervention targeting any of the identified literacy gaps. This intervention time is being utilized in our Olathe Schools and achieves the state literacy mandate.

In addition, beginning Monday, all CST students will begin to receive daily phonics lessons for the first 5 minutes of their science class. This, too, is part of a district wide effort to help close any gaps that may have occurred through any of our kids' schooling. Daily phonics lessons will be fulfilled by your child's social studies teacher beginning in January.

A nationwide trend has recently made its way into local schools. Unfortunately, CST has not been exempt from this trend, nor have the other Olathe middle schools and high schools. The trend has been credited to TikTok and involves vandalizing schools and posting the video evidence on the social media platform. This has resulted in various acts of vandalism in Olathe including broken bathroom stall doors, mirrors pulled down from walls, soap dispensers ripped from walls, trash cans turned upside down, etc. Some have been caught as a result of their posted video making rounds. Of course, these actions can result in both school and legal consequences. The first story below features Olathe North principal, Jason Herman, who was interviewed by the KC Star.

The other articles are informational, but recent, and deal more with the mental health impact social media can have. Even working in schools as an administrator, I was not aware of some of the information below. As more focus and attention is given to the mental health of our children, the various social media platforms and their influence on the developing teenage brain is an important part of the conversation. My hope is that the links below will provide awareness of current trends and more about outside influences on our kids. Even better if these promote discussion at home.

Johnson County school has bathroom doors and toilet seats stolen, following TikTok trend (featuring Olathe principal) (9/15/2021)

https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/education/article254240178.html

TikTokers Are Stealing From Their Schools in a New Trend (9/10/2021)

5 Things Parents Need to Know about Tik-Tok (Updated 2021)

https://kidmatterscounseling.com/blog/5-things-parents-need-to-know-about-tik-tok/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/09/14/facebook-knew-instagram-could-bad-teens-mental-health/8340578002/

The links below require a Wall Street Journal subscription but may be found in summary on other social media awareness sites.

How TikTok Serves Up Sex and Drug Videos to Minors (9/8/2021)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiktok-algorithm-sex-drugs-minors-11631052944

Inside TikTok’s Algorithm: A WSJ Video Investigation(7/21/2021)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiktok-algorithm-video-investigation-11626877477

Our CST library app has been fixed! Students may use the CST Library app (from Classlink) to access tutorials to get ebooks and audiobooks from Destiny and/or Axis360, browse book trailers and booktalks, use databases for school research, etc...

Also, bookfairs are returning!! Our fall bookfair will be the week of October 18th and the Spring bookfair will be the week of February 14th. Both of these weeks are the week after conferences and the fairs will be in the library. This year we will be using Scholastic Book Fairs. More details to come as we get closer...

https://sites.google.com/students.olatheschools.com/cstlibrary

Receptionist: Chrissy Walters

Assistant Principal's Secretary: Angie Peterson

Attendance Secretary: Connie Bray

Bookkeeper/Principal's Secretary: Sara Harris

Data Operator: Melynda Marquardt

School Nurse: Jennifer Ross

Please keep info updated (email, phone number, medical, etc.). Contact the office at 913-780-7240 if you are concerned you may be missing communication or need to update your family's information.