Soule Elementary's Cowboy Connect
August 2023
Dear Soule Families,
Welcome to the 2023-2024 school year! I hope everyone had a relaxing and restful summer vacation with family, friends, and loved ones! We are anxiously awaiting the start of a new school year! Please take a moment to review Open House information, SafeDismissal, the new Shirt Sale, Meeting the Cowboy Crew, Parent Informational Nights, Talking Points and Important Upcoming Dates. We are looking forward to a wonderful new school year. Most importantly, thank you for sharing your children with us here at Soule! Please reach out to us for any reason at all.
Sincerely,
Amber Cunningham & Kim Armstrong
Soule Elementary Principals
(620) 471-2116
WELCOME BACK!!!
Meet your teacher, bring your school supplies and backpacks to leave, get your SafeDismissal number, and buy a new Soule Shirt!
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL: Thursday, August 17th
- Doors will open at 7:30am. Reminder that breakfast rates are based on the lunch qualifications of Free, Reduced, or Full-pay. Breakfast will be 7:30-7:55am in the school cafeteria. THIS YEAR, ALL KIDS K-5 WILL REPORT TO THE GYM if they arrive before 7:55am. On the first week of school, you may walk your student(s) in the building and to their classroom(s) if you would like! Reminder that after 7:55, teachers will come guide their students to their classrooms from the gym. Parents, we ask that your child develops a sense of routine. We know arrival time can be a little scary. After the first week, we encourage parents to foster their child's independence and further develop their school routine by allowing them to walk with the teacher.
- If your student arrives after 8am, they are considered tardy and will need to stop by the office to grab a tardy slip from the attendance clerk before heading to class. Dismissal is 3:15pm. Please see below on SafeDismissal details.
- Did you know Soule offers the after-school program through the YMCA? Please contact the YMCA to sign up your students for after-school care. Scholarships are available.
SHIRTS FOR SALE at Open House for Youth Sizes! "Proud to be a Cowboy!" $10 CASH ONLY! Another order will be taken when school starts including adult sizes.
SafeDismissal
Soule will continue with SafeDismissal for this upcoming school year. Please see the videos below if you are new to Soule! This dismissal process improves the safety of your children and the efficiency (speed) of dismissal. We have partnered with the company safeDISMISSAL.COM again. One of the many features of this dismissal process is that your children will remain comfortably and safely in their classroom until the moment they will meet you in the "car loading zone".
Here are a couple tips to follow during our new dismissal process:
1. Please make sure to have your ‘pick-up’ card displayed in your front window when entering the dismissal line. Please keep your card displayed until your child has been loaded into your car. You will get your new card at Open House August 16th (5:30-6:30pm). We are going to try to keep the numbers the same for returning families.
2. If your student does not arrive at the loading spot before you do, you may be instructed to move forward where your child will be notified again. We ask you to move forward so that we do not hold up the remaining dismissal line.
Finally, we ask for your patience the first couple of days that we implement the process. Our staff is committed to making this process beneficial to all!
Please visit www.safeDISMISSAL.com for more information as well as more info from Soule!
English Video explaining SafeDismissal
Spanish Video explaining SafeDismissal
Talking Points
Talking Points will be up and running soon! We are able to communicate with families directly via text message through this! This tool will allow all families to receive messages in their home language instantly. 🙌 Your child's teacher will reach out to you. If you have the app downloaded, the message will send there. If you are new to the district, you'll receive this as a text message until you download the Talking Points FAMILIES app!
Important Upcoming Dates
- Parent Information Reading Title Nights: K-2 is Tuesday, Aug 22 & 3-5 is Thursday, Aug 24
- Monday, September 4th is Labor Day: NO SCHOOL
- Monday, September 11th is PICTURE DAY!!!
- Thursday, September 14th- Regular school day and dismissal time (Parent Teacher Conferences at night)
- Friday, September 15th- Parent Teacher Conferences 8:00-11:40am, NO SCHOOL
Soule Elementary
Email: cunningham.amber@usd443.org
Website: https://usd443.org/543512_3
Location: 401 Soule Street, Dodge City, KS, USA
Phone: 6204712116
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SouleElementaryDC