Family News from the Nest
English Landing Elementary School
English Landing Family News from the Nest
Email: roek@parkhill.k12.mo.us
Website: http://englishlanding.parkhill.k12.mo.us
Location: 6500 NW Klamm Dr, KCMO, MO, United States
Phone: 816-359-4370
Twitter: @EnglishLanding
Friday, December 16, 2016
What's Happening at the NEST?
Wednesday, December 21, 2016: English Landing SPIRIT Day!
(Wear English Landing Spirit Wear or English Landing School Colors: Red, White, Blue)
Thursday, December 22, 2016: PTA Winter Party 10:00am to 11:00am
Thursday, December 22, 2016: Elementary Schools Dismiss at 11:45am
Winter Break Begins!
Thursday, January 5, 2017: Students Return to English Landing following Winter Break!
English Landing School Office will be CLOSED
December 23, 2016 through January 2, 2017
English Landing Staff Updates in Third Grade
The English Landing family is pulling together to support Mrs. Nikki DeMint, a third-grade teacher, who had to undergo surgery due to breast cancer. Mrs. DeMint will be recuperating following this surgery, and we expect her to return to English Landing at the end of January. Mrs. DeMint touches the lives of many students and families each year in our school community. If you would like to send a note of encouragement, please feel free to drop it off at the English Landing office. We will be delivering mail to Mrs. DeMint regularly as she is recovering.
Until our winter break begins, Mrs. Christine Rist, retired third-grade teacher from Union Chapel Elementary, will be working with our third graders. This week, I recommended hiring Mrs. Terri Dwyer as a long-term substitute for Mrs. DeMint’s third-grade classroom, following the winter break. Please help me in welcoming Mrs. Dwyer to our English Landing school community!
Mrs. Dwyer has a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction and taught in the Kansas City, Missouri and Independence school districts for nine school years before staying home with her daughters in 2013. She has experience teaching second, third and fourth grades. The Dwyer family lives in the Riverside community, where Mrs. Dwyer serves as a board member for the Riverside Parks Committee and on the Riverside Fire and Police Athletic League as a youth crime prevention member. Mrs. Dwyer’s oldest daughter, Clara, attended English Landing five years ago for kindergarten before transferring to St. Therese in first grade.
Mrs. Dwyer will spend time with Mrs. DeMint’s students next Monday and Tuesday with Mrs. Rist.
REPEAT: Second Semester Student Leadership Timeline
Here is the timeline for the Second Semester Student Leadership Applications:
- The week of January 9-13, 2017: Students will be notified by their Staff Leader
- The week of January 17-20, 2017: Orientation for Student Leaders.
- January 23, 2017: Student Leaders Begin! (Second Semester)
PTA Reflections Reception: Monday Morning
Save the Date! The Gals and Pals Career Share is coming in January
Here is what this art lesson included:
Students learned about career opportunities in Graphic Design. Then each fifth grade student used Google Drawings to design a digital poster for English Landing's upcoming career share event. The students critiqued their designs using design principles: contrast, pattern, emphasis, movement, unity, balance, rhythm. Eight designs were chosen for a vote. The finalists pitched their designs to the fifth grade class and the students voted on the winning poster.
CONGRATULATIONS to Sarah Perrea for creating this winning poster.
REPEAT: Second Quarter Progress Reports and Report Card Timeline
During the 2016-2017 school year Elementary Progress Reports and Elementary Quarterly Report Cards will be sent home (electronically through e-mail) to families. If a family does not have an e-mail then a paper copy of this information will be sent home in back pack mail.
In the past school years, ALL English Landing students received a Progress Report or Midterm Report each quarter.
During the 2016-2017 school year Elementary Progress Reports or Midterm Reports will only be sent to families with students who are not making expected progress.
Second Quarter Progress Report Date: Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Second Quarter Report Card Date: Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Park Hill Spelling Bee News
Registration now open for Park Hill Spelling Bee
The Park Hill District spelling bee will be held Saturday, February 4th at PHSHS with the winner advancing directly to the Scripps National Spelling Bee held near Washington, DC., May 28-June3.
Awards will be presented to the top ten finishers. All current Park Hill 5th-8th graders are eligible, but students must sign up by January 15th.
Register thru the link below, or by going to the “Parent Resources” section of the district website.
Park Hill School District News: No Tax Increase Bond Issue (April 7, 2017)
No-Tax-Increase Bond Issue:
Schools in the Park Hill School District are getting crowded.
Many families move to our community just to send their children to our schools, and this means we need to keep up with our growing enrollment.
For several years, we have been planning ahead to deal with this growth. We got feedback from the community, including students, staff and parents, to help the Park Hill Board of Education develop an enrollment-based long-range facility plan. The community told us that it was important to have enough classroom space in our schools, to maintain our existing buildings, to keep class sizes low and to have simple feeder patterns.
The long-range facility plan we created with all this feedback has enrollment targets. Since our enrollment continues to grow and hit those targets, we installed mobile classrooms at several schools this year. However, our community told us they do not want us to use these as long-term solutions to our crowding.
So, in keeping with the next step of our plan, as we hit our enrollment targets, the Board of Education decided to place a no-tax-increase bond issue question on the April 4, 2017 ballot. Voters will decide whether to take on an additional $110 million in debt to pay for facilities to accommodate our growth, including
- A new elementary school
- A new middle school
- A high school innovation studio
- A district warehouse and support services facility to support our classrooms and maintain our facilities
- Improvements to existing facilities
If economic conditions leave enough proceeds from the bond issue, we would also
- Build a transportation center, which could save us money on busing
- Pay for maintenance projects in our existing facilities
It is possible to pay for these projects with no tax increase because of our Board’s careful money management and good financial stewardship of taxpayer dollars. Thanks to good financial management by the district, Park Hill is in a position to ask for a bond without raising taxes. This is a result of aggressively paying off existing debts and refinancing for better rates. Local commercial and residential growth has also helped by expanding the local tax base. Because of these factors, we have room in our state-set debt limit to take on additional debt with no tax increase. We will continue to carefully monitor our debt and interest rates in order to save taxpayer dollars.
Thanks to their conservative budgeting, we have enough room in our debt service levy to issue bonds to cover the cost of these new schools and projects with no tax increase.
For more information about Park Hill’s no-tax-increase bond issue, please visit the district’s website at http://www.parkhill.k12.mo.us/.
Remaining 2016-2017 Evening Grade Level Music Programs
Second Grade: Thursday, February 16, 2017: 7pm “Hats”
First Grade: Thursday, March 9, 2017: 7pm “Squirm”
Kindergarten: Thursday, April 13, 2017: 7pm “Baby Beluga”
2016-2017 Elementary School Hours
8:20am First Bell Rings and Students Go To Grade Level Classroom
8:40am Tardy Bell Rings and School Officially Begins
3:30pm Evening Dismissal
Save the Dates: 2016-2017 Park Hill Elementary Early Release Dates
Park Hill STAR Awards
Park Hill Star Award
Our employees are the reason we are so successful here in the Park Hill School District, and we would like to recognize them for all they do for our students.
That is why we present the Park Hill Star award once a month to a pre-K or elementary teacher, a secondary teacher and a support employee.
Anyone can nominate an employee for this award by using the form below. It asks you to share how your nominee demonstrates our district values of continuous improvement, high expectations, integrity, visionary leadership and student focus. You can also share how your nominee supports the goals in our district’s strategic plan.
Please nominate a Park Hill Star today!
Park Hill Star nomination form
English Landing Elementary School - Building School Improvement Focus Areas
District Vision
Building Successful Futures - Each Student - Every Day
English Landing Vision
Our vision is that all English Landing students will meet grade level expectations and demonstrate responsible citizenship.
English Landing Values
1. We will embrace a welcoming climate.
2. Safety will be a priority.
3. Students and staff will strive for excellence.
4. We will promote collaboration and community involvement.
5. Our school will model life skills.
6. Diverse cultures will be respected.
7. We will practice positive communication.
8. Our school will encourage leadership.
English Landing Strategic Focus Areas
Financial
Academic
Climate
Employee
English Landing 2016-2017 School Improvement Priority Goals
- EL STAR testing results will display reading growth (on track or above) that increases from the current Park Hill MODERATE score (Yellow) to meeting the Park Hill GOAL score (Green) on the 2016-2017 English Landing Balanced Scorecard. (Indicator #7)
- EL Students reporting through semester student surveys My Needs Are Being Met will increase fro 90.4% to 100%. (Indicator #17)
- EL Families will report they are Involved in their Child's Education will increase from displaying the current Park Hill MODERATE score (Yellow) to meeting the Park Hill GOAL score (Green) on the 2016-2017 English Landing Balanced Scorecard. (Indicator #20)