Cardinal Connection
March 2020
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Letter from the Principal
Dear SPHS Family and Friends,
We are quickly moving through the year as we finish February and start to enter March. I don’t know about you, but I am ready for some Spring weather! With Spring, comes the end of the third quarter and our Spring Break. Spring Break will begin on March 23 and we return on March 30. The third quarter ends a week later on April 8th. I want to remind students and families to work hard throughout the year.
Our winter sports and activities season has seen many celebrations! Our students have been working very hard along with our coaches and advisors to create opportunities to be proud of. I want to congratulate all of our teams and clubs for an outstanding winter season. It is definitely an exciting time to be a Cardinal!
Our Junior students will be taking the ACT assessment on March 3rd at the high school and results should be out in the coming months. Please remember that on March 3rd, only Juniors should report to the high school; Sophomores and Seniors will have no school that day. The Forward and Aspire exams will be given to all Sophomores in the coming weeks as well. The schoolwide ASPIRE test will be held on April 14th and only Sophomores will report to school on that day. These are excellent predictors for how students will perform on the ACT as Juniors. We remind students to take these assessments seriously.
As we finish up the third quarter and head into the final stretch of the year, I want to remind our students and families to finish the year strong. Students should remain focused and concentrate on their academics, even as the weather starts to get warmer. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact any of our school staff.
All my best,
Keith Nerby
Principal
Did You Know
Did you know that you can excuse your student in advance? If you know the date of an appointment or a future event, you are welcome to email, call or even send in a note to let us know.
Email all requests to Kelly Reindl, Attendance Secretary at khreind@sunprairieschools.org.
This has become a popular way to correspond, and your email is usually seen immediately.
The attendance phone lines are available 24 hours for parents/guardians to leave a message to excuse their student. They are also checked regularly throughout the school day. In an effort to expedite the volume of calls we receive (especially in the morning), we have added an extra phone line. When you call in to 608-834-6993, there is a prompt that says, “To report an absence, press 1. If your student needs to leave for an appointment today, press 2.”
You are also welcome to write a note to excuse your student. It needs to include all the same information we need with a phone call or email, and also needs to be signed by a parent/guardian and must include a phone number.
Kelly Reindl, Attendance Secretary
608-834-6993
Academic Awards Night
Monday, Apr 13, 2020, 07:00 PM
Sun Prairie High School Performing Arts Center, Grove Street, Sun Prairie, WI, USA
Message from Kobussen
Families with Rural Stops
If your child’s bus stop is at your house and your child or children are the only students assigned to that stop, please notify Kobussen no later than 6:30 AM if your child will not be riding the bus that day. This helps drivers stay on time and avoid driving to locations if there are no students to pick up. Call Kobussen at 825-8700, option 1 to let the dispatcher know if your child will not be riding.
When your child is riding, please make sure he/she is visible to the driver from the road.
Bus Pick-up Times
Please remember that your child should be ready and waiting at the bus stop at least 5 minutes prior to the scheduled pick-up time. This will ensure your child doesn’t miss the bus if the route is running slightly ahead of time. Anything within 5 minutes of the scheduled time is considered on time.Office of Children’s Mental Health – Healthy Use of Screen Time
The Office of Children’s Mental Health recently released a new 2020 Child Well-Being Fact Sheet in regards to healthy usage of screen time for Wisconsin students, based off of results from the Wisconsin Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) as well as the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW). The infographic can be found here. Upcoming topics will include bullying and suicide.
Relationships and Communication: Social Media
Social Media can get a bad wrap, and sometimes, for good reason. New and ever-changing apps are hard to stay on top of, and many features CAN be used for negative and harmful things. But Social Media can also provide our students with a lot of opportunities to be connected, to find community, to be expressive, and to contribute to the world in a positive way. Really, social media is part of how people build relationships and communicate in a digital world. As a parent, helping your child capitalize on the opportunities while being aware of the drawbacks can be tricky. Here’s some advice:
11 Social Media Red Flags Parents Should Know About, and What to do About Them
5 Reasons You Don't Need to Worry About Kids and Social Media
In school, we teach kids about the positives AND negatives of social media, and help them think about their own social media experiences. We categorize this learning under the Relationships and Communication focus of our digital citizenship curriculum. From our students, we have found that a big topic around social media is oversharing.
Check out this video to learn more about oversharing.
Here are more resources to explore:
K-5th Grade Relationships and Communication Family Tip Sheet
6-12th Grade Relationships and Communication Family Tip Sheet
New Electronic Safety Tip Line
The safety and security of our students and staff is a top priority for the district. We have been teaching our students to say something to a trusted adult when they see something unsafe. Sometimes, though, there are barriers to reporting safety issues in person. Tip lines are one common approach that schools use to promote school and student safety and well-being. Tip lines are designed to provide students or other members of the school community with a safe and confidential way to report a threat to safety or security.
To that end, we have created an Electronic Safety Tip Line available on the district website. The e-Tip Line allows students, parents, or community members to report weapons, threats of violence, bullying, sexual harassment, potential threat of suicide, drugs, and any other activity that could potentially endanger students, staff, and property. The tip line should not be used to report an immediate danger to someone’s life. Always use 911 to report those emergencies.
We are developing a communication plan to roll this out to students in upper elementary, middle school, and high school. The e-Tip Line is available on the district website from the “Families” menu and “Quicklinks” and can also be found on the district bullying and safety webpages.
The Electronic Safety Tip Line is just one way that students can report concerns about safety. For example, if a student wishes to file a bullying report, the Fillable Bullying Report Form is also available on the website under bullying and reporting.
Cyberbullying
Anytime children enter digital spaces (online, texts, apps,etc.) they are susceptible to cyberbullying.
What you need to know:
Cyberbullying is real. People can be mean. Technology makes being mean easier.
Awareness and Communication are key. Talk to you child openly and often about their online behavior.
Spot Check. They may not like it, but tell your child to expect spot checks. This will help you better guide them in navigating their online activity.
Develop a Plan. Talk through scenarios of how to deal with cyberbullying before it ever happens so your child has a plan to fall back on if it does.
Set Limits. Bullying can happen at any time of the day, but it can have a greater impact on kids when there is no relief.
Check Yourself. Much of what our children know about digital behavior stems from what they see at home. Model healthy online habits, children are always watching!
Remember that while cyberbullying can be scary, a lot of healthy and positive relationships can come from connecting digitally. A strong focus on kindness and empathy are always important in supporting healthy relationships in the digital world and the real world.
For more information and tips, please check out our cyberbullying resources in the Plugged in Parenting section of our District Website.
Resources from Common Sense Media:
K-2nd Grade Family Activity - Cyberbullying and Digital Drama
3rd-5th grade Family Activity - Cyberbullying and Digital Drama
Article: Is There Any Way to Make Sure My Kid Won’t Become a Cyberbully?