Wolf News
McFee Elementary - December 2022
Important Information for Parents
- Morning Arrival - Student arrival begins at 7:55 AM. Parents who arrive after 8:15 AM or after must park and escort their child to the front office and sign them in. NO EXCEPTIONS!
- Car Riders - Not every child can be dropped off in front of the door, so we ask that you have your child ready to exit the vehicle as soon as the car line stops. Students should have their backpacks on and be prepared to leave the car when instructed by staff.
- School ends at 3:40 PM.
- Changes in transportation - Send a note to your child's teacher if you are making a change in transportation. Transportation change requests must be written and contain the parent's signature and phone number. For safety reasons, we will not accept transportation changes via phone calls, emails, or text messages; we will not honor changes after 3:00 PM.
- Early Pick-up- Only Individuals listed on the Late Arrival/Early Dismissal cards will be allowed to pick up students. All staff members go home to their families at 4:00 PM. If you cannot pick up your child at 3:40 PM, you must notify your emergency contact designated by you on the emergency contact to pick up your son/daughter. You, not school personnel, are responsible for childcare after 3:40 PM, so please plan ahead for emergencies.
* You must pre-register for a Visitor's Pass if you'd like to attend the Class Parties. Come in and have your ID scanned so we can get you into the visitor system.
Tutoring Letter
Parents,
McFee offers morning tutorials for students who present an academic need for additional support. Tutorials are held from 7:15 AM -7:55 AM. Your child’s teacher will send a permission slip that designates their day for tutorials, i.e., Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.
Students who are invited to tutorials may be dropped off at 7:10 AM. If your son/daughter arrives after 7:25 AM, they will not be allowed into the tutorial session.
If your child accrues three absences or has excessive late arrivals, they will be dropped from the tutorial program and replaced with another student needing Math and Reading support.
Thank you,
Principal Whitfield
ID BADGES
All McFee students are required to have two IDs; one is for their backpack, and the other will be on a lanyard that students must wear daily. FOR THE SAFETY AND SECURITY OF PERSONS ON CAMPUS, ALL STAFF MEMBERS AND STUDENTS MUST WEAR THEIR BADGES DAILY. The ID badge is used to identify persons allowed on campus, get breakfast and lunch, check out books at the library, and reward Dojo points to students for following directions. If your son/daughter loses his/her ID, he/she must pay to replace it on School Cash Online. The cost to replace a student ID badge is $5.00. Click on the following link for School Cash:
https://cypress-fairbanksisd.schoolcashonline.com/
A McFee staff member will be on hand Monday thru Friday from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM or 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM to assist you in setting up a SchoolCash account if you need assistance.
How to register for School Cash Online:
STEP 1:
Navigate to the URL for your district's SchoolCash Online site.
https://cypress-fairbanksisd.schoolcashonline.com/
Click the Register option.
You'll be redirected to the User Registration page
Fill in the User Registration form.
Tip: Your password must contain at least 8 characters, one upper case letter, one lower case letter, and one number.
Note: A red x indicates an error with the information entered. Edit all fields that do not have a blue and white check mark on the right-hand side.
Select Continue.
You'll be redirected to the Confirmation Email page.
STEP 2:
Check your email inbox for an email from noreply@schoolcashonline.com.
Click on the Registration Confirmation link.
A new tab will open, advising you that your registration was successful.
https://helpdesk.supportschoolcashonline.com/en/support/home?
UPCOMING EVENTS:
- December 2, 2022 - Family Movie Night, The Grinch
- December 8, 2022 - Fall Picture Retakes
- December 8, 2022 - McFee Spelling Bee
- December 13, 2022 - Children's 1st Grade Winter Program @ 5:30 PM
- December 16, 2022 - McFee Winter Party from 9:15 AM to 10:00 AM*
- December 17 thru January 2, 2023 - Winter Break
- January 03, 2023 - Students Back to School
- January 13, 2023 - NO School - Teacher work day
- Janurary 16, 2023- NO School - MLK Day
* You must pre-register for a Visitor's Pass if you'd like to attend the Class Parties. Come in and have your ID scanned so we can get you into the visitor system.
McFee Spelling Bee
McFee Spelling Bee will be Thursday, December 8th at 8:45 am. One student from each homeroom class in grades 3-5 will qualify for the McFee Bee. Students who qualify will be allowed to invite 2 family members to attend.
NOTICE TO PARENTS
As a parent of a student at a campus receiving Title I funds, federal law allows you to ask for information about the certification of your child’s teacher. You also have the right to request information about the qualifications of a paraprofessional providing direct services to your child. If you would like to receive this information, you may contact Tameka Pressley at 281-897-1349.
AVISO A LOS PADRES
Como padre o madre de un estudiante en una escuela que recibe fondos del Título I, la ley federal le permite pedir información acerca de la certificación del maestro de su hijo. Usted también tiene derecho a pedir información sobre las cualificaciones de un ayudante de maestro o paraprofesional que brinde servicios directos a su hijo. Si usted desea recibir esta información, puede comunicarse con Tameka Pressley llamando al 281-897-1349
Dress Code for the School Year:
- Friday: Spirit Shirts and Crocs. We’re going to “Croc it Out” every Friday.
- Crop tops, sagging pants with underwear, hoodies, and short shorts are not allowed.
From the Behavior Coach
We welcomed 220 students to the rank of Leader of the Pack in November. On December 15, we will be having a Leader of the Pack winter celebration during our school day. This event is for students only.
Clinic Notes
A healthy school community requires parents and schools to partner with each other. To prevent/minimize local outbreaks of contagious disease, parents must keep children who have an illness that can be spread from person to person at home, and CFISD school nurses will exclude students with symptoms of a communicable illness from school attendance. Please be aware of the following guidelines for school attendance:
- COVID-19: Refer to the CFISD LEAD Safely plan for students who are experiencing symptoms or have tested positive. Please call the clinic with any lab or home test results for students.
- Fever: A child must remain home with fever equal to or > 100° F and may only return after he/she has been fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medicine such as Tylenol or Motrin.
- Diarrhea/Vomiting: A child with continuing diarrhea and/or vomiting must stay at home and may return to school only after being symptom-free for 24 hours.
- Rashes: Common infectious diseases with rashes are most contagious in the early stages. A child with a suspicious rash must stay at home and may return to school after a health care provider has made a diagnosis and authorizes the child's return to school in writing or symptoms have resolved completely.
- Head lice (pediculosis): Students who have an active case of live lice may attend school only after treatment which eliminates all live lice. Head lice do not jump or fly and are most commonly contracted by head-to-head touch. Head lice are common in school-aged children, so parents should routinely monitor children for live lice and teach the avoidance of behaviors that spread lice.
- Extra clothes: In all grade levels, please send a complete change of clothes in your child's backpack in case they are needed for any reason during the day.
- Medications: Per CFISD policy, all medication must be brought to the clinic by a parent/guardian, where written consent to administer the medication will be obtained. Prescription medication must be in the original bottle, and nonprescription medication must be in the original, unopened container.
- Eyeglasses: If your child has prescription glasses, please ensure they wear them to school each day. Healthy vision is a critical part of learning well in school.
Lost and Found
December Counselors' Update
Bringing Out the Best: BOTB is a character development program that is introduced monthly to all students at McFee. Each word presented helps students develop values to shape students to be the best they can be. The character trait for November/December is Gratitude.
Grade Level Acceleration: Students in grades K-5 will have four opportunities during the school year to use “credit-by-exam” to accelerate to another grade level. Students will only have one opportunity to test for each grade level considered.
To apply to take the test to skip kindergarten, a student must be 5 by September 1, and registered in a CFISD school. To apply to take the test to skip grade 1, a student must be 6 by September 1, and enrolled in a CFISD school.
Students who earn scores of 80% or better on each component of the credit-by-exam will qualify to advance one grade. Only one grade level may be “skipped” each year. No retests will be given.
If you are interested in getting more information about credit-by-exam, please contact the school counselor.
Counselors’ Corner Website: Visit our website to learn more about your school counselors, to refer your child to see us, and to read about all the different programs we facilitate through the school counseling program. You can access it through the McFee website by clicking Parents & Students and going to option, “Counselors’ Corner” or by going directly to:
Watch D.O.G.S. and Parent Volunteers:
Watch D.O.G.S. is a program in which we allow parents to volunteer to shadow their students for a day and help out in several areas around the school. Once you sign up, you will receive more information with how to schedule a time to come and what will be expected of you. If you are interested in being a part of McFee Watch D.O.G.S. please fill out the form linked below:
Parent Volunteers will be put on an email list in which we will send out communication periodically with different volunteer opportunities, such as Work Basket Wednesdays, Classroom Parties, and preparing for/participating in different evening events. If you are interested in being a Parent Volunteer please fill out this form linked below:
Contact Us: Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s social-emotional and academic well being. We are here to help!
Your counselors for -
Grades PK-2nd and ECSE: Leslie Turner, leslie.turner@cfisd.net 281-463-5394 (Option 2)
Grades 3rd-5th and Life Skills: Katy Netz, katheryn.netz@cfisd.net, 281-463-5394 (Option 1)
Parents, Sign-Up for CFISD Emergency Notification System
All About Technology
Parent Toolkit
Parent Checklist (PDF)
Schoology Help
Student Password Reset
Happy Fox (Student Support Tickets for Chromebooks)