Greetings Clinton Valley families,

I hope you were able to enjoy an extended weekend and were able to take a moment to relax and reflect upon the impact that Martin Luther King Jr. created by being a leader who was unafraid to create change and stand up for what is right. Change did not happen overnight, and much is still left to make right, but it has to start somewhere, with someone brave enough to face it head on...below is a sample of his famous speech along with history that Dr. King has had in our state. If you have never watched the full speech, I encourage you to check it out.

Last week, students were able to adjust nicely to a newer schedule. We re-arranged our intervention groups based on the data from their mid-year benchmark scores. We also tightened up our literacy blocks and shifted around our recess times to ensure that they were at times where students needed them the most.

Progress reports are going home on February 1st. Please look out for them in your child's backpack.

Overall, it was a fantastic week!

Sincerely,

Kristin Doyle

PTO will be sponsoring the Poppin Popcorn fundraiser from 2/6/23 – 2/19/23. A flyer will be sent home the first week of February.

PTO meeting is January 19th at 7 p.m. Enter through door 10. All are welcomed and encouraged to attend.

It is the district's policy that cell phones remain off and out of sight. If your child wears a smartwatch, those too, should be powered off. They are a distraction to your child and can negatively impact their performance if class. Please refer to the handbook if you have any questions.

https://www.chippewavalleyschools.org/for-parents/parents---student-handbooks/

For those who are dropping off at the back of the school, near the circle drive, please do not park or stop in the bus loop. The busses that drop off there need all of that space. In order to maintain safety for the students who are helped off of those busses by teachers, there cannot be any cars in that loop at any time. Please, park in the lot by the church and walk your child up to the school.

Congratulations to our Student Council members for 2022-2023. Below is the list of those who will represent along with the meeting dates. Thank you to Ms. Rees and Mrs. Cook for leading this charge!

In order to support children who struggle behaviorally, we have outlined a behavior response flow chart. Below you will see the process that we follow so that we can ensure that we are offering consistent interventions for those who need additional support with behavior in school. We see behavior as a form of communication, and we will continue to work with children to get to the root of the problem so that it can be appropriately addressed. We believe in offering restorative support in combination with consequences that fit so that children can operate within the boundaries of a school setting. Our goal is to maintain an environment that is conducive to learning so that every child has the opportunity to achieve success. This flowchart is simply a guide and can be adjusted if necessary.

While PBIS might be the quickest form of communication with your child's teacher, it is not something that I am connected to on a daily basis. If you need to get ahold of me, please either call the office at 586-723-5200 and they will connect you to me or my voicemail or email me at kdoyle@cvs.k12.mi.us. I check my email regularly and receive upwards of 50 messages a day, but I promise to get back to you.

If your child is celebrating a birthday, or you are looking to donate to classroom parties, please send in store bought items that are sealed and come with an ingredient list. We have many students who have restrictions, and in order to be certain who can participate, it has to be documented. Unfortunately, homemade items will not be accepted for safety reasons.

This year, we are able to lift any Covid restrictions in the lunch room. Therefore, your child does not have an assigned seat. Their classes have assigned tables. We believe that it is important that your child is able to choose who to sit by and socialize with their friends.

We do have specific procedures that we are still working on implementing. Students must stay in their seats at all times and be at a voice level 2 or lower. This means that any form of yelling or screaming is not permitted. It can get very loud in the cafeteria, so we will continue to remind them to keep the noise levels down. There have been instances where we had to implement a level 0 (no talking) and a level 1(whispering) so that they understand the difference.

Additionally, we are working on making sure that those who go through the lunch line, get everything that they need in order to avoid going back. For safety purposes, we do not want them traveling back and forth from their seats. Therefore, soon, we will not permit it. Instead, we will have a traveling basket for those who need additional items. We have been working on this for an entire month. We also understand that the littler ones may need more practice with this, but ultimately, we would like everyone to stay seated for the entire 30 minutes.