Shout out to Josie who was our alternate and was there cheering on Josiah and supporting him all the way!

A couple of weeks ago I sent out an email about a survey being administered district wide that will aid us in prioritizing supports for OUR students. The survey looks at 5 areas:

1. Self Awareness: Being able to understand one’s emotions, strengths and weaknesses.

2. Self Management: Ability to understand how to manage strong thoughts and feelings to achieve a goal.

3. Social Awareness: Understanding and learning from others’ feelings and perspectives.

4. Relationship Skills: Interacting positively with others to form and maintain relationships.

5. Responsible Decision Making: Setting and pursuing positive goals, and making positive decisions.

We believe this tool will provide us with actionable information.

On Thursday, Miss Hubbard and I took the survey and wanted to share information about the experience. Students in K-2 are provided opportunities to engage with the survey in the following ways:

First, students are shown a series a faces and are asked to determine if the face is showing happy, angry, scared, sad, or is “just ok”.

The second and third parts provide a short scenario and ask the students to identify what happened in the situation, how a character reacted, and how they would have reacted in the moment. For example, two children are playing with a ball. The first character kicks the ball through the window and the character explains that it was the other student that broke the window. OUR students are asked to identify why they think the character did not share what really happened and then are asked a follow up question about what they would do in that situation.

In the fourth section, students are shown three different rockets and must make a choice on sending the rocket to a planet to earn points. The faster the rocket, the lower number of points earned. This is checking to see if children can set short term goals to get the most out of the opportunity presented.

The final section asks students to determine if two pictures are alike or different and they must choose a “check mark” to indicate yes or an “X” to indicate no. There are times that the button does not register. This is checking to see how students respond to a minor adversity that they encounter. There is nothing in this K-2 opportunity that could be deemed not age appropriate for OUR students.

The exact questions that students will encounter in grades 3-12 are attached below.. There are no additional questions other than these.

Parents must OPT-IN your child in order to participate in this survey. Student participation is so important as it provides us opportunities to guide discussions to provide the best supports to address the needs of OUR GRAY HAWKS.

We are asking that you please opt-in your child for the xSEL Survey, please fill out the form here before Sunday, February 5 at 11:59 pm.

If you have additional questions related to this survey, please contact Dr. Springer (dspringer@usd458.org) or Miss Hubbard (mhubbard@usd458.org).

We are pleased to announce that Gray Hawk is now using the Raptor Visitor Management System to strengthen safety efforts of protecting our students and staff. Part of keeping students and staff safe is knowing who is in our buildings at all times, and the Raptor system will allow us to do that.

Since January 26, 2023, Gray Hawk Elementary will begin requiring a Driver’s License, passport or state-issued ID in the office before entry to the school. The ID will then be scanned into the Raptor system. The system will check to ensure registered sex offenders are not entering our school campuses without our knowledge. The Raptor system checks the visitor’s name and date of birth for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders and custom databases, and will immediately alert administrative and security personnel if a visitor is identified as a risk. No other data is collected from the ID, and a photocopy of the ID is not retained. No other data from the ID is gathered and the information is not shared with any outside agency.

Once cleared, you will receive a printed visitor’s badge with your photo on it and then be directed to the appropriate classroom or other location you are visiting. Please wear this badge at all times while in our building and return it to the main office upon checkout.

What to know:

• A visitor’s badge will not be necessary for those who visit our schools simply to drop off an item or pick up paperwork in the office.

• If a parent or guardian for any reason does not have a US Government-issued ID, the school staff member can use an alternate photo ID as well as a second ID with their name on it, such as a bank card or credit card. As long as we have two forms of identification, one with a photo, we will be able to manually enter the person’s name into the Raptor system.

• If/when you are picking up your student early, upon entering a district building, visitors will be asked to present a photo ID such as a Driver’s License or passport. Your ID will either be scanned or manually entered into the system, and once cleared, your child will be called down to the main office from their current location.

• We will not be scanning IDs for events held at the buildings after school hours, parent/teacher conferences or for athletic events.

We are excited that this Raptor Visitor Management System will better allow us to screen visitors, contractors, and volunteers in our schools, and provide us with a safer environment for our students and staff.

In order to make events such as class parties or programs that may occur during the day run more efficiently with check in, I highly encourage you to stop by the office and allow us to enter your ID into the system ahead of any school event. Once your ID has been entered into the system, when you come to future events and preregister we will have your Raptor Visitor badge already printed and ready for you to enter the building.

To help with this process, you may stop by Gray Hawk at any time between 8 am and 4 pm. Dr. Springer will also be available on Monday, February 6 until 7 pm and Wednesday, February 8 until 7 pm for those that are unable to complete this process during school hours. Running your identification takes less than 1 minute but if we have guests that wait until an event (such as a class party), we will have significant lines and delays.

Thank you for helping us to make our school an even safer learning environment for all. Please sign up below so that we know know to expect you. If you are preregistered AND have had your ID scanned, we will have your badge already printed out and ready for you to go back to your child's classroom.

Valentine's Day Party Sign Up

Let's make sure that families in our community don't go without "soup (or any other food) in their bowl!". Thank you for donating!

Gray Hawk PTO has a great opportunity to raise some money for the school by working the concessions stand at the BLHS Basketball game on Friday, February 10.

Please review the available slots at the SIGN UP GENIUS and click on the button to sign up. If you have any questions please call/text Abby Frecks at 913-238-5829.

We are planning a new event called Gray Hawk Groove. This will be a dance held for OUR GRAY HAWKS and their families! We have an awesome Co-Chair, but she is looking for some help! Please reach out to GrayhawkPTO458@gmail.com if you are interested in helping with this event.