John T. Pirie Fine Arts & Academic Center 650 E. 85 St ...

[Pages:3]John T. Pirie Fine Arts & Academic Center

650 E. 85th St. Chicago, IL 60619

Pirie Panthers' Newsletter

NOVEMBER 2019

Senalda R. Grady, Principal

Qiana Carr, LSC Chairperson

Dear Parents, As the end of the 1st quarter approaches this

week, we must start preparing for our 2nd Quarter goals. Once again, I would like to thank all parents and guardians for supporting our teachers during the CTU Strike. Now that we are back in session, we have a lot of ground to cover in order to stay on track for preparing our students for success in accomplishing their end of the year academic goals. The 1st Quarter will end on Thursday, November 7, 2019 and Report Card pick up will be held on Wednesday, November 13th from 11:45 a.m.- 6:00 p.m. Parents will be able to meet with classroom teachers to discuss students' progress and develop interventions for improvement where needed.

Parents, we need your help in getting all

students in medical compliance by Friday, November 8th. We have sent out letters to students who are in need

of physicals and/or immunizations. We must have 100% of our students in Medical Compliance. We have 62 students who need to fulfill the medical requirements which means we only have 77% of our students in compliance. Beginning on Tuesday, November 12th, students who are not in medical compliance and have been enrolled in an extended day program will not be eligible to participate in the extended day programs such as tutoring, Drum Line, Choir, athletics, field trips, etc. Students may also be excluded from school. Students will get another letter this week informing parents of what is needed. Please help our school achieve 100% medical compliance for this year.

Parents, please review all event dates that have also been sent home in our monthly calendar. We only have 15 school days of attendance for November and we need our students here on time each day! We look forward to seeing all parents during parent/teacher conferences next week.

Senalda R. Grady, Principal

Dates to Remember

Friday, November 8, 2019 Professional Development Day for Teachers ? No School for Students All students must be in Medical Compliance by this date. Students will be excluded from extracurricular activities until they are in medical compliance.

Monday, November 11, 2019 Veteran's Day Observed ? No School for Students

Wednesday, November 13, 2019 Parent/Teacher Conferences All parents may conference with classroom teachers between the hours of 11:45 a.m.-6:00 p.m. Students are not in attendance on this day.

Thursday, November 21, 2019 LSC Meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the Library. If you are interested in joining our council, please attend our meeting. We are in need of 2 parent representatives to fill our vacancies for the remainder of this school year.

Friday, November 22, 2019 P.A.C. Organizational Meeting at 9:00 a.m. in Rm. 204 of the modular building.

Wednesday, November 27th ? Friday, November 29th Thanksgiving Break **Note: Wednesday has been proposed as a make-up attendance day for students. Final notification will be sent home as soon as the date has been approved by CPS.

Attendance Counts

As stated at our Open House meeting we need to have

at least 95% of our students in attendance every month.

We had 93% of our students in attendance for the month

of October. This is a 2% decrease from the month of

September. We still need to decrease the number of students coming to school late or leaving for early dismissals. Students are marked tardy when they arrive between 8:31 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Students will receive a half day's absence if they miss more than 1 hour of school instruction. Math Instruction begins promptly at 8:45 a.m. each morning. If your child is absent due to illness, or another excusable reason, all parents must complete the cause of absence notice so that each absence will be taken off of the truant list. We have updated our Parent Attendance Handbook which highlights additional district and school-wide policies being implemented this year. This will be sent home to all parents on Thursday. Thank you for your support in helping our school meet our attendance goal of 95% by June!

Arrival/Dismissal Times

Children may report to school as early as 8:15 a.m. each

day. Unfortunately, staff is not available to supervise students arriving sooner than 8:15 a.m. To ensure all students are safe and supervised always, please adhere to this policy. Students may not wait in the office at any time before school starts. Students will enter the building at 8:25 a.m. and receive their breakfast bags. They will eat breakfast in their classrooms from 8:30

a.m.-8:45 a.m. Breakfast will not be served after instruction begins. Please make sure you pick your

child up on time at 3:30 p.m. Any student not picked up when my staff comes back in the building, will be

escorted back in the office to call a parent. Students may not wait for their rides in the park or on the corner by themselves. Students are not allowed

to play in Sidney Brown Park without a parent chaperone before or after school. We want to ensure our students are safe during the arrival and dismissal times. After school teachers will also escort students outside and if a parent is not outside at the dismissal time, students will be brought back into the building to contact parents.

Lunch Applications

Thank you to all parents who have submitted a lunch application to the school. We have received 91% of the applications, and we still need to have the other 8% of the applications turned in by this Thursday, November 7th. Parents your support in completing the application will help our school receive the necessary funding we need to support our students with instructional supplies and student incentives. Completing the applications also helps our school to allocate funds to purchase a teaching position to help relieve the overcrowded classrooms. If you have not submitted a form, please do so by

Thursday, Nov. 7th so that we can receive the amount

of funding needed to support our staff, students, and parents.

Cellular Phones

Possession of cell phones or pagers is a violation of the Student Code of Conduct. A written request from a parent or legal guardian stating that there is a medical emergency or a family emergency must be submitted and approved by the principal. We may not keep cell phones in the office. Students caught using cell phones inappropriately in the building or during instructional time are in violation of the Student Code of Conduct. If students are caught using a cell phone or if the cell phone rings or makes noises in the classroom, the phone will be given to the principal and a parent will need to pick up the phone. Any inappropriate incident that disrupts the educational process such as the use of profanity, indecent gestures or pictures sent through text messages, Facebook, or internet may result in suspension. Parents we need your help and support in monitoring your child's social media content to ensure our students are not engaging in various inappropriate conversations that may lead to students fighting and getting hurt. These types of interactions may lead to students being suspended from school.

Aspen Parent Gradebook Portal

If you need assistance in setting up your Parent Portal account to check your child's weekly progress in Gradebook, please come in to the Main Office and Mrs. Bell, our technology coordinator, will assist you in setting up your account. If you do not have a computer at home, you may come into the school and use our computers or you may use the computers located in a Public Library.

Parent Volunteers

Parents, we need parent volunteers to assist us with Recess/Lunch periods, before and after school on the school grounds and during the breakfast program in the lunchroom. If you are interested, you may go to the CPS website to complete the volunteer application on line from the Department of Safety and Security. You may not volunteer until the Department of Safety and Security has cleared you as a volunteer.

Lunch Applications

Thank you to all parents who have submitted a lunch application to the school. We have received 91% of the applications, and we still need to have the other 8% of the applications turned in by this Thursday, November 7th. Parents your support in completing the application will help our school receive the necessary funding we need to support our students with instructional supplies and student incentives. Completing the applications also helps our school to allocate funds to purchase a teaching position to help relieve the overcrowded classrooms. If you have not submitted a form, please do so by

Thursday, Nov. 7th so that we can receive the amount

of funding needed to support our staff, students, and parents.

P.A.C. Meeting

Parents, we will have our Organizational P.A.C. meeting to elect officers for this year. Our meeting will be held on Friday, November 22nd at 9:00 a.m. in Rm. 204 of the modular building. We will need to elect a President, Vice President, Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, and (FOIA/OMA) Freedom of the Information Act Officer. We will need at least 6 parents in attendance to have a quorum. We will also select our Meeting Dates and Times for each month for the school year.

Gym Uniform Orders

We have extended our deadline for collecting the Gym

Uniform orders due to the strike. All orders and money must be turned in by Wednesday, Nov. 13th. You may give your orders to your child's teacher

in an envelope during Parent/Teacher conferences. Wednesday, Nov. 13th will be the last day. Please turn in exact money in the form of a money order or cashier's check, or cash.

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