Week of August 19, 2024
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Principal's Message from Dr. Edwards
I hope everyone did more than just survive the first full week, but I feel like this is almost always a stretch as we get into a routine with the new school year. I wanted to share that, as I have done in the past, I requested that our building do a technology moratorium for the first 7 days of school, the only exception being the NWEA testing we needed to complete. Each year I am more convinced of the negative effects of excessive screen time, and especially social media access, on our young students. While our student Chromebooks are very useful tools in our educational process, I like to start the year "cold turkey" for our students as we focus on relationships in the building and having a positive learning environment for everyone. Starting Monday, teachers will start having students use their Chromebooks in other ways as appropriate for our school setting. Parents helping make sure your child comes to school with a charged Chromebook each day is a big help to how our classrooms run.
There are a number of special announcements related to the start of the year below. Please take a few minutes to read through all of the updates. And enjoy the weekend before we get back to things with the second full week of school getting kicked off with Picture Day and then House Spirit Day!
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“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” — Zig Ziglar |
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Chromebook Insurance
Just a reminder that If you wanted your child to have insurance on their school-issued Chromebook, payments of $25 are due by 9/1. Our school treasurer, Diane Wetzold, is able to take payments or you can make them electronically through eFunds. After that time you will not have the option to purchase that insurance and will be fully responsible for damages to the device. If you have specific question, please reach out to our MV Technology Department.
From the Health Clinic
Vaccinations or Exemption forms must be turned in and up to date by September 10th. Messages and forms have been sent out to those that need up to date shots or exemptions. Any student not up to date will be excluded on September 10th. Please contact Shanda Jouppi at shanda.jouppi@mvcsc.k12.in.us or via parent square with any questions.
CogAT Testing
Our district requires additional information on the academic needs and performance of individual children in order to ensure that the school corporation is providing instruction at the appropriate level for each child. Depending on the information needed, your child may be administered a screener for the CogAT high abilities assessment. This screener is a short 30-minute test.
Please refer to the video below for further explanation:
Testing Overview
*Please note that testing will begin in August for students new to Mt. Vernon Schools
If you have questions regarding the testing, please contact:
brittany.webber@mvcsc.k12.in.us
Thank you!
MVCSC High Ability Identification Team
School Smiles
The dentist is coming to our school! The School Smiles on-site dental program provides on-site dental care at our school for ALL students that sign up to participate. The dental team will set up inside our school and they accept Medicaid, private insurance, offer self-pay rates and grants through their foundation. Registration is now open online at: www.schoolsmiles.com/student-signup with over 100 languages to choose from when completing the online form. See the attached flyer for additional ways to register, don’t miss out!
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Reporting Absences
Please assist us by being sure to call our office at 317-485-3180 or email elizabeth.thomas@mvcsc.k12.in.us if your student is going to be absent. With state reporting, we have to assign specific codes for every absence, and it saves our office staff a lot of time each day if we don’t have to call to follow-up on students that are marked absent by their teachers.
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Important Dates
NWEA Fall Testing Window
August 12-23
Fall School Picture Day
Monday, August 19
House Spirit Day (wear your house color)
Wednesday, August 21
  
Happy End to the First Full Week!
My name is Caitlin Crecelius and I am the school counselor at FES! I will use this area to share what classroom lessons I am doing with the different grades, programs to sign up for, upcoming events, and reminders from the counseling office.
- On Monday, a Parent Square post went out with the dates and information on their year's Body Safety Program. This post will be sent out two more times. It is also linked here for your convenience.
- Please have students wear their house color on Wednesday, August 21st to participate in our House Color Spirit Day! I will be taking classroom photos this day to post on our House display outside of the gym.
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Fortville Area Resource Mission (FARM) provides weekend food bags to families who are in financial need of getting more food. If you would like to sign up for this, please use this link.
- Please note that by signing up for this, you are agreeing that your student will bring these bags home weekly, in their backpacks.
- If you are in need of connecting with any financial assistance - including how to apply for Free and Reduced Lunches - please reach out and I can see what resources FES can share.
- Any student has the ability to request to come talk/meet with me. This week I went into every classroom to (re)introduce myself and explain the process for asking to meet with me.
Upcoming events:
- 8/21: Wear Your House Color - House Color Spirit Day
- 1st Quarter Classroom Lesson: Bullying Prevention
- 8/29-8/30: Body Safety Presentations
FES Staff Favorite Vacation:- Mrs. McMullen's (Kindergarten Teacher, Red House) favorite vacation place is Arizona!
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MV Reads: News from the Library
Mrs. Jennifer Leavell, FES Teacher Librarian
We talked about library book care in the library this week! I reminded students that water and food should be kept away from their library books, especially in their backpacks. We also talked about keeping library books in the same spot at home so they don’t get lost. Please ask your student how they can take the best care of their library books!
Parents can pay for lost library books via MVCSC’s eFunds link. Click on PAY for Optional Fees, then choose Lost/Damaged Library Books. All books still overdue from last school year have been marked as lost and assessed their replacement fee. To save paper, weekly emails to parents and students will go out on Mondays at 10:00 a.m. until the book is returned or paid for. It’s not too late to return books from last year! Thank you for helping us get our library books back! We’re making progress, but still have dozens of books overdue from last year. Exact change and/or a check made out to FES are also still accepted. Thank you for your support.
"Be a Substitute Teacher" and MV Employment
Fortville Elementary is a great place to work, and we would love to have you join our team. You can apply on the MV Employment website. We are currently fully staffed.
And we always need substitute teachers! Subs apply through Kelly Education Services (information below).
- To learn more or apply for substitute teacher positions at Mt. Vernon, please contact Kelly Education by completing this Inquiry Form and a recruiter will follow up with you. For questions, please call 800-991-5157, option 2.
- Kelly Services will guide the applicant how to obtain a substitute permit issued by the Indiana Department of Education (~$17) and a background check (~$28).
- Kelly Services will then share a short orientation video that will show you how to choose the jobs of your choice at Mt. Vernon and how to see the incentive offers.
Help Support FES Year-round
Help our school get a share of the money that many of America’s best companies are giving to K-12 education. SchoolStore.com is an online shopping mall where over 400 merchants have agreed to give a percentage of every sale to schools. This includes companies like Walmart, Best Buy, Old Navy, Kohl’s, etc. Just go to the website and then to the merchant websites you normally order from and help us earn rewards. The SchoolStore fundraiser is 100% online so there is NO face-to-face selling, handling money, or delivering products.
Go to https://www.schoolstore.net/sid.t?0000177219 to sign up. If you have questions about how to participate, reach out to our office. Once you are registered, invite family, friends and co-workers to support your child and our school.
Parent Resources
To be a chaperone on a field trip or to volunteer in the classroom regularly, you must have a clear background check from the current school year on file with the district. MVCSC Volunteer Background Check Form
Webinars on support and advocacy for parents of High ability students. https://nagc.org/page/webinars
From the Technology Department:
We're excited to remind you about the valuable partnership between Mt. Vernon Schools and Qustodio! This collaboration provides you with insights into your child's online activities and allows you to manage certain aspects of their school-issued devices at home.
For more details, please check out the recent ParentSquare post from this week.
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The FES PTO spirit wear store is always open to help with your FES and MV apparel desires.
LINK for Fortville Elementary Designs LINK for MV Designs
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