FES Newsletter 8.11.25

Posted Date: 8/08/25 (3:57 PM)

Week of August 11, 2025

Principal's Message from Dr. Edwards

What a great start to the year and to our time in our new building! I want to thank all of our staff, students, and parents for a great start to the year. Our staff have put in so much good work to make the building look amazing, and the students were largely great with sticking together over the first 3 days as we worked to build relationships and establish routines and procedures. The first part of our newsletter will be longer than usual this week as I would like to highlight a couple of things as we get rolling with the new school year. Thank you for your attention to these areas which help us ensure that we have a safe and efficiently running school. Please contact our office if you have any questions.

Car Rider Line: We know that the first day of school is always an outlier, but we do want to encourage parents to do everything you can to help us keep our car rider line moving. This includes being ready to move forward when you are able, moving at more than idling speed when the line is really moving (especially near the curb by the building), and having students unbuckled and ready with their backpack before getting to the drop-off zone. I also want to remind parents that we will be having students unload all along the sidewalk in the mornings, not just in the numbered spaces that are used for loading in the afternoon. This also helps us keep the line moving a little better. We work to have our staff keep students to the far side of the sidewalk away from the flow of cars, so we also appreciate if you move at a faster than idling speed through the line. We have gotten closer to our target time for starting our school day each day so far, and we would love to be wrapping up car rider line by 7:32a in the very near future.

Building Visitors and Volunteers: We are so appreciative of the involvement of our parents in the education of their own children and of others as well. Every visitor during the school day will need to bring a driver's license to check-in through our Raptor system. The only exceptions are for larger programs (such as Veterans' Day) when we collect names in advance to allow us to sign dozens or even hundreds of people in more quickly. Beyond this, our school district has a policy regarding regular classroom volunteers or for anyone who might be alone with students (such as Field Trip chaperones) or in the building (PTO board members). There is some delay on these checks getting processed, and they are good for the entire school year, so I recommend going ahead and submitting for it now rather than waiting until a field trip may be approaching. A cleared check from last school year will not suffice. A change for this year is that the district is no longer trying to run these, so each building is responsible to keep their own list. This means you cannot just apply at MVIS, MVMS, or MVHS and have it carry over to FES. You must have a cleared check in each and every building. This option is provided free of charge to our families. LINK TO REQUEST VOLUNTEER BACKGROUND CHECK FOR FES

“Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

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. And please be sure to provide the documentation required for qualifying absences to be marked as excused in a timely manner.

MV Absence Policy Infographic

Important Dates

Schoolwide PTO Meeting
Monday, August 18
FES Cafe (enter at Door 2)

School Store Fundraiser Kick-off
Monday, August 18

Fall Picture Day
Tuesday, August 19

Picture Day is coming on Tuesday, August 19!

You can place your order on mylifetouch.com using your Picture Day ID: EVT4D49B4.
Order before midnight on Picture Day to get FREE shipping!

Your child can also bring their completed flyer with cash or check on Picture Day.
Orders after Picture Day must be placed online only on mylifetouch.com.

Cafeteria Menus and Information

FES Counseling Website

Happy Friday and Happy 3rd Day of School!

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.

In the coming weeks, a Parent Square post will be going out to share the dates/information on this year's Body Safety program. Please be on the lookout for that information.
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. Next week I will be going into every classroom to (re)introduce myself and explain the process for asking to meet with me.

Upcoming events:

8/11-8/15: Mrs. C in every classroom to go over counseling office procedures
1st Quarter Classroom Lesson: Bullying Prevention
Week of September 8th: Body Safety Presentations

"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 not currently looking for any other positions.

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.

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 our building (this is separate from any other MV buildings). FES Volunteer Background Check Form

At MV, we have all of our instructional staff trained on TBRI, and we now have a Parent Resource Hub available to our families to access at any time.
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 this ParentSquare post from earlier this year.

We hope to have a great turnout at the first schoolwide PTO meeting on Monday, August 18th at 7p in the cafeteria (enter at Door 2). This is the most important meeting of the year for helping to plan committees and activities for the year.

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

Mt. Vernon Flyers

Community Flyers