Panther Post

November 1st-18th: Panorama Family Survey

• November 16th: Parent Advisory via Zoom 6:30-7:30
• November 17th: Math and Literacy Night 5:30-7:30pm
• November 23rd: Early Dismissal 1:40pm
• November 24th and 25th: No school
• December 14th: Early Release 2:10pm
• December 19th-30th: WINTER BREAK
• January 2nd: No School
• January 3rd: Two hour late start

Hello wonderful Panther Lake families and community,

Thank you for your incredible participation in Scholar Led Conferences this week! It was absolutely wonderful to see our families in person and celebrate the work our scholars are doing.

Our Family Survey is officially open and we would love to hear your voice! Your input is imperative for improving our school for our scholars and our community. Please take a moment to provide your insight regarding our school and how we're doing by clicking here or following the button above!

School Safety

We are continuing to work with our scholars around school safety. Recently, we have had families reaching out about unsafe and unacceptable behavior at school. We want to encourage all our families to continue partnering with us as we work to support our scholars with learning expectations at school and ensuring safety for all at Panther Lake. We are also in need of volunteers and mentors to support our scholars during less academic times (recess, lunch, PE, music, library, etc). If you are interested in volunteering, please let us know.

Please take time this weekend to speak with your scholar and as a family about how important it is to report unsafe and harmful situations to adults immediately. With the violence in schools around our nation, we must come together to ensure our kids feel empowered to report these situations without fear of consequences or retaliation. We cannot support if we are unaware of a situation.

The message for our scholars is

IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING!

Thank you again for your continued partnership! We truly appreciate every one of our Panther Lake families!

Tabatha Ritch

(Principal)

tritch@fwps.org

253-945-3634

253-391-7444 (Cell - Text okay)

and

Emily Smith

(Assistant Principal)

emsmith@fwps.org

253-945-3608

253-391-6251 (Cell - Text okay)

We are incredibly excited to announce the Panther Lake PTA Board:

President- Renee Metanoia

Vice President- Juliana Ha

Secretary- Jason O'Daniel

Treasurer- Kianna Hall

PTA is still in need of members to support family event planning and building up our Panther Lake community.

If you would like to join our PTA, please reach out to Mr. Sanchez or any of our board members.

Join a team of teachers & parents to help build our community through engagement in education. Your feedback & perspective are valuable in ensuring that we are partnering together for the academic benefit of every child at Panther Lake. Meetings are once a month

Join our school day to support your child or all children in the classroom, outside at recess or during lunch. We love our Panther Lake V.I.P.'s and are so happy to welcome volunteers back at Panther Lake. Please come to the office to pick up your Washington State Patrol form to begin the process. All volunteers must have proof of vaccination.

Do you speak, read & write in another language? Do you enjoy helping advocate & connecting with other families that speak the same native language as you? Then you would be a great addition to our community to welcome, support and connect with other families at Panther Lake.

To report absences:

1. Call Mrs. Hagen at 253-945-3603 or office 253-945-3600, email: bhagen@fwps.org
2. Report on ParentVue, preferable before school starts at 9:10am (before teacher submit absences)

*If absences are not reported before 10:15am, parents will get a district automated absence callout* to remind them to call students absence in.

TIP: If students go to a medical appointment and misses school, you can provide a doctor's note so the absence can be excused as “medical” which will not count as an absent for BECCA.

**If you have a question about BECCA, our state school attendance law, please feel free to email or call me for more information.**

Prearranged absence: Form attached needs to be completed when student is out for more than 2 days BEFORE missing school. This applies for vacations or extended absences.

*parent will complete the top portion, then teacher will complete their section, parent and student will sign and final step will be completed from our principal, Mrs. Ritch.*

Tardy hours 9:15-9:40am

Absence is after 9:40am

If students are late and check in after 9:40am and it is under an unexcused reason, parents will get the auto absence callout.

• PLEASE put a reason down when students are coming in late or leaving early, if there is no reason written down, then the attendance code will not be accurate and it will be automatically coded as unexcused.

If you have any attendance questions, please contact Data Secretary Bonnie Hagen 253-945-3603 bhagen@fwps.org

Has your scholar's teacher gone above and beyond? Is there a staff member at Panther Lake you would like to recognize for their support and help? Would you like to celebrate anyone on the Panther Lake team for the incredible work they do everyday?

You have a chance to nominate any Federal Way Public Schools staff member in the district you believe has positively impacted you, your school, and/or your community with the “Because of You” award. Scholars from the superintendent’s advisory created the awards nomination process.

Nominations will be reviewed and selected by the Superintendent’s Scholar Advisory team and each month educators will be honored. Nominations forms can be completed online, and should be submitted by the end of the month. Stay tuned as we highlight these extraordinary staff members who make a difference each day in our schools!

Please use the link below to nominate your Panther Lake staff member!