Our Woodward families are the greatest gift we could ever hope to receive! Thank you for all that you do to support the children, the faculty/staff, and the whole school! We cannot begin to offer the activities and opportunities without your support, and it comes in so many different forms! We have anonymous donors who step in to make things happen when they see or hear about a need; we have volunteers who tirelessly give day after day in and out of the building; we have family members who provide materials to teachers on a regular basis to enhance the classroom experiences. During this time of year, the giving season, we must take time to thank each of you for all that you give. Our school is the school of choice for our families because of each of you! Have a safe and wonderful holiday season!

Just a note: Please be sure you are connected to Class Dojo so you will receive notices of weather related late starts, no school days, or early dismissals.

December 7: Woodward Holiday Concert at CMHS

(Doors open for seating at 6:00pm, students need to be in the building no later than 6:10pm, concert begins at 6:30pm - Students dress in their "concert best" attire!)

December 7: 6:30pm School Board Reorganization Meeting

December 8: Photo Retake Day!

December 12-14: Woodward Holiday Shop is Open!

December 14: School Cafeteria's Holiday Lunch!

December 15: No School

December 21 - January 2: No School, Winter Break

January 15: No School

January 18: Principal Forum (6:00-6:30pm); **PTO Meeting (6:30-7:30pm)

January 25: 3 hr. Early Dismissal

January 26: No School, Act 80 Day

February 3: Woodward PTO's Cash Bingo!

**Our January PTO meeting will be held January 18th from 6:30pm-7:30pm.
Please join us in person at the Woodward Elementary Library or via Zoom!
Meeting ID: 932 6133 7815
Passcode: 545829

3 Hour Early Dismissal -

11:25am Students Dismissed to buses

11:30am Students Dismissed to Families for vehicle pick-up

KCSD has been approved for five flexible instructional days. Future cancellations (up to five days) due to inclement weather will result in a Flexible Instructional Day (FID). Flexible instructional days are synchronous (live) remote learning days for K-12 students and staff. Instruction on remote snow days will be conducted in the following manner:

• Instruction will be done synchronously (live) through Google Classroom or Schoology and Zoom/Google Meet. Teachers will communicate with students about which platform they will use. Students will follow the normal daily time/period schedule.

• If inclement weather is predicted, we will have our K-1 students (and any other student who normally keeps their device at school) take their Chromebook home so that they have it for remote instruction.

• If the inclement weather is not anticipated, students who do not have a school-issued device at home can join with a device that they have at home if possible. Students who do not have a device at home will have extra time to complete assignments. Upon return to school, students need to complete their designated assignments in order for them to be marked as present. The completion of the assignment(s) will count as their attendance for the snow day.

• Teachers will be taking attendance on remote snow days. K-4 teachers take attendance twice a day. 5-12 teachers take attendance every period/block.

• All deadlines and due dates are to be met in order for students to be marked “present” for the Flexible Instructional Day.

• If you experience technical issues you MUST contact your teacher immediately for support.

Please follow the steps listed to join our district's Dojo account, as well!! https://www.classdojo.com/ul/p/addKid?target=school&schoolID=5b7f245619b46b0011f6cc6c

Elementary schools have moved back to ClassDojo as our messaging app. Please be sure to connect (or reconnect) so you don't miss any important information from your child's school or teachers.

Stay informed about:

• School events and activities
• Family-teacher conferences
• Important deadlines and assignments
• Emergency alerts and school delays/dismissals/closures

Scan the QR code below to receive district-wide notifications which includes:

• Weather alerts/delays/early dismissals/closures
• Emergency alerts
• District-wide events
• Important dates

All elementary schools in the Keystone Central School District are Title I schoolwide schools. That means that all five elementary schools receive Federal Programs Title I money, and we have a series of documentation and meetings that we must provide to families in order to satisfy the requirements of receiving those dollars.

Because of the needs across our district, our district qualifies for the Community Eligibility Provision [this link will explain more about the CEP program], which allows us to offer free breakfast and lunch to our students (as long as they choose a complete breakfast/lunch). This provision allows the schools to rely on sources that have documentation of families receiving benefits, and we no longer have families communicate directly to us regarding their income status. This is a good and a not so good situation, because those Title I federal dollars are generated based on the percentage of low income families throughout the district. What is happening is that although we have a great degree of need across our district, our federal funding is dropping, because many of our families do not choose to sign up for services like SNAP, and they don't report their income as low as what it might be in census and other data collections.

As you participate in our school level federal programs meetings and the intervention team talks about the drops in funding over time, I hope this helps to explain the why behind the reduction in funds.

Your intervention team has been busy holding Policy 917/918 Committee Meetings, conducting at least one meeting per year where we review and revise our community engagement strategies, reviewing our Schoolwide Improvement Plans, and sharing our goals for growth. Your input on our meetings and surveys helps us to determine how we spend our federal program dollars.

At all school levels, we use Title IV federal funds to purchase incentives for PBIS (our positive school-wide behavior supports) rewards, and we emphasize the goal of following school rules in all schools.

Required documents for families:

Right to Request Qualifications of Teachers (see Annual Notices and Policy Review button above) - if you wish to request a paper copy, please contact rmurty@kcsd.k12.pa.us .

Note: If your child is taught for four or more weeks by a teacher who is instructing in a content area for which they are not currently certified, the district must notify you. Four-week notification letters will be added here if that becomes necessary.

Non-Discrimination Statement (see Annual Notices and Policy Review button above) - if you wish to request a paper copy, please contact rmurty@kcsd.k12.pa.us.

Title I District Parent Policy - Policy 918

Coaching Newsletter for Families - How We Teach Reading

Title I Complaint Procedure

School Improvement Plan

#KeystoneCares is partnering with KCSD and Sleep in Heavenly Peace to bring awareness to homelessness.

If you believe that you or someone you know is experiencing homelessness, please reach out to Christina Manning, KCSD Homeless Liasion, cmanning@kcsd.us or 570-893-4900 ext. 2105 or Kyle Galer, KCSD School Social Worker, kgaler@kcsd.us or 570-893-4900 ext. 2341

Look for information coming home with your student about a food drive being held from 11/11 - 11/17. Each grade has been assigned a specific category to donate. The class with the most donations wins a donut party!!

RED is the color for homelessness. We are asking that everyone wear RED on Friday, 11/17 to show your support.

The National Day of Giving is on 11/28. KCSD will be recognizing the National Day of Giving on 11/22. Look for information from our school on how our school plans to give to Sleep in Heavenly Peace. Sleep in Heavenly Peace helps build beds for students in need. Each school will either be collecting monetary donations or donations of pillows and bedding supplies. Please help them ensure that NO KID SLEEPS ON THE FLOOR IN OUR TOWN!®.

Attendance a priority at KCSD!

Help us reach our Attendance Goal of 94.1%.

For the month of October, our students showed up 93.1% of the time.

Remember: Excuses need to be turned in within 3 days of an absence. Use your school's attendance email to make sure that the excuse notes get turned in on time.

Wildcats on the Prowl: AttendanceMatters Now!

If you are concerned about a student for any reason, you can make a SAP referral. The SAP referral can potentially lead to any needed services and/or supports the student may need to be successful.

Click on the picture to make a referral!

We've always heard that if we listen to our five senses (vision, hearing, taste, smell and touch) it will help us to understand a situation more fully. Interoception is the name given to listening to another sense - the sense of signals that come from inside your body (heart beat, breathing, the feeling in your stomach, ringing ears and more). The key with body signals is that they can mean different things for different people. This article opens our eyes to awareness of what our body is trying to tell us and encourages us to listen. It's challenging as an adult to try to figure out what a child's interoception is trying to tell them, and sometimes even the child (or adult) has difficulty understanding what this sense is trying to tell them.

https://www.smore.com/361wz-keystone-central-school-district#:~:text=VOLUNTEER%20INFORMATION,to%20Clearance%20Page

The link in the button above/QR Code should take you to our Volunteer Application.

You need to apply on-line at https://www.applitrack.com/kcsd/onlineapp/ instead of using a paper form.

Clearances and Mandated Reporter training are also required. Here are the links:

· Clearances

· (Act 34) PA State Policehttps://epatch.pa.gov/home

· (Act 151) PA Child Abuse https://www.compass.state.pa.us/cwis/public/home

· (Act 114) FBI https://www.identogo.com/locations/pennsylvania

Use service code to receive the correct clearance: 1KG6XN

Mandated Report Training http://www.reportabusepa.pitt.edu/

Elizabeth Nace is our Personnel Secretary & Volunteer Specialist, you can use the information below to contact her, and she said she is happy to help you and answer questions!

570-893-4900 x 2319

https://www.kcsd.k12.pa.us/en-US/human-resources-32e72bfe

enace@kcsd.k12.pa.us

86 Administration Drive, Mill Hall, PA 17751

General Link to Clearance Page

If your family speaks a language other than English, the district has access to translators and interpreters that can accompany you in meetings with teachers and school members. If you would like to be connected with a translator or interpreter please reach out to your child’s teacher or the school guidance counselor. The accessibility features in the top right corner of this Smore allow you to translate this page.

The Holiday Season is officially here! It rolls in fast, and it brings deep emotions with it! Sometimes the greatest gift you can give to anyone is the gift of a listening heart. If someone you know is in crisis, they may need this information:

Food, Housing, Shelter: Dial 211

Crisis Text Line: Text 741741

Clinton County Crisis Line: 570-748-2262

National Suicide Prevention Hotline 988

Safe2Say Confidential Reporting: 1-844-732-2729

To learn more or to schedule a meeting with the school counselor, please contact Mrs. Bonnie Owens, our school counselor.

Mrs. Owens: School Counselor

Phone: 570-893-4900 x3104

Email: bowens@kcsd.k12.pa.us

Keystone Central School District has School Resource Officers throughout our district for safety and security.

Officer Scott VanGorder - Central Mountain High School

Officer Cory Beaver - Bucktail High School & Renovo Elementary

Officer Luke Motter - Central Mountain Middle School

Officer Mike Fetzer - Elementary district-wide and District Attendance Officer

Officer Todd Brian - District-wide

Did you know the Keystone Central School District offers a full cyber program to students K-12?

Please use the following link to read the upcoming events and information for December/January.

https://www.smore.com/57h4k

Upcoming Assessments

ASVAB- CMHS December 11-12 and BTHS Feb.16 (10th grade students and any 11th/12th grader who still needs a graduation pathway)

Winter Keystone Exams - Jan. 3-17 (Semester 1 Biology, Alg1 and 10th grade Literature Students)

• Jan.4-5- Literature
• Jan.8-9- Biology
• Jan.10-11- Algebra 1

Local Assessment Winter Benchmark - Jan.10-17 (K-8 Math and ELA)

Grade 11 Civics and Government End of Course Exam - Week of Jan.17-24 (Built into course)

Local District Assessments

All students in grades K-8 will be participating in our upcoming local district assessments which will be administered in the Fall, Winter and Spring. Students in K-2 will be tested using the Acadience assessment and students in grades 3-8 will be tested using NWEA MAP assessment. These assessments are administered in the Fall, Winter and Spring and will provide you as well as their teacher valuable information on academic growth. To learn more about our assessment please click the links below.

NWEA Family Toolkit

NWEA FAQ

About Acadience

Need to take the SAT, Click here for upcoming dates and registration

Many questions can arise concerning your child's laptop, internet access, busing information or maybe you'd like to volunteer in your child's school. These links below can help you get answers or point you in the direction of who to speak to.

Position Volunteer (Board Approved w/Clearances, no escort needed) as of 12/4/2023:

1. Elaine Barth

2. Keisha Conway

3. Marissa Crawford

4. Brenda and Keith Fornwalk

5. William Hagaman

6. Malarie Hastings

7. Skylynn Hummer

8. Brittanie Jones

9. Amanda Liedtka

10. Ashley Koser

11. Carey McCloskey

12. Debra Moore

13. Bobbi Moser

14. Jessica Neff

15. Taryn Polk

16. Elizabeth Snyder

17. Barbara Svederus

18. Hope Winslow

19.Mary Jane Isenberg

20. Jade Schneider

Lock Haven Branch YMCA Inclement Weather Policy

Gymnastics Team, Swim Team, and Climbing Team

Head coaches will make a decision by 2pm if they will hold practice or not. They will notify parents and Member Services directly.

*If the decision is made to hold practice, parents should use their best judgement concerning road conditions.

IF KCSD is operating on a DELAY, ALL Group Ex held at or before 8am will be canceled. ALL Group Ex classes held at 9am will operate as scheduled. Child watch will open at 9am.

If KCSD is CLOSED for the day, ALL Group Ex classes are canceled until 4pm. A decision will be made by 2pm in regards to evening classes and activities. Child watch will be closed all day.

If KCSD has an EARLY DISMISSAL, ALL Group Ex classes are canceled until 4pm. A decision will be made by 2pm in regards to all evening Group Ex classes, adult and youth programs, and child watch.

In case of late afternoon or evening inclement weather, the status of the facility closing early, including Group Ex, child watch, and programs will be determined by the Branch Executive Director.

Ways to get updated notifications during inclement weather.

• Check our Facebook page: Lock Haven Branch YMCA
• Sign up for ONECALLNOW notifications
• This message is sent directly to your phone.
• Ask a member service rep to get on the list.
• Download the Daxko Mobile app.
• Notifications must be turned on for this app.
• Call the front desk.

Mrs. Murty is the building principal (ext. 3102).

Mrs. Smith is the building secretary (ext. 3101).

Mrs. Owens is the school counselor (ext. 3104).

Please let us know how we can help and support your family.