Principal Hitchens's Notes

Please join us Thursday evening for our first STEAM Night hosted by Mr. Rynish. We will have community partners here with lots of fun activities for everyone. The will be a raffle, light meal and updated information on the building SCIP. We look forward to seeing everyone this Thursday at 4:00pm.

As a community we are noticing that many students are not coming in uniform. While we understand that children grow throughout the year, we are not able to provide additional uniforms. We would like your input on continuing to be a uniform school. As a staff community we enjoy seeing our scholars dressed in uniform and having special out of uniform days. We are gathering input from staff and families and we would like to hear from you. Please take the time to complete this one question survey.

Illness Guidelines

We understand it is difficult to decide whether or not your child is too sick to come to school. Here are some guidelines for staying home:

Fever - 100 degrees or higher Stay Home

Vomiting and Diarrhea - Stay Home

Covid 19 - Come to school once fever free 24hr without medication or after isolation period.

Cough - Stay home with worsening cough accompanied by other symptoms, such as fever, diarrhea, vomit, etc. If the cough is due to asthma, call the school nurse for more guidance

Strep Throat - Return to school once prescribed medication from the physician

Ear Infection - Come to school if not accompanied with no other symptoms (fever etc.)

We have a limited supply of free COVID tests for students in the nurse's office, please call the nurse's office for more information.

• Tommie Tuesdays: We are encouraging our scholars to wear their purple collaborative shirt on Tuesdays ONLY!
• Beacons Open Mic Night Tuesday, February 27th 2:00-4:00pm
• STEAM Night - February 29th beginning at 2:15. More information to come.
• Conference Prep Day Day- March 8th No School.
• Parent Academy coming to Maxfield this Spring! More information to come.

The winter months mean more sickness going around, if you have questions about whether or not your scholar can come to school, please call the health office at 651-888-7648. Please call the office to report every time your scholar(s) will be missing school, 651-293-8680 ext. 42853

Thank you for continuing to work hard to get your scholar to school every day, on time! When students miss more than 10% or 18 days, excused or unexcused, in a school year they are:

• Less likely to read proficiently by 3rd grade

• Missing out on important academic time which impacts whether or not they make appropriate grade level gains

• Fewer opportunities to build positive relationships with staff and peers

• May not develop behavioral and social-emotional skills necessary for success in school and life

We understand that kids get sick and things come up, we trust your judgement when keeping your scholar home. But we know kids need to be in school as much as possible in order to make grade level gains!

If you have questions or concerns with getting your scholar(s) to school please contact school counselor Kary Kuenzli, 651-744-7644 or text 612-405-9477 or principal Dr. Hitchens 651-744-4534. We are here to support you and your family!

All Maxfield 5th graders have a seat saved for them at their community school. For most of you, Hidden River will be your community school. If you want your child to attend a school different from your community school, you must fill out the SPPS School Choice application by February 9th. Use the SPPS School School Finder for the 2024-2025 school year. Enter your address to see which school(s) your child can attend and receive bussing to. This will provide you with all the information you need to look up other middle schools based on your address to determine if bussing would be provided.

Maxfield will be hosting our family literacy night on Thursday January 25th from 4:00-6:00. During this time I’ll be available to answer any questions you might have about middle school, can help fill out the school choice application, or research potential middle schools.

Please reach out to Ms. Kary, school counselor, at 651-744-7644 or text 612-405-9477 if you have any questions or concerns. I hope to see you on January 25th!

Classroom Counseling Lessons for Kindergarten-4th Grade:

This week during your scholar's classroom counseling lesson we started to talk about bullying. We will be spending the next couple of weeks learning about how to recognize, report, and refuse bullying. Check with your scholar to see if they can tell you how they recognize what bullying is!

Classroom Counseling Lessons for 5th Grade:

5th grade is reviewing identity and learning about self esteem. We focused on how identity and self esteem can be positive or negative, which can impact academics, connectedness to school, and relationships. 5th grade scholars started an activity "what I love about myself", be sure to ask what they wrote down!

• Families are encouraged to monitor their children’s clothing selections to make sure they are appropriately dressed for cold weather. Our students have daily recess except in extreme weather conditions such as rain or severe cold/wind chill. Students will have indoor recess on any day with a wind chill or actual temperature that is below zero. As weather changes, sweaters and layers are needed! Please consider these factors related to weather as you and your child make decisions for winter clothing. Students must have a WARM coat, hat, and mittens/gloves for outdoor recess. Visit Saint Paul Public School Weather page for more information. To prevent lost Clothing please Label students' names on clothing.

Hey Hey Listen Up! We continue to demonstrate our use of PBIS C.A.R.E.S. Our March and April focus for C.A.R.E.S. is Empathy. We want all our scholars to show empathy in all that they do. As adults we try to model empathy at school so our scholars model it with each other.

UPDATES & REMINDERS

• • Families will receive a postcard in the mail with transportation information at the end of August. If your child rides the school bus, you’ll receive the bus stop, pick-up and drop-off times. This postcard will also include information if your child walks to and from school, or uses Metro Transit at participating high schools.
  • If your family moved over the summer, update your address at spps.org/onestop.
  • If you believe your student is taking the bus but did not receive a postcard at the end of August, please call your child's school.
  • Please arrive at the bus stop five minutes before the bus is scheduled to pick up your child.
  • Track the status of your child’s bus on your school’s website or the Bus Status app linked below.
  • For your up-to-date bus pick-up and drop-off times, log on to your Campus Parent account and click on the Transportation tab.

  
  

TRACK YOUR BUS WITH THE BUS STATUS APP

• The Bus Status app reports buses greater than 10 minutes late and displays up-to-date bus information for SPPS families and students.

  Notice: Bus Status has a new and improved app just in time for the new school year! The Bus Status app currently installed on your phone will not update automatically to the new app, and will end notifications after September 29. Download the new Bus Status app for free at the Apple App Store and via Google Play.

Education Benefits Discounts for Families

• Amazon - 50% off Amazon Prime Membership
• Xcel Energy’s Income-Qualified Home Energy Saving Program - Free advice and energy-saving improvements, including weatherization and replacement of your older appliances for newer models.
• Minnesota Children’s Museum - Discounted tickets and membership
• Science Museum of Minnesota - $15/yr membership for two adults and all dependents under 21. Includes free admission, Omnitheather movies, and parking. Discounts on summer camps and the Explore Store gift shop.
• Metro Transit’s Transit Assistance Program (TAP) - $1 rides for all household members
• Xfinity Internet Essentials - $10/mo high speed internet
• Affordable Connectivity Program - Up to $30/month towards broadband service and a one time reimbursement of up to $100 for a device (i.e tablet, laptop). Through approved providers only.
• The Minnesota Telephone Assistance Plan (TAP) - TAP is a bill credit of $10 monthly for landline service and LL is a bill credit of up to $9.25 monthly on either landlines, cell phones or broadband internet service.
• T-Mobil 10million Project Free Internet access & hotspots for students for 5 years
• The Works Museum - Discounted admission, memberships and camp scholarships.
• Guthrie Theater Gateway Program - Up to four tickets per production for $5 each
• Bell Museum Curiosity Membership - $15/yr membership for two adults and all dependents under 21 within one household. Unlimited free gallery admission, $2 planetarium tickets, early access to summer camp programs, and pre-qualification to apply for camp scholarship lottery.