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Wolf Pup Weekly
Woodriver Issue #15 - 1/12/24
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A WORD FROM MR. GUY
Hello Wolf Pup parents! Our annual school climate survey is now available for you to complete. I read through each response, and analyze the results, to look for ways Woodriver can improve not only the climate at school, but our communication and the social emotional well-being of our students. It is also a way to share with us any and all of the positive experiences you have had at our school. I look forward to reading your input! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/schoolclimateparent2024
You can also use the QR code below to bring you to the school climate survey. This survey closes March 10, 2024.
For parents with 4th and 5th grade students, a letter went home Tuesday with your kids, seeking your permission to teach Human Growth and Development during the first full week of March. Unlike previous years, this year we need your express permission to have students attend the presentations. Any students that do not have permission slips returned will not be allowed to attend.
Mrs. Brashear will be teaching the girls, and I will be teaching the boys, in separate locations. For 4th graders we talk about entering puberty and the need for personal hygiene. We will talk about showering, brushing teeth, healthy eating habits, sleep, and the basic changes they will experience in puberty. For 5th graders we continue with good hygiene, but also include a more detailed description of the physical changes that occur during puberty. Parents are free to preview the materials we will be using to teach the lessons. Both Mrs. Brashear and I will be using the same district approved materials we have used for the past several decades.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
WOLF PUPS IN ACTION
ICE SKATING
A huge shout out to Ms. Clark for getting our Wolf Pups out ice skating this past week! As you can see below, the kids had a blast! What a great and fun opportunity for our Pups! Don't forget to bring thick socks, helmets, and skates, if you have them, we'll be skating next week as well!
VALENTINE'S DAY
Our Wolf Pups had an absolutely wonderful Valentines Day, filled with thoughtful kind acts, lots of caring and sharing, and tons of sweets and treats! What a wonderful day to spread the love around our school!
HOWLING HELPERS AND "CAUGHT BEING KIND"
Wolf pups all over the school this week were "Caught Being Kind" to others! From assisting teachers, staff and students, helping clean up messes, and sharing treats and supplies with their classmates, our students really radiated kindness and spread the love throughout our school community! Every act of kindness earned a ticket into a daily drawing for an adorable squishmallow! Thanks Mrs. Brashear for organizing such a wonderfully thoughtful week, literally sprinkled with kindness and happiness! :)
As an added treat, the Howling Helpers spread even more love on Valentine's Day by giving away sweet kisses (Hershey's that is), and wishing every student and staff in the building a wonderful day! Thank you Howling Helpers!
Ms. Graf's 3rd Grade Class Shares the Love with Seniors!
Ms. Graf's class went to the Pioneer Home on Valentine's Day to sing for the residents, and to give them a gift of window stars and hearts to decorate their home! What a wonderful gift of service and kindness for these students to share! Thanks for providing such a special opportunity Ms. Graf, and thanks to all the residents of the Pioneer Home for welcoming our students!
READING BUDDIES
Mr. Kinder's and Mrs. Pilon's classes (pictured below) are 2 of the many classes that team up each week to do Reading Buddies, where the older kids help the younger ones practice their reading, and also read to them! This program is so successful, and also super fun! The kids just love their Reading Buddies!
PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES
At the Parent-Teacher Conferences, February 19–20, teachers will share important information regarding parent or guardian rights and responsibilities regarding student grade level placement. The state allows parents or guardians to make the determination, once, to hold their K-3 grade child back, or repeat a grade, if they are below or well below grade level in reading based on the benchmark testing. Parents also have the right to decide to move their child on to the next grade with their peers.
Your input is necessary and valuable at the Parent-Teacher Conferences. We encourage you to participate in the conferences and learn more about this important learning decision for your child. Please make sure to schedule your conference through Powerschool using the link below.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT
Greetings Wolfpups. Over the next several weeks we will be spotlighting a few of
Woodriver’s amazing staff members. Each staff member will be interviewed by Mr. Kinder's third
graders!
This week we proudly present our amazing 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Chacho! She was interviewed by Woodriver students Joey, Olivia, and Zoey!
Mrs. Chacho teaches 5th grade. She has worked at Woodriver for five years.
She enjoys seeing happy students every day. She likes teaching content that is
relatable to her students' lives.
She decided to work in education because she values education, she wants her
students to learn, and teaching is something that came naturally to her.
Mrs. Chacho likes to be outdoors, go berry picking, live a subsistence lifestyle,
stay active, read, and create memories with her family. She also likes to go fishing,
hunting, and snow machining.
She is proud to be an Alaska Native teacher. She does her best to teach
Alaskan Native values.
Mrs. Chacho is training to become a principal because she wants to show Alaska
Native students that they can be educators and she wants to be a role model for all
students.
She wants the Woodriver community to know that she really enjoys the people
that she works with, and she loves to see everyone’s smiling and beautiful faces.
PTA UPDATES
UPCOMING SCHOOL EVENTS
The students will complete a traditional tri-board display. Tri-board Science Fair projects need to be brought to Woodriver’s MPR for display, before school (8:30 to 9:15 AM) on Thursday, February 29th. The students will need to pick up their displays on Friday, March 1st, after school, at 3:45 PM.
The Science Fair is an incredible opportunity to explore a topic of interest and share your findings
with the entire school and community. Everyone is strongly encouraged to participate. All
participants will receive a certificate, participant ribbon, and a button. Winners will be selected in
each category and they will receive ranked ribbons. The top contestants will advance to the Interior
Alaska Science Fair competition, held at Pioneer Park, March 20th to 23rd.
We need judges for the projects. Judging will occur on Thursday, February 29th from 9:30 AM to 1
PM. Please complete and return the attached form below if you can volunteer as a judge. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Rob Kinder, Science Fair Coordinator
rob.kinder@k12northstar.org (907) 479-4211 ext. 47016
BUDGET UPDATES
A note from the Superintendent
Dear district families,
I wanted to take this opportunity to share information from the fiscal year 2025 proposed budget with you. Due to inadequate education funding, the school district faces making unprecedented cuts to balance its budget.
Balancing the budget means making painful tradeoffs that affect the education our students receive. My own children attend school here in our district and I want them, and all our students, to have the best education possible. Please know that we explore every option before resorting to the reductions you’ll find in the proposed budget and that the reductions were not made lightly. The school board and I welcome input from stakeholders as we work through creating a recommended budget to send over to the borough in the next month. By working as a team, we can navigate these challenges while still empowering students’ growth and achievement.
Thank you for all you do to partner with the school district and your school to ensure your student receives an excellent education.
Dr. Luke Meinert
FNSBSD Superintendent
Here is some information regarding the proposed budget:
Stagnant Funding
The school district receives approximately 60% of its funding from the State of Alaska through a per student amount known as the Base Student Allocation (BSA). The BSA has not seen a meaningful increase since 2017. Meanwhile, district costs have continued to increase every year. Without reliable increased funding this has meant repeated years of reductions.
FY25 Proposed Deficit
The school district is entering FY25 with a $29 million deficit. In the proposed budget we are assuming some increased funding from both the State and the Borough, however, we are still assuming a $16 million deficit that we will need to make reductions to balance.
FY25 Proposed Reductions
For a detailed list of the reductions, please review the FY25 Proposed Budget document.
Class size increases ($7.5 million) - Unfortunately, roughly 86% of the district’s budget is essentially people. This means that when cuts need to be made, it’s positions that have to be reduced. With such a large deficit, we’ve made hard decisions to increase class size and reduce teacher positions. The FY25 proposed Pupil-to-Teacher Ratios are:
Kindergarten - 25:1 (no change)
Grades 1-5 - 25:1 increased to 30:1
Grades 6-8 - 27:1 increased to 32:1
Grades 9-12 - 30:1 increased to 35:1
Two School Closures ($3.6 million) - School closures is an emotional, difficult topic, but one we have to address when faced with our financial reality. It’s more important than ever that our district operates efficiently so that we can provide the best education possible to our students.
Contract Out Custodial ($1.5 million) - Many organizations in the city and borough contract out their custodial services. It would be a way to offer the same or very similar services at a significantly reduced cost. All schools would continue to have a day custodian as well as evening custodians who clean the building. The cost savings would be utilized to avoid additional cuts to student services.
Administration Cuts ($600,000) - These cuts are a combination of cuts at the administrative center downtown and two assistant principal positions located at Lathrop and West Valley. As you may have noticed over the past several years, as cuts occur at the administrative center, services offered to support schools have slowed or stopped.
What’s Next (Learn more about the budget process)
The school board will dive into the proposed budget over the course of this month, which will lead to the development of the FY25 Recommended Budget. The recommended budget will be published on April 1 and submitted to the Borough Assembly. After funding from the Borough and State is finalized, the FY25 Approved Budget will passed, likely in May or June.
Advocating for Public Education
If you would like to help encourage the State to increase public education funding, you can do the following:
Contact your area’s elected representatives: akleg.gov. Scroll to the bottom of the homepage and use the Who Represents Me? tool.
Share a public opinion message with all legislators: https://www.akleg.gov/poms
Email the governor and legislators: gov.alllegislators@alaska.gov
Encourage the borough assembly to pass the ordinance calling for a special tax cap election
Engage in the tax cap election process that could bring $10 million dollars to the school district
SCHOOL CLIMATE SURVEY
School Climate Surveys are OPEN!
You are invited to participate in the annual School Climate Parent Survey! The survey is anonymous, takes about 10 minutes, and results are used to understand and improve the educational climate of our schools. Thank you for participating!
The parent survey closes on Sunday, March 10, 2024.
STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES
2024 NAACP Black History Month Contest
The local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the FNSBSD are proud to sponsor the 2024 Black History Month Contest. We invite all K-12 students to participate in this annual contest. This contest is an opportunity for students to showcase their knowledge, encourage the study of Black History, and show excellence in creativity. View the details by clicking the link below.
Entry submission deadline is Friday, March 1, 2024.
COMMUNITY EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Hands-On Activities
Students of all ages love engineering activities!
Getting to design, build, break, collaborate, and create is a big win with every kid.
- How long should you spend on an activity?
- We have activities from >45 minutes, 1-2 hours, or multiple sessions.
- What activity is best for each grade?
- What materials do you need?
- Our activities use low cost, free, or easily recyclable materials. A list of activities, print outs, and lesson structure is included with each activity!
AVAILABLE FAMILY RESOURCES
SLED/ Live Homework Help
Live Homework Help provides free, online tutoring to Alaskan students in grade K-12 and intro level college students. Offered Monday through Friday, 8am to 2am; Saturday and Sunday, noon to 2 am Alaska Time. Students can work with a live tutor or use the study resources independently. Click the button below for more information.
Bright Futures Fairbanks | Student Support Services
We firmly believe that every child in our community deserves an equal opportunity to succeed. Unfortunately, many of them come to school without the basic necessities that most people often take for granted, such as food, school supplies, and winter gear.
If your family needs assistance in any of these ways, please reach out to Bright Futures Fairbanks by following the link below.
Our Social Emotional Learning & Prevention department is fully committed to supporting and uplifting our community. Our primary aim is to effectively identify and align local resources, with the ultimate goal of overcoming challenges and barriers faced by students in our district.
Through collaboration, we can ensure that every child's basic needs are fulfilled. Let us be the bridge that brings positivity and support to those who need it the most.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
An online application for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is now available. Alaska SNAP provides food benefits to low-income households. The new online application is a “smart form,” streamlining the process and the amount of time it takes to complete the form by only populating fields that the applicant needs based on their responses. Learn more about SNAP by clicking below.
SCHOOL LUNCH MENU
SchoolCafe/Free & Reduced Meal Applications | Nutrition Services
SchoolCafe/Free & Reduced Meal Applications | Nutrition Services
If you previously had a free and reduced meal application processed and feel your children might qualify for a better meal eligibility, please complete a new meals application by clicking the link below, and send the following information to foodservice@k12northstar.org:
- Income documentation for the prior 30 days
- Student(s) names and meal application number (if completed online)
*With the new calendar year, the 2023 PFD value is required by the USDA to be used when calculating household income on the meals application.
BECOME A SUBSTITUTE!
LEARN AT HOME!
Want to access Classlink at home?
When your student puts in their username, please note that you will have to add the "@student.k12northstar.org". School computers do this automatically, so that is the most common problem families have at home
BUS INFO
There has been a lot of concern over late buses and finding out when students will be home. If you have concerns you would like to share, please call Durham at 1(907)206-7789. This number can also be called for Dispatch if you would like to get an ETA on a route.
If you cannot get ahold of Durham, please call the transportation dept at (907)452-2000 ext 11351
There are a few tools available to help as well: One is to set up email notifications for late buses. Directions to set that up are below.
The other tool is a new system the district has set up that is a live bus tracking service. This allows you to see where the bus is along the route, the time it arrived at each stop, and even if the doors opened at the stop.
you can use this service at http://busroutes.k12northstar.org
Click on your school (Woodriver is WRV - Ryan is RYN), and then on the route you would like to view.
There are additional instructions on how to use it at: https://www.k12northstar.org/cms/lib/AK01901510/Centricity/Domain/1159/Bus%20Route%20Tracker_2023-09-06.pdf
Please note: Special Education buses are not listed on the live tracker. Please call Durham Dispatch or the transportation department with questions/concerns about those routes
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITES
SCHOOL VISITOR GUIDELINES
CLUBS
AM Fitness
Grades K-5
Rom: Gym | Mon-Fri 8:45-9:15
Handwork CLub
HANDWORK CLUB IS FULL
$60/ QuarterGrades 3-5
Rm: 6 | Tues/Thurs 8:30-9:15
There are only 12 spots in this club. First come first serve, and spot must be paid for to reserve.
Game Club
Grades 2-5
Rm: 16 | Tuesdays 8-9:15
3rd Grade math tutor
3rd grade only
Room 16 | Thursdays 8:30-9:15
Band Club
5th grade
Band Room | Wed or Fri
STEM Club
NO STEM CLUB 3rd QUARTER!
$25/Quarter
Grades 3-5
Room 16 | Wednesdays 8:00-9:15am
There are only 25 spots in this club. Lottery is held to determine selection. Those not selected will be placed on a waitlist.
DISTRICT SCHOOL CALENDAR
IMPORTANT DATES
February
Feb 19-20 - Parent Teacher Conferences | No School
Feb 21 - Teacher Professional Development | No School
March
Mar 8 | Early Dismissal @ 2:15
Mar 11-15 - Spring Break | No School
Welcome to Woodriver Elementary School
OFFICE HOURS: 8:45-4:15
SCHOOL HOURS 9:15 - 3:45
Email: nicole.wells@k12northstar.org
Website: www.k12northstar.org/woodriver
Location: 5000 Palo Verde Ave
Phone: 907-479-4211