T-Bird Times

Website: https://www.bluevalleyk12.org/IVE
Location: 11600 Knox Street, Overland Park, KS, USA
Phone: 913.239.6400
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IVEThunderbirds/
Twitter: @IVEThunderbirds

Dear Families:

Indian Valley Elementary School has been identified as an official Title I school, based on the percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced lunch benefits. Title I is a federal program where select schools receive targeted funds to provide additional reading support.

Federal guidelines mandate that Title I schools provide parents with a “right to know.” As a parent, you have the right to know information regarding qualifications of your child’s classroom teachers. This information can be found at https://appspublic.ksde.org/TLL/SearchLicense.aspx.

As a parent, you also have the right to view both district and building report cards, which can be found by going to www.bluevalleyk12.org, scrolling down to “District Quick Links” and selecting “Accountability Reports.” Parents also have the right to request access to students’ state assessment scores. These will also be shared via the KITE Parent Portal around the end of the school year.

Thank you,

Kristin Venable

Principal, Indian Valley Elementary

Mark your calendars for the 2024-25 K-5 teacher professional collaboration days.

As we kick off the 2024-25 school year, I want to remind families about the teacher professional collaboration days designed for teacher plan and collaboration time. These eight days, which occur throughout the school year, are non-student attendance days for K-5 students. These days are vital to ensure the best possible preparation for our elementary students and key to quality teacher retention.

The following days, which can be found in the 2024-25 calendar on the district website, have been designated as teacher professional collaboration days:

August 30

September 27

November 1

December 6

January 31

February 28

April 11

May 2

Thank you for your support and partnership as we ensure our educators have adequate plan and collaboration time. Have a wonderful school year!

Thank you for joining our staff for Back to School Night. We were pleased to see such a great turnout and appreciate your partnership in helping launch the school year. Our staff has been hard at work creating and sharing structured expectations for our school community along with how we are going to teach and reinforce them in all settings. You may have seen our visuals or graphics during your visit. Click here to read a few points about why these are important to our school.

Please take some time to read through the Family Handbook for Indian Valley Elementary. There's a lot of important information.

We will be excited to welcome visitors to our lunchroom again this year. As a reminder, we ask that you and your child enjoy your lunch at the Visitor's table.

We will start visits to the lunchroom after Labor Day, on Wednesday, September 4th. We will take the first weeks of school to learn and practice lunchroom routines and procedures. Thank you for understanding and waiting to enjoy lunch with your child until then!

Lunch menus can be found online here: Lunch menus

You can also download the Nutrislice app for easy access for daily/weekly menus.

We are taking a food-free approach to birthday celebrations at IVE again this year! This has been our practice for several years. We have found that our kids have plenty of sweet treats in their lives, and we have had an increase in the number of food allergies in our community. Therefore, we will find other ways to celebrate each student’s birthday.

School Birthday Celebration Rituals:

• Name and birthday will be announced on Studio 83

• An in-person morning visit by the student Birthday Crew to the birthday student’s classroom to give a sticker and a pencil

• Classroom privileges unique to each class, chosen by the birthday student. Some possible examples include:

• Special chair in the classroom

• Extra recess time for the class

• Special class game

• Birthday hat, button, or sash

Please do NOT send in edible birthday treats. Thank you!

Blue Valley families,

We are excited to have your families come to support our high school activities and athletics. It is great to see the entire community at these events. It is imperative that our parent community partner with us as we work to encourage positive elementary and middle school behavior at high school games or events.

We are asking that all elementary and middle school students enter the game with an adult and sit with that adult throughout the game. Please do not drop your child off at a district event without supervision as they will not be allowed to enter. It is challenging to monitor and keep all students safe without the help of our parent community. Thanks for your help with this protocol to make district events a great experience for all who attend. We hope to see your family cheering for our Blue Valley teams this school year.

Matt Ortman

Director of School Administration, Athletics and Activities

Blue Valley School District

This important message is for any family or staff that will travel out of the United States during the school year. Please click here to read the restrictions and recommendations for Out of the Country travel. Blue Valley resources such as Canvas, Classlink, and school email are not accessible out of the country unless you have a personal device with a VPN on it.

The 2024-25 school year is an exciting time in Blue Valley Schools as we have the opportunity to look to the future while refreshing our strategic plan.

Your input is invaluable as we prioritize the goals and initiatives that will guide us through 2030. This survey is your chance to voice what you believe should be our top priorities, ensuring that our plan reflects the needs and aspirations of our community.

💻 2025-30 Strategic Plan Survey (3-5 minute survey)

The survey will remain open through Aug. 21. For more information about the strategic planning process, visit www.bluevalleyk12.org/strategicplan.

If you wish for your child to be a bus rider, please visit the bus website to sign them up:

Durham Bus Services

You can also sign up for text messaging for alerts for your student's bus.

🗓️ Mark Your Calendars for Upcoming IVE Events!

We’ve got some exciting events coming up—don’t miss out!

1st Open PTA Meeting
🗓️ September 5th
🕔 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
📍 IVE Library

👕 Spirit Week
🗓️ September 16th - 20th
Get ready to show your school spirit all week long!

🚶‍♂️ Walkathon
🗓️ September 20th
We need volunteers to help make this year’s Walkathon a success! If you’re interested in lending a hand, we’d love your support. Volunteer Below:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050B4DAAA62FA3F49-50864021-walkathon

Don’t forget to order your Spirit Wear before the virtual store closes on August 30th!

🛍️ Order Here: https://stores.inksoft.com/IVE_STORE

Thank you for all you do to make our IVE community amazing! 💙