The Weekly Update #4

It is with great excitement that I welcome all KNIGHTS, new and returning, to Kings Town Elementary for the 2024- 2025 school year! Kings Town is a school community of about 820 students and 105 staff members. Our school's new mission and motto is We are Knights! We belong. We learn. We succeed. Together! We achieve this through providing a supportive and safe environment where each child is valued and accepted. We are committed to meeting individual needs while providing high expectations, instilling self-confidence and accountability, and optimizing opportunities for self-reflection and growth. We invite you to work with us in developing the academic, social and emotional growth of our students.

As principal, one of my top priorities is an open line of communication between students/parents and our administration and staff. If at any time you find yourself with a question or concern, I strongly encourage you to contact your child's teacher, myself or another member of the administrative team so that we can address it. As I tell our staff, nothing gets solved on social media. It is unfortunately a place that when used negatively, exasperates issues and provides people a vehicle to display poor judgement and behavior. I encourage you, our school community, to partner with us in promoting a positive and inclusive school environment. Help us highlight the wonderful things that are happening in our building and with our students and staff. Our students and school community deserve nothing but the BEST. I look forward to another year serving this wonderful school community, let's make it a great year!

Together in Education,

Nicole Randolph

Kings Town Administration Team:

Assistant Principal Ebony Kennedy

Principal Nicole Randolph

Assistant Principal Matt Savage

Monday: Summer Break

Tuesday: Meet the Teacher (See Below)

Wednesday: Last Day of Summer Break

Thursday: First Day of School (This is a full day of school!)

Friday: Second Day of School

Teacher assignments were emailed out on the 31st and were also made available in Parent Portal. If you have a student in 4th-5th grade, please be sure to access Parent Portal to see your child's entire schedule as they may have more than one teacher throughout the day. We are extremely fortunate at Kings Town to have a wonderful staff of educators ready to provide a great educational experience for your child this year.

We will host Meet the Teacher on August 6th! The times have been assigned based on alphabetical order. If you have a conflict and are unable to make the time you are assigned, please reach out to your child's teacher to inquire about a time change. We are doing our best to manage the amount of people in the building and we respectfully ask that individuals show up at their assigned times unless alternate plans have been made with the teacher. You are welcome to park in any of the parking spaces throughout the campus as well as on the right side of the car and bus loops. The left side of the loops and back street are reserved for emergency vehicles, so please refrain from parking there. As you can imagine, with 820 families, parking can be tight, please stick to the times below so we can allow for a steady flow of traffic. We will clear the building at the end of each session and doors will remain locked until the start of each session so there is no need to arrive early.

Meet the Teacher Session Times:

12:00 - 12:45 - Last Names A-H

1:00 - 1:45 - Last Names I-P

2:00 - 2:45 - Last Names Q-Z

Hello KTES Families! I can’t believe it’s already time for us to be gearing up for another school year. I hope you have all had a safe, healthy, and fun summer! To adequately prepare for the start of school, if nursing services are required for your child, it is important for me to obtain medications and medical paperwork prior to school if at all possible. Medication and paperwork drop-off times will be Tuesday, August 6th, during Meet the Teacher and Wednesday, August 7th, from 10:00-2:00. If your child requires a prescription medication, daily or as needed, please ensure you have all required paperwork completed entirely and signed by yourself as well as the prescribing Physician. Prescription medications must be in a Pharmacy bottle with label including child's information and correct orders (dosage, time, etc.). If medication is over-the-counter, it must be in a new, sealed box and be children's strength. We cannot accept anything that is already opened and we are not allowed to administer anything that is not FDA approved (no homeopathic medications, supplements, etc.). You do not need a Physician's signature for an over-the-counter medication. If you are unable to drop off paperwork during these times, please let me know and I can work out an alternate time for you to come to the school for drop-off. If you need paperwork to complete for your child, please let me know and I can email you a packet. I will need to know the Diagnosis and Medication(s), so that I can send you everything you need. I appreciate your time and am more than happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have. I am looking forward to a great school year! Thank you in advance for all your support.

Linsdsey Maxwell, School Nurse

maxwelll@fortmillschools.org

It is our goal to make sure all of our students arrive to and from school safely. Therefore, parents must complete a walker/biker form giving permission for their child to obtain a walker/biker pass. Parents giving written permission for their child to walk home recognize the school’s responsibility for the safety of the child does not extend beyond school supervised areas. Students who have been issued a walker tag will be dismissed starting around 2:05 pm. Students will exit the doors near the cafeteria entrance. An updated walker/biker waiver must be completed each school year for each child. Please note, students requesting a walker tag must live in the surrounding 1.5 miles of the school. In the event of a change to transportation, contact the classroom teacher and Becky Morris morrisre@fortmillschools.org. Even on rainy days if no alternate transportation is communicated, the student will continue to walk home.

Walker/Biker Permission Form

It is imperative that parents review the Student Handbook prior to the beginning of the school year. The handbook contains valuable information about the policies, procedures and day to day operations at Kings Town. If you have questions after reviewing the handbook, please don't hesitate to reach out to a member of our administrative team.

It's also important to point out procedures related to our car rider line drop off. Following these procedures will ensure a smooth drop off in the mornings.

To maximize safe and efficient arrival of our students, drivers should approach the school using the main entrance off Masons Bend Dr. When dropping off your child(ren) please pull forward as far as you can in the drop off line (this will help keep the line moving quickly and we can unload more cars). Please follow the directions of all staff members on duty. ALL STUDENTS SHOULD EXIT FROM THE CURB-SIDE (RIGHT SIDE) OF THE VEHICLE. No students should arrive before 7:05 (when adult/safety patrol supervision begins) or after 7:35 AM. Students arriving after 7:35 A.M. should go directly to the office with an adult to sign them in and get a pass to the classroom. All students will enter through the main entrance. In an effort to make the car rider line as safe as possible, there will also be a staff member with a stop sign to allow pedestrians to cross at the crosswalk. Traffic is not stopped until the line is moved all the way forward, this allows for a more efficient unloading process. Please do not park and cross the crosswalk unless you need to visit the office. There will also be cones blocking half of the crosswalk, this will ensure one lane of traffic until after the crosswalk. Please do not exit the drop off lane until after the crosswalk.

We are pleased to continue welcoming parents into our cafeteria this year. Parent lunches will not begin until Tuesday, September 3rd. If your child has a birthday during the 1st few weeks of school, you will be permitted to visit prior to the Labor Day holiday. Please contact Becky Morris, morrisre@fortmillschools.org, if this applies to your child and you plan to attend lunch.

Due to security protocols and limited seating, parents and guardians may join their child during their lunch period up to four times per year, per child. Visitors coming for lunch should limit the number of adults to two per visit.

• Our front office will keep a record of parent visits for lunch.
• For safety reasons, parents visiting for lunch will only be allowed to visit the cafeteria.
• We ask that families work together on lunch passes. Due to the size of our school and the cafeteria capacity, we will not be able to make any exceptions to the four visit limit.
• Staff and Administration will not mediate between split families in regards to using passes. We are unable to limit specific visitors if they are on the approved contact/pickup list.
• At least one of the visitors each visit must be on the approved contact list (pickup list). If you would like to add someone to that list, please send an email to Angel Helms, helmsah@fortmillschools.org, the name of your child and the person(s) you would like to add.
• All visitors will be required to show a form of identification to visit lunch/visit our school.
• Students will not be allowed to have a friend sit with them when a parent is visiting for lunch.

Kindergarten Staggered Start

The state and school board approved a staggered start for our Kindergarten students. This has proven to be helpful in the past to allow students to get oriented to their new school and classroom with a small group of students. Teachers are also able to get to know students better and even administer some initial assessments. Students will attend based on their birth month. The entire class will be together starting on the14th. Your child's kindergarten teacher will share more information about drop off for the first week of school.

• January - March will attend on August 8th

• April - June on August 9th

• July - September on August 12th

• October - December on August 13th

• All students will begin attending on August 14th

Principal: Nicole Randolph

Assistant Principals: Matt Savage (1st, 3rd, 5th)

Ebony Kennedy (K, 2nd, 4th)

Instagram: @kingstownelementary

Email: randolphn@fortmillschools.org
Website: https://ktes.fortmillschools.org/
Location: 1774 Masons Bend Drive, Fort Mill, SC, USA
Phone: 803-396-3400