100% Student Success!

Curlew Creek Elementary will achieve this by being responsive to the academic, emotional, social, and individual needs of each child. Our goal is to develop critical thinkers and problem solvers who are prepared to be responsible, confident, and productive members of a diverse society.

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Dear Coyote Families,

Each month you will receive a link to the Coyote Principal Message on this SMORE platform. It will be sent to you via a School Messenger email. It will also be posted on our school website under Principal's Message. In addition, you will receive School Messenger calls, emails, or text messages with upcoming reminders.

To receive these important messages please make certain you have your updated contact information (phone number and email) in the FOCUS Parent Portal. If you need help accessing and updating your FOCUS account, call our school office for assistance, 727.724.1423.

Stay tuned to our school marquee, our school website, and our PTA Facebook page to keep updated with school happenings throughout the year.

I look forward to seeing you soon at Meet My Teacher on Friday, August 9th and at our first day of school on Monday, August 12th.

With warmest regards,

Kathy Brickley, Principal

Greetings Coyote Families,

On behalf of the Curlew Creek Elementary faculty, staff, and PTA, I welcome you to the 2024-2025 school year where “It’s Great to Be a Coyote!” The start of the new school year is quickly approaching, and the excitement is building up. I cannot wait to see you all on campus very soon!

The beginning of a new school year is a memorable time for the entire family. To help you get ready for the new school year, this message includes a lot of useful information about upcoming events and some general reminders for a strong start of a new school year. Please take a few minutes to review it all and do give us a call during school business hours, should you have any questions.

We are excited to partner with you in your child's education as together we grow our Coyotes! Our Curlew Creek staff is looking forward to seeing our Coyotes scholars and getting to know our new Coyote families. I wish everyone a great start to the new year!

Sincerely,

Principal Brickley

Andres Garcia - School Safety Officer (SSO)

Kellye Copri - Kindergarten Teacher

Rosalie Knudson - Grade 2 Teacher

Sara Vinca - Grade 2 Teacher

Summer McParland - Grade 2 Long Term Substitute for Mrs. Kling

Charlie Tsai – Music itinerant teacher

Cheryl Forehand – Vision Therapist

Jordan Williams - P.E. Assistant

Andrew Gonzalez - Plant Operator

Tyler Maly -CDA

Persefoni Rafti - Food Services team

8/8

Check Parent Portal for teacher assignment

8/9

Meet Your Teacher

• 12:30-1:15 Grades 3, 4, 5
• 1:15-2:00 Grades K, 1, 2
• 2:00—2:45 PreK, VPK, ESE Access Points

8/12

• Welcome Coyote Scholars! Student First Day! Students enter at 8AM today.
• All students - parents may walk students to class today
• PTA Coffee & Klennex - front courtyard, 8:15AM (all parents invited)

8/13

• Day 2 - students enter at 8:15
• PK, K, & Access Points only - parents may walk students to class

8/21

OPEN HOUSE:

• 4:45-5:45 PM – Grade 5 (Media Center)
• 5:00-6:00 PM – Grades, 2, 3, 4
• 6:15-7:15 PM – Grades PreK, VPK, Kindergarten, 1, ESE Access Points

8/23

• Fall Picture Day - SMILE!
• Night at the Ballpark -Thresher's Baseball Night (hosted by PTA & our PE Department)

8/27

5-9 PM School Spirit Night - Marco's Pizza

8/30

School Advisory Council (SAC) Meeting, 7:30-8:30AM, Media Center

9/02: Labor Day - School Closed

9/10: Grandparent's Day Breakfast, 7AM

9/13: Parent Lunch Bunch, Grades K, 3, 5

9/17: PTA General Meeting/Math Family Night with Mathnasium, 5:45PM

9/20: All Pro Dad's, 7:30-8:15AM

9/23: No School for Students; Teacher Training Day

9/24: Sonny's Give Back Spirit Day (all day)

9/27: Parent Lunch Bunch, Grades 1, 2, 4

• Monday is Motivational Monday – wear kind or inspiring words
• Wednesday is Workout Wellness Wednesday – wear workout clothes
• Thursday is College Day – wear your favorite college shirt
• Friday is School Spirit Day – Deck out in your favorite Coyote gear!

• A shout out to our school community for your part in maintaining our school performance status! We ended the 2023-24 school year again outperforming the district and state in ELA, Mathematics, and Science, being designated an "A" school, and ranking 10th amongst Pinellas County Schools elementary schools. Well done! Let's continue this trend during the 2024-25 school year as we work together to grow our scholars. You can see your scholar's performance scores in your Focus parent portal under the testing tab.

• Our team has worked diligently all summer to ensure that our Coyotes return to a safe, clean, and beautiful campus! A huge SHOUT OUT and many thanks to our plant operations team for their hard work all summer deep cleaning our facilities and completing repairs and upgrades.

• Our front office gals are the BEST! They came into school weeks early to help get school ready, help with registrations, and answer your questions.

• A SHOUT OUT to our PTA board for all the work they did during the summer! They attended the state PTA conference, had planning meetings, organized committees, and scheduled exciting events to make this a spectacular school year.

• You may think teachers and staff are off all summer lounging around, but in reality, many use this time to recharge, re-energize, and participate in a lot of professional development to grow their practice and prepare for the upcoming school year! A number of our teachers and staff also taught Summer Bridge or ESY. A SHOUT OUT to our teachers and staff!

Pinellas County Schools has compiled Back-to-School forms in one convenient place - online.

Use your parent ID and password to log into Focus and complete your Back-to-School Forms packet. Families will be prompted to fill out forms as soon as they log into Focus.

Please note: You must be linked to your child to use the new Focus forms.

You will be prompted to fill out the forms when you log into Focus.

Forms are also available at www.pcsb.org/backtoschoolforms.

Please note: Parents must be linked to their students to use the new Focus forms.

If you have questions about the forms or your login information, please contact our school.

If you need technical support, contact the PCS Help Desk at 727-588-6060.

Class assignments will be posted in the FOCUS Parent Portal on Thursday, August 8th. We will not be posting class lists for public viewing.

Staff members will be available to assist you with locating classes during our Meet Your Teacher

event and on the first day of school.

We are not taking class change requests. Class assignments are subject to change in order to keep classes balanced. This could occur anytime between now and following the district ten-day count.

• 12:30-1:15 Grades 3, 4, 5
• 1:15-2:00 Grades K, 1, 2
• 2:00-2:45 Grades PreK3, VPK, & ESE Access Point (AP) classes

Things to do at Meet Your Teacher:

1. Take selfies at our Photo Op Balloon Arch.

2. If you have medication to bring to school, Nurse Carol will be available. If you can’t make it to Meet Your Teacher, please schedule an appointment with her, preferably prior to our first day with students.

3. Remember to visit our PTA tables in the Library to purchase your school SPIRIT WEAR sign up for PTA membership, sign up for PTA volunteer opportunities/committees.

4. Feel free to bring your child’s supplies in a labeled bag to Meet Your Teacher. Ensure each item is labeled with your child’s name. Our School Supply list is located on our school website and PTA FB page and is attached below.

The first day of school for students is Monday, August 12th. School doors open at 8:00 AM on this day only. If you arrive before that, please wait with your child in your car until supervising staff are present. Please have a name tag on your PreK, Kindergarten, Access Point, and 1st grade student. Include the teacher's name if you know it. You may also choose to have your grade 2-5 students wear a name tag.

We recognize the first day of school is extra special, and we have made special arrangements for you. You will be permitted to walk your children to class the first day of school. On the second day of school doors will open at 8:15 and you may walk your PreK, kindergarten, and ESE Access Point students to class. We will have supervising staff available to assist students with getting to breakfast and to class.

PTA will be hosting our annual first day parent social, this year called Coffee & Klennex!

After you walk your child to class join us in the front courtyard for coffee, a light refreshment, and a smile! There will be plenty of tissues to go around!

Please follow our designated signage. Safety is always our number 1 priority. Thank you in advance for modeling safe walking and driving practices for our children. While the first days may seem like a long drop off and pick up process, I assure you it will become more efficient as everyone learns and follows our procedures.

Cars are not to enter the BUS LOOP.

Only families of our PreK and our ESE Access Point students should park or drive thru the car loop in the small parking lot. PreK and Access Point students will drop off and pick up students in this designated car loop. Pick up older siblings afterwards in the regular car circle at their designated dismissal time (below). Thank you for following our guidelines for the safety of our PreK and Access Point students.

Grade K-5 students should be dropped off/picked up in the main car circle. Cars should pull up to the numbered posts, starting at number 1. Have your child's name hanging in your front window. Students will be called to their car by number.

Parents picking up walkers should wait in the front courtyard and keep the front door area clear for students to exit. The blue benches in the car circle are for students waiting to be picked up, not for families. Again, families should wait in the courtyard and are welcome to sit in the green benches under the shade trees.

For those using our neighborhood gate located in the bus circle, we must implement changes based on HB1473 addressing school safety and security. In order to continue use of this gate we must have supervision at the gate and will be limiting the open times to:

8:15-8:40 AM
2:55-3:10 PM

Outside of these times you will need to make other arrangements.

DAILY DISMISSAL:

· 2:35 PreK & Access Points

· 2:45 Kindergarten

· 2:50 Gr. 1 & 2

· 2:55 Gr. 3, 4, 5

CROSSWALKS: Children should always be with an adult, and never on their own when walking in the parking lot. Use the designated crosswalks.

BUS CIRCLE: The Bus Circle is a Buses Only Zone!

CAR CIRCLE: Parking and leaving your vehicle in the Car Circle Line is not permitted.

TARDY: Students arriving late must be escorted to the office and signed in by an adult.

SIGN-OUTS: Early sign-outs are highly discouraged due to missing instruction/learning, but if it is an urgent matter, please do so by 2:30 pm.

BUS: Families of bus riders should sign up for the Bus Bulletin (https://busbulletin.com/PARENTS/) to receive alerts of delay and or any updates.

ABSENCES: It is the responsibility of parents and caregivers to report their child's absence along with the reason for absence by calling the school office (727.724.1423) or reporting on our webpage (upper right corner, report student absence icon).

August 21

• 4:45-5:45 PM – Grade 5 (Media Center)
• 5:00-6:00 PM – Grades, 2, 3, 4
• 6:15-7:15 PM – Grades PreK, VPK, Kindergarten, 1, Access Points

Visit the Media Center

• Art, Music, PE, Library Media Specialist
• PTA
• Community Partners

• School Breakfast and lunch are free.
• You may put money on your child’s meal account at www.myschoolbucks.com for snacks, drinks, and ala carte items.
• The application for free and reduced-price meals can be found at www.myschoolapps.com. Although we are a free meal site, it is advantageous to complete this application to qualify for other benefits.
• Your online application is much more than just a meal application. Meal applications provide funding for technology, discounted testing and college application fees, free clothing for students and more. To get started, apply beginning August 5, 2024, at myschoolapps.com.

Please see the below one-page summary of our School Improvement Plan. Teachers and staff will use this to guide their instructional and professional goals and work throughout the school year. Feel free to leave feedback on our school webpage where you may also view our full School Improvement Plan.

I would like to invite our Coyote families, community members, and business partners, to join our School Advisory Council (SAC). This is a team of individuals from various segments of the community—parents, teachers, students, administrators, support staff, business/industry people and other interested community members. The purpose of the SAC is to assist the principal in developing and evaluating the results of the school improvement plan and its budget. We meet quarterly from 7:30-8:30AM: 9/13, 11/8, 2/14, 4/11. Interested? Please complete the below form...

2024-25 PCS Policy for Elementary School Students:

Elementary school students must keep wireless communications devices in the "off" position throughout the instructional school day and while participating in a school-sponsored activity on or off campus. Students are permitted to use their wireless communications device after the end of the instructional school day, if needed to communicate with parents regarding coordination of transportation.

SMARTWATCHES

The district recognizes that some parents will provide their student with smartwatches for safety reasons, emergency communication purposes or location tracking. All of the rules applicable to wireless communications devices apply to smartwatches; however, student may wear smartwatches only in silent mode during the instructional day so there will not be disruption to the classroom, a smartwatch may not be worn during district and state assessments.

Responsibility/Liability

Any student who chooses to bring a wireless communications device to school shall do so at their own risk and shall be personally responsible for the security of their wireless communications device(s).

The School Board is not responsible for preventing theft, loss, damage or vandalism to wireless devices brought onto school property, or left on school-sponsored transportation, including any wireless communications device(s) confiscated due to inappropriate use.

MOVING?

If you are moving to a new school or out of district please contact Mrs. Wheeldon, our school DMT, at 727-724-1423 Ext. 2007 or wheeldont@pcsb.org.

PARENT COMUNICATION GUIDELINES

Communication is important and we value what you have to say, however keep in mind that Meet Your Teacher, Open House, and the first day of school are not the time to have a one-on-one discussion with your child's teacher. Please schedule an appointment with the teacher.

Watch for your teachers Welcome Letter which will convey the best time and form of communication to reach them. Teachers will respond to parent communication within 24-48 hours. We also use Student Daily Planners for two-way communication.

SAC

If you are interested in being a School Advisory Council member for the 2024-2025 school year, please complete and submit the SAC Membership form, which is located in the school office and on our school website. It is also attached in the SAC section above.

STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT

See the blue bar at the bottom of this newsletter to link to the 2024-25 PCS Code of Student Conduct.

STUDENT INFORMATION

Parents can visit Focus to update their contact information, emergency contacts, clinic card and children’s medical records. More information is available at www.pcsb.org/contactinfo.

PARENT HANDBOOK

Our Curlew Creek Parent Handbook explains our school processes in depth. It is located in your child's planner/agenda. There have been some updates so please reference the version on our school website. It is also attached below.

PTA

You are the "P" in PTA: You can join online now through the PTA Givebacks portal. Individual membership dues are $10. Scan the QR code below.

What is Character Education?

It is the process of learning common attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that are important for people to have as responsible citizens. Character education is the intentional effort to develop in young people core ethical and performance traits that are widely affirmed across all cultures.

Commitment to Character is the school district model for character education. We focus on a core character trait each month to support a positive school culture. To be effective, character education should include all stakeholders in a school community and permeate school climate, culture, teaching, and learning. The trait of the month will be shared with families for you to support with your child(ren) at home and in the community. See the poster below for a list of character traits for the school year.

Did you know our school is registered with Box Tops for Education?!

This is an EASY way to help our school earn extra money. It’s as easy as scanning your grocery receipts. The app identifies the items that qualify and our Coyotes get a cut.

Download the app, select Curlew Creek Elem and start scanning your grocery/shopping receipts! You select which grade you want to give credit to.

Which grade will come out on top at the end of the year?

Here is a link to register & start earning free money for our school:

https://btfe.smart.link/c2jjdifkw?referral_code=MYY11JLM

PTA Website: https://www.curlewcreek.org/

Email: brickleyk@pcsb.org
Website: https://www.pcsb.org/curlew-es
Location: 3030 Curlew Road, Palm Harbor, FL, 34684
Phone: 727-724-1423
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/curlewcreek.pta/