Kelly Newsletter

As we head into the home stretch of the school year, our calendar continues to be full at Kelly School. North Dakota State Assessments are underway in grades three through five, we have wrapped up reading month with our Vocabulary Day Parade, and plans are being made for end of the year events.

CROSSWALKS: As we move into spring and more students will be eventually walking and biking to school, please remind you child(ren) to use the crosswalks at arrival and dismissal times. Cherry Street and our parking lots are very busy. As parents, please adhere to our traffic flow procedures and help us ensure your child's safety with us by talking with him/her about the importance of using the crosswalks before and after school.

2025-2026 Classroom Assignments: Drafts of class lists for the 2025-2026 school year will be compiled by teachers, specialists, and administration this spring and will be posted in August before school starts. We ask that parents refrain from making specific teacher requests as they often make it very difficult to create well-balanced classrooms. Our staff members know each student well and collectively consider his/her learning style, academic & social skills and behavior when making a classroom placement. Friendships are also taken into account as we create the lists. Thanks in advance for your cooperation and understanding. There is a quite a bit of time and effort that goes into forming classes and our students' best interests are always at the heart of our decisions. We are fortunate to have 4 sections of each grade level which is beneficial when taking all factors into consideration. Should you like to discuss placement considerations for your child, please contact Mrs. Schmidt or myself directly. Thank you.

PTO Support: Our teachers and administration are very thankful for all of the support we are shown by our PTO. The teacher allocations given to each certified staff member are incredibly helpful and each grade level appreciates the funding that is provided to support field trips. Our PTO shows tremendous support for our teachers, classrooms and the learning that takes place at Kelly School. As we head into the end of the year, we are in need of new microphones in the gym and along with the mics comes a need to update our current receiver. Please consider donating to our No Fundraising Fundraiser (QR code found on the PTO flyer included in this newsletter) to help with this expense. Our student council is going to use some of the money they have raised to support the purchase of the microphones and we are going to use some of the funds raised through our GIfts from the Heart raffle as well. With additional funding from the PTO, we can make the $5600 purchase happen. Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Kelli Tannahill

Wednesday, April 9th-1:30 Dismissal

Thursday, April 10th-Incoming Kindergarten Registration

Monday, April 14th-PTO Meeting at 5:30pm

Tuesday, April 15th-Popolino's Pizza Fundraiser Night

Tuesday, April 15th-Chorus Concert at 6:00pm

April 18th-21st-No School

Wednesday, April 23rd-RED Event at 8:30am

Tuesday, April 29th-2nd Grade Program at 6:00pm

Wednesday, April 30th-1:30 Dismissal

Tuesday, May 6th-Band/Orchestra Concert-Orchestra@6:30pm, Band@7:00pm

Tuesday, May 13th-5th Grade Track Meet

Wednesday, May 14th-1:30 Dismissal

Tuesday, May 20th-Popolino's Pizza Fundraiser Night

Monday, May 26th-No School

Thursday, May 29th-Last Day of School

Thursday, May 29th-Report Cards Emailed Home

On Thursday, April 10th from 3:30-5:30pm you and your child are invited to Kelly School for Kindergarten Registration. You will complete paperwork, meet the Kindergarten teachers, check out the Kelly Cougar Spirit Wear and get a tour of the school.

Please take a few minutes to complete our online Pre-Registration form using this link https://form.jotform.com/gfschools/KRegistration2025 or the QR Code on the flyer below. This will allow us to capture information so we can begin your student’s enrollment now and cut down your waiting time at school that day.

Children who will reach the age of five before August 1, 2025 are eligible to enter kindergarten.

Elementary Summer School Registration

Grand Forks Public Schools is excited to offer a variety of Elementary Summer Programming options during the month of June 2025.

Program Details:

• Dates: June 2, 2025 – June 20, 2025
• Time: 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
• Focus Areas: Reading Literacy and Math

Teachers will use the same instructional practices and curricular resources for Literacy and Math as during the school year. The program is designed to review and enrich content from the grade level your student just completed. This program is for current Kindergarten through 4th grade students. *Students who completed 5th grade would enroll in Middle School Summer School.* There is no fee for this program.

Host Schools:
The following schools will serve as host sites for this summer's programming:

• Phoenix Elementary (for students from Wilder, Winship, and Phoenix)
• Ben Franklin Elementary (for students from Lewis & Clark, Viking, and Ben Franklin)
• Century Elementary (for students from Lake Agassiz and Century)
• Discovery Elementary (for students from Kelly and Discovery)
• Twining Elementary (students from Twining Elementary)
• 
  

Registration Deadline:
Register with link HERE. The deadline to complete this registration is Friday, April 25, 2025.

• Summer School Registration will be open from February 1 - April 15th with registration link HERE

• Summer school (South, Schroeder, Twining) will be held June 2-27, 2025 with from 8:00-12:00 pm

• Valley RISE Program will be held June 2-July 3

• Open to incoming 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students

• English Language Arts (ELA) and Math

• Multilingual program at South Middle School and Valley Middle School

• Numbers will drive the locations and availability so register early!

• Any questions can be directed to Theresa Ostgarden at tostgarden220@mygfschools.org. Questions specifically to Valley RISE can be directed to Nick Pederson at npederson040@mygfschools.org.

• Once registered, you will be receiving an email the week of May 26-30 with more information

We are excited to offer Summer ENCORE Programming from June 2nd-June 20th , 2025.

Programming will be offered from 12:30pm-5:30pm. This program will be held at DISCOVERY Elementary for Kelly students, however site location could change based on enrollment.

Programming will consist of academic enrichment, sports and physical activities, games,

and STEM projects.

Click here to learn more, and register your child for this opportunity.

Registration will close Friday May 2nd , 2025 and enrollment confirmation will go out by

May 13th , 2025.

If you have updated contact information since the start of the school year, please let the office know. This includes phone numbers, emails, place of employment and emergency contacts. With the inclement weather season upon is, it is important that we have this information for possible school closings or late starts.

Grand Forks Public Schools believes that regular school attendance is the joint responsibility of the student and their parent(s)/guardians(s), and it is essential for student success in school.

The school system shall abide by compulsory attendance requirements in state law for students ages seven through sixteen. In order to comply with and enforce these requirements, the Grand Forks School Board establishes the following attendance policy:

Students shall be in attendance a minimum of 160 days per school year to be considered for grade promotion.

In order to ensure that a student has completed what has been determined to be sufficient for course work completion towards graduation, school work missed by the student during an absence shall be made up regardless of the reason for the absence.

Students in grades K-5 whose poor attendance has caused a notable deficiency in learning may be retained at their present grade level if such a course is advantageous to the student. This decision is made in accordance with the Retention Procedure.

Building administrators are granted the right to make exceptions to this minimum standard. For more information please visit: https://www.gfschools.org/link-2/resources/stay-in-school

Every month the Kelly Health Office decorates in support of different health observances. One of those observances for April is Month of the Military Children. Military children grades K-12 attend, on average, 6-9 different schools. This can have an impact on stress levels and mental health. During the month of April, the Health Office encourages students to wear purple in support of military children and to share about people in their lives who have served or are currently serving. To learn more about April Health Observances, stop by the Health Office and check out our informational posters!

End of the year reminders:

If your student has a daily or as needed medication stored at school, it must be picked up by 05/29/2025. If it is not picked up by 330 PM on 05/29/2025, it will be disposed of. Please reach out to the school nurse for any medication questions.

Summer break is a great time to verify that your student is up to date on immunizations. If your student is not up to date, or does not have an exemption filed, by 10/01/2026 they become eligible for exclusion due to immunization status.

Students with Asthma, Anaphylactic Allergies, Seizures, Diabetes, and other chronic health conditions are required to update their paperwork annually. Please utilize summer break to get into their doctor and have updated paperwork ready to go for the first day of school.