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I am so excited to send the first Nieman News for the 2024-2025 school year. For our new families, welcome! For our returning families, welcome back!

The Nieman News is a bi-weekly newsletter that will contain school updates, happenings and announcements, as well as any important district information. Once the school year begins the newsletter will come out every other week, until then we will have our back to school edition that will be updated regularly with important time sensitive information.

This year our school theme is Shoot for the Stars, and we are ready to welcome back all of our amazing student stars come August! Please take a moment to read through the information below and make sure you have all the information to get this year started smoothly for your kiddo(s).

Let's get ready to Shoot for the Stars ⭐️

See you soon!

Principal Tenbrink

JULY

Wednesday 24th- Office Opens at 1pm and will be open until 4pm

Thursday 25th- Regular office hours begin 7:30-4pm closed for lunch from

AUGUST

Friday 9th: Skyward Information Updated for students for the 24-25 school year- including class placement.

Monday 12th: Sneak-a-Peek 4-6pm

Tuesday 13th:

• 1st Day 1st-6th grade.
• Early Dismissal at 12:30pm
• PreK & Kindergarten Conferences- conference sign up below

Wednesday 14th:

• Full Day Grades 1-6
• PreK & Kindergarten Conferences- conference sign up below

Thursday 15th:

• First day PreK and Kindergarten

We are excited to welcome out 1st through 6th grade students back for their first day of school on Tuesday, August 13th. This is an early release day, we will begin dismissal at 12:30pm. See information below for how arrival and dismissal work.

PreK and Kindergarten: The first day of school is Thursday, August 15th. This is a full day of school. PreK and Kindergarten conferences are on Tuesday, August 13th and Wednesday, August 14th- more information coming soon!

Please sign up for a conference with the Nieman Kindergarten teachers by clicking the link below. This is where you will bring in supplies, fill out some paperwork, ask questions, and get important information regarding kindergarten prior to the first day!

We do a kindergarten camp the first two days of kindergarten, so classroom teachers will not be assigned until after school on Friday, August 16th. With this, we are offering 4 group sessions where you can meet all three of the kindergarten teachers, or you can sign up for an individual conference with one of the kindergarten teachers

(Note: This teacher is not guaranteed to be your child’s teacher.)

We will also have Spanish translation during 2 of our group sessions and for individual sessions. Please indicate if you need a Spanish translator.

SIGN UP HERE

PreK Conferences will be held on August 13th and 14th, please sign up for a 20 minute slot using the link below. If you complete the ASQ-SE and ASQ-3 ahead of time it will only be 20 minutes. If you do not fill out the ASQ-SE and ASQ-3, you will need to complete at school. Please bring your child with you and their school supplies if you did not bring them to back to school night. If you are unable to make it to one of these sessions, I am happy to schedule a time to meet with you in the evening, please email me. If you have questions, please reach out! I look forward to meeting with each one of you.

Thank you, Ms. Amber!

SIGN UP HERE

Dear Shawnee Mission School District Families,

We hope you are enjoying your summer!

It is time to prepare for the next school year. Back-to-School forms for the 2024-2025 school year (Online Verification Forms) are now online, and need to be reviewed and signed with an electronic signature. The procedure is streamlined for your convenience.

Steps to fill out forms:

• Visit smsd.org
• In the top navigation bar, click on “Skyward” and log in to your account.

If you do not have a Family Access account, you may contact your child’s school office starting on July 24, 2024 to inquire about setting up account access. The guardian designated as Family 1 for a student within the Skyward system has the editing rights to complete the forms.

• Under “Home” you will see “2024-2025 RETURNING Student Annual Online Verification.”

There will be directions that walk you through the entire process.

The process includes permission forms, a health history review, and a medication permission form. For middle and high school students, there is also an athletic packet. Please complete verification forms as soon as possible. It is a mandatory step necessary for student materials checkout. Students cannot be assigned a computer/device until forms are complete.

Families are encouraged to complete an application for meal benefits – free or reduced priced meals – as part of Online Verification. The link to the Child Nutrition Program Meal Benefit Application is available on Skyward or the online application is on School Cafe. Families do need to create a School Cafe account if they do not already have one - additional information is located on the SMSD Food Service Free and Reduced web page. Contact the Food Service office by calling 913-993-9710 or emailing foodservice@smsd.org for questions on the meal benefit application.

Potential Benefits of Filling out the Application

Families whose meal benefit application is approved for meal benefits can receive a breakfast and lunch at the free or reduced price – depending on their qualifying benefit.

Families who complete an application and qualify also generate additional state funds for our schools.

Families who qualify for child nutrition meal benefits may also receive additional benefits such as free/reduced instructional resource fees, transportation fees, and Pre-Kindergarten enrollment.

Consent for Disclosure and Eligibility

Families are encouraged to complete a Consent for Disclosure form which gives SMSD Food Service permission to share a child’s eligibility status information with the programs families designate on the consent form. This form can be found on the SMSD Food Service Free and Reduced web page.

For families who are receiving certain types of state assistance, a meal benefit application may not be necessary. If a family is directly certified for meal benefits due to state assistance, an email notification of eligibility was sent recently to the email in Skyward. Notifications are also saved in School Cafe under eligibility benefits for parents to access as needed. If you receive state assistance and have not received a notification of eligibility, contact the SMSD Food Service office before completing a meal program application.

All families, including those who are directly certified are encouraged to complete a Consent for Disclosure found on the SMSD Food Service Free and Reduced web page. Completing the Consent for Disclosure gives SMSD Food Service permission to share a child’s eligibility status information with the programs families designate on the consent form.

If you complete this application and are approved for Free or Reduced meals, please forward your acceptance to MelisaTVick@smsd.org in order to have your Student Fees reduced or waived.

Student Instructional Resource fees have been assessed in Skyward for the 2024-25 school year. Fees can be paid online through eFunds (a $3 processing fee will be charged) or in the office by cash/check/optional credit card.

Free/Reduced Waiver

Parents are advised to complete their Free/Reduced application in SchoolCafe and their Consent for Disclosure form in Skyward’s Online Verification. It could take 2 weeks or more to process the application, consent form and reduce fees, so please have them completed as soon as possible. If approved for free/reduced meals please send your approval letter to MelisaTVick@smsd.org so she may adjust/remove the activity fee.

If you need assistance with school supplies please email perlapenazayas@smsd.org with your children's name(s) and upcoming grade level. We have resources available to help with gathering supplies for students.

Breakfast starts at 7:40am- only breakfast students may enter at this time.

7:50am doors open for all other students to enter into the gym.

8:00am front doors open and students can go straight to their rooms.

8:10am front doors closed all students arriving after this time are tardy.

Students are released at 3:10pm

Early release is 12:30pm

Student safety is of the upmost importance to us. Please know that frequent changes in dismissal routines causes safety concerns. We ask that you have a regular dismissal routine and communicate this with the classroom teacher at Sneak-a-Peek or through email prior to the first day of school.

If a change has to occur the safest way to ensure the change is communicated is to email the classroom teacher BEFORE school starts and then ALSO call the office BEFORE 2pm. Teachers have different plan times and lunches, and they are not regularly able to read email. Any dismissal change received after 2pm is NOT GUARANTEED. We will do our best, but the end of the day is a very hectic time in a school. We appreciate your cooperation in ensuring the safety of your child.

Students have 10 excused absences a year that do not require documentation. If your child will be out due to a doctor's appointment, surgery, funeral, etc. please be proactive and provide the doctor's note or appropriate documentation for the absence and not wait until day 10. With appropriate documentation we are able to excuse more absences. Once your child's 10 "free" days are used all absences afterwards where documentation is not provided is considered unexcused.

Excessive unexcused absences will lead to Truancy being filed with the District Attorney. Please know that we are required by the state to do this and the information provided here and any information sent out from our office is not meant to be seen as a threat; we are simply trying to communicate regularly so there are no surprises. We will send excessive tardy emails, 7 day attendance warning letters, 10 day attendance warning letters and truancy letters all via email. Please ensure you have a valid email on Skyward and that you check it regularly.

We worked EXTREMELY hard last year to decrease our chronic absenteeism numbers at Nieman and we were very successful! Chronic absenteeism is defined as a student missing 10% of their educational time. We went from 24% of students being chronically absent during the 22-23 school year to 13.8% being chronically absent during the 23-24 school year. We will continue to prioritize lowering this percentage for our families and are so thankful for your help in this!

Please see below for some frequently brought up Nieman student expectations:

Toys- All student toys should be left at home and not brought to school. The only time this would be an exception is if a class earned a reward, then communication would come from the teacher. If this becomes a regular problem the toy(s) will be brought to the office for parents to come and pick up.

Fidgets- Fidgets are great tools used to calm and deescalate students. So long as the fidget is being used in the following ways it will be allowed:

• As a tool and not a toy- for it's expected purpose of calming
• Silently (many fidgets can be disruptive to the learning environment so please ensure your child is capable of using their fidget silently before sending it in).
• It will stay in the classroom and not travel to other locations in the school.
• Must be smaller than a student's hand.

Phones- See the district policy from the Student Handbook below. Phones may be brought on to school property. Once the student enters the school their phone should be turned off and kept in their backpack during school hours.

• With permission from the teacher a student may get their phone out to call parents. This is only common towards the end of the day if checking on dismissal or an after school activity.
• Personal phone use may start once students are off school property.
• If a students phone becomes a concern the first contact will come from the classroom teacher. After that contact, if the phone is still a concern, then administration will contact the family and a guardian will need to come up to the school to get the phone.

Birthday Treats- Non-Food Only:

• We are a non-food birthday treat school. See here for all of the details https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NAe29jPwulzQVhyE6XIfLemqOuXZerzc/view

Our Shawnee Mission Student Handbook provides information on our philosophy of education, code of conduct and a of variety policies and procedures. Students and parents can read this handbook to better understand the behavior expectations of Nieman Elementary and also the Shawnee Mission School District.

Click Link to learn more!

My Volunteer Pal (MVP) Program is a volunteer program for all Shawnee Mission Schools.

Who Needs to Be MVP Trained?

• When a volunteer is solely/directly responsible for the supervision of a student or students (other than their individual child/children), he/she must complete MVP training and an online background check.
• Solely/directly responsible means that the volunteer will be in a position to supervise students without a teacher or staff person present.
• Parents/guardians can still attend meetings, come to school events, help in the office, help with book fairs, carnivals, and field days without MVP training because they are not solely and directly responsible for other students.

Nieman will be holding two sessions to start off the school year:

• Monday, 08/19 at 8:30am
• Monday, 08/26 at 6pm.
• There is also a district one being offered on Wednesday, 08/14 at 4:30pm in the Center for the Academic and Achievement Board Room (8200 W 71st Street, 66204)

You do not have to train at the specific school you would like to volunteer at. If you are unable to attend these two dates, feel free to look on the district website for other locations and dates. https://www.smsd.org/families/volunteer-mvp

Once you are trained, you do not need to renew for another 5 years.

Contact Ms. Kwon, annekwon@smsd.org to check on your MVP status.

Getting students back in the classroom impacts all communities, and it’s up to us to ensure students are set up for success. That’s why NAMI has created Back to School resources for a variety of community members. See the attachment below!

Digital Learning Website: This webpage will provide information on our SMSD District-Wide Digital Platforms, Curriculum Apps, Approved Apps, Information for Families, and Digital Citizenship.

Email: kileytenbrink@smsd.org
Website: https://nieman.smsd.org/
Location: Nieman Elementary School, West 67th Street, Shawnee, KS, USA
Phone: 913-993-4000
Twitter: @Tenbrink512

Email: MelisaTVick@smsd.org
Phone: 913-993-4009

Email: annekwon@smsd.org
Phone: 913-993-4031