Sanders Memorial Stallion News

Dear Families,

As we wrap up the first four weeks of the 2024-2025 school year, I wanted to take a moment to share some wonderful updates with you. Our school culture is truly amazing, and I am thrilled to see how well the students are adhering to our rules and guidelines.

Be Safe, Be Kind, Be Respectful, and Be Responsible – these core values are being embraced by our students, and it is heartwarming to witness. I kindly ask that you continue to go over these rules with your children at home to reinforce their importance.

There is a genuine sense of community being established, and it is clear that we are off to a fantastic start. Let’s keep this momentum going as we move into Week 5 and beyond.

I also want to emphasize the importance of open communication with our teachers. Maintaining a strong partnership between home and school is crucial for your child’s success. Please do not hesitate to reach out to your child’s teacher with any questions, concerns, or updates. Together, we can ensure that every student has the support they need to thrive. Please give teacher’s a 24 hour window to respond to non-emergency requests.

Additionally, we have successfully wrapped up our house assignments, and everyone should be a part of a house( hopefully GREEN) by the end of this week. This initiative is a wonderful way to build camaraderie and school spirit among our students.

Thank you for your continued support and partnership in making our school a wonderful place for our children to learn and grow. We have started our Fall Testing Window and here it is Testing Schedules

Happy Week 4! Can’t wait for Week 5!

Warm regards,

Mr. Petry and Mrs. Hedgspeth

Our new Stallions were inducted on Tuesday, 9/3. Each new student spun the wheel that determined if they are in Green House (Courageous), Black House (Giver), Red House (Friendship), or Blue House (Dreamer). Each house is an integral part of our Stallion Family. #4houses1family

Our Scholastic Book Fair will be from 9/16-9/20. Students will be able to shop the book fair during school hours. Their classes will visit based on the schedule linked. To make things run as smoothly as possible, be sure to sign up for class e-wallet. You can load the amount you wish your child to spend and they can shop with that amount without having to worry about cash or change!

Scholastic Class Ewallet

We want to encourage all of our Stallions to be logging their reading minutes in the Beanstack App! There will all sorts of reading challenges along the way. One of the biggest challenge is across all Pasco County Schools. Our school wide goal is to reach 1,000,000 minutes by the end of the year! We are already at 8,644 minutes! We will be updating you weekly on where we stand on our minutes!

MyStudent Emergency Contact Information

Please make sure to log into MyStudent and update and acknowledge your contact information. This is essential so that we can get a hold of families and ensure you are receiving our communications weekly.

Signing Students out Early

We are requesting that students who need to be signed out early for the day, be signed out by 2:45 p.m. at the latest. after that point, they will not be called up to the office until they have arrived in their designated dismissal room. Unfortunately, we are not able to call students down to the office before parents arrive, as safety is our priority and ID's are required.

Carline Reminders

NO CELL PHONES IN THE CAR LINE!! Please put vehicles in "PARK" while children are loading and unloading. All children must remain in their seats while their vehicles are in motion for loading and unloading. For the purpose of safety, children cannot hang out of windows and sunroofs while cars are in motion.

Transportation Dismissal Changes: VERY IMPORTANT

Any changes in mode of transportation home must be entered in to the Transportation Change Request form on our SMES website by 2:45 p.m. EACH DAY to ensure a safe and smooth dismissal for all students.

Attendance Calls Reminder

Starting from the first day of school, we are enhancing our communication regarding your child's attendance. Keeping parents informed about their child’s attendance is vital for the safety and security of all students.

• Elementary School: If your child is absent, you will receive a notification (phone call and email) one hour after the start of school. Since school starts at 9:20, you will receive a call by 10:20.

Parent Bill of Rights:

Parents, please ensure that you have completed all the Parent Bill of Rights information in your myStudent parent portal. These forms must be completed yearly.

Volunteer updates:

Volunteers (NEW REQUIREMENT): Sanders welcomes volunteers! Effective August 1, 2024, and every five years after, volunteers will need to pay a fee, currently $41.25 for a Level 2 Fingerprinting and Background Screening that will be monitored. Please visit the district volunteer website at https://www.pasco.k12.fl.us/hreq/page/volunteer to apply to be a volunteer. Volunteering includes any time an individual is around students other than their own. For example, all parents wanting to chaperone a school field trip must be fingerprinted. Due to liability, younger children are not allowed to accompany.

9/9 Spirit Night at Whit's Frozen Custard @ 4-9pm

9/9- 9/13 Newsies Auditions @ 7:45am

9/16-9/19 Scholastic Book Fair

9/17 Fall Pictures

9/19 Open House 5-7pm

• K/1 5:00-5:30pm
• 2nd/3rd 5:45-6:15pm
• 4th/5th 6:30-7:00pm

9/20 All Pro Dad in cafeteria RSVP required

9/26 SMES Library Grand Re-opening

ll students will be able to receive breakfast and lunch from the cafeteria free of charge. To help expedite the breakfast and lunch lines, as well as, to ensure your student wants the lunch of the day, please view the Sanders Meal Calendar for breakfast and lunch options.

Lunch with your child: Parents are welcome to have lunch with their child by making a reservation at 813-794-1500 ahead of time to check for availability. Lunch reservations are only for the current month and are only available Tuesday-Friday.

Parents must sign in, with an ID at the office to receive a visitor badge. To ensure the safety and supervision of all children, parents may only have lunch with their child(ren). We ask that you limit your visit to once a month. Lunchtime is one of the few times of the day where children can socialize with their classmates.

Sanders Meal Calendar

Pasco County Schools Calendar

Pasco County Student Code of Conduct

Student Quick Pay

School Spirit Shirts, School Fees, Field Trips, ID Badges, Car Tags

Houses:

🔴House of Friendship – Red Wolf

🔵House of Dreamers – Bobcat

🟢House of Courage – Alligator

⚫House of Givers – Rattlesnake

This Houses system will encourage “House” building and bonding between students in all grade levels. It will continue SMES’s path of positive culture and relationships with students and staff.

House Points: Throughout the year the houses will compete against each other in competitions and events to accumulate House points. Individual students can also continue to accumulate points for their House by demonstrating Stallion expectations and beyond.

Spin Tickets: Students can earn spin tickets from house leaders, and other random staff members. If a student earns a spin ticket, they will get to spin the wheel on Spinning Days.

House Champion: At the end of the year, the House with the most points wins the House Championship and all of the honor and glory that comes with it!