Dragon Newsletter

Ellerady Stein is the Dragon Student of the Month in grades 4-6. She is always respectful, following guidelines in the classroom and anywhere else in the school, and is a great example to others in the classroom and school. She consistently maintains a positive attitude in everything she does and is asked to do. Ellerady is responsible in everything in the classroom and everywhere she goes. She works well with others and encourages others to do their best. She so models the "Dragon Way" of safe, respectful, and responsible.

Please review these updates with your child. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Ms. Bussman

Extracurricular and Co-Curricular Participation: We believe in the importance of extracurricular and co-curricular activities for student development. Our students are student-athletes and are required to maintain passing grades. Eligibility is run weekly and starts on Wednesday and runs until the next Wednesday. Students and coaches are informed if a student is ineligible along with parents.

Dress Code: Clothing should not disrupt the educational process or present safety concerns. Please reference the handbook for more specific guidelines. Hats are only allowed on the last day of each week and the students are to pay a fee to wear their hat.

Further clarification on hats, hats are to be removed when students enter the building and taken to their lockers. They should not be in any class, on the student’s person or on their desk. They can’t be worn in the building except on the hat days when their fee has been paid.

Testing: NWEA testing is scheduled to begin October 7. We have a schedule for their Math, Science, Reading and Language tests.

The juniors will be taking the ASVAB test on October 16.

Activities:

For the Fall sports, we had 31 students participating in sporting activities in grades 5-12. Just a little over half of the 7-12 students are/were participating. This is so great to see.

Winter activities will be starting up soon and they include JH Girls’ Basketball, 9-12 Girls’ Basketball, 9-12 Boys’ Basketball, JH Boys’ Basketball, Speech, Dance and One Act Play. We are hoping to have high participation in the Winter activities as we did for the Fall. We have sign-up sheets in the office, so we know of your child’s intent to participate. Please note that your child must have an updated physical before they will be allowed to participate in any activity. If you child was in a fall activity, that physical is good for the entire year. Additionally, all 7-12 activities do have a participation fee of $45 per activity which needs to be paid for your child to participate.

JH Girls’ Basketball is having a parent informational meeting on Monday, October 14, 2024, at 6 PM at Turtle Lake-Mercer High School. Please attend if your daughter is participating.

The school board will continue to have us provide transportation to and from home events. We need you as parents to inform Ms. Bussman, 701-388-8302, by noon the day of the event if you will be driving your child home or if your child will be driving. This does need to be in writing, and we are in the process of updating our form for this. We don’t want to send a bus to pick up students to find that there is no one to pick up. Additionally, we need to know who is on the bus in case there is an accident. We of course don’t want that to happen. This is for the safety of your child.

Thank you for your ongoing support. Go Dragon and Cougar Pride! If you have questions, you can contact me via email: daulan.bussman@k12.nd.us, work 701-363-2470 or cell 701-388-8302.

Ms. Bussman

Principal/AD, McClusky-Goodrich High School

We are excited to roll out the House System at both the elementary and high school! This model allows students to work on House activities together to build relationships, foster school spirit, and engage learners in community and comradeship. The elementary school houses are Fire Dragons, Earth Dragons, Air Dragons, and Water Dragons. Each house is comprised of students in grades kindergarten through sixth grade. The high school houses are comprised of learners in grades 7-12 with four houses.

Each House will come together once a month to work on an activity directed by a team of teachers. Each activity will build on our expected student behaviors and the Dragon Way of being safe, respectful, and responsible. In December, elementary and high school houses will come together to foster relationships and mentorship with elementary and high school students. Our Leadership Team implemented the House System into our school district’s strategic plan to build and promote a positive school culture and environment for all learners and teachers.

MTSS stands for Multi-Tiered Support System and it is a framework that our school is using to support students in their academic, behavioral, and mental goals. This framework allows us to target specific deficits in all students’ academic and behavioral foundations. The MTSS committee worked closely with teachers and administration to come up with a plan to address some reading deficits in all our students. Because it is district-wide and the needs of both buildings are so different, the high school and elementary systems are slightly different.

Our first week of extra instruction started on Monday, September 23rd. In the high school students are provided extra instruction in their ELA, social studies and FACS, business or STEM/CS classes while students in the elementary receive extra instruction during FLEX-TIME in the afternoon. Although our curriculums are different for reading support the goal is the same – to support all students improve in reading. In the future we anticipate utilizing this same framework to support students in math as well. So ask your student when they get instruction in reading or what they do in Flex-time!

The McClusky-Goodrich PTO started the Dragon’s Den last year. What is the Dragon’s Den? The Dragon’s Den is a place where students can get gently-used clothing along with hygiene supplies such as shampoo/conditioner and toothpaste to name a few. If your child has a need, we are happy to bring them to the Dragon’s Den to “shop” and find what they are looking for.

Students can ask their teachers, counselors or administration to plan their trip. This is still an ongoing process, so we are still trying to work out the best way to give your child this opportunity.

If you have questions, please feel free to call and talk to Ms. Munro or Ms. Bussman.