Knightly News

Monday: A great day at KTES!

Tuesday: A great day at KTES!

Wednesday: A great day at KTES!

Thursday: PTO Spirit Knight @ McDonalds 4-8pm

Friday: Fort Mill High School Football Player and Cheerleader Morning Greeters!

Early Release Day - Dismissal @ 12pm

9/2 - No School - Labor Day

9/6 - PTO General Meeting @ 9:15 in Cafeteria

Our first early release day of the year is on Friday! Dismissal will begin at 12:00 on these days. Due to the abbreviated day, schedules are changed however all students will still eat lunch, go to recess, have related arts and participate in class.

• Every absence requires a written excuse signed by a parent/guardian, or the medical professional who treated the child. An email to the teacher and attendance clerk (or filling out the online absence reporting form Click to Report an Absence is also sufficient.

• The maximum number of days that will be recorded as LAWFUL absences with parent notes for illnesses that do not require medical care will be 5 per SCHOOL YEAR.

• Children will be LAWFULLY absent when:

• They are ill and provide a written medical excuse from a medical professional.

• There is a death or serious illness in their immediate family-with proper documentation (bulletin, death notice, obituary).

• There is a recognized religious holiday of their faith and it has been pre-approved by the school principal.

• They are participating in sanctioned school activities.

• The student is suspended from school.

• There is a necessary legal or medical appointment that cannot be scheduled during non-school hours.

• Children will be considered UNLAWFULLY absent when:

• They have exceeded 5 days for illness with a parent note.

• A student is absent without acceptable cause with or without the knowledge of their parents.

• They are out of town for trips or vacations.

TRUANCY: After THREE CONSECUTIVE or FIVE total UNLAWFUL ABSENCES are accrued, South Carolina State Law R 43-274 identifies a child (between the ages of 6 and 17) as TRUANT.

• Tardy Arrival/Early Dismissal

• When you sign your child in Tardy or Dismiss Early and choose “doctor/dentist” as the reason on the computer, the minutes your child misses are only excused when a medical note is provided upon the child’s return from school.

• These will be counted as absences if a student misses more than 50% of the instructional day, however, they will be a LAWFUL medical excuse with a note.

Students should be in their seats at 7:35 am ready to begin the day. Missed minutes MATTER.

FMSD Attendance Policy. For questions regarding your student’s attendance record, please contact KTES. For questions about the FMSD attendance policy or State of SC Attendance Laws, please contact the District Office.

Angel Helms

KTES PowerSchool Data Manager Attendance/Registrar

helmsah@fortmillschools.org

803-396-3404

Meghan Gray

District Attendance and Residency Interventionist

graym@fortmillschools.org

803-548-8178

Parent lunches will begin on Tuesday, September 3rd. If your child has a birthday during the 1st few weeks of school, you will be permitted to visit prior to the Labor Day holiday. Please contact Becky Morris, morrisre@fortmillschools.org, if this applies to your child and you plan to attend lunch.

Due to security protocols and limited seating, parents and guardians may join their child during their lunch period up to four times per year, per child. Visitors coming for lunch should limit the number of adults to two per visit.

• Our front office will keep a record of parent visits for lunch.
• For safety reasons, parents visiting for lunch will only be allowed to visit the cafeteria.
• We ask that families work together on lunch passes. Due to the size of our school and the cafeteria capacity, we will not be able to make any exceptions to the four visit limit.
• Staff and Administration will not mediate between split families in regards to using passes. We are unable to limit specific visitors if they are on the approved contact/pickup list.
• At least one of the visitors each visit must be on the approved contact list (pickup list). If you would like to add someone to that list, please send an email to Angel Helms, helmsah@fortmillschools.org, the name of your child and the person(s) you would like to add.
• All visitors will be required to show a form of identification to visit lunch/visit our school.
• Students will not be allowed to have a friend sit with them when a parent is visiting for lunch.
• Lunch times are different on Early Release Days, so it is not recommended to attend lunch on those days. If you do, be sure to check in with the teacher about the schedule.

Our car line has been running smoothly in the morning! As a reminder, we want to unload as many cars as possible at a time, so we ask you to pull all the way forward. If you need to enter the building, please park and wait until the line of cars have pulled all the way forward and stopped, the staff member on duty will direct you to cross when it is safe to do so. Student drop off does not begin until 7:05, Safety Patrol students are allowed to be dropped off at 7:00. The start of school bell rings at 7:35, so after that time, all students are considered tardy and parents will need to enter the building to sign them in. Thank you for your help in ensuring drop off and pick up run smoothly!

Save the Date - We have a few important dates upcoming we'd love to get on your calendar (You can also subscribe to our calendar from our website so you never miss a thing!):

· August 29 - 4-8pm - Spirit “Knight” at McDonald’s Tega Cay. Mention KTES at checkout.

· September 6 - 9:15am -Cafeteria - First General PTO Meeting and Room Parent Meeting

· September 14th - A Night for the Knights - Spirit "Knight" at the Charlotte Knights Game. Purchase tickets here: https://fevo-enterprise.com/event/Kingstown2

· October 5th - Second Annual Fall Festival

How to Stay in Touch and Get Involved - Our website is your one stop shop for all things PTO related: https://www.ktespto.org

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram

Sign up for our text list here:www.remind.com/join/ktespto or text @ktespto to 81010

Get on our contact/volunteer list for the 2024-2025 year: https://forms.gle/1jjzCTE1975UGGYn8

Principal: Nicole Randolph

Assistant Principals: Matt Savage (1st, 3rd, 5th)

Ebony Kennedy (K, 2nd, 4th)

Instagram: @kingstownelementary

Email: randolphn@fortmillschools.org
Website: https://ktes.fortmillschools.org/
Location: 1774 Masons Bend Drive, Fort Mill, SC, USA
Phone: 803-396-3400