It is hard to believe that it is already half way through the third quarter of the school year! Our students and staff continue to work hard, and I am honored to serve this school and community. Our student athletes continue to impress this year, our girls basketball team placed 4th int he District IV Playoffs and our boys basketball team won the district championship and is playing in the PIAA State Championship Playoff Tournament, we are all incredibly proud our student athletes! I encourage all of our students to continue all of their hard work this month, and take some time over Spring Break to spend some time with family and get ready to have a strong finish to this fantastic school year.

March 8 - Act 80 Day - No school for students

March 11 - In-Service Day (AM Senior Projects/Parent Conferences) - No school for students

March 28 - 3 hr. Early Dismissal (PM In-Service)

March 29 - April 1 - Spring Break

KCSD has moved back to ClassDojo as our messaging app. Please be sure to connect (or reconnect) so you don't miss any important information from your child's school or teachers.

Stay informed about:

• School events and activities
• Important deadlines and assignments
• Emergency alerts and school delays/dismissals/closures

On February 8, 2024 we held a Stakeholder Committee meeting to review the following information:

1. Federal fund usage requires transparency and stakeholder input

2. We shared-

1. How we monitor important aspects of our staffing and use of funds

2. How we use data to determine needs and how the funds are used to address needs

3. How we are preparing to write the 2024-2025 grants and are seeking your input

We are always looking for community members who want to be involved in reviewing our data and our plans and want to have input. If you are interested in joining our team, please complete this form to help us maintain a communication list of willing Stakeholders to turn to when we need input.

Title I funds follow the students. When our students attend a nonpublic school, our school funds are allocated on a per pupil basis to the nonpublic school to support any students who have an academic need who would have attended a KCSD school. We work with our nonpublic schools to help support our students, because no matter where they attend, students who reside within the boundaries of KCSD are our students.

Title II funds are designed to support the teachers. We use Title II funds for professional development in areas such as mathematics, English/Language Arts, and social-emotional learning.

At all school levels, we use Title IV federal funds to purchase incentives for PBIS (our positive school-wide behavior supports) rewards, and we emphasize the goal of following school rules in all schools.

Required documents for families:

Right to Request Qualifications of Teachers (see Annual Notices and Policy Review button above) - if you wish to request a paper copy, please contact rmurty@kcsd.k12.pa.us .

Note: If your child is taught for four or more weeks by a teacher who is instructing in a content area for which they are not currently certified, the district must notify you. Four-week notification letters will be added here if that becomes necessary.

Non-Discrimination Statement (see Annual Notices and Policy Review button above) - if you wish to request a paper copy, please contact rmurty@kcsd.k12.pa.us.

Title I District Parent Policy - Policy 918

Coaching Newsletter for Families - How We Teach Reading

Title I Complaint Procedure

School Improvement Plan

Math is everywhere! When you measure an ingredient for a recipe, tell time, pay a bill, or look at the daily temperature, you are using math. These activities offer ideas on how to make math fun at home and start building some math skills that kids will use as they get older. Click to learn more!

Video (Spanish Only)

Attendance a priority at KCSD!

Help us reach our Attendance Goal of 94.1%.

For the month of February, our students showed up 89.8% of the time.

As of March 1st, there are only 66 school days left. We want to see you all 66 days!!

Remember: Excuses need to be turned in within 3 days of an absence. Use your school's attendance email to make sure that the excuse notes get turned in on time.

Be Buck Strong: Show Up and Belong!

If you are concerned about a student for any reason, you can make a SAP referral. The SAP referral can potentially lead to any needed services and/or supports the student may need to be successful.

Click on the picture to make a referral!

During middle school, students experience changes, such as transitioning into adolescence, balancing multiple classes/assignments, dealing with peer pressure, developing new friendships, caring about what others think/fitting in and/or personal situations. Parent(s)/Guardian(s) may contact one of our counselors with any questions or concerns they may have regarding their student's academic, career, behavior and/or socioemotional well-being.

A counselor is someone to talk to, who will listen without judgment. A school counselor can assist in short-term counseling and if needed arrange long-term counseling and the SAP (Student Assistance Program) and Tier II support. Counselors can teach students tools to improve and cope with different situations, especially because sometimes it's hard to figure out where to start. Students may be want to see a counselor for the following reasons:

• Want to share an experience/feelings
• Feel depressed and/or lonely
• Have thoughts of self-harm
• Feel stressed and/or anxious
• Feel angry and/or frustrated
• Want to improve grade(s)
• Talk about college/careers
• Relationship/peer issues/conflicts
• Personal issues (divorce/separation, loss of a loved one, etc.)

To learn more or to schedule a meeting, please contact your student's school counselor.

Ms. Sheri Gordon School Counselor

Phone: 570-893-4900 x3519

Email: sgordon@kcsd.us

https://www.smore.com/361wz-keystone-central-school-district#:~:text=VOLUNTEER%20INFORMATION,to%20Clearance%20Page

The link in the button above/QR Code should take you to our Volunteer Application.

You need to apply on-line at https://www.applitrack.com/kcsd/onlineapp/ instead of using a paper form.

Clearances and Mandated Reporter training are also required. Here are the links:

· Clearances

· (Act 34) PA State Policehttps://epatch.pa.gov/home

· (Act 151) PA Child Abuse https://www.compass.state.pa.us/cwis/public/home

· (Act 114) FBI https://www.identogo.com/locations/pennsylvania

Use service code to receive the correct clearance: 1KG6XN

Mandated Report Training http://www.reportabusepa.pitt.edu/

Elizabeth Nace is our Personnel Secretary & Volunteer Specialist, you can use the information below to contact her, and she said she is happy to help you and answer questions!

570-893-4900 x 2319

https://www.kcsd.k12.pa.us/en-US/human-resources-32e72bfe

enace@kcsd.k12.pa.us

86 Administration Drive, Mill Hall, PA 17751

General Link to Clearance Page

If your family speaks a language other than English, the district has access to translators and interpreters that can accompany you in meetings with teachers and school members. If you would like to be connected with a translator or interpreter please reach out to your child’s teacher or the school guidance counselor. The accessibility features in the top right corner of this Smore allow you to translate this page.

Keystone Central School District has School Resource Officers throughout our district for safety and security.

Officer Scott VanGorder - Central Mountain High School

Officer Cory Beaver - Bucktail High School & Renovo Elementary

Officer Luke Motter - Central Mountain Middle School

Officer Mike Fetzer - Elementary district-wide and District Attendance Officer

Officer Todd Brian - District-wide

Did you know the Keystone Central School District offers a full cyber program to students K-12?

Please use the following link to read the upcoming events and information for December/January.

https://www.smore.com/3dme6

Upcoming Assessments

Save the Date for State Assessments!

Spring PSSA- All students in grades 3-8 ELA and Math, Science Grades 4 and 8

ELA: Window April 22-26

ELA District Testing April 22,23,24

Math/Science/Make ups: Window April 29-May 10

Math District Testing-April 29,30

Science District Testing- May 1,2

Spring Keystone Exams - All students enrolled in Algebra 1, Literature and Biology Keystone Trigger courses

May 13 – 24 - Spring Testing Window

May 13-14 - 10th grade Literature District Testing

May 15-16 - Biology District Testing

May 20-21 - Algebra 1 District Testing

Local District Assessments

All students in grades K-8 will be participating in our upcoming local district assessments which will be administered in the Fall, Winter and Spring. Students in K-2 will be tested using the Acadience assessment and students in grades 3-8 will be tested using NWEA MAP assessment. These assessments are administered in the Fall, Winter and Spring and will provide you as well as their teacher valuable information on academic growth. To learn more about our assessment please click the links below. The final Testing Window will be May 13-17.

NWEA Family Toolkit

NWEA FAQ

About Acadience

Need to take the SAT, Click here for upcoming dates and registration

Many questions can arise concerning your child's laptop, internet access, busing information or maybe you'd like to volunteer in your child's school. These links below can help you get answers or point you in the direction of who to speak to.

James Poleto, Principal

Phone: (570) 893-4900 ext. 3503

Email: jpoleto@kcsd.k12.pa.us

Dionne Werts, School Secretary

Phone: (570) 893-4900 ext. 3501

Email: dwerts@kcsd.k12.pa.us

Sheri Gordon, School Counselor

Phone: (570) 893-4900 ext. 3519

Email: sgordon@kcsd.k12.pa.us