RQE News

• Our teachers will return to school on Thursday, August 1st. They will receive their class rolls and will call your child to introduce themselves between 2-4. Please be sure to take the call and/or listen to your messages! I know your kids are super excited to learn who their teacher will be for the 2024-2025 school year!
• Meet and Greet with be Monday, August 5th from 4:30-5:30
• August 7th- First Day of School. Bus riders will be dropped off at the entrance of the building and all other students (except for Pre K ) will be dropped off in carpool on the side of the building. We will have lots of personnel ready to supervise the students when they come into the building. We will be ready to escort them to their classrooms for the day!

We are thrilled to introduce some of our newly hired faculty for the 2024-2025 school year.

Caitlynne Keating is joining our Special Education Team.

Maggie Drummond and Emily Hayden are joining our First Grade Team.

Cara Graham is our new Pre K auxiliary teacher with Mrs. Halcomb

Jonathan Thomas joins our Third Grade Team.

Each year our new kindergarten students are invited to a special gathering. Please note the attached time and place for your child to attend. This event is not planned by RQE, but rather by parents to kick off a fun beginning to the school year.

EDCAMP 2024 was a fun experience for our teachers! We enjoyed the day together learning about Beebots and Ozobots, artificial intelligence, centers, vocabulary instruction, classroom management, morning meetings and so much more! A special thanks to everyone who presented: Miranda Mills, Richard Krout, Madison Frederick, Ashlyn Toxey, Kelley McMillan, Patricia Ford, Lauren Pilsch, Kelsey Perry. A special thanks to our guest presenters: Kandi Massey (TCS), Allison Kelly (State ARI coach) and Ashleigh Newman who led our afternoon learning with getting to know ourselves using Enneagrams!

We were so thankful to have the opportunity to share our RQE story at the SREB conference in Nashville. Our team represented RQE beautifully and shared our journey of moving from good to great!

TCS families! Be prepared for back-to-school traffic this fall on Rice Mine Road and Watermelon Road, due to the McWright's Ferry Road Extension project.

That means planning NOW. Sign your student up for bus transportation to help reduce traffic, and utilize school buses from the very first day of school. To sign up for bus transportation, call the school office. If your child is not going to ride the bus, plan ahead for possible traffic and leave early.

For regular traffic updates or alerts from the City of Tuscaloosa, text MCWRIGHT to 888777 or go to McWright's Ferry Road | Tuscaloosa County Road Improvement Commission (tcric.org).

On Saturday, July 13th we were blessed to have adults and many students and children who volunteered their morning to work on our school grounds. Our ROCK garden has moved (no easy task), outdoor classrooms began assembly, the building was pressure washed and beds were weeded and mulch added. Many thanks to each person who volunteered!

Planning for the Best Education Possible

Our costs to run the Tuscaloosa City Schools system continue to rise. School costs increase 23% every five years while services and programs continue to grow, such as Pre-K, summer learning, dual enrollment, and workforce development. Inflation has gone up 187% since 1986, and while cost to run the school system have increased 348% since 1987.

To continue current programs, keep class sizes small, and give students the best education possible, additional funding is critical.

On Tuesday, September 24, the Tuscaloosa community will vote on a proposed increase to the ad valorem rate to support the Tuscaloosa City Schools. If approved on September 24, the 11.5-mill increase to the ad valorem rate would set up the Tuscaloosa City Schools for the long-term future, being able to offer more for our students. Without that funding, cuts will be made that will cause reductions in art and music, athletics, increase to class sizes, to name a few.

This referendum is about the future of the Tuscaloosa City Schools, and the Tuscaloosa community.

For more details about the referendum, please visit https://www.tuscaloosacityschools.com/referendum