The Weekly Update #4

Duneland has a new monthly awards program for students and staff. On Monday, we held an assembly during which we announced our first winners.

The Inspire Award is based on Trojans who demonstrate exemplary leadership. Mr. Walt Schulz and Mr. Chris Meyne, our custodians, were chosen as recipients of this award for the leadership they displayed throughout our renovation project, working nights and weekends to take care of everyone else all while remaining positive.

The Empower Award is based on Trojans who demonstrate exemplary growth/achievement. Delaney Fortney, Owen Lorenz, Caleb Marshall, Kyler Balon, David Wiggins, and Graham Phelps received this award for earning a perfect score on IREAD during the 2023-2024 school year.

Mrs. Rekitzke, Mrs. Mattraw, and Mrs. Tumbas received Empower Awards for having 100 percent of their students meet or exceed their NWEA growth goals in math during the 2023-2024 school year. Congratulations to them and their hard working students!

The Engage Award is based on Trojans who demonstrate exemplary behaviors. Dru Robbins, fourth grade student, received the Engage Award based on his high character. He is kind and courteous to everyone he meets. We appreciate his positivity, his sense of humor, and his diligence to improving himself through his studies.

In conversations with our staff, you may hear us refer to MTSS, which is the abbreviation for Multi-Tiered System of Supports. When we talk about MTSS, we are referring to all of the various ways we can look to support a student's growth and success at school.

We have an MTSS team of teachers and administrators that meets weekly to look at issues related to student support. As we move deeper into the school year, we learn more about our students and thus our MTSS team is able to take a more active role in seeking solutions. In general, we try to take a tiered approach to supports: all students receive Tier 1 support, some receive Tier 2 support, and a few receive Tier 3 support, with interventions becoming more specific and intensive in response to student need.

We know that different students will need different types and levels of support at school. For example, if we're considering reading ability, some students will find success with the whole-group lessons provided by their classroom teacher whereas other students might need additional small-group lessons either from an aide, a teacher or the reading specialist. Similarly, in terms of SEL and behavior support, some students find success within their teacher's classroom management system whereas others might need additional tools and supports, which can be as varied as a smiley face behavior chart to sessions with the school counselor.

This past week, we held meetings with each grade-level to analyze the data we have on students thus far in the year. We look at student's abilities in reading and math separately to make decisions for what supports to put into place. At this point, if your student was identified as needing more support, you should have been contacted by your student's teacher about it. Typically, this is for students in need of Tier 3 support. Our Tier 2 level of support is often fluid, as it is based on the content currently being taught and learned in class. When students demonstrate that they have not mastered the content, teachers will group students based on specific needs for additional instruction and practice throughout the week. For some students, this might only occur occasionally, whereas others might need this support more regularly. If you have questions about your child's progress, you can always reach out to the teacher for more information.

This school year the MTSS team will be revising the way student group counseling services are delivered by the school counselor to better serve all students. Counseling groups will be time limited and delivered by specific student behavior goals. This change will allow for the MTSS team to make data driven decisions for students participating in small group counseling.

Mrs. Urban and Ms. Krieger recently represented Jackson Elementary at the State House, bringing home this certificate from the IDOE. Our students achieved a remarkable 98.4% pass rate on last year's IREAD assessments. Great job, everyone! Let's see if we can do even better this year.

Per the Indiana Department of Education, students should be in attendance for at least 94% of the school year. Given that we have 180 school days per year, this asks students to be absent for 10 or fewer days across the entire year. See below for our progress toward that goal.

If you need details about the attendance policy, please see the below graphic or refer to the student handbook.

Duneland School Corporation will celebrate Custodial, Grounds and Maintenance Appreciation Day on Wednesday, October 4. Please take a moment to thank DSC personnel in and around your school building this week for all they do to keep everything clean, manicured and running smoothly inside and outside of your buildings.

We are looking for qualified candidates to fill two open positions at Jackson Elementary: exceptional learning aide and lunch/recess aide. The positions are listed on the corporation website; click the button below for more information. If you know someone that meets the qualifications, please encourage them to apply.

We are working with students to help them learn what is expected of them in the various settings they encounter during their school day. We are focused on three big ideas: we want students to be safe, be respectful, and be responsible.

We know the power of partnering with our families and caregivers. We encourage you to speak with your child about the expectations in the "Everywhere" column, as this language will become a daily part of your child's experience at Jackson. We welcome support in helping students see the importance of these behaviors not just in school but in every other context of their lives.

This year, we are experimenting with our related arts schedule. Kindergarten students will attend related arts with their classroom group. In grades 1-4, students are attending related arts with a mix of students from the other classrooms. We think this is a great way for students to get to know others at school, which builds a stronger sense of community. The groups they attend are named after universities in Indiana: Ball State, Indiana State, IU, and Purdue. If you ask your child their group, then the below schedules will help you know which related arts class they have each day.

Each day is assigned a color (Maroon, Gold, White, Black). That color corresponds with a particular spot in the rotation. All classes rotate in the same direction: music moves to art, art moves to PE, PE moves to media, media moves to music.

Click the graphic below for more information.

Learn more about the Duneland Early Learning Classes at the the HUB. Click on the image below to enroll.

To make an appointment please call 219-763-8112. Let NorthShore know you are a Duneland School student or staff member and that you would like to make an appointment at the Duneland School Clinic located at the old CMS.

We are excited to be hosting a Ready, Set, Kindergarten class at Jackson. The Jackson class will meet 11:30am-1:30pm on Fridays in the high ability classroom. See below for more information on registration.

Information regarding student bus transportation for the 2024-2025 school year is available on DSC website under the Transportation Department.

The Duneland School Corporation Department of Transportation has now made My Stop available to our families.

My Stop is a web-based application which will allow parents to access live bus GPS information using a smartphone, tablet, or computer and securely view the current location of your child’s bus on routes. The system also provides the bus’s estimated time of arrival at your child’s bus stop.

Please read the attached letter to parents for more information on how to use My Stop to track your child's bus.

The school meals program is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Duneland School Corporation will process free or reduced-price meal benefit applications for those students who apply and are approved. Those students not qualifying for free or reduced-price meals will be charged the paid meal price for breakfast and/or lunch.

Meal prices for the 2024-2025 school year are available on the DSC Child Nutrition website.

The DSC Child Nutrition Department utilizes NutriSlice as its menus program. This app is available for iPhone and Android through your mobile app store. Parents can also access the full website for Duneland Schools on a computer via this NutriSlice link.

This app will allow parents and students to view the menus as well as the nutritional info for each menu item at any of the Duneland Schools. This program will be developed further incorporating images of the actual food items being served at each of the Duneland schools.

Duneland School Corporation offers MyPaymentsPlus, a state-of-the-art online service that provides you the convenience and information you need to manage your student's meal account. This system speeds up serving lines in the cafeteria, eliminates the need to send physical payments to school or worry about lost or forgotten lunch money and ensures that your child will receive a nutritious meal.

At no cost, MyPaymentsPlus allows any family to: Create a FREE, secured account to manage all your student’s accounts, check your student's current account balance, and create settings to receive email notifications when the account reaches a low balance.

Also, at no cost, MyPaymentsPlus allows any family to make a prepayment into your student's meal account using a check, credit card, or debit card at MyPaymentsPlus or by calling 1-866-441-9125. Funds deposited through MyPaymentsPlus are usually available for student use within a matter of minutes. Create settings to automatically replenish your student's account when it reaches a low balance.

The Duneland School Corporation encourages all parents (even if you do not prepay for your student's meal account) to create an account at no cost. To create a new account, follow the on-screen directions and register your student using their Student ID number. Student ID numbers can be obtained by contacting customer support at: 1-877-237-0946.

Contact the Duneland School Corporation IT department via one of these methods:

1. Open a IncidentIQ ticket by sending an email to: helpdesk@duneland.k12.in.us
   
2. Log into IncidentIQ and submit a request duneland.incidentIQ.com

Families without internet due to financial hardship have access to programs from two local providers.

Comcast Internet Essentials:

• Families that qualify for public assistance programs such as the National School Lunch Program, Housing Assistance, Medicaid, SNAP, SSI and other programs may also qualify for the Internet Essentials program from Comcast.

• This program offers internet at a low cost per month.

• Additional options and services are also available

• More information is available at this Comcast link

Frontier Lifeline Program:

• Families that qualify for public assistance programs such as the National School Lunch Program, Housing Assistance, Medicaid, SNAP, SSI and other programs may also qualify for the Lifeline Program from Frontier.

• More information is available at this Frontier link