Corgi Tales | January 2025

Dear Crossroads Community,

Hello! Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a fantastic break and the students and staff were able to sharpen their saw with relaxation, family, and fun!

Each new year I suggest starting it off with setting goals. I think it would be great for you all to have conversations with your children about some of the goals they are working towards. You can work with your children on what they are going to do with reaching their growth goals in iReady, in both math and ELA. Be sure to ask your students about their growth from the Fall to the Winter iReady Benchmark. If you have any questions or concerns, be sure to reach out to your child's teacher.

Let’s all do the best we can to make second semester a great one where we all work towards bettering ourselves in all aspects of our lives.

Crossroads Elementary is being recognized as one of the Best Elementary Schools in the country by the US News & World Report. Congratulations to the entire Crossroads staff, students and community on earning the US News & World Report award for being one of the best elementary schools in the country. This is a tremendous honor and all of us should be very proud!

Have a great New Year!

Dr. Damian Fay & Ms. Kristen Henson

damianfay@wsdr4.org

kristenhenson@wsdr4.org

Twitter:@Corgi_Tales

We celebrated our November Leaders of the Month on December 6. The students were recognized for a variety of reasons, including exceptional behavior, positive attitude, and reaching a goal. We are so proud of the work our students are doing here at Crossroads each and every day!

Return from Illness

With the increase in illnesses we wanted to review what is needed for students coming back to class after being ill, if you are wanting restrictions for your student’s return. Per the handbook; Medical concerns that may interfere with your child’s education while at school must have a written doctor’s note on file with the school nurse or detailing needed restrictions to be implemented at school. This will insure your child’s success and safety in all of their classes. This includes if you are wanting your student to sit out of gym class and/or recess. Please keep in mind if your student is out of gym they are not allowed to participate in recess. If your student is coming back and on medication it is best to do all doses at home whenever possible. Antibiotics are often multiple times a day. If prescribed 3 times daily please give their doses before school, upon getting home, and then prior to bed.

If inhalers are needing to be taken at school please notify the nurse that you wish for it to be scheduled while the student is still recovering. Please know that inhalers are more effective when a spacer/chamber is used with them.

Please reach out if you ever have any questions or concerns. Thank you!

Maddie Whiteaker, RN BSN

School Nurse

amandawhiteaker@wsdr4.org

636-625-4537, extension 44233

Fax 636-445-5324

Happy New Year Corgis!

Thank you for making the first part of the school year a huge success. We have had several staff members request grants for amazing things like classroom transformation days, field trips, and learning tools. These grants were made possible because of the fall fundraiser and dining nights so once again THANK YOU for making it all possible!!!

**CORGI STORE***

If you are interested in spirit wear, our online Corgi Store is always open.

Online Corgi Store

***PTA Meeting***

Wednesday January 15, 2025, 7:00PM

Crossroads Elementary Library

Stay tuned, we’ve got lots of fun coming up!

***COMMUNICATION***

Keep an eye out for emails, texts and social media posts for more information!

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram!

~ Crossroads PTA

All of our car riders and our daycare van riders will go to the gym at the end of the day. Once in the gym, a staff member will call students’ names over the radio for them to come out to meet their vehicle. A staff member will escort students to each car.

PLEASE READ: We are no longer allowing parents to walk up to get their children. You will need to drive through the pick-up line.

We sent home bright orange car tags with all students on their first day of school. Please check with the office if you need a car tag. ***PLEASE USE A THICK MARKER TO FILL THESE OUT***

When you drive through the car lanes, please have the bright orange car tag on your dashboard where we can see the names of your students. If you do not have the car tag, we will have to check your ID, radio the office, and wait for them to clear you before we can call your child out. As you can imagine, this will slow down the process for everyone.

A few other things to keep in mind with this process: Please remember, we do not accept dismissal changes after 3:00 p.m. Also, our primary focus is student safety and 3:20 p.m. is a critical time when children can potentially get lost in the shuffle; it is imperative that we streamline the secretaries’ time to focus only on emergencies that arise. With that in mind, please understand that we will not permit access to the office after 3:20 p.m. to check out a student. Please plan accordingly so we aren’t caught in the position to have to tell you no.

Also, remember that you are responsible for calling in to change if your walker will become a car rider during the days with inclement weather. We no longer send a text message about rainy day dismissals.

The expectation is all parents will have the bright orange car tags ready to go by August 21.

Please review our arrival and dismissal maps below:

Arrival Map

Dismissal Map

Bus Transportation

• Kindergarten students that ride the bus must have an adult at the stop to get their student off the bus at the end of the day
• You must have a picture ID to show the bus driver before your child will be released

Cafeteria Information

• Link to Child Nutrition page on the WSD website
• All meals will be eaten in the cafeteria
• Breakfast served 8:20 am to 8:35 am

Buying Lunch

• Students will enter a lunch pin number
• Teachers have a card with the pin number on it for the first few weeks of school
• Teachers will send home the pin number and a practice number pad

Bringing Lunch

• Label all lunch bags with student name
• Send items students can open by themselves
• Anything opened will be thrown away

Recess Information

• Supervision is provided by our noon duty staff and classroom teachers
• Dress for the weather
• Label clothing items with student name
• Avoid parking along the playground
• Visitors are not allowed at recess

Tips from the office

• All adults visiting Crossroads must sign in at the office and obtain a visitors sticker
• Please have your driver's license ready to sign in to our Raptor system.

• When you arrive in a WSD building as a visitor, you will be asked to scan your ID, take a photo and complete the management system’s check-in process.

• Raptor will screen the information against sex offender databases and locally customized lists of banned or potentially threatening individuals, instantly alert school officials to a threatening presence, and maintain a searchable log of all visitors.

• Once approved, you will get a customized visitor badge to wear while in the building.

• Call the office by 9:15 a.m. if your child is absent
• If your child arrives after 8:35 a.m., please walk them into the office
• The attendance email is: attendance.crossroads@wsdr4.org
• Let the office know of any dismissal changes before 3:00 p.m.
• Students cannot be checked out from the office after 3:20 p.m.
• Be sure to update any changes to your contact information in the office

Parent Portal - FAQs

Focus School Software Parent Portal

24-25 School Calendar

• WSD 2024-2025 Academic Calendar
  

24-25 School Supply List

• WSD School Supply Lists

One of our Crossroads Building Goals this year is focused upon attendance. Our goal is:

Crossroads will improve the proportional attendance rate from 88.2% to 89.4% by the end of the 2024-2025 school year.

The core purpose of having your student at school is so they can benefit from all of the learning opportunities so they can improve and grow!

We want our students to be in attendance this school year as much as possible. While we know perfect attendance is super hard to accomplish, we would like our students to be here between 90-100%. Let’s run the numbers on this. There are 174 school days in the 24-25 school year. So, a student can miss no more than 17.4 days of school in order to make our goal of all students having attendance of 90-100%.

Thank you for taking your child’s attendance seriously. Please check out the image below for a few stats to see what learning a student could miss:

Breakfast K-12 ~ $2.00

Elementary Lunch K-5 ~ $3.10

Reduced Price Meals

Breakfast ~ $0.30

Lunch ~ $0.40

Applications for free & reduced price meals are available here or at any school office. In an effort to assist families as we transition back to paid meals, the USDA has increased the income guidelines used to determine eligibility. Click here to see the income guidelines. If you believe your family would qualify for this program, please fill out an application. Applications can be returned by the following methods:

Returned to your child's school

Scan & email - marysanzottera@wsdr4.org

Fax - 636-327-3961

Mail - Child Nutrition Services, 101 Support Service Dr., Wentzville, MO 63385

If you have questions or need assistance filling out the application, please call our office at 636-327-3858 ext. 21330.

Dear Crossroads Elementary Families,

Throughout the duration of the academic year, the Wentzville School District partners with community agencies that specialize in providing students, families, and educators with preventative education. Agency presenters are credentialed, coordinated through the District, and under the supervision of building administrators. Presentation topics are targeted toward specific grade levels. All students will participate in each program, unless you choose to opt your child out of the lesson(s). If you are interested in opting your student(s) out of presentation(s), please click the appropriate link(s) below.

Kindergarten Opt-Out Form

First Grade Opt-Out Form

Second Grade Opt-Out Form

Third Grade Opt-Out Form

Fourth Grade Opt-Out Form

Fifth Grade Opt-Out Form

If you have additional questions, please reach out directly to your student’s school counselor.

Thank you,

Damian Fay, Principal

Kristen Henson, Assistant Principal

Amy Walton, Counselor K-2

Tim Burkemper, Counselor 3-5

Inclement Weather & AMI Update

As we approach the colder months, we want to re-share the District communication that has information regarding the WSD's inclement weather procedures for the 2024-25 school year. This year, snow days one and two will be traditional snow days. After our second snow day this year, we will switch to AMI (alternative methods of instruction) for snow days three through seven. Read more on what to expect this winter here. View AMI assignments here.

Wentzville Wow Factor Award

Has your child's teacher made a significant impact on their education and life? Do you want to recognize a staff member who goes above and beyond? The WSD rolled out a new way to honor our staff, and it only takes a few minutes to do. Nominate a teacher or employee for a Wentzville Wow Factor Award anytime throughout the school year to let them know they are making a difference! Nominate a Staff Member.

Peachjar

The Wentzville School District cooperates with community groups and organizations that sponsor activities of an educational/enrichment nature for students by distributing materials electronically via Peachjar. You can find our school link here.

January 14 (Updated due to snow days, originally was planned for January 10)

• Report Cards posted and emailed home

January 15

• PTA General Meeting at 7:00 pm

January 20

• No School, Martin Luther King Jr Day