Combs Family Newsletter

We have an exciting week ahead! We hope you can join us this Tuesday, September 10th for our Open House, Title 1 Night, and PTO Meeting starting at 5:00 PM. There will be fun giveaways, opportunities to connect with our school community, and the chance to participate in the relaunch of our PTO. Make sure to read through all the details in this newsletter so you don’t miss out on any of the exciting events and important information. We're looking forward to seeing you there!

• Tue 9/10, 5:00pm-7:00pm:
• ;Combs Open House
• Title 1 Night
• PTO Launch Meeting
• Gift Basket Giveaway!
• Mon 9/30 - Staff Professional Development Day NO SCHOOL
• Tue 10/1 - Amber McBride Author Visit
• Wed 10/16 - End of 1st Quarter
  
• Fri 10/18 - School Picture Day

Staff have been working hard to collect items for our gift basket giveaway at Tuesday's Open House and Title 1 Night! Each family will receive a free entry just for attending! We will have opportunities to get more tickets as well as Combs spirit shirts for sale, so please bring cash (we do not have the ability to accept credit/debit cards or mobile payments). We have hundreds of dollars worth of prizes to give away, including baskets with:

• Gift Cards
• Cardinals Merch
• Games
• Relaxation Items
• Family Items
• Combs Swag
• And More!

We look forward to seeing you at our event on Tuesday!

Additionally, we’re thrilled to be hosting the relaunch of the Combs Intermediate School PTO during our Title 1 Night and Open House! This is a wonderful chance to connect with other families, share your skills, and help shape our school’s future. During this meeting on Tuesday, September 10th, we will hold elections for the Executive Board. Participating in the PTO or serving on the Executive Board is a great opportunity to connect with other families, influence important decisions, and help create a supportive and enriching environment for our students and community.

In order to serve on the PTO Executive Board, you may nominate yourself or someone else for any of the positions listed below. All nominees must be a parent or legal guardian of a Combs student through the duration of their term and will be contacted by the school to confirm their interest. At the meeting, nominees will have up to 2 minutes to introduce themselves and explain their interest and qualifications.

Open positions for our launch year are:

• President
• Vice President
• Treasurer
• Vice Treasurer
• Secretary

By joining the PTO Executive Board, you’ll be directly involved in setting meeting dates, times, and frequency, and helping establish priorities for the year. For our first year, some roles will have shorter terms to make the transition smoother and ensure our PTO's success. We encourage all families to participate!

Students were excited to show off their jerseys on our first Fight-Free Friday of the year! As part of our Positive Behavior Incentive System (PBIS), we will continue to have Fight-Free Fridays each week that we have no referrals for fighting in each grade level (this is a change from the previous announcement of school-wide events) - watch for the theme to change each week! All students in the grade may participate in this celebration of school safety when they have a full week (Friday through Thursday) of no fights in their grade.

Please keep an eye out for communication each Thursday to see which grades will have a reward day the following day. This week, students are working to earn a spirit day.

As an added incentive, we will have a special incentive of a dress down day when we reach 20 consecutive days of no referrals for fighting school-wide.

Way to go, Cougars, for earning our first Fight-Free Friday last week!

This week students will participate in a Child Abuse Prevention Program (CAPP).

The CAPP presentation will help your child understand and practice the following concepts:

• The three basic safety skills for handling a not-OK touch: say no, get away to a safe place, and tell a trusted adult.

• How to recognize physiological responses when in danger.

• How to identify tricks of potential abusers.

• Practice telling someone about a difficult subject.

Research shows that the greatest risk to children doesn’t come from strangers but from friends and family; about 10% of children who are sexually abused are abused by strangers. People who abuse children look and act just like everyone else. In fact, they often go out of their way to appear trustworthy, seeking out settings where they can gain easy access to children, such as sports leagues, faith centers, clubs, and schools.

• Think carefully about the safety of any isolated, one-on-one settings. Make sure interactions with children can be observed and interrupted. Choose group situations when possible.

• Think carefully about the safety of situations in which older youth have access to younger children. Make sure that multiple adults are present who can supervise.

• Set an example by personally avoiding isolated, one-on-one situations with children other than your own.

• Understand that abusers often become friendly with potential victims and their families, enjoying family activities, earning trust, and gaining time alone with children.

• Monitor children’s Internet use. Offenders use the Internet to lure children into physical contact.

We hope everyone is settling into the school routine! As a friendly reminder, all car riders must be dropped off in the carpool line in the parking lot off of Harrison Street. There is no drop-off permitted on St. Jean Street in front of the school, as this area is reserved exclusively for our bus drop-off. Additionally, students should not be dropped off on Harrison Street.

Both of these practices pose serious safety risks. With narrow neighborhood streets, bus drivers have limited visibility. We have experienced instances where families dropped off students in front of buses with drivers who were unaware a child was exiting, and situations where students have run in front of buses that were about to pull out. On Harrison Street, visibility is also limited due to the proximity of the dumpster and parked cars. Students attempting to cross Harrison create further safety risks, and we have already had a few near-miss incidents this year.

We understand the carpool line may feel inconvenient, but it is there to keep everyone safe and to avoid traffic backups at the intersection of Harrison and St. Jean. With everyone's cooperation, the carpool line will move quickly and safely. Thank you for your cooperation and commitment to ensuring our students’ safety!

We look forward to seeing you Tuesday night!