Viking Voice

Sharp Park Academy

The HYPE starts here!

Email: jasper.lusby@jpsk12.org
Website: www.jpsk12.org
Location: 766 Park Road, Jackson, MI, USA
Phone: 517-841-2860
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JPSSharpPark/
Twitter: @jpsvikings

Good morning! Apoloigies for the late newsletter! Friday threw us for a loop.

I am so very grateful that JPS takes online threats seriously and investigates to the fullest extent. I have said this in the past and I will say it again, it is so important to limit the amount of time kids have access to the internet, and to closely monitor what online activities they are participating in. As parents, it is easy to presume positive, and think 'not my kid', but unfortunately we never know. In my experience working through conflicts that have arisen around social media and group chats, I have had to have some tough conversations with parents when their child has not been their best self....virtually. In some of these cases parents have been completely taken aback, because they wouldn't think their child would engage in inappropriate behavior on line. Please be aware of who your child is interacting with on line. Please know what kinds of conversations are taking place in group chats even in forums you might think of as 'safe' like Messenger kids. Please make sure your child is aware of when a conversation or online activity crosses a boundary, and how to report it!

Last week we saw a huge uptick in illnesses among staff and students. Please remember that if your child is sick, they can't be at school until they are SYMPTOM FREE for 24 hours WITHOUT the aid of fever reducer! When you send your child to school with a fever after giving them fever reducer, the germs are still spreading to others, and we end up calling home around lunch time when their fever reducer wears off. True story: every day last week we sent between 4-8 children home during the lunch hour with fevers. Most of them let us know they had fever reducer in the morning. Hint: your sick kids don't want to be at school. Also, please be aware that we have medically fragile children in the building as well who are counting on families to keep their sick children home.

Finally, please remember that as we are celebrating Valentines day this week, we will not be doing so with cookies, cupcakes or other party treats. Students will have the opportunity to exchange valentine cards at the end of the day.

February 10

February 11-True Community Banking Day

February 12

February 13- No afterschool program, Uniform free THURSDAY

February 14 - No school

Looking ahead

February 25 -True Community Banking Day

February 14 & 17 No school

February 24-28- Book Fair

February 25 -True Community Banking Day, Ice cream social @ 5:00- Parent shopping night

April 24- Kindergarten Round up!

Calling all Young Poets-

Jackson District Library's 21st Annual Young Poets Contest is now accepting entries from K-12 students in Jackson County.

Enter your poem by February 14, 2025 to qualify. Young Poets is open to K-12 students (including homeschool) in Jackson County only. https://myjdl.com/explore/young-poets

This is an exciting opportunity for students to have their writing showcased county wide. Students are recognized for first, second and third place as well as an honorable mention category. In past years there has been an author's exhibition in which young poets who have been recognized have the opportunity to share their work at a community poetry reading. We hope to see SPA kids participating!

February 13 & 28

March 14 &20

April 11 & 25

May 9 & 23

True Community Credit Union offers student banking at SPA! Students in 4th and 5th grade can apply to be bank workers and run our student Credit Union. Credit union dates for deposits are:

February 11 & 25

March 11

April 15 & 29

May 13

All students have the opportunity to start their accounts through the Jackson saves program. https://www.trueccu.com/education/youth-programs/jackson-saves.html

8:20-8:42-Student arrival

3:35 -Kindergarten dismissal (with older siblings)

3:40 -1st-5th dismissal

11:50 early release day dismissal

For our students who are being dropped off and/or picked up each day we use the following procedures:

• If your student arrives after 8:40 AM you will need to ring the bell and come sign your student into school using the Park Road south entry; they will be given a late slip for attendance purposes.

• Parents in the drop off lane should not be exiting the vehicle during drop off. Students should exit the vehicle on the right side of the car if possible to prevent students crossing in front of or behind cars.

• All students drop offs will enter the building through the Park Road entry. Mrs. Lusby will be there to greet them.
• Kindergarten and Y5 dismissal begins at 3:35 from the Park Road South entry. Please make sure that anyone who is authorized to pick up your child is listed as a contact. We will send your student out when we make contact with an authorized adult.
• First through third grade dismiss from the porch to the east of the media center
• Fourth and fifth grade will dismiss from the east lot by the 4th and 5th grade classrooms.
• Notify the office of older siblings so they can be sent to the kindergarten/Y5 pick up location at the front entry
• If you are late for pick up, students will be waiting in the office. Use the Park Road south doors.
• If you need to pick up early from school, or make a change to your pick up routine, please contact the office before 3:00 PM

Gently worn, clean uniform packages available to students. Typical package includes 3-5 days worth of uniforms.

Our inventory is 100% donation based, which means size availability may be limited or unavailable. We collect donations all school year, so availability may change.

We will reach out to you if your requested sizes are unavailable. If your student size is unavailable and obtaining uniforms would cause a hardship for your family please let us know.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSccJaq7KMhye-cucPc5UQiR6UdiV1fdcIR5_xXWpT1AS9CoHw/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0

Reminder that there are several individuals in the building with severe peanut allergies. In order to protect the safety and welfare of these individuals we ask families to be conscientious about the following things:

• If your child has an item containing peanuts in his or her lunch, please make sure it is clearly marked so they can be seated at the peanut table, which is sanitized separately for other surfaces to prevent the spread of peanut proteins to other surfaces. Your child will also be asked to wash hands before leaving the cafeteria.
• Do NOT send classroom snacks that contain peanuts or peanut products.
• All students will be asked to sanitize or wash hands upon entry to the building.

At Sharp Park Academy (SPA) as we prepare our students for academic excellence and workforce readiness, we have created a new electronic device policy called Off and Away. The administration, teachers, and staff at SPA believe that what you pay attention to is what you learn. The Off and Away policy has been created to increase engagement and academic outcomes and decrease incidents of negative behaviors.
The Off and Away policy, which is aligned to our JPS Board electronic device policy, means that each student who brings a device to school will have their cell phone powered off, and put away or kept in their locker. Cell phones are prohibited during the school day. If a student has a cell phone in class, in the cafeteria, or at recess and they are heard or seen, the student will be addressed and the policy below will be followed.
Please have a conversation with your student about them waiting to use their phone until after they have left school campus.
In the event of an emergency, please call 517-841-2162. Classroom phones and office phones will also be available for students to use throughout the day to contact parents/guardians if/when necessary.

Michigan State Law requires all schools that provide services for students in kindergarten through 12th grade to conduct safety drills annually. At a minimum we are required to conduct:

• Five fire drills per school year. Three of these must take place prior to December 1 with a reasonable interval between each drill.
• Two Tornado drills each year, one of which must take place in March.
• Three Lock down drills per school year, including security measures appropriate to an emergency such as the release of hazardous materials or the presence of a potentially dangerous individual on or near the premises. At least one of these drills must take place by December 1 and at least one after January 1, with a reasonable interval between drills.

As a general rule, we do not post the schedule of when drills will take place and we do not give advance warning in order to ensure that our drills simulate an actual emergency. In the event of an actual emergency, parents and families will be notified via blackboard, text message, robo call and email.

As we are Starting our year, we are assessing each student to determine their individual needs with regard to their reading development. For this we use what we call the F & P which is an individually administered reading assessment that helps us to understand a student's ability to decode and comprehend reading material. Fountas & Pinnel (F & P) authored a book on guided reading practices in classrooms and use a leveling system to track reading progress- more information here. This chart gives you an idea of grade level expectations for reading proficiency.

We refer to student reading levels three ways:

1. Independent reading level- This is the level that a student will be able to read fluently with high levels of comprehension to understand the material they are reading. They have mastered the phonological and phonemic awareness skills present in the vocabulary to be able to decode unfamiliar words using those phonics patterns.
2. Instructional reading level - Books at the instructional level include concepts of reading that are currently being taught and is the highest level of text that a student could read with support for the purpose of assisting with strategy reminders for decoding and clarifying meaning. Students have adequate background knowledge and can access the text but have errors in reading.
3. Frustration - Books at the frustration level for a student would contain vocabulary that is more complex than the background knowledge of the student and would be read with too many errors for the student to make meaning from the text.

The independent reading level is generally one level below the instructional level. When determining independent reading levels we take into consideration the fluency- how well they can decode words correctly and in a reasonable amount of time- and comprehension - how well they understand what the text is saying.

True Community Credit Union has been a longtime partner to JPS and SPA!

They have worked with in the schools to help build financial literacy healthy financial habits of saving money.

Jackson Saves

Jackson $aves is a free children’s savings account program designed to assist with education and training expenses after high school. Incoming kindergarteners are eligible to enroll by opting into the program, as part of their kindergarten enrollment process.

All kindergarteners who opt into the program will receive a $50.00 opening deposit into their Jackson $aves account (based on the availability of funds). Students can save for their future at any TRUE Community Credit Union Branch location and at any student branch location. In addition, students can earn incentives to help grow their account.

Link to enrollment form here

Student-Run Credit Union Program

So what exactly is a student-run credit union?

Well it's exactly how it sounds — a credit union run by students! It functions similarly to our other credit union branches, however, they focus more on deposits, the occasional car payment and the rare withdrawal. They are designed to serve students, teachers, and staff at participating schools. Pretty cool, huh?

TRUE Community Credit Union offers student-run credit union branches at many area schools, providing a unique, interactive way for students to learn about saving money and making good financial choices. To participate, students need to have a savings account with TRUE Community Credit Union. See our Youth Savings Account.

Students with a Jackson $aves account can also use our student branches.

8:40 - 3:42 start/end

8:45 - 9:35 5th grade specials

9:40 - 10:30 -Kinder Specials

10:35 - 11:25- 4th grade specials

11:25 - 12:05-specials lunch

12:05-12:55- specials plan

12:55-1:45 1st grade specials

1:50 - 2:40 2nd grade specials

2:45 - 3:35 3rd grade specials

3:35-3:42

Students arriving after 8:45 will need to be signed in by a parent in the office

Dismissal messages must be received NO LATER than 2:00, or we CANNOT guarantee your child will receive the message.

The Sharp Park Academy PTO is a diligent and dedicated parent group who are committed to supporting the school through volunteerism, fundraising and promotion. The PTO meets monthly in the media center at 6:00, and child care is provided during meetings. Our PTO officers are:

• Megan Green - President
• Sarah Riddle - Vice president
• Ashley Booth- Treasurer
• Lauren Zessin- Secretary

There are so many ways to get involved at Sharp Park, and your support benefits everyone! We have many volunteer opportunities that range from weekly, one time, and seasonal. Right around the corner we have Spabstacle which is the PTO's only fundraiser.Every week, we have popcorn popping on Wednesday. We have Mileage club in the spring. During the spring we have our annual book fair that runs solely on volunteer power. We also have several other day by day volunteer opportunities including picture day, PBIS days, Individual classroom help, teacher appreciation committee and reading buddies. There are also other activities that will arise through out the year. Please be sure to complete an Ichat form to get your volunteer clearance!

PTO meeting dates for the 23-24 school year:

March 4

April 9

May 19

Are you traveling over summer break? Check out these airline, hotel & other travel gift cards available through RaiseRight!! The % Earned listed for each one is how much of the face value comes back to the SPA PTO!

We will be doing one final batch gift card order that will be delivered to the school for pickup. Download the app and create your account to get started. You can either set up your bank account as payment or pay with a credit card at checkout (there is a small transaction fee depending on which payment method selected (bank account or credit card only).

Submit orders through the app by this Sunday (May 29) for any physical gift card that you’d like shipped to the school. We will place the order Monday and will notify families when gift cards are available for pickup in the office.

To sign up:

SPA PTO is signed up with Shop With Scrip and it’s an easy way to help boost our PTO bank account! Buy eGift Cards any time for immediate use electronically or purchase physical gifts cards to give as gifts or use yourself. Some Physical gift cards are ship-to-home eligible and can be ordered anytime (small shipping fee). eGift cards and ship-to-home eligible gift cards can be purchased all year so a great way to help the PTO during the summer too.

We can do batch orders that are sent to the school if we have a large enough order to cover the shipping. Pay with your bank account or credit card at checkout & submit your physical gift card orders through your account. Watch for ordering dates throughout the school year.

Set up your account on a computer or your smartphone. Link your bank account or pay with credit card at check out. *No checks or payments to the school.

The rebates earned go to the PTO account.

Sign up with our enrollment code:

7CL988A673L55

Download the app on your phone:

[https://www.raiseright.com/](https://www.raiseright.com/)

To sign up via the website, use this link:

[https://shop.shopwithscrip.com/Login/Enroll...](https://shop.shopwithscrip.com/Login/Enroll...)

Thank you for supporting the Sharp Park PTO!

Good News! You don't have to wait for the PTO yearly spirit wear order to get your Sharp Park Uniform approved clothing!

See the link here to order:

https://sideline.bsnsports.com/schools/michigan/jackson/sharp-park-academy

We will be sending home the healthy meal policies voa email next week becausewe are seeing many food items coming in lunches that are not allowed under our healthy meal guidelines. Please do not send pop and other sugary sweets in excess for lunch!

Please make sure your child's personal items are labeled with their name and room number! This helps us to indetify lost items and reunite them with their owners! This also prevents our lost and found from overflowing! Jackets, backpacks, water bottles and lunch boxes can all be easily reunited with lost owners more easily when labeled. Parents are also welcome to come look for lost and misplaced items in the lost and found in the morning before school or after school. Please sign into the office before going through the double doors.

Our English Language Arts Average was 48% which was equal to the state proficiency rate, but our math scores were at 42% while the state average was 35%. The graph represents the combines math, ELA, science and social studies scores from grades 3-5. While the Mstep was optional SPA tested a minimum of 90% of our students.

If your child is riding district busses, please be aware that at this time, masks for all riders are required. If you were a cohort C student last year, or have registered late, or have not recieved your route information, please check the link to locate route information.

Route information can also be located here:

https://www.jpsk12.org/domain/21

For Transportation questions, please call 517-841-2180.

Please be aware that for new enrollments or new bussers it takes 24-48 hours to get a route assignment.

The JPS website and App are the best locations to get information about calendars, menus, contact information and other events.

The district website is here: https://www.jpsk12.org/

The school website is here: https://www.jpsk12.org/sharppark

The district Directory of contacts is here: https://www.jpsk12.org/Page/132

You can also download the app from google play or the app store. This is a quick easy way to get not only all the information on the district website but up to the minute messaging, including school cancellations and events.

Sharp Park Academy had many opportunities for parents to get involved at school! Some areas where we can always use an extra set of hande includes:

• Monthly PBIS celebrations
• Popcorn Wednesdays
• Library assistants
• Mileage club
• Viking Card/newsletter helper
• Reading buddies
• Field trip Chaperones (if allowed to have field trips this year!)
• Lock in supervision
• Spabstacle help
• Reading month activities & book fair
• Homecoming parade float design & decorate
• Safe Routes to School

Another great way to be involved is by joining in on our monthly PTO meetings!

Reminder that the SPA student dress code reqiures closed toed shoes. Sandals with open toes present an opportunity for injury on the playground!

Our Viking Values are character traits we teach students that thelp them be their best at school each day. When students are caught showing one of these traits they are given a Viking card. We collect these in the office each week, publish the list of all the kids who recieved a Viking card through the week in the weekly Viking Voice, and we draw names on Fridays for a special treat from Mrs. Lusby.

Taher food services has the Food4life app available on the app store and google play that will allow parents and families to more than just the menu for the school. It will give you dietary information, nutritional information, potential allergens and updates when the menu changes.

Sometimes when meals are planned it is based on expected deliveries and from time to time items can't be filled. For example this week the menu said burgers, but the patties were not available, so they went with ground meat and changed to sloppy joe.

Principal- Jasper Lusby

Secretary- Dawn Rigelman

Counselor- Lauren Colip

link to website

QR code to private family only SPA PTO facebook page