McClatchey Messenger

Welcome back to another great week at McClatchey!

Can you believe we’ve already reached the 100th day of school? Time is flying! I hope you and your family had a fun weekend enjoying the Super Bowl (and of course, the commercials). This is a short week for our students, as we have a staff development day on Friday, followed by a well-deserved holiday on Monday—enjoy the four-day weekend!

There are a few important updates in this newsletter, including a message from Mr. Pennington regarding recent behavior trends and ways you can support us at home. You’ll also find details on upcoming after-school tutoring opportunities—if you’re interested in having your child participate, please reach out to their homeroom teacher.

Our Destination Imagination teams represented us well in Waxahachie over the weekend, and I can’t wait to hear more about their experiences when I return to campus. If you have any pictures from the event, please send them my way so we can celebrate these hardworking students and include their achievements in the yearbook.

As we head into the spring semester, students will have many opportunities to demonstrate their learning through various assessments. Our teachers are dedicated to preparing them for success, and we appreciate your partnership in encouraging students to stay engaged, ask questions, and seek help when needed. We are seeing tremendous growth across all grade levels—let’s keep the momentum going!

Thank you for sharing your amazing kids with us—it’s going to be another fantastic week!

Can you believe that we have been in school for 100 days? I can't wait to see all the costumes celebrating this milestone event on February 10th !

Hello McClatchey Families:

February and March are months where we a lot of fun things happen on campus. We want all students to get to participate in the activities planned. Please have a conversation with your kids about making good choices at school so that they get to be a part of all the fun things coming up. We have seen an uptick in placing hands on others as well as using inappropriate language toward others. Please partner with us as we counsel students on appropriate ways to deal with frustration that won't lead to consequences for themselves and others.

Additionally, our attendance has taken a hit due to all of the recent illnesses that have gone around the campus and community. We appreciate you keeping your children at home when they are ill and contagious. Please be sure you have communicated with our front office any time your child is out due to illness. A simple email to attendance.dme@midlothianisd.org can allow us to code the absences correctly. Thank you for all you do to help us remain in compliance and educate all McClatchey students!

This is the season for flus, strep infections and viruses to sweep through the school. We are sending lots of kiddos and staff home sick. Please remind your kids to wash their hands often while at school and if your child has a fever or has vomited, please do not send them to school. Our custodial staff is deep cleaning daily to try and stay ahead of these nasty germs.

To celebrate our AMAZING counselor, we are having a pajama day in her honor this Tuesday! Thank you Mrs. Chadwick for all you do for us each day!

Just a reminder that this Friday is a student holiday due to a staff development day for staff and we will all enjoy a holiday on Monday. See you Tuesday!

Do you have a staff member that you want to acknowledge for their efforts with your child? We have amazing teachers at McClatchey and they are doing great things with our kids each day. If you would like to acknowledge one of these amazing people, fill out this brief Google form and we will share the shout-outs with the staff each week. Nothing feels better than a positive affirmation, so feel free to shower our staff with your kind words!

https://forms.gle/H8BYETDz4qJ8hr589

Miss Hernandez has stepped into a role of first year teacher eager to learn and grow and is always so positive. My son adores his teacher and feels loved, cared for and appreciated every day in class!

I just wanted to take a minute to recognize Ms. Crews. My daughter is new to the school and Ms. Crews made her feel welcome right away. Additionally, she was flagged at the beginning of the year to need extra help reading. Throughout the year Ms. Crews has gone above and beyond with additional testing, providing extra reading assignments, and even simple sticky notes of words to practice. She has been a great communicator with me during this process. Last, she has not only helped her start to read but has instilled confidence in her throughout the process. I am so thankful for Ms. Crews partnership and advocacy throughout the year.

Our CKH focus for February is "Kindness". We have included our CKH monthly newsletter that has lots of great ideas for you and some family conversation starters as well.

The Midlothian Education Foundation does so much to support the students and staff at McClatchey. They are hosting a Casino Night fundraiser later this month. I have included a link to their event information page.

We have been given some funds for student tutoring for students that might need it. This tutoring would be FREE for students and their families and will be done by our own DME staff members. If you are interested in after school tutoring for your child, please notify their homeroom teachers and we will put their name on a list. We do have limited space in these tutoring groups, but we would love to include as many kiddos as possible.

A reminder that the NEW lunch visitors procedures will be starting this week.

Change #1 - the only people that will be allowed to eat lunch with your child in the cafeteria are people listed in our Skyward system. Please know that this policy is not new to MISD. It was brought to my attention very late last year that all other campuses were following this policy and that we should have been following it as well. I understand the reasoning behind the policy due to custody concerns and just general safety so that every parent knows exactly who has access to their child while they are in our care. I know this change is not going to be easy and it is almost impossible to think of all the people that may want to eat lunch with your child in order to add them into Skyward. This will prove especially problematic if you have someone who wants to just “drop in”. Please know that they will not be allowed to eat with your child if they are not listed in Skyward. I

Change #2 - not allowing friends to join you at the tall tables at lunch. Not allowing friends at the tables is a new MISD policy. As a district, there were parents who called and had concerns about their children coming home and talking about eating lunch with some random person that the parents did not know or children being given foods that their parents did not approve of, etc. This was a large enough concern at the district level to necessitate the need for a safety policy for all campuses. We want you to come and visit and have a great lunch with your kids, but their friends will not be allowed to join you at the tall tables.

Please know that I understand that these changes are going to be uncomfortable for a bit as we all adjust, but I appreciate your understanding of our need to follow safety protocols and keep all kids safe.

We understand that sometimes things come up and may require you to need to make changes to your child's daily transportation. We are utilizing last year's process for you to notify the campus of any transportation changes.

• There will be a permanent link to a Google Form on our DME web page. This link will be the ONLY way to notify the campus of your changes. https://forms.gle/z2UH8BixzjBnSY9o7
• We will stop checking the form for changes at 2:15 each day. Please know that dismissal is very hectic as we try to get 645+ kids home. It takes time to organize all the changes and get notifications to teachers, so we cannot be processing changes after the 2:15 deadline.
• We will NOT be utilizing the office emails this year for notifications. You are free to call to verify that your change from the Google Form was received, but we will not be accepting emails for dismissal changes.

Please assist us by having solid transportation plans for your child. It gets very confusing for your children and our staff if transportation changes occur too frequently.

Our PTO has compiled a list of Room Moms, Teacher's Favorite Things and PTO Board Members Contact Information.

https://dmeroomparent2425.glide.page/dl/d0a5f4

Student enrollment and registration will be completed online only.

New Student Enrollment

Student Registration
All students, including returning students and newly enrolled students, must complete student registration every school year.

Visit https://bit.ly/3PaekmS to apply for the Free and Reduced Lunch Program today!

If your child plans on eating breakfast, lunch or purchasing cafeteria snacks, they need a My School Bucks account. Please visit this link to set up a lunch account for your child.

https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/getmain.action?clientKey=&requestAction=home

Website: https://mcclatchey.misd.gs/
Location: 6631 Shiloh Road, Midlothian, TX, USA
Phone: 469-856-6600
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/McclatcheyES/