On Monday, October 21 we celebrated our students from

Each year our Gray Hawk community sells Major Saver cards with some of the proceeds coming back to our school. We were awarded a check this week from the Basehor Linwood Education Foundation for nearly $1700. These funds will be used to support our Gray Hawk learning community and staff. A big shout out to our incredible community and the Education Foundation!

Really Excellent Decisions (RED) Ribbon Week is October 28 - 31st. Please check out the special days below.

The Fall parties are on Thursday, October 31. We will have the parade first and then head into the classrooms for the parade. If you do not want to be delayed, you MUST do 2 things: 1) PRE-REGISTER for the event at the following link or by clicking on the graphic below. Secondly, you must already have your ID scanned into the Raptor system. Please understand we are grateful when our families scan in ahead of time and remember you only need to do it one time to be in the system, BUT the PRE-REGISTRATION is what allows us to have your name tag printed off. You will be sent a confirmation email. If you do not receive this email (check your spam as well), then you are not pre-registered. If you do not pre-register, you will need to wait to have a sticker printed off which will delay your entry. This sign up will be closed at 5:00 pm on Wednesday, October 30.

Our school will be administering a Social Emotional Learning Survey during the month of November. The same survey will again be administered in the spring. The survey tool, xSEL, is taken by students in grades K-12 and takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. The xSEL Early Elementary assessment will be given to students in grades K-2. The xSEL Survey will be administered to students in grades 3-12. By asking students and teachers to reflect on social-emotional learning (SEL) through surveys, districts can gather actionable data to prioritize supports. The xSEL Survey helps educators measure and improve SEL for students in five areas:

1. Self Awareness: Being able to understand one’s emotions, strengths and weaknesses.

2. Self Management: Ability to understand how to manage strong thoughts and feelings to achieve a goal.

3. Social Awareness: Understanding and learning from others’ feelings and perspectives.

4. Relationship Skills: Interacting positively with others to form and maintain relationships.

5. Responsible Decision Making: Setting and pursuing positive goals, and making positive decisions.

This survey is a tool for us to help measure the needs of our students in social and emotional growth, as outlined in the KSDE Social Emotional Character Development standards. Kansas Educators Systems Accreditation (KESA) requires that social-emotional factors be measured locally, to be a fully accredited district. We believe this survey is a valuable tool to help us provide support for students that may show a need. The measures are checked to meet research standards of validity and reliability. There are also positive correlations between these SEL measures and important student outcomes, including GPA, test scores, behavior, and attendance.

Other Important Items:

1. Participation is voluntary and your child may decline to participate.

2. xSEL may be completed using a computer or tablet, and will take place during the school day.

3. Participation is important. This data is extremely helpful in identifying needs and providing timely support and resources.

To opt-in your child to the xSEL Survey, please fill out the form here.

See attached for K-2 and 3-12 survey questions.

If you have additional questions related to this survey, please contact Miss Hubbard or Dr. Springer.

Thank you!

Dr. Springer

You are cordially invited to the Gray Hawk Veterans Day Celebration on Monday, November 11 at 3:00 pm. If you would like to recognize loved ones that have served (or are currently enlisted), a red or blue Veterans Day Hero sheet will be sent home. Please fill this out and send it back with a picture and we will have these on display.

As per our protocol, if you plan on attending the Veterans Day celebration, we ask that you PRE-REGISTER. When you pre-register, that allows us to already have your visitor sticker printed off and will not delay your entry. You MUST have your ID scanned into the system AND preregister at the link below in order for a sticker to be ready for you. Once you sign up, you will get a confirmation email. If you do not get a confirmation email, you are NOT pre-registered and will need to wait in line.

RSVP FOR THIS EVENT HERE

Please take a moment to complete the Gray Hawk Climate Survey at the following link. We ask that you complete the survey by October 27. Thank you for your feedback!

At their October board meeting, our Basehor-Linwood Board of Education approved an inclement weather two hour delayed start option for our schools.

In preparation for snow day calls, please remember that you are responsible for keeping your first and second notification phone numbers up to date in Skyward, so now would be a great time to double check your information in your Skyward account (under the Skylert tab at the left)! Please contact your building secretary if you need assistance making any changes.

Living in Kansas, we know that we must deal with winter weather of all varieties. Please know that the District is always focused on the safety of our students and staff, and will make a judgment call based on the severity of the situation.

School will not be dismissed because of weather conditions that arise during the school day, if it is feasible for students and staff to remain safely at school. If a situation should arise and an early dismissal is needed, the Skylert phone notification system will be activated.

In the event winter weather makes for potential hazardous driving early in the morning, the District has implemented a two hour delayed start procedure. In hard to reach areas, Easton Bus drivers will communicate specific areas for snow route pickup. Schools will finish the day at their regular time, and after school bus routes will follow their normal afternoon schedules. After school activities will be determined by the school with notification to parents following.

If adverse weather conditions exist before school begins, and we decide to cancel school, or in the event of a two hour delay, we will utilize phone, social media, web site and television station notifications to parents.

Attention parents! We are so excited to plan for the 2025-2026 school year! In an effort to effectively plan, please complete this form if you will be enrolling your child in kindergarten. Our Parent Informational Meeting will be in the spring. You will be given information prior to this meeting, so completing this form will help us to get all communication to you. THIS IS ONLY FOR BASEHOR-LINWOOD RESIDENTS, THIS IS NOT FOR OUT OF DISTRICT ENROLLMENT.

Please keep up the Dipstick and Cards for a Cause sales this week. Fundraising ends Monday 10/28/24 with forms and money being due that day. Check out the PTO Facebook page for color images and more information.

Lynnmark Mercantile is offering a 15% donation back to the school for ordering your Thanksgiving holiday pies through them. Please check out what they have to offer below.

Email: dspringer@usd458.org
Website: http://ghes.usd458.org/
Location: 16000 Garden Parkway, Basehor, KS, USA
Phone: (913) 662-7170
Twitter: @grayhawk458