PCMS Weekly Update

We hope everyone had a great week and was able to attend one of the Art Shows and musical performances on Thursday and Friday night. We wanted to take a moment to tell you how proud we are of our Pirates who participated in this year's musical, The Addams Family, Jr.! They did such an incredible job and were absolutely amazing! We also want to thank Mr. Schofer and Ms. Holland, who worked countless hours coaching, guiding, and encouraging our young actors and actresses, and you saw the result of their work with those wonderful performances! Also, we want to recognize Mrs. Rackin for all of her work in organizing the Art Show - the work of her and her students was equally impressive! The pieces our Pirate artists put on display were outstanding! Great job all around!!

We're inching closer to assessment season where our Pirates get to Show What They Know! Year End Assessments. We're coming for you 🫵!!

From all of us at PCMS, have a wonderful holiday weekend! GO PIRATES!!

NJHS Gaga Ball Tournament - 1st-Owen Rowles, 2nd-Haddon Newsome, & 3rd-Christian Carney

Thanks for supporting the Platte County Health Department 'Back to School' Backpack Fund.

Our APEX Color Battle Fundraiser was a huge success! Thank you to all the volunteers who helped out, as well as all the students who raised money!

Here’s a quick recap of our Pirates in action from this past week.

Swim: Wednesday the swim team competed against KC Central and Raytown. It is always fun swimming at our home pool and hosting other teams. As we finish up our season we are seeing so much improvement since day 1. The coaches are pushing the swimmers to swim in events that challenge them and they are rising to the occasion.

Some highlights from the meet:

Amelia Trainer - 2nd Place 50 free

Khloe Niehaus - 1st Place 100 free and 2nd in the 50 Backstroke

Delayna Noller with an amazing time drop in both her 50 free and 50 backstroke!

Our Girls 200 free relay consisting of Carson Vorbeck, Corbin Williams, Shae Sipes, and Amy Guzman came in 2nd place.

Boys 2nd place 200 Free Relay with Callen Marchisio, Gavin Lister, and Eli Ricapa.

Next Thursday we are back at Gladstone for our last and final meet against NKC, Raytown, ISD, KCPS, and Belton. It is always a fun and big swim meet. Hope you can come out and watch them swim.

Track: Our track team had three meets this week:

8th Grade went to Paul Kinder Middle School in Blue Springs, and we had several athletes place. However, no results have been provided to us yet.

7th Grade went to Kearney for a Ribbon Meet. We had three 1st place finishes, two 2nd place finishes, and five 3rd place finishes. We also had a lot of athletes earn ribbons.

7th and 8th grade both went to South Valley Middle School in Liberty where we had seven 1st place finishes, four 2nd place finishes, and three 3rd place finishes

Musical: The musical students' talents shone on Wednesday and Thursday night! Their hard work and dedication truly paid off. Everyone that attended the Addams Family Musical was incredibly impressed!

The CharacterDare is a heart workout, inviting students and adults to practice kindness, patience, and respect with themselves and others. These school-wide challenges encourage staff and students to put character into action, fostering personal growth and positively impacting school culture.

This Week's CharacterDare is: Compliment Sandwich (see below).

Spring Reminder about the Dress Code Policy. As the weather gets nicer, we need to make sure we continue to adhere to our policy.

The Board of Education expects student dress and grooming to be neat, clean, and in good taste so that each student may share in promoting a positive, healthy, and safe atmosphere within the school district.

However, student dress and grooming will be the responsibility of the individual and parents/guardians, within the following guidelines:

Allowed

• Tops: All Shirts(t-shirts, sweaters, tank tops, sweatshirts, etc.) must cover the belly button and cover private parts/undergarments.

• Bottoms: All pants ( jeans, ripped jeans, sweatpants, shorts, skirts, dresses, leggings, yoga pants, etc.) must cover private parts/undergarments.

• Hats and head coverings: If headwear negatively impacts the school environment, teachers and/or administrators will have the right to have students remove them.

• Shoes/sandals- must be worn at all times

Not Allowed

• No sheer or mesh clothing, undershirts/tanks are considered undergarments.

• Any clothing that promotes, displays, or symbolizes statements of hate, discrimination, violence/weapons, illegal activity, profanity, sexual innuendos, alcohol/tobacco/ drugs, weapons, or threatens health and safety

• Wearing or carrying a blanket

If out of the dress code or when, in the judgment of the principal, a student's appearance or mode of dress does not comply with the above criteria, the student may be required to make modifications.

Note: Additional dress guidelines may be imposed upon students participating in certain extracurricular activities.

Take Your Child to Work Day is Thursday, April 24. Below is a permission slip that needs to returned to school by Monday, April 21st so the absence for this event can be a verified absence. Please return this completed form to Val Gillilan at gillilan.val@pcr3schools.org and/or Ali Hill at hill.alexandra@pcr3schools.org so student's absence can be recorded as verified for this day.

Tickets are now on sale on the PowerSchool Parent Portal. If you are using the app on your phone, please select the "More" icon at the bottom of your Dashboard screen. Then you will select the "Forms" icon to find the "PCMS 8th Grade Formal Dance" Form. If you are on a desktop, you will just need to select the "Forms" tab from the Home screen.

While you are filling out the order form online, you will be able to pay the $7 for the dance via debit/credit card.

To purchase tickets at the door, you will need to pay $10 in cash.

Each year on the last week of school, we host a FUN day for PCMS 8th Graders to celebrate their achievements in middle school. The PTO provides lunch and dessert, special treats and help offset costs for a class shirt. Every 8th Grader participates and every 8th Grader receives a t-shirt!

We are looking for sponsors to help us provide another great experience for these students. If you business is willing to help please reach out to plattecitymspto@gmail.com.

Thank you in advance!!

Platte County School District, in partnership with The Missouri Department of Conservation, will offer Hunter Education during our Middle School Summer School session. Students will meet with their instructor every day for the duration of summer school. As a reminder, summer school is held during June, with half-day sessions. Students age 11 and above are eligible to participate. For addition questions, please contact Dr. Duff, Director of Secondary Education: duff.aaron@pcr3schools.org

Parents of existing Kindergarten through 11th grade students: Yesterday, you should have received an email to complete re-enrollment for your returning student. If you haven't already done so, please complete online re-enrollment forms and electronic proof of residency by Tuesday, May 27, via your PowerSchool Parent Portal Account and clicking on the "Returning Student Registration 2025-26" link. If you need assistance, please contact your child's school. Please note: This must be done via a browser, not on the Parent Portal app. If using your phone, please turn your phone horizontally.

• Platte County School District is excited to announce that Summer School will be held June 2-30, 2025 (please note updated dates). All Platte County R-3 students are invited to attend and continue to grow as learners throughout the summer! The purpose of PCR-3’s Summer School Program is to provide an experience that is relevant, rigorous, and engaging, based on individual learner needs, in a safe and caring environment. Click here for more information about Summer School at PCR-3.
  

  
  

  • Parents of existing students currently in grades PreK-7 interested in K-8 Summer School: You can now enroll for 2025 Summer School via the Forms on PowerSchool Parent Portal (via a browser or the app). Please complete by May 16, 2025.
  • Incoming Kindergarten students will be able to complete summer school registration after they complete regular enrollment. Click here for 2025-26 New Student Enrollment. (Kindergarten Kickoffs will be held April 15 and parents will learn how to enroll your kindergartner in Summer School).
  • High School summer school program enrollment began April 14, 2025 via Parent Portal.

Middle School students will partner with the Missouri Department of Conservation to explore real world ecological issues on our campus, as well as participate in a Make48 Innovation experience.

• Missouri Department of Conservation: Students will be examining issues related to water and its impact on our land. Teachers will guide students through a project-based experience with the Missouri Department of Conservation, called "Unhooked."
• Make48 Innovation Experience: Students will work in teams for this innovation challenge, and will engage with a real-world client to work through a design problem and ultimately create a solution including a small-scale prototype, a one-minute marketing or informational video, and an informational sales sheet.

Click here for details on high school summer school offerings including traditional courses, credit recovery courses, and driver's education. Sign up via Parent Portal starting April 14.

We are happy to announce that we are again partnering with Miles of Smiles to host in school dental services for students in the Platte County R-3 School District.

Miles of Smiles is a full service dental program that provides FREE comprehensive dental care to those who qualify. Whether you have insurance or not, qualifying children receive comprehensive dental services at no cost. You might be surprised at how flexible the income guidelines actually are. For example, if your annual family income is below $62,000 for a family of 4, your child will qualify for services.

If your child participates in the program, their dental care will be provided on site, in the school, by a Missouri licensed dentist and dental team. These services include, but are not limited to, cleanings, x-rays, fillings, crowns, pulpotomies, and extractions. Miles of Smiles also offers follow-up appointments year-round at their office, Monday through Friday.

The dental clinic will be in our district from May 5th to May 20th. Your student could be seen at any time during that time frame.

For more information about Miles of Smiles and to take advantage of this opportunity, please complete the online registration form below.

The deadline to sign up is May 2, 2025!

If you need a paper copy sent home with your student, please call or email me, and I will be happy to do that for you.

Open to current 8th, 9th, and 10th grade students.

Cheer clinics: 5:30- 7:00 pm, PCHS North gym, May 5-7

Cheer Tryouts: Starting at 3:30pm, PCHS North gym, May 8

The high school robotics team will be holding tryouts for incoming freshmen in the new part of the high school from 3:15-5:00pm on May 20th - 22nd. (Enter through the main doors at the bus loop, Entrance 6. The robotics room is to the left.)

In order to try out, you will need to do the following:

1. Sign up for tryouts on this Google Form. You can sign up for multiple days if you want to present in two different areas (one each day).

2. Fill out this Questionnaire as part of the application process.

3. Get 2 teacher recommendations. Please send/share this Teacher Recommendation Form with 2 of your teachers. **Ask that they complete it by Friday, May 9th.

Below are the guidelines for each tryout:

Building: To demonstrate your building skills, you will be asked to reconstruct a small structure using typical Robotics parts.
Programming: You will program a simple autonomous and/or drive program that will be tested out on a bot.
Driving: You will be asked to demonstrate your driving skills through a predetermined course on the field.

Notebooking: You will have a short interview about your style of notebooking, and if you have previous notebooking experience, please present your best pages from your notebook. This may be shared in one of three ways: 1) email a selection of pages to assel.wendy@pcr3schools.org, or 2) digitize your entire notebook and email it to assel.wendy@pcr3schools.org, or 3) bring your physical notebook with you to tryouts.

If you have any questions, please email Coach Assel (assel.wendy@pcr3schools.org) or Coach Perkins (perkins.kyle@pcr3schools.org).

We’re going to Norway, Denmark, and Sweden in Summer 2027, and you’re invited!

We’re excited to tell you more about the trip we’re planning with EF Tours, our educational travel partner. Please be sure to register for this info session to be considered for this opportunity: https://rsvp.eftours.com/cxtv4gw

When students travel, they expand their knowledge of the world around them, discover more about themselves, and grow more confident. These skills are critical for creating the global citizens of tomorrow, and we would love to have your student join us on this adventure.

In this info session, we’ll talk about:

• How this opportunity will benefit your student
• What we’ll see and do on our trip
• Everything that’s included in this experience
• How your child can earn academic credit
• How we’re keeping this safe and affordable
• How to enroll on this trip (before it fills up!) during EF’s risk-free enrollment period

There are limited spots on this trip, so we would love to have you attend this meeting to learn more about this exciting opportunity!

--Daria Opanasenko-Davydova

The Board approved the following make up day plan to address our 10 inclement weather days to date this school year:

• January 7, 8, 9, and 10, and February 5, 2025 - Inclement Weather Virtual Learning Days (do not need to be made up)
• February 12, 2025 - To be made up on Monday, April 14, 2025 (previously a no school day)
• February 13, 2025 - To be made up on Tuesday, May 27, 2025
• February 18, 2025 - To be made up on Wednesday, May 28, 2025
• February 19, 2025 - To be made up on Thursday, May 29, 2025, a 3-hour early release
• February 20, 2025 - The Board has waived this day. With this waived day, PCR-3 would still be at the 169-day calendar required to receive full salary funding from the state.

Please note, with this plan, May 23 will now be a full school day. With this make up plan, we are also shifting Summer School Dates to June 2-30, 2025.

You're invited to our Community Advisory Meeting on April 21 from 6:00-8:00 PM, starting in the PCHS Cafeteria! All families are welcome to explore a showcase of Real-World Learning experiences across our district, at all grade levels. (You do not have to be a Community Advisory member to attend.)

Students will be stationed throughout the Cafeteria and classroom wing of the PCHS Phase 1 rebuild, sharing their projects and experiences. Families and Community Advisory members can visit with students, learn about their work, and provide feedback. Some stations will offer items for purchase, so be sure to bring your wallet! 💵💳

We look forward to seeing you there!

Apr 22

• Track Meet @ Excelsior Springs High School, 4 pm
  

Apr 24

• Take Your Child to Work Day
• Champs Swim Meet vs North Kansas City @ Platte City YMCA, 4 pm
  
• Home Track Meet @ PCHS, 4 pm
  

Apr 25

• 8th Grade Dance @ PCHS North Gym, 6 pm

May 2

• NJHS Meeting, 7:20 am

Pirates R.O.C.K. (Raising Outstanding Character Kids) is a program designed to surround our families with examples of strong character traits through school experiences, at home, and reinforced in their community. Each month our community focuses on a specific character trait and students are recognized for exhibiting these traits: Self Confidence, Pride, Responsibility, Citizenship, Compassion, Individuality, Self Control, Integrity, Perseverance, Respect, Honesty, and Cooperation.

April's #PiratesROCK trait is PERSEVERANCE: giving your best effort regardless of obstacles & rejection.

Leader in Me Connections to PERSEVERANCE:

• Habit 1: Be Proactive - You are in charge of you.
• Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind - Know what you want before you do it.
• Habit 4: Think win-win - Find ways where everyone can win.
• Habit 6: Synergize - Work together to do better.

Character Strong Connections to PERSEVERANCE:

• Self-Management, Commitment

Welcome to Platte City Middle School where we are Building Learners of Tomorrow!

Email: tomlinson.kristie@pcr3schools.org
Website: http://www.pcms.plattecountyschooldistrict.com
Location: 900 Pirate Drive, Platte City, MO, 64079
Phone: (816)858-2036
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plattecitymiddleschool/