Dragon News for Families

School Hours: 7:30 am - 2:00 pm

School Phone: (816) 359-4510

Principal: Tara Kalis

School Based Therapist: Matthew Fey

Administrative Assistant: Amy Rockey

• January 6th - First Day of 2nd Semester
• January 20th - No School Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• February 10th - 13th - Parent Teacher Conference Week
• February 12th - Dr. Kimbrel Community Update at 5:30
• February 14th - No School For Jones Center
• February 17th - No School Presidents Day
• March 20th - End of Third Quarter
• March 21st - No school for students
• March 24th - 28th - Spring Break

Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, February 12th at 5:30. Superintendent Dr. Mike Kimbrel will be holding a community forum in conjunction to our parent teacher conferences to provide a state of the district update for all families. This would be a great time to schedule your parent teacher conference and hear what Dr. Kimbrel has to say.

Please remember that the arrival time for Russell Jones is 7:30. Prior to that time, there is no adult supervision for students. Students are tardy if they arrive after 7:45. If your child will be absent, please contact the school office by 8:00am.

If your child is going to be late or absent, please let the office know by 8:00 each morning. The BEST way to do this is to enter the absence through the Parent Portal. This makes it so you don't even need to call in! A tutorial is linked below. Of course, if you would like to call and speak to the office, you can reach us at 816-359-4510.

As we enter the flu and cold season, there may be a need for your child to have medication at school. Please remember the following guidelines regarding medication at school:

1. All medication must be brought in by the parent/guardian. Please do not send any medication in your student's backpack.
2. All medication must have a signed permission form from the parent/guardian before the nurse can administer it to the student. These are available in the Nurse's Office.
3. The nurse cannot send medication home with your student.
4. All medication needs to be in its original container and must be un-expired.
5. Park Hill does not provide any medication for students.
6. All the above guidelines apply to cough drops.
7. Please call the Nurse if you have any questions (816-359-4514).

If you need access to services to support your family, please reach out to our School Based Therapist, Matthew at (816) 359-6914 to seek more information or access the link below.

The Park Hill School District PTA runs a clothing center that provides free, gently used clothing, plus new socks and underwear to district students. Please visit our Facebook page for updated information.

The PTA Clothing Center serves all Park Hill School District students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The PTA asks you to bring proof that you are currently enrolled in the Park Hill district. This could be a student ID, dated letter from a principal or social worker, class schedule, or enrollment form. You can also show us the district portal with student information in it.

The Park Hill Clothing Closet is available to all Park Hill Families on the following dates and times during the 2024-25 school year:

• January 7th & 21st 10am-12pm and 5pm-7pm
• February 4th & 18th 10am-12pm and 5pm-7pm
• March 4th & 18th 10am-12pm and 5pm-7pm
• April 1st & 15th 10am-12pm and 5pm-7pm
• May 6th 4pm-6pm

2024-2025 Family Benefits (Free and Reduced) applications will be available after August 1, 2024. We encourage families to complete and submit an application for free and reduced price meals to see if you might qualify. See information about meal charges on the menus and nutrition homepage. A new application must be completed each school year. Online applications are available through the SchoolCafe portal and is the most efficient way to submit an application. Applications are also available in a variety of languages (please see the link to this web site in the box to the right - English, Spanish and USDA Translated Applications).

This could qualify you for other benefits and services within the Park Hill School District.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to our school social worker, Matthew Fey, 816-359-6914.

The Jones Center uses Positive Behavior Intervention & Support (PBIS) as a systems approach to establishing the whole-school social culture and intensive individual behavior supports needed for schools to achieve social and academic gains while minimizing problem behavior for all students.

PBIS has helped us decrease behavior, improve our school climate, and overall provides us a safer school community and allows more time for meaningful instruction to occur. Students positive behaviors are reinforced through Dragon Dollars. Students get to use the Dragon Dollars they earn to purchase items from our school store. If you have questions about our PBIS implementation, I encourage you to ask your student about it, then follow up with their classroom teacher to learn more!

The Matrix below identifies the expectation for each area in our building. The expectations focus on:

• Being Safe
• Being Respectful
• Being Responsible

Park Hill School District uses Infinite Campus as our student information system. You can access your child’s essential school information and district information quickly! This includes Attendance, Grades, Schedule, Bus Information, Technology Fees and School Communications.

Infinite Campus - Parent Portal

You can also use the FirstView® bus-tracking app, provided by our transportation provider, First Student. You can download the FirstView® app on your smartphone or use the app on your computer by visiting firstviewapp.com.

Using FirstView®, you can track your child’s bus in real-time, set up alerts to notify you when their bus is at a certain location, and you can link up to three email accounts. The app is password protected, to keep your child safe.

FirstView - Getting Started

Our employees are the real deal and the reason we are so successful. We would like to recognize them for all they do for our students. Each month, the district recognizes a pre-K or elementary teacher, a secondary teacher and a support staff member. Nominate an employee for this award by clicking the button below.

Student Hours: 7:30 am - 2:00 pm

Office Hours: 7:00 am - 3:00 pm

Principal: Dr. Tara Kalis, (816) 359-6305

Social Worker: Matthew Fey, (816) 359-6914