Congress Cougars,

What a great first semester! I am amazed at our building staff members and our student body. Did you know there are 392 instructional minutes in a school day? We set goals this year to reduce the number of instructional minutes lost to in-school suspensions or out-of-school suspensions, and we are ecstatic to share that compared to the 21-22 school year, we have reduced our numbers by 22,736! We have yet to finish the 2022 - 2023 school year, but just as we prepare our students to be college, career, and life ready, we can prepare them for a successful end to this calendar year.

The administration team cannot take full ownership of the shift in our culture because this is a building/community shift. Our students are doing a great job, and our staff members are as well. We ask our families to continue encouraging our students to be great! The classroom teachers and staff appreciate the calmness in the building daily. Remember, if our staff members are doing a great job, give them a shout-out.

We understand the cold and flu season is upon us, and we ask parents to monitor their students' temperature when they are not feeling well. If your students have a temperature of 100.4 or greater, please make arrangements to keep them home for the day. As the weather changes, we have seen more bedspreads and blankets in the building; unfortunately, those items are inappropriate for the learning environment. If your student is cold-natured, please consider the old-fashion long johns to help keep them warm.

Finally, we ended our second quarter on December 22, and our teachers provided several missing assignment interventions. Please encourage your student to submit assignments on time and parents/guardians continue to check Infinite Campus for missing assignments. The last week/day is not the best time to makeup a quarters worth of work. We hope everyone has a great vacation and returns to 3rd quarter ready to get back to work!! We are all looking forward to a wonderful start to the 2023 year! .

Blessings to all!

Dr. Smith

To the Parents of All Park Hill 8th Graders:

8th grade is an exciting time for all students, but it's even more exciting for 8th graders in the Park Hill School District because they can choose where they want to attend high school next year: they can opt to go to their home high school in their attendance area, or they can select LEAD Innovation Studio. LEAD is built on three pillars: project-based learning, mentorship, and self-directed learning. Our goal is to empower students and to prepare them for life beyond high school.

LEAD administrators will be visiting all middle schools in January to share information about our school with your students, but we're also hosting two information nights for parents and guardians who want to learn more about LEAD. If you wish to learn more about LEAD, please consider joining us on January 17th or January 24th. Both information sessions will start at 7:00 PM in the LEAD Commons.

LEAD's address is 7201 N Line Creek Pkwy, Kansas City, MO 64151. If you have any questions about our upcoming information nights, please reach out to our principal, Dr. Chris Early, at earlyc@parkhill.k12.mo.us.

Spread the word!!!

Foil your dinner plans and stop by the Chipotle at 8600 N Boardwalk Ave in Kansas City for our fundraiser on Wednesday, January 18 from 4:00pm - 8:00pm. We're raising money to support Congress Middle School PTA, so just download a flyer from the link below or mention the fundraiser at checkout and they'll donate 33% of the proceeds to the cause!

Click here for more details.

Can't wait to see you!

Make dinner a selfless act by joining us for a fundraiser to support Congress Middle School PTA. Come in to the Chipotle at 8600 N Boardwalk Ave in Kansas City on Wednesday, January 18th between 4:00pm and 8:00pm. Bring in this flyer, show it on your smartphone or tell the cashier you’re supporting the cause to make sure that 33% of event sales go to Congress PTA.

To order online: Use code VV24BFM in ‘promo’ field before checkout. Orders placed online or through the Chipotle app for pickup using this unique code will be counted. Remember, delivery orders or orders placed at a different time/location than the scheduled fundraiser will not count.

Congratulations to Congress Middle School Reading Teacher Mrs. Kara Spaeth for being nominated for the Park Hill Star Award.

Congratulations to Congress Middle School Assistant Head Custodian Mr. James Kruse for being nominated for the Park Hill Star Award.

Congratulations to Congress Middle School Special Education Teacher Ms. Kelsey Kumsher for being nominated for the Park Hill Star Award.

Our employees are the reason we are so successful here at Congress Middle School and the Park Hill School District, and the Park Hill School District would like to recognize us for all we do for our students.

The Park Hill Star award is awarded monthly to any staff member in the school district. Anyone can nominate an employee for this award by using the form below. In addition, please send a note of encouragement to our Congress Staff, letting them know you care.

Sometimes, negative comments are made directly to our staff members or posted on social media. We want to change that narrative! We want the positive vibes to outweigh the negative vibes. Please vote for one of our staff members or send a kind note to staff members for the entire month of December.

Winter months are upon us, and we've already experienced the first snow of the season. Below you will find links to our Alternative Modes of Instruction (AMI) schedules for teams. As we prepare our students for high school, we expect them to take responsibility for their learning. It may seem like they need help navigating different websites and learning platforms, but they always shine once given the opportunity. Some may take longer than others, but they all find a way. Our Congress kids are true ROCKSTARS!

We have been very busy in the Library Media Center! We have taught several lessons, including looking for reliable resources and a history breakout room. One of our favorite spaces in the library is our “refrigerator” where all students have the opportunity to post their accomplishments both in and out of school.

We love talking with students and hearing what they are proud of and what makes them happy. We are getting ready for a small Book of the Month Club starting in the 3rd Quarter. A few students from each team will be randomly chosen to participate, and they will have the opportunity to bring home a bag with a couple of books and a few treats from their favorite genre. At the end of the month, they will return the bag with the books and a form answering a few brief questions.

Wishing you and yours a restful winter break,

Mrs. Curtis and Mrs. Guinn

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We wrapped up a great month of activities with our students, from the choir, band, and orchestra concerts to a basketball tournament and finalizing with our PBIS student incentive on December 21st. This month was full of great celebrations.

On December 17th, we held our district spelling Bee at Park Hill High School. It was a success! The winner of our Park Hill Spelling Bee was Samuel Goodfriend (Lakeview). Sam also tied for 2nd place during last year’s district spelling bee. After the Bee, we acknowledged our top 12 5th and 8th-grade winners.

Please join me in congratulating these students.

TOP 12

1st place Samuel Goodfriend (Lakeview)

2nd place Boden Cumming (Walden)

3rd place Justin Woodland (Walden)

4th place Maclin Miller (Hopewell)

5th place Sydney Deering (Hawthorn)

6th place tie for Annay Bansal (Plaza) and Eleanor Reece (Lakeview)

8th place Charles Kriegel (English Landing)

9th place Spencer Cumming (Line Creek)

10th place tie Nato Dinka (Hawthorn), Sam Ballard (Congress), and Sophia Benezette (Renner)

Enjoy your time with family and friends and I look forward to seeing students back in January.

Sincerely,

Amber Kahler

Congress Families,

We have reached the mid-season mark for the 2022-23 basketball season. We look forward to seeing our families out and supporting our students.

Please look for more information, but we would like to have spirit nights on some of our home and away games. If you still need to check out our school store, please do so and order your Congress gear. Proceeds raised will go to support our programs.

Parents, this is also the perfect time to encourage your students to manage their grades. Failing grades will eliminate some students from participating in extracurricular activities.

Please check our school website, Get Involved at Congress, for all updated sports-related information.

Students seeking to participate in any of our sports this year must have a current physical and ImPACT test on file. All information related to our sports may be found on our school website under the Get Involved Tab. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to Assistant Principal Athletic Director Brian Van Horn (816) 359 – 4230.

The IMPACT test is valid for 2 years so if your athlete took it last year, they do not need to re-take it this year. Please have them double check if they are unsure.

We will frequently use our social media to send out reminders about important events and to share important information. Please like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter for updates.

We created Sprigeo so people would feel safer at school. When a person really needs help or there is a safety threat at school we hope you will step up and send in a report. Sending in a false report makes it harder for your school to help the people who really need it. If necessary you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. You can find out more about Sprigeo and the School District Safety Evaluation at Sprigeo.com. Thanks for using Sprigeo!

If you feel unsafe or know someone who feels unsafe, please report it here. After you fill out the form below, Sprigeo sends an email to a school administrator with all of the details from your report. You can also download one of our apps from the Apple Store or the Android Marketplace to submit a report.

Please report:

• Safety threats, bullying, harassment or intimidation at school
• Safety threats, bullying, harassment or intimidation outside of school
• Cyberbullying; Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc.
• Fights, drugs, alcohol or weapons at school
• Friends who talk about hurting themselves