Patriot NewsFlash

It's Red Ribbon Week!

Monday, October 28

Wear Red

Tuesday, October 29

Hat Day

Wednesday, October 30

Wellness Wednesday

School-Wide Read In

Thursday, October 31

Book Character Parade 9:45-Bus Loop

Friday, November 1

Spirit & Hat Day

We are excited as we prepare to host Multicultural Night at VPE on November 21st from 5:30-7:00. We would love your help to bring aspects of many cultures to life for the students and families of our school community! We are looking for families or businesses who are interested in preparing food samples, sharing performances, or bringing artifacts from another culture to share with VPE families. If you or someone you know would like to help, please fill out this Google Form or contact Ms. Hall at andrea.hall@fayette.kyschools.us *Please know we don’t have a monetary budget for this event, so we are looking for those who are able to donate their time and talents. We appreciate your help!

The Veterans Park Elementary PTA knows that a strong partnership among our families, school leaders and community members is important to the success of our students and school. That’s why we are participating in the National PTA School of Excellence program, which grows partnerships between PTAs and schools to enrich the educational experience and overall well-being of all students.

We need your help! As part of the process outlined by National PTA, we are requesting feedback from families, administrators and teachers at two points in the school year—the beginning and the end. Using the community feedback, we will build an Excellence Action Plan to strengthen family-school partnerships.

Please take 5-10 minutes to reflect on your experience at this school and complete this survey. Please complete this survey by Friday, November 8th.

Here is the Link:

https://forms.gle/RVRBEgUrJ86g7CcGA

Fayette County Public Schools wants to help students explore their talents and refine their career interests before they graduate. That’s why we offer more than 30 magnet and school programs designed to foster skills in art, music, automotive maintenance, carpentry, emergency medical services, welding, engineering, and more.

If your student would benefit from these programs, we encourage you to attend our Innovation Showcase on Saturday, March 1, 2025 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Tates Creek High School. Showcase participants can browse resource tables and talk with teachers and staff from each of our available programs.

Applications for our magnet and school programs open on March 1, 2025 and must be completed by 11:59 p.m. on March 17, 2025. To learn more about our application process, visit our website. For general questions, please email Vee Pryor or call 859-422-0071.

Important Dates

• Oct. 21 - Nov. 29: Cognitive and achievement testing window
• Nov. 1 - Dec. 20: Visual and performing arts auditions window
• March 1 - Applications open
• March 17 - Application deadline
• March 31 (high) & April 1 (elementary and middle) -- notifications to families

We look forward to sharing more information with you about our Innovation Showcase and programs in the coming weeks.

VPE's PTA is looking for someone to do their annual taxes. If this is your area of expertise and you are willing to help out, please contact Lisa Amick, treasurer, at lisa.amick@uky.edu. Thank you in advance!

If your child is interested in participating in the 2024 Reflections contest, please see the attached information for more details as well as the entry form.

We are looking for volunteers to help run students to and from classrooms during our vision screening next month. Please use the following link to sign up to help volunteer: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0F4EAFAF28A1F58-52114000-vision

October is Bullying Prevention Month. Did you know that According to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 41% of Kentucky middle school students and 22% of high school reported being bullied in person and 29% of middle school students and 18% of high school students reported being bullied online. Click here to see KIP results for FCPS students surveyed in 2021 regarding bullying. Although majority of students reported being able to identify ways to report bullying and those ways being effective, bullying is still a problem in our schools.

Below are resources and information for students and families:

STOP Bullying One Pager

KDE- Bullying and Harassment

Dear FCPS Families:

We are thrilled to announce our new safety tracker — a website where you find up-to-date information on situations impacting the safety of the school community, emergency procedures, and more. Simply visit fcps.net/safety.

Providing a safe environment to work, learn, and grow is a priority for Fayette County Public Schools.

Since 2018, we have added 83 mental health specialists, doubled our number of police officers and school nurses, and secured every school entrance.

To learn more about safety improvements in our schools, watch this brief video.

We are grateful to everyone who makes the safety tracker possible and to those who help keep our schools safe.

• Did you know that FCPS does not provide medical coverage for student accidents that occur at school?
• Did you know Fayette County Public Schools offer parents a Voluntary/Optional Insurance Policy?
• This a great opportunity for families that do not have health coverage or for families that do have insurance to offset the cost of out-pocket expenses.

Insurance Coverages available are:

At-School Accident Only

24-hour Accident Only

Extended Dental

Head to the FCPS student accident page for more information.

VPE loves to have volunteers helping throughout the school day, attending field trips, and helping out in the building. Any and all adults accompanying a school group while on a field trip must first undergo and pass the background checks required for all FCPS volunteers through the volunteer application system. This applies to listed chaperones, volunteers, and anyone who travels separately to join the group at the respective venue. If you plan on coming to help in the building at any point in the future when allowed you will need to complete the following background check: Volunteer Application.

Parents don't need to be approved to eat lunch with their child, attend parent/teacher conferences or attend evening events. All other activities will require you to be an approved volunteer. These background checks are good for three years.

This year we will be offering PTA meetings on two platforms - in person and on Zoom. They are scheduled for the second Thursday of each month at 7:45 in the VPE Library or using the following Zoom link: https://fcps-net.zoom.us/j/99018941544

Did you know that our VPE newsletters in Smore can all be translated into many languages if needed. Simply click on the translate button at the top of this newsletter and choose your language.

Newsflash - Weekly SMORE newsletter will be emailed to families on Friday afternoons via Infinite Campus.

Twitter - @vpepatriot

Instagram - vpeinaction

Infinite Campus - Attendance, weather calls & more! https://fayetteky.infinitecampus.org/campus/portal/fayette.jsp