Kanawha County Schools Newsletter

• Piedmont Elementary Carries on Halloween Tradition in Memory of Teacher
• SCMS Receives Save the Music Foundation Grant
• Meteorologist Dante Ricci Visits Kenna Elementary School
  
• Clendenin Elementary Students Gifted Winter Coats
• SCMS Students to Present ArtWalk Event in November
• Deer, Honeybees and Mushrooms: 3 Students Decorate Newest KRT Bus
• Elementary Students Receive Hands-On STEM Experience
• Nitro High School Students Selected as a 2024-2025 Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam
• Capito Brings 'Girls Rise Up' to Clendenin Elementary Students
• Holz Turns Pink for Teacher's Chemotherapy Completion
• First Time STEM Olympics Held at DuPont Middle
• Andrew Jackson Middle School Students Help Hurricane Victims
• Sissonville High School Student Flies Supplies to Hurricane Helen Survivors

November 5 - Election Day (Schools & Offices Closed)

November 11 - Veterans Day (Schools & Offices Closed)

November 22 - Midterm

November 25 - 29 - Thanksgiving Holiday (Schools Closed), November 28-29 (Offices Closed)

Full school-year calendars are available here!

Our board meeting schedule is available on the KCS website calendar or on our board agenda page.

REMINDER: The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) & Kanawha County Schools is offering resources to families, educators, caregivers and others to support student mental health.

ParentGuidance.org, a 24/7 online platform, assists those who care for children to address and elevate mental health and wellness and self-care.

Learn more about FREE one-on-one parent coaching, on-demand parenting sessions and "ask a therapist" offerings here.

And, see information in the flyer below.

KCS is hiring for a variety of positions, including but not limited to: bus operators, special education aides, custodians, cooks and more!

• Job postings
• Substitute teaching information
• Alternative certification information
  
  

Consider joining the KCS Team. If you have questions, you can call our office at 304-348-7753, ext. 110.

Alicen Jones, a talented 7th grader from Elkview Middle School, saw her design, "The Honey Bee," come to life on a Kanawha Valley Regional Transportation Authority (KRT) bus. "Bee" on the lookout for this rolling tribute to nature and creativity in Kanawha County. KCS is proud to see our students’ passions come alive!

Congratulations Blake, Rachel, Sophie, Mikki, Addison, Camryn & Jackson for being selected as a 2024-25 Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam.

The 2024-2025 Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams were selected by a panel of esteemed judges after several months of researching problems within their community that could be addressed with a technological solution. Teams will continue to learn more about the problems they selected in the first half of the grant year. Technological solutions will be prototyped, tested, and modified in the second half of the grant year. The technological solutions—inventions—will be showcased at MIT during EurekaFest, June 9-11, 2025. Team progress can be followed through Inside InvenTeams, a monthly newsletter.

This month is AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) Awareness Month! Many of our school staff and speech-language pathologists support our non-speaking students and educate others about AAC. Education can lead to more acceptance by everyone, even if they don't directly work with an AAC user.

Here are some examples of how our schools are observing AAC Awareness Month:

Piedmont Elementary - Mina Parrish at Piedmont Elementary shared that she has set up a box in the Main Office of the school for teachers to make referrals, request trainings/materials, or just to ask questions. She also set up a Speech Spotlight that features news or information related to speech and language, and this month features AAC Awareness.

Ruffner Elementary - Michelle Robinson pushed into the preschool classroom earlier this month to work on a Halloween themed craft while targeting language goals. Also, she and the staff at Ruffner Elementary maintain a year round AAC bulletin board in the main hallway to bring awareness to AAC and the students who use it.

South Charleston High School - Tori May at SCHS came up with an innovative idea for a student who needs a more permanent low-tech option when high-tech isn't available. She asked the administration at her school and they fully supported her idea to paint a core board on the wall!

Elk Center Elementary - Whitney Harold created an awesome bulletin board for the fall season, with great representation with each little ghost!

Grandview PreK Clinic - Alison Sadler and the staff in the Preschool Clinic at decorated for Halloween and recognized AAC students. They used a similar theme for their Trunk or Treat last week.

We are thankful for all of the staff who have taken the time to support our AAC Awareness Month and who support our students each day!

We are excited to share the website for all of our Powerful Partners tip sheets! Each tip sheet has some simple grade-level activities that can be done at home with no technology. They are meant to simply supplement what students are learning in school and provide additional opportunities for families to work with students as we continue to support learning.

• Take a look at our October Powerful Partners activities