My gratitude goes out to everyone who helped make our school book fair a huge success this week, especially Aimee Thompson who came down from Kennebunk High School for the week to manage the whole process since we still don't have a full-time library ed tech hired. Thanks to Pat Marsters-Jones who has been running the library this fall as a part-time substitute, as she played a critical role in the library this week too. We couldn't do it without all the parent and staff volunteers who set-up, helped students select books, reorganized and restocked, manned the register, etc. Remember... shopping hours on Saturday, Dec 7th, 10:00am-1:00pm!

There is a lot of important information below, so please take a few minutes to scroll through and read more details about our upcoming Celebration Day, TNTP School Culture survey for families, attendance efforts, report cards, and more.

Smiles,

Karen Bubar,

Principal

kbubar@rsu21.net

95.61%

A big thank you to all families and students for everything you do to support our school community. We also appreciate the work of our teaching staff and community volunteers who help make our school a great place for exploration and learning.

As you think about your holiday arrangements, we want to stress the importance of sending your child to school every day possible. It is valuable for students to maintain consistent attendance and arrive to school on time every day. Your support for your child’s education truly makes a difference.

Learning is each student’s job, so they can gain life-long skills. Every year, absences spike in the weeks before and after the winter holiday as families squeeze in a few more vacation days. We know that just a few missed days here and there, even if they’re excused absences, can add up to too much lost learning time.

This impact is as true in kindergarten as it is in high school. Put simply, too many absences at any age can affect a student’s chances for academic success and social-emotional wellness. Our teachers will be teaching, and our students will be learning, right up until vacation starts on Dec 21st and the first day back on Thursday, January 2nd.

We are grateful for the support we receive from families and wish you a Happy Holiday Season!

Volunteers are an integral part of our Celebration Day, and we need your help to make Celebration Day a success! If you would like to help us with some cultural traditions learning activities on the afternoon of Thursday, December 19th, please complete this form. In order to help, you need to be available 12:00-2:30 pm on 12/19/24. A huge thanks to the caregivers who have already offered to help!

All volunteers need to be pre-approved. If you are not on the approved volunteer list please download, fill out and return the below form to the school office, OR email a copy to sredmond@rsu21.net. You must also bring your driver's license to school for Mrs. Redmond to scan into the system. Please return your completed volunteer form as soon as possible in order to allow time for your form to be processed and approved by Central Office. RSU 21 Volunteer Application 2024-25.

If you would like to help on the afternoon of Thursday, Dec 19th, please submit this form by Wednesday, December 11th. (form link: https://forms.gle/veMTsRw7AiAsUaYL6)

Thank you for your help!

Dear families,

You are the most important people in your child’s life, and we want to ensure you have the opportunity to shape their school experience. We’re asking that you participate in our 15-minute survey that will help our school improve our communication, academic programming, and overall experience for you and your child.

Click here or scan the QR Code above to complete the survey by Friday, December 20th.

We believe that families are a key element in a child’s education experience. To us, your feedback is invaluable. The family survey is designed to help us understand your experiences with our school and gain insight on how we can engage with you more effectively. Our goal is simply to help our school become better at engaging you and your family in your child’s learning. Together we can create the best learning environment possible for your child.

We are working with TNTP to conduct the survey. Responses will be anonymous and only used to inform future family engagement strategies. Families should only complete one survey per student. If you have children at more than one school, please complete the survey for each school at which you have a child. If you have multiple children at one school, answer the questions with your eldest child in mind.

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact us at kbubar@rsu21.net or 207-967-2121. Thank you in advance for taking the time to share your feedback. We value your input and look forward to working with you more closely in the future to ensure a great learning experience for your child.

Dec 2nd-20th

Insight TNTP School Culture Survey window for families -

See above for details.

Fri, Dec 6th

report cards go home with students

more report card information below

Mon, Dec 9th

Picture retake day

rescheduled from 12/5/24 due to weather

Fri, Dec 13th

8:30 am Friday Morning Meeting @KCS Gym

After Friday Morning Meeting - Cookies & Conversation @KCS Gym

Meet our school counselor, Laura Smith, at Cookies & Conversation

Thurs, Dec 19th

Celebration Day

Volunteer Opportunities - see above for details

Fri, Dec 20th

8:30 am Friday Morning Meeting @KCS Gym

School-Wide Pajama Day

last day to submit the Insight TNTP School Culture survey for families

December 21st - January 1st

NO SCHOOL

Enjoy the long winter break... see you next year!

Click here for the full KCS calendar

Dear RSU 21 families,

For those who ride the bus, please take a moment to familiarize (or re-familiarize) yourself with our District Crossing Policy. The crossing policy is a safety protocol to ensure that your student is picked up and dropped off in the safest manner possible each day. Essentially, it describes a process where the driver signals your students to cross the street to/from the bus when it is safe to do so.

Click here to review some slides that detail the process.

Please contact the RSU 21 Transportation Department if you have any questions!

Sincerely,

Chris Pasciuto

RSU 21 Transportation Manager

Dear RSU 21 Elementary School Families,

You will be receiving your student’s first report for the 2024-25 school year December 6, 2024. The report card was updated during the 2023-24 school year, but it continues to be a standards-based report card intended to communicate student performance for grade level standards (skills and knowledge) to families. So, we are sharing this information with you as a reminder (or as new information, if your child is new to KCS).

What do the scores mean?

3 - Student performance meets the standard for the reporting period - Indicates the student has proficient understanding of grade level expectations for a set of skills and knowledge. Students who score a 3 are on track for end of year proficiency at this time in the year. Please note the report card indicates the end of year expectation.

2 - Student performance is approaching expectations for the reporting period - Indicates students are making progress toward meeting the standards. They show an understanding of key concepts and skills but may require additional support or practice to fully reach the expected level of proficiency. While they have made strides in their learning, continued effort and focus are needed to ensure they meet the standards by the end of the school year.

1 - Student performance does not yet meet criteria for the standard for the reporting period - Indicates that the student is in the process of gaining an awareness of the content and skills associated with a given standard and may need intensive, regular teacher support.

Blank (--) - Student performance is not assessed during this trimester.

Our report cards are one of many ways that we inform you of the progress your student is making in school–academically and socially. We understand that a report card is but one tool among many that we use to ensure families can see students progress over time.

Click on the links below for more information about grade level Trimester 1 Benchmarks.

Kindergarten

Grade 1

Grade 2

Grade 3

Grade 4

Grade 5

Sincerely, Karen Bubar, Principal

Click Here

Call or Text 988 or 1-888-568-1112

Kennebunk

Tabetha Barden

207-604-1394

Arundel

Wendy Lank

207-985-4201 ext. 113

Kennebunkport

Alison Kenneway

207-967-4401

Kennebunk Chamber of Commerce

Laura Dolce

207-967-0857

English:

You have the right to an interpreter at no cost to you. If you would like to request an interpreter's assistance to communicate with our schools and teachers, all you need to do is ask. We will make sure interpretation services are arranged in advance of your meeting.

Burmese:

သင့်အတွက် အခကြေးငွေ မယူဘဲ စကားပြန်လုပ်ပိုင်ခွင့်ရှိသည်။ ကျွန်ုပ်တို့၏ကျောင်းများ၊ ဆရာများနှင့် ဆက်သွယ်ရန်အတွက် စကားပြန်တစ်ဦး၏အကူအညီကို သင်တောင်းဆိုလိုပါက၊ သင်လုပ်ဆောင်ရန်သာ လိုအပ်ပါသည်။ သင့်အစည်းအဝေးမတိုင်မီ ဘာသာပြန်ခြင်းဝန်ဆောင်မှုများကို သေချာစီစဉ်ပေးပါမည်။

Chinese:

您有权免费获得口译员服务。如果您想请求口译员协助与我们的学校和老师沟通，您只需提出请求即可。我们将确保在您的会议之前安排口译服务。

Gujarati:

તમને કોઈ પણ ખર્ચ વિના દુભાષિયાનો અધિકાર છે. જો તમે અમારી શાળાઓ અને શિક્ષકો સાથે વાતચીત કરવા માટે દુભાષિયાની સહાયની વિનંતી કરવા માંગતા હો, તો તમારે ફક્ત પૂછવાનું છે. અમે ખાતરી કરીશું કે તમારી મીટિંગ પહેલા અર્થઘટન સેવાઓ ગોઠવવામાં આવી છે.

Japanese:

あなたには無料で通訳を雇う権利があります。学校や教師とのコミュニケーションのために通訳のサポートをリクエストしたい場合は、リクエストするだけです。会議の前に通訳サービスを手配いたします。

Portuguese:

Você tem direito a um intérprete sem nenhum custo para você. Se desejar solicitar a assistência de um intérprete para se comunicar com nossas escolas e professores, basta solicitar. Garantiremos que os serviços de interpretação sejam organizados antes da sua reunião.

Russian:

Вы имеете право на бесплатного переводчика. Если вы хотите попросить помощи переводчика для общения с нашими школами и учителями, все, что вам нужно сделать, это попросить. Мы позаботимся о том, чтобы услуги устного перевода были организованы перед вашей встречей.

Spanish:

Tiene derecho a un intérprete sin costo alguno para usted. Si desea solicitar la asistencia de un intérprete para comunicarse con nuestras escuelas y maestros, todo lo que necesita hacer es preguntar. Nos aseguraremos de que los servicios de interpretación se organicen antes de su reunión.

Ukrainian:

Ви маєте право на безкоштовний перекладач. Якщо ви хочете попросити допомоги перекладача для спілкування з нашими школами та вчителями, все, що вам потрібно зробити, це попросити. Ми подбаємо про те, щоб послуги усного перекладу були організовані заздалегідь до вашої зустрічі.

Vietnamese:

Bạn có quyền có một thông dịch viên miễn phí. Nếu bạn muốn yêu cầu sự trợ giúp của thông dịch viên để giao tiếp với trường học và giáo viên của chúng tôi, tất cả những gì bạn cần làm là yêu cầu. Chúng tôi sẽ đảm bảo sắp xếp dịch vụ phiên dịch trước cuộc gặp của bạn.