Maize South Intermediate School

Visit our school website at www.usd266.com/msis.

Connect with Mrs. LaMunyon at klamunyon@usd266.com or 316-462-8501.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Maize South Intermediate School is located at 9701 W. 37th St. N. in Wichita.

We would like to introduce ourselves! Mr. Tyler is the fifth grade (Class of 2032!) Counselor and Ms. Caitlin will be moving up to sixth grade this year. We have had a great time this month going back into the classroom seeing students again. Our goals this month are to get to know every student and create an environment where students feel safe and comfortable with us. Students can request to see the counselor through their class link page or through our Google Classroom.

What does the School Counselor do?

• Monthly Counselor Lessons over topics such as empathy, kindness, gratitude, and career exploration.
• Group Counseling
• Individual Counseling on a short term basis
• Help with connecting families to outside community and therapy resources

If you think your child may benefit from seeing the school counselor, please do not hesitate to reach out. Our mission is to make MSIS a safe, loving place for all students and we are happy to help with any needs that may arise throughout the year!

Chess Club

Chess Club is off and running for sixth grade. Fifth Grade Sign-ups will begin next week!

Tyler (tslattery@usd266.com) and Caitlin (chamilton@usd266.com)

🎉Congratulations Vaughn Lee 🎉 on being our 1st Gold Card Member of the 2024-2025 school year! GREAT JOB!

"Vaughn is always kind, respectful and willing to help others. He always greets others with a smile and his positive attitude is infectious!"

-Mrs. Hamilton

Have you talked with your family about screen time?

We have a great opportunity to dive deeper into that conversation!

Join us from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 at the Maize Performing Arts and Aquatics Center as we host Kansas City-based nonprofit Screen Sanity. We'll explore the challenges of our screen-heavy world and learn proactive strategies for introducing smartphones and social media, tailored to kids of ALL ages and stages.

The event is limited to the first 100 registrants! Others will be added to a waitlist and notified by email. This event is open to anyone with a child enrolled in the Maize School District.

A free light dinner will be served to those who attend!

Click the following link to sign up: bit.ly/USD266ScreenSanity

Click to learn more about Screen Sanity: https://screensanity.org

Thanks to our Parents as Teachers team for making this valuable event possible!

Mandy Glasse, LPC

School Counselor

Maize Early Childhood Center

Counselor Office Phone: 316-350-2541

School Main Phone: 316-722-3105 Fax: 316-721-5473

Are you in a crisis?

Do not use text, email or voicemail to communicate in a crisis. Please call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room or use the following crisis numbers:

24-Hour Community Crisis Center: (316) 660-7500

National Suicide Hotline: (800) 273-8255 or 988

Hi! I’m Kristin Rodell and together with Rachel Bezdek, our fabulous library aide, we will be helping your students in the library media center this year. Mrs.Bezdek and I have enjoyed having the kids in the library the last couple of weeks. Their manners and enthusiasm for our media center and the fabulous collection of books has made our job a joy. I wanted you to be aware of a few library policies that will help make our media center a great resource for everyone:

1. Students will attend library with their class once a week. All students will be able to check out during this time in addition to participating in a lesson or activity.

2. Books are due 2 weeks from the date they are checked out. Students may bring their book(s) to school to renew them if they’d like to keep them longer.

3. A student with an overdue book may not check out until the overdue book is returned.

4. We do not charge fines for overdue books. We only charge for books that are damaged or lost.

5. Email notices will automatically populate for any books that are 14 or more days overdue.

Book Fair Coming Soon!

Come be a part of our book fair! We are so excited to be hosting this fair and look forward to seeing you there. The fair promises a wide variety of genres and topics. There will be something for everyone! Make sure to stop by when you are at the school for conferences October 9 and 10.

Mavs at the Wind Surge

Last spring students participated in a reading challenge sponsored by the Wind Surge and local companies. Students were able to earn several prizes along the way with the grand prize being a ticket to the Wind Surge game. Pictured are Maize South Intermediate and Maize Intermediate students who were able to join us for the game. Way to read, Mavs! Let’s make it happen again this year!

Each day, your student has 80-minutes of reading and 80-minutes of math. For 20-minutes of that block, students are levelized into groups based on their individual reading and math needs. This time is known as MTSS (Multi-Tier Systems of Support). During this time, students have the opportunity to work with their teacher, a para, a partner, individually, or see one of us. These groups are levelized based on beginning of the year data using programs such as IXL, our core curriculum, teacher input, and our district-wide testing screener, Fastbridge. As students continue to learn and grow throughout the school year, these groups are constantly reevaluated to continue meeting individual needs.

As the reading and math interventionists, we are excited to support our 5th and 6th grade students this year with reading and math! Please reach out to your student’s reading or math teacher if you have any questions regarding our MTSS time.

Andrea Burnett & Betsy Lang

HUGE SHOUT OUT to our Maize South Intermediate School PTO for making our Mav Bash so incredible this year! We truly are BETTER TOGETHER! 🖤💛

All students are expected to attend class every day. Tardies are counted after the bell rings at 7:20 am regardless of reason. At 8:20 the student will be marked as having missed the hour. If your child will be tardy or absent please leave a message on our attendance line by 10 (462-8501 option 1). Per state guidelines and district policy, after 3 consecutive absences, 5 absences within a semester, and 7 absences in a year, your child will be considered unexcused without a note from the doctor.

This means you will still receive an automated phone call from the district, even if you have called the school.

Students should all have lanyards to hold their student IDs. This will help as they are moving through the lines in the cafeteria and media center. We will also be able to start using their ID cards for a-la-carte items. If you will be using your cards for a-la-carte, please make sure you have money in your Skyward Lunch accounts. Lost student IDs can be replaced in the media center. The cost for a replacement ID is $3.

With the increased needs in our community, we have decided to expand our Mavs Care Closet to serve students across the district. We are currently accepting donations of non-perishable food items and gently used clothing. If you would like to donate you may drop items off in the front office at Maize South Intermediate and Maize South Middle School.

You may also drop off items in the counseling office at MSHS. We appreciate your support! If you have any questions or are in need of assistance you can contact Caitlin Dailey via email at cdailey@usd266.com

Thank you!

Caitlin Dailey

Please be prepared for our inclement weather plan. Students will stand inside the cafeteria and library when it is raining, snowing, icy, or feels like 20 degrees or below. They are able to view cars pull up and receive text messages from families as to when they have arrived. There will also be adults outside with a radio to call in to students if necessary.

As the weather gets colder, it may also be a great reminder for your students to dress warm when we do go outside. We will try to get students out as much as possible.

Hello! I am Hannah Weston, school nurse, and I am excited to help our students and families in any way possible.

In-Office Stock Medications

The health office still has over the counter stock medications. We have acetaminophen (chewables, liquid and tablets), ibuprofen (chewables, liquid, and tablets), cetirizine (liquid, dissolving tablets and tablets), benadryl (chewable and pills), and tums (chewables). **Please see Skyward and complete the Online Form titled 2025 Over the Counter Medication Consent Form.** This has to be completed prior to me administering these medications. The health office will ALWAYS attempt to contact a parent prior to administering these medications to your student.

Immunizations

Please ensure all students are up-to-date on immunizations. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the state law for vaccine requirements, please click here. The immunization exclusion date is October 1, 2024. Documentation needs to be submitted to the nurse’s office!

Brought from Home Medications

Reminder: Students are NOT allowed to carry any medication (unless it’s an emergency medication that we have a doctor's order on file for). Any medication that is brought into the Health Office needs to be in the original container and have the Authorization for Medication form completed.

Screenings

The following screenings will be administered to your student this year:

• All 5th grade students will have a vision screening

• All 5th and 6th grade students will have a dental screening

• All students new to the district will have a hearing AND vision screening

If you would like to opt your student out of these, you must contact the nurse!

Please feel free to contact me by stopping by my office, calling, or emailing me if you have any questions or concerns about your student. Thank you for taking an interest in your child’s health and well-being!

Hannah Weston, RN, BSN

Phone: 316-462-8506

Fax: 316-462-8502

Email: hweston@usd266.com

Following the procedures below will help our traffic run safely and smoothly each day. A traffic map has been included below for a visual reference. You will see that the parent drop off/pick up traffic drive runs behind the school.

Please note that the traffic drive that runs in front of the school is reserved for buses only! Please do NOT drop off students in front of the building until after the bell rings at 7:20, at which point they will check in through the office and counted tardy.

Thank you for your cooperation.

AM Parent Drop Off Updates:

• Dropping off your student should be executed in a two lane drop off procedure. Once you pass the ECC entrance, you will enter the two lines and pull completely forward as traffic allows.

• An MSIS staff member will be stationed at the front of the drop off zone with a large STOP sign to indicate traffic should stop. An MSIS staff member will be stationed at the back of the drop off zone with a STOP sign to indicate traffic should stop and wait. Those in between the two stop signs should allow their students to exit vehicles to the sidewalk and enter the school.

• Students should only exit vehicles between these two stop signs to maximize the safety of this procedure.

• Once all students who were dropped off within the zone are safely on the sidewalk, the MSIS staff member will lower the STOP sign, indicating that traffic should continue towards 37th street.

• Please be mindful that left hand and right hand lanes will turn the appropriate directions onto 37th street.

• If you arrive after 7:20, please pull up to the front office on the north side of the building. Your child will sign in at the office after this time.

PM Parent Pick Up Updates:

• We will utilize a two lane pick up procedure similar to the morning drop off procedure. This will allow us to get more traffic off of 37th street and pick students up safely.

• We will have cones set up in the 3rd lane. This 3rd lane will not be used throughout the year. We will have staff set up with stop signs at the beginning and end of the lanes to notify cars when it is safe to pull forward.

• Please help us by encouraging your child to look for you and quickly load on the passenger side of the car. Once your student is in your vehicle quickly and safely, wait until you are notified to continue pulling forward.

• Please continue to pull all the way forward closing any gaps between cars when picking up students. Encourage your child to walk forward until the gap closes.

• Please be mindful that left hand and right hand lanes will turn the appropriate directions onto 37th street.

• Please remind your students if they are walking or riding their bikes to enter/exit the front of the building and follow along the sidewalk areas. The safest sidewalk routes are along the front entrance to 37th and then down Tyler. Please do not ride through the parking lot.
  
• Please make sure your child’s bike or backpack is equipped with reflective gear for safety. Sometimes it is hard to see early in the morning.
  
• If they are walking behind the school, please make sure they exit from the main exit on the southwest side, walk to the crosswalk by the ball fields where an adult (counselor) will ensure they cross traffic safely.
  
• Please be aware that the open field between MSIS and MSE is not safe to walk through.

Thank you for your interest in volunteering at Maize South Intermediate! Our school is stronger thanks to the help and support of our community members, and you. Safety is a top priority for our school. Background checks are required and must be completed annually. All visitors moving beyond a school front office and its secure vestibule will also complete a Raptor Visitor Management System screening and a temporary visitor’s self-adhesive name tag printed each time they visit.

District-Paid: Maize Schools do not wish to discourage any potential volunteer from getting involved in our classrooms or attending field trips with our students. Please click here to begin the same background process at no cost to yourself, and Maize USD 266 will pay for your background screening.

Thank you for your continued support of our students and district!