Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year to our CEPS classes of 2035, 2036, & 2037!
We are excited to share the first edition of this year’s “Primary Press,” which is our school-wide family communication newsletter. During the year, you can expect this to arrive in your inbox on Sunday evenings, and it will share important dates and updates for you to stay on top of things. This one is a bit longer as it encompasses the good stuff you should know and do now, and soon! Don’t worry, they won’t all be this long.
We are even more excited to greet you and your child on August 29th at Family Welcome-Back night, and again once our school year begins! The years your child spends at CEPS lay the foundation for their education, and we are honored to establish that school-home connection with you as this journey begins.
Now is a good time to transition from “summer fun” to “school ready.” Ahead of the first day of school, your child will benefit from getting back to a regular bedtime routine, with a full night’s sleep between 9-12 hours depending on their age, along with waking up with enough time to get dressed, brush teeth, and eat a healthy meal before the time you would need to leave for school, and getting into the habit of reading (or being read to) daily, which is an expectation we have as a school during the school year. CLICK HERE for a Channel 3000 article that shares more information.
In addition, this is the best time to remind ourselves that the beginning of each year does have its stressors. The drop-off and pick-up loops will be slow as people learn the routines, and we ask for your patience. Unintentional miscommunications can happen, and we will all give (and ask for) grace as kinks are worked out. Things get better as we all refamiliarize ourselves with school life, and we find it is best to simply acknowledge the “September growing pains” and embrace them as unavoidable.
On behalf of our CEPS Staff, we look forward to a great year working with you and your child. As Spartan Star says, let’s make it a SAFE, KIND, and RESPONSIBLE school year. Thank you for taking the time to read through this information. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you might have.
Sincerely,
Greg Nelson, K-2 Principal (CEPS)
Brooke Hauser, K-5 Associate Principal (CEPS/WIS)
- August 6: Annual online registration opens (check your email)
- August 14: Teacher placement shared with families
- August 15: Nelson's Bus Open House & Ice Cream Social 3:00-7:00 PM @ Nelson's Terminal
- August 28-29: District Photo Days for all EC-12 students at McFarland High School 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM
- August 29: Family Welcome Back Night (supply drop-off & meet-the-teacher) 5:30-7:30 PM (last Names A-K 5:30-6:20 & L-Z 6:40-7:30)
- September 2: Labor Day (No School)
- September 3: First day of school K-6 and 9-12 (full day)
- September 24: CEPS Picture Retake Day
- September 27 : No School (Staff Development)
Families will receive an email with their child's classroom teacher name on Wednesday, August 14th! Please note that a lot of time and effort goes into the placement process, and after providing the opportunity to share input in your child’s placement each spring, we cannot honor requests to change classrooms once these assignments come out.
The annual student registration process is now open for all K-12 families. This is where we ask you to review important information such as school handbooks, grade level welcome back letters, nutrition information and much more. We also have you verify existing information for you and your children as well as give permission for a variety of items. Lastly, you will have the opportunity to pay your children's school fees online.
Supply lists are ready to go (click the buttons below). In addition to going out and purchasing supplies, you may also choose the convenience of ordering them all shipped to your house through our PTO's partnership with School Tool Box (please note that some items need to be purchased separately, e.g., Kindergarten rest mats). Please bring supplies to our 8/29 Family Welcome-Back Night.
The first day of school is Tuesday, September 3rd, and is a full required day of school for all students. Please anticipate that for the first week or so, both morning arrival and afternoon dismissal will be slow as families and students learn the procedures and routines. Trust the process, things pick up very well once everyone learns the plan!
- Drop-off is 7:20-7:45 AM (no earlier, no later!). After 7:50 AM, students are considered tardy and must be walked into our main office on Johnson Street by an adult caregiver in order for the tardy to be excused.
- The school day ends at 2:40 PM, with pick-up from 2:40-3:00 PM.
Avoid the traffic jams! Bus transportation is free for any and all resident CEPS students and we encourage you to consider this option for your child. Nelson’s uses the Stopfinder! App to share live updates/route information with families so feel free to download that now. In addition, Nelson’s will be hosting an Ice Cream Social on Thursday, August 15th from 3:00-7:00 PM at their terminal, and will be sharing routes/pick-up/drop-off information at that event if you would like to stop by! For information about any of this information, please contact them directly at (608) 205-9040.
Although the Car Loop can be a tricky area for new families, we can assure you that as we all get back in the school groove that this process will go smoothly for those using it. HERE is the document explaining our Car Loop information for morning arrival and afternoon dismissal. Not ready for that level of detail yet? No worries! In the next couple of weeks, please watch your email as we will send this important information to all CEPS families again. This document covers procedures to follow in the loop, safety rules for car drivers/riders, locations, and times for drop-off and pick-up for those families that use our car loops. Please note that in order to pick up your child in our car loop after school, you must have a “car sign” with your child’s name and teacher prominently displayed; stop by the information table at our “Welcome Back Night” to fill one out, or print one from the linked information above.
As long as your child is feeling well, getting them to school every day and ON TIME (arrival is 7:20-7:45 AM) is one of the best things you can do to support their progress. That said, if your child is ill, has an appointment, etc., please follow our absence reporting procedures (below) to note your child’s attendance accordingly. Please submit your child's absence by 7:45 AM. If your child is not in school and we haven't heard from you, front office staff must contact you either at home or at work to ensure your child is safe and accounted for.
An optional snack time is scheduled daily for students. If you would like, please send your child with one each day in either a prepackaged or resealable container. We encourage healthy snacks that are quick to eat and make minimal mess, like veggie sticks, whole-grain crackers, granola bar, fruit snacks, etc. We cannot provide snacks for all students, so if your child wants one, please send one. All snacks must be peanut/tree nut-free as they are eaten in our classrooms. In addition, we encourage each child to bring a reusable water bottle to drink from throughout the day.
Each student gets one week to be "Special Person" in their class. Your child’s teacher will let you know in advance when their week is coming up. During that week, they can invite any special grown-up(s) in their life to come to school for lunch. For example, parents/guardians, aunts/uncles, grandparents, adult family friends, etc. can come any day that week for lunch without restriction on the number of adults/visits that week. In order to make this both safe and successful, we ask that you adhere to the following:
Lunch visitors come only at designated lunch times during Special Person week
Adults only; sorry, we cannot accommodate your child’s siblings or other children coming in for lunch
If a non-parent/guardian attends, we need explicit permission from the parent/guardian; call our front office ahead of time at (608) 838-3146
Due to space limitations in our cafeteria, if you would like to join your child for lunch any other day outside of this week, we invite you to check them out of school for the lunch period; feel free to go home, go out to eat, or even sit picnic-style on our school’s grassy area out front if the weather is nice!
Lunch times: Kindergarten 11:05-11:35; 2nd grade 11:50-12:20; and 1st grade 12:35-1:05
Each CEPS student gets a special token on their birthday (or half-birthdays, for those with summer birthdays) to use in our “Spartan Star Book Machine!," which is a repurposed vending machine that distributes children’s books. When your child comes home with a book on their birthday, know that it is a gift from our CEPS staff to help celebrate a love of reading on their special day!
All McFarland schools are latex-free, and only Mylar or similar latex-free materials are allowed in the buildings. In addition, all classrooms and office spaces are peanut and tree nut-free; the cafeteria is the only location where peanuts/tree nuts are permitted. Alternative tablespaces are provided as an option upon family's request in the cafeteria for students with peanut and tree nut allergies. Please contact our CEPS Health Assistant Heather Patrinos at patrinh@mcfsd.org if you would like to request this accommodation for your child.
The PTO covers Early Childhood (EC) through 8th grade. We thank our amazing PTO for all the support they provide our students, staff, and schools over the years! This group holds monthly advisory meetings, along with several large-group meetings throughout the year, and all EC-8 family members are invited to attend. To join us please email our PTO presidents at mcfarlandptoprez@gmail.com to be added to the meeting invites.
Visitors: With safety being our top priority, the following guidelines are in place for all school visitors:
We use a Visitor Management Check-In System for any non-staff visitor that enters our building beyond the main office area. You must bring a state-issued ID which gets scanned in order to run a quick background check; you will then receive a name badge to wear for the duration of the visit.
Parents and guardians may pick students up early for appointments, etc. Please notify the main office and classroom teacher by phone or email by 7:45 AM on the morning of the early pick-up.
Other non-parent/guardian adults may only pick students up during the day with prior parent/guardian permission. You must call or email the main office on the morning of the early pick-up, and are also responsible for making sure the visitor knows that a photo ID will be required in order for us to release your child to them.
If a visitor arrives without your explicit permission, they will be directed by our office staff to contact you, and you will need to call the office in order for us to release your child to them.
Volunteers: We are happy to welcome parents/guardians and other community members who wish to volunteer in our district. Interested individuals may begin the process by completing a Volunteer Application Form and an administrative assistant will follow up with you. A background check is required for all individuals who will have interact with students in any capacity over the course of their volunteer work. For more information on volunteering please visit the District website.
