A Message from Miss Buchko
Dear MacArthur Families,
Last Friday, August 25th we practiced our fire, tornado, and lockdown drills. I want to help assure all our families that the safety and well-being of our students, faculty, and staff are our top priority. Did you know each month our school practices a set of safety drills? Miss Buchko, Mr. Wise and Ms. Santaguida are all certified and trained safety specialists. We have 25 CPI (Crisis Prevention Intervention) trained staff members. The doors at MacArthur are locked at all times and any adult who enters the building goes through a screening process. First, the secretaries will inquire the reason for the visit and then determine who to let enter the building. We apologize for the inconvenience but asking more questions before entering the building will help improve safety. We have a Safe Visitor system which completes an instant, nationwide background check on all visitors and prints a visitor pass. And lastly, our team has been trained in an option-based program called ALICE. Helping our team be prepared and have response protocol in place will help us with a speedy response. The ALICE acronym stands for: A=Alert, L-Lockdown, I=Inform, C=Counter, E=Evacuate. ALICE is not designed to be sequential but rather to be utilized dynamically in each unique situation.
Our K-5 students just completed the beginning of the year NWEA assessments. NWEA is a test that measures student learning and progress and as a school we will administer this test 3x a year. The most valuable feature of NWEA is that it provides information about how each individual student is academically growing throughout the course of the year.
You can expect to see your child's data report in the middle of September. The data from NWEA is shared with parents so you can collaborate with your child's teacher to understand and support your child's progress. It takes a village, and we appreciate your support.
A huge thank you needs to go to our Girl Scout Troop #35594 for donating recess toys for each grade level at MacArthur! Playgrounds for the remaining elementary buildings were approved at the board meeting. We are excited that these will address inclusive spaces for all students to play with their peers! You can read more about the new designs at this link.
Have a Great Weekend,
Marian Buchko
- Please avoid blocking the crosswalk as you turn into the car rider lot.
- Please use your turn signal when entering and exiting the car rider lot.
- Do not drive around a loading vehicle. Please wait until the car(s) in front of you have loaded and safely begin exiting the lot.
- Pull all the way forward once you enter the car rider lot. Avoid leaving large gaps between vehicles.
- Please PAY ATTENTION-cell phones down and eyes forward for the safety of everyone.
- Lastly, make sure your child knows their first and last name AND they respond to it when called.
As our district-wide capital improvement projects continue, MacArthur Elementary will temporarily serve only cold lunches. Our food services team remains committed to providing healthy meals that meet all requirements of the federal school lunch guidelines. We will keep you updated on the progress of our new kitchen and the timeline for returning to the traditional lunch menu. Thanks for your understanding as we build new opportunities to better serve our students.
MacArthur Elementary School
Laura Florek, Assistant Principal ext. 16003
Carla Gard, Treasurer ext. 16000
Kim Wasserott, Secretary ext. 16002
Jodi Kvachkoff, Nurse ext. 16081
Email: mbuchko@cps.k12.in.us
Website: https://mac.cps.k12.in.us/
Location: 12900 Fairbanks Street, Cedar Lake, IN, USA
Phone: 219-662-3600
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maccpcsc