Updates from PCS Food and Nutrition
2025-2026 School Year
The following increases will go into effect at the beginning of the new school year:
- Elementary school lunch $2.75
- Secondary school lunch $3.15
- Adult lunch $4.50
Parents are highly encouraged to complete a meal application for the free /reduced program.
The café recommends that student bring water bottles to lunch. Our cafeteria has a water bottle refill station.
There will be new items on the 2025-2026 menu which will be posted on the PCS Food and Nutrition website.
Did you know we are on social media?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CypressWoodsES/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cypresswoodselementary
School Website: https://www.pcsb.org/cypress-es
Our social media platforms are great resources to find information for upcoming/special events, recaps of events and celebrations. Our website has important school and all of our contact information.
ATTENDANCE MATTERS
When a student is absent from school for any reason, parents are to send in a written note to the teacher explaining the absence or email the school at cypresswoodses.absence@pcsb.org and copy the teacher on the email. Absences will remain unexcused until such documentation is received by the school. Children with poor attendance patterns may be referred to the Pinellas County Truancy Intervention Program. Class work is required to be made up during or after an excused absence. Upon returning to school following an excused absence, a student has as many days to make up the work as days absent. A doctor’s note is required to excuse a student from PE for more than 3 days and documentation is required for absences exceeding 5 days.
Spring Testing
We are working to complete our final round of FAST assessments in Math. Thank you for all your support in preparing your child for making sure they were present during testing.
Parents of students in grades K through 5 can access their child’s scores in the Focus parent portal. For students in VPK-2, score reports have been sent home.
If you have any questions regarding your child’s score, please reach out to your child’s teacher.
Students in grades 3-5 will participate in the Math FAST assessment the week of the 19th.
You can support your student in doing their best to show what they’ve learned this year, by ensuring they attend on their scheduled day, getting a good night sleep the night before their test and a healthy breakfast the morning of.
Summer Bridge
Elementary school programs are only for students who have shown a demonstrated need for extra support in reading based on state reading criteria.
Dates: June 2–26, 2025
Grades: Students entering kindergarten through fourth-grade
Days: Monday - Thursday
Hours: 8 a.m. to Noon
Updates from Mrs. Shipley!!
Hello Volunteers!
Our Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon was well attended and a lot of fun! The staff and I coordinated a year in review thank you video that was presented at the luncheon and I wanted to share it with you for your enjoyment: https://youtu.be/IYFWtCs5fBY?si=KbVcOre2-YRNQkWR
Thank you for continuing to enter your volunteer hours! We usually have over 15K hours, as of today, we are only showing about just over 6K. Please take a few minutes to enter your hours if you haven’t done so yet by logging into the volunteer system and under “Add Hours” use the current date and add the hours in one or two chunks as the dates aren't as important as the hours themselves. The last day to record hours for the school year will be Thursday, May 23rd. We will be reporting these hours to Tallahassee, the Department of Education, to show our community involvement and how it directly impacts our school’s success. Every hour counts whether you give your time at school, on field trips or helping from home. Please be sure to log your hours for being a Lunch Pal, a Tutor, a Classroom Assistant, a Field Trip Chaperone, helping with Book Fairs and in the Media Center, to serve in the PTA or SAC (this includes meetings), helping with Special Events, completing projects at the Volunteer Café and more. If you need assistance on navigating the volunteer system and recording your hours, please see the attached instructions or let me know.
Finally, we have some amazing business and community partners that we want to thank for their support this year too, please see the list attached.
Upcoming Dates & Volunteer Opportunities:
- STAR & FAST Testing continues until May 23rd, different grades will test on different days. That said, we want to limit distractions and create a calm and quiet testing environment to allow students the best opportunity for success. This means that our campus will be closed to volunteering on testing dates unless the teacher has made special arrangements with administration in advance. This includes volunteering in the Media Center. Please see the dates below and consult with the teacher or Ms. Reyes (Library) before volunteering in April and May.
- 5/5 – 5/23 VPK, 3rd grade thru 5th grade testing – no volunteering in buildings where testing is in process
***The only exception is our Lunch Pal Mentors who will continue their normal schedule during testing thru May 9th ***
- Friday, May 23rd – Deadline for entering volunteer hours for the 24 -25 school year
- Friday, May 23rd – VPK Moving Up Ceremony @ 9:00 AM in our cafeteria
- Monday, May 26th – Memorial Day Observed – No School
- Tuesday, May 27th – Clap-out for our 5th graders @ 2:30 PM
- Wednesday, May 28th – 5th Grade Moving Up Ceremony @ East Lake High School Auditorium 8:50 AM
- Thursday, May 29th – Last Day Of 24-25 School Year – Full Day due to Hurricane Make-up
Thank you for all you do to support our school through volunteering and more!
A HUGE THANK YOU TO PTA
Our CWE Admin Team and Staff would like to send a big thank you for an amazing year!! Did you know our PTA is responsible for family events, additional classroom funding, curriculum support, school fundraising, are part of our large volunteer base and SO MUCH MORE. Our PTA has gone above and beyond this year to support student learning with curriculum support, supplies for our SOAR Store and assisted with special funding to expand our STEM afterschool programing. THANK YOU PTA!!
Cypress Woods PTA
Get the latest updates from our PTA. Please consider joining PTA or participating in one of their awesome programs!
https://www.cypresswoodspta.com/
