Good Evening Muraski Families,

I hope that you all enjoyed your last weekend with your children and families before we get started with our first day of school, on WEDNESDAY, August 16th. Our staff is incredibly excited to kick start another great school year, working with the amazing families that we get to serve at Muraski. There are so many fun and exciting things planned for this school year, and by working together, we can create wonderful experiences for our children. Experiences that promote learning and growth academically, behaviorally, socially, and emotionally. Please take a look at the information below for the start of the 23-24 school year.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me at 44-572-7160 or email me directly at mgriffen@scsmustangs.org.

We are looking forward to a great start to the school year!

Sincerely,

Mike Griffen

Principal of Muraski Elementary

We want to see pictures of students celebrating their first day of school! To help with your first day pictures, we have created printable signs for your students. Click HERE for signs for all of our grades and schools. No matter how you are documenting the memories of the first day of school, make sure you tag your social media posts with #ModelMustang. Good luck to all of our students on this very special day of the school year!

All students will enter and exit the building at the flagpole entrance unless they are arriving or dismissing after 9:05 or before 3:25:

Arrival (Building Opens @ 8:50am) Students will not be permitted into the building until 8:50

• On Wednesday, August 16th, parents will be permitted to park, using either our staff lot or designated spots in the playground parking lot, and walk their child to the door. There will also be a car loop, where you can drop students to walk in. Kindergarten parents will be permitted to do this on Thursday, August 17th.
• Starting on Thursday, August 17th, parents will use the car loop that circles around in front of the building to drop their students off. Please remain in your car and allow your child to exit the vehicle on the sidewalk side of your vehicle. Also, please let them out as soon as you come to a stop on the sidewalk. This expedites the process for everyone. S

Dismissal (Students dismiss @ 3:30pm) All students will exit at the flagpole entrance

• Walkers & Car Riders will be dismissed first, promptly at 3:30pm. We ask all parents to meet their children outside of the flagpole entrance. Please park and walk up to receive your children.
• Once you pick up your child, we ask that you leave the entrance area, as we begin calling busses when they arrive.
• Busses begin dismissing after the walkers & car riders are called. We load them as soon as they arrive at our school, but times vary because they are running other routes. Please be patient, especially in the first few weeks of school
• CLICK HERE to fill out a form detailing how your child will typically leave our school. PLEASE FILL ONE OUT FOR EACH OF YOUR CHILDREN AT MURASKI
• If your child will not follow their typical procedure (example, you plan on picking them up when they usually ride the bus, you MUST NOTIFY THE OFFICE NO LATER THAN 3:00. If you call after 3:00, we can not guarantee that your child will be dismissed along with the proper group.

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT FROM 3:25 UNTIL 3:55, OUR OFFICE STAFF IS SUPPORTING DISMISSAL. CALLS WILL NOT BE ANSWERED, AS WE ARE MAKING SURE EVERYONE GETS HOME SAFELY.

Kindergarten Orientation will be held, Wednesday, August 16th. You should have received a letter in the mail, inviting you to attend.

Families with last names A-J will attend from 9:30-11:30AM

Families with last names K-Z will attend from 1:00-3:00PM

For those students in our full day program, you will meet with both teachers, Ms. Northeim and Mrs. Gaul, at your designated time.

Please update your annual forms by September 1, 2023. To update forms, log in to Powerschool, select Quick Links, then find "Information Update 22-23" under Custom Links. Please call the office with any questions.

Update to Parent Portal: Parents and guardians will sign in with their username (email address) and their password. When logging in for the first time this school year, please click "Forgot Username or Password" link to reset your password.

Incoming kindergarten families: You should have received an email from Linda Konopinski (after registering) containing directions on how to create and access your parent account in our online Powerschool Unified Classroom Parent Portal. If you need this information again, please contact Linda Konopinski at lkonopinski@scsmustangs.org or 440-846-4137. This will be important to set up to access important information.

To determine eligibility for free / reduced lunch, as well as various additional state and federal program benefits inclusive of possible district student fees being waived, an application must be completed online at PaySchoolsCentral.com. HERE is a link with directions to apply.

It is important to note the following for those that qualify for Reduced Lunches in the 23-24 school year: The recently passed Ohio biennial budget includes a provision for the State to pay the meal charges for Reduced students ($0.30 for Breakfast and $0.40 for Lunch) effectively allowing them to eat for free. This will be in effect for the 23-24 and the 24-25 school years.

As a reminder, all school fees that have not been paid are now considered past due. To check the balance and pay outstanding school fees, go to Pay Schools Central by clicking HERE. In addition to Pay Schools Central, school fees can be paid by cash/check to your student’s building secretary or with the Treasurer's Office. If you have questions related to this, please contact the building secretary or Dawn Evangelista (devangelista@scsmustangs.org) within the Treasurer's Department. As we are approaching a new school year, as well as the start of fall sports, per Board of Education policy, the consequences for outstanding prior year school fees will prohibit students from participating in any school extracurricular activities (i.e., athletics, student council, school clubs, etc.), field trips, and school sanctioned dances / events that require a purchased ticket. For additional information on District Fee Collection Procedures and Consequences CLICK HERE.

As the start of school is just over a week away, all transportation information has been uploaded to PowerSchool. To view this information, you will need to use a web browser like Chrome, Safari, or Edge. Do not use the PowerSchool app. CLICK HERE for a short video tutorial on how to find your student’s transportation information.

Over the summer, the district expanded our partnership with Blocksi to include student content filtering and alerts. We no longer utilize SecURLy for these services. CLICK HERE to view an informational flier about joining the Blocksi Parent Portal to gain insights on your student’s online behavior with their scsmustangs account and set parental controls beyond the school school. If you have any questions, contact Dave Binkley, Director of Instructional Technology at dbinkley@scsmustangs.org.

Please see the supply lists by CLICKING HERE. There have been a few adjustments made that have been communicated directly with the grade levels that the change impacts.

We ask that you pack your child's supplies in their backpack to bring with them on the first day of school. Please only pack what fits in the back pack and do not worry additional bags. Supplies can be brought in through the first few days of school to accommodate what is necessary.

Email: mgriffen@scsmustangs.org
Website: https://muraski.strongnet.org/
Location: Muraski Elementary School, Royalton Road, Strongsville, OH, USA
Phone: 440-572-7160
Twitter: @MuraskiPrin