Monroe Families,

Did you know that if your student misses 17 or more days of the school year that they are considered chronically absent by the state of Minnesota? We know that students may miss school for many reasons such as illness, vacation, or family emergencies. It is normal that most students will miss a few days throughout the year. However, when students start to miss more than a few days of school, it can be detrimental to their academic growth. Research shows that students who miss 7 or more days of school are more likely to struggle academically. Here at Monroe, we want to see our Mustangs in school as often as possible so that they can continue to get what they need to succeed in school.

Here are some important things to know about how we will be approaching attendance for the remainder of the year:

• Stay below 17 Days Absent: We have about 10% of students who are on pace to miss 17 total days of school or more. Our school goal is to have less than 5% of our students missing 17+ days this year. To see how many absences your student has, you can log into the Parent Portal. If you have questions about absences, please contact the health office.
• 10 Sick Days = Med Letter Needed: Once students have missed 10 days because of illness, we will be requiring a school health office visit or doctor's note to excuse any further absences for illness. This will go into effect for students that already have 10+ sick days this year as well as for students that reach this number between now and the end of the year. Once your student is on a Med Letter, if your child isn't feeling good but they seem like they could be at school, I encourage you to bring them to school and have them checked out by our health team of Kim Taylor and Rachel Mariner. They will let you know if your student should stay at school or go home for the day. Otherwise, we would ask that you make a same day appointment or take your student into Urgent Care and provide a letter from their office excusing the absence. We know that sometimes an illness can take a couple of days to recover from. We would ask that the school health team or the doctor's note to provide guidance on the number of days missed. Future sick days that are verified by the school health team or another doctor would be excused absences. If your student has 10 or more sick days so far this year, expect to be contacted by a member of our attendance team in the near future to talk through this.
• Doctor's Note Needed: Every time your student goes to an appointment (doctor checkups, dentist, therapy, etc.) they must come back with a note from the visit excusing them from the time they were absent. If they have no note and it is just called in, it will be marked as unexcused until a note comes in verifying the absence.
• Other Barriers: If there are other reasons that your student does not want to or cannot come to school, please reach out to their teacher, counselor, social worker, or myself. We will work with you and your student to assist them in being at school.
  
• Unexcused Absences: Any absence that is not called in, or a practitioner's note is provided for, is considered unexcused. Once a Med Letter is required, absences that are not excused by the school health team or a doctor are considered unexcused.
• County Involvement: When a student has 7 or more unexcused absences, our school partners with Nicollet County to support families with a plan to get their students to school.
• Must Be Present to Win: Last month we started our random activities/giveaways for students being at school on that day. We had a surprise BINGO event last month and an assembly this week where we had fun and saw the principal get slimed!! Encourage your students to be in school so that they don't miss out on fun events that may take place on any given day.

Thank you for your partnership around attendance. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach me at sjohan1@isd77.org or 507-387-7889.

Steve Johanson

• DO NOT drop off/pick up students in the parking lot.

• DO NOT park in the bus zone before or after school when busses are picking up or dropping off students.

What an unforgettable moment at school! Thanks to the amazing efforts of our students during the fall fundraiser, they earned a *slime-tastic* reward: a surprise school assembly where none other than Mr. Johanson took the challenge! On Pajama Day, students gathered for a fun and spirited event – and boy, were they loud and enthusiastic! They roared as Mr. Carlson rallied and Mrs. Kruger poured the green goo! It was a fantastic way to celebrate the students' hard work and raise school spirit. Huge thanks to all who participated in making this such a memorable day!

Click here for the video.

Monroe is having a SPRING CONCERT on Wednesday, May 7!

ALL students K-5 will be involved, but please read carefully what times each grade level performs. Each grade level has 2 separate times they will be performing during the day for you to choose from to attend:

*Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade will perform at 8:45am AND 12:10pm

*3rd, 4th, and 5th grade will perform at 10:00am AND 1:15pm

We are so excited to have a chance to share a concert with you again! If you have any questions at all, please let me know.

Mrs. Sarah Payne

Monroe Music Teacher

spayne1@isd77.org

Visit the District website for more info.

Volunteers are needed to teach Junior Achievement lessons in Monroe Elementary classrooms! 1st grade available. Volunteers have all lesson materials provided and receive a short training by Junior Achievement. This commitment is about 5 lessons- 40 minutes each in the classroom. To sign up or for more information, email Haley at haley.geinnotta@janorth.org

The yearbook is in need of your school activity photos. Any first-day-of-school pictures, field trips, classroom parties, book fairs, and general fun photos that you take in any school-related activity can be submitted to Amy Demaster at amydemaster@gmail.com.

What is Kindergarten Connection?

It’s a dedicated event for incoming kindergarteners and their families to:

✨ Meet teachers
✨ Explore classrooms and learning spaces
✨ Get questions answered
✨ And so much more!

Enrolling your child in kindergarten is a big and exciting step in their educational journey. Our MAPS kindergarten teams are ready to provide a caring, structured, and engaging learning environment for your little one to thrive. Enroll TODAY to ensure your family is receiving important updates for your child's kindergarten experience.

Start the registration process today by visiting isd77.org/enroll.

If you have any questions or need assistance, our registration team is here to help! Call us at 507-387-2125.

https://www.facebook.com/MonroeElementaryPto

March

18 - Conferences/Book Fair

20 - Conferences/ Book Fair

24 - Conferences/ Book Fair

26 - NO SCHOOL - Spring Break

27 - NO SCHOOL - Spring Break

28 - NO SCHOOL - Spring Break

31 - NO SCHOOL - EID

April

10- Kindergarten Connection; 4:30-6:00

11- 2nd Gr. Field Trip to Pickle Barn

18- NO SCHOOL

25- Math Masters

Website:

www.me.isd77.org

Location:

441 Monroe Ave, North Mankato, MN, USA

Phone:

507-387-7889

Facebook:

Monroe Elementary PTO - North Mankato

https://www.facebook.com/MonroeElementaryPto