USD 490 eNews

Calling all USD 490 alumni!

We will be highlighting a different USD 490 alumni each Tuesday on our website Live Feed and district social media for #TellOurStoryTuesday. We want you to help us tell our story by sharing yours!

Please take minute to participate in this fun celebration: https://forms.gle/kY2wzUSzxuLLNQmn9

Families, please see the scheduled days off for the first semester of this school year. When possible, please schedule preventative medical appointments, trips, etc. during times when school is not in session. This helps students avoid missing classroom instruction and helps make sure they are in school, learning as much as possible. Good attendance matters!

This year’s school COVID protocols were approved during the USD 490 Board of Education meeting on August 14, 2023. There were no changes from last year to the exposure guidelines.

The only change for this year is the COVID testing location. There will no longer be a testing site at the Performing Arts Center. Instead, car-side testing will be offered at Blackmore Elementary and El Dorado High School.

To request testing, please contact our COVID Nurse Natoshia Tillman at nltillman@usd490.org or by phone at 316-322-4850.

As a reminder, consent to test must be renewed each school year. For more information or to complete a consent form, please visit our website: https://www.usd490.org/page/health-information

It’s been great having students back in school! As expected, the start of school means more traffic on roads and sidewalks, so we want to share some reminders to help our students arrive to school and return home safely each day.

Many of our students ride bicycles or walk to and from school. Staff have been reminding students to be aware of their surroundings, never accept rides from strangers, double check for moving vehicles when crossing driveways and streets, and use clearly marked crosswalks when they are available.

As parents, community members, and drivers, we need your help too.

• Avoid distractions while driving.
• Obey traffic signs and signals.
• Be extra vigilant before school begins and after school is released.
• Encourage your children to use designated crosswalks.
• Remind your children that it is NEVER safe to step out between parked vehicles to cross a roadway. If there is not a crosswalk nearby, they should cross from corner to corner after checking to make sure there are no cars approaching from either direction.
• When dropping students off or picking them up from school, please pay attention to the directional flow of traffic. The right-hand lane, closest to the curb, should be used to drop off or pick up students.
• Please do not allow children to exit the vehicle while in the left lane and please do not encourage them to get into the vehicle while in the left lane. Having them cross between cars in the right lane is a major safety concern that we want to avoid.
• If you are going to need to exit your vehicle for any reason, please pull into a parking spot and use the designated crosswalk from the parking lot to the school’s entrance. This helps traffic flow smoothly and can help prevent accidents from occurring.

It takes all of us to keep our learners safe, and we appreciate your cooperation.

Every Kansas child from birth to age five can receive free books every month from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

This is made possible through increased funding provided to the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund by Gov. Laura Kelly and the Kansas Legislature. These funds supplement local and regional resources to ensure equitable opportunity across the state.

Parton will be visiting Pratt on Monday, Aug. 14, for a private event. Pratt was the first Imagination Library site outside of Tennessee in 2005. Kansas has more than 52,200 children enrolled and has gifted more than 3.8 million books to children since the library’s formation in Kansas in 2005.

Parton was inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, so she started the Imagination Library to help encourage children to read.

Each child enrolled in the program receives one book per month until his or her fifth birthday - at no cost to families. Penguin Random House is the exclusive publisher of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. For more information, please visit imaginationlibrary.com.

For more information about the Imagination Library of Kansas, visit kschildrenscabinet.org/imaginationlibrary.

Our local Dolly Parton Imagination Library coordinator is Staci Rickard, sarickard@usd490.org. Click here for the sign-up form.

All three USD 490 elementary schools have been recognized as 2022-23 Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Distinguished Schools. They are three of 492 schools across the U.S. to receive this honor for providing broad access to transformative learning experiences for students through PLTW Launch. PLTW is a nonprofit organization that serves millions of PreK-12 students and teachers in schools across the U.S.

The PLTW Distinguished School recognition honors schools committed to increasing student access, engagement, and achievement in their PLTW programs. To be eligible for the designation, each elementary school had to have more than 75 percent of the student body participating in the program and had to offer at least one PLTW Launch module at each grade level during the 2021-22 school year.

Visit our website to read more: https://www.usd490.org/article/1183912

The YMCA hopes to offer after school child care through their KEY Academy. It would be located at Skelly Elementary but open to all elementary age USD 490 students. In order for this to be a viable program, they need at least 15 students registered and to have a Program Director hired. More info/registration: https://ymcawichita.org/programs/child-care-and-camps/before-and-after-school/registration To apply for the Program Director position: https://ymcawichita.org/careers

Blackmore Elementary received a new bench on July 3, 2023, courtesy of the Culbertson family in memory of Randy Culbertson.

Randy Culbertson dedicated 29 years to El Dorado schools, serving as the Jefferson and Lincoln principal during his final year before retirement. He lost his battle with MS six years ago, but his legacy lives on through his family and the students he taught.

Visit our website to read more: https://www.usd490.org/article/1167637

Have you ever wondered what a school principal does at work before the teachers and students come back? Visit our website for a peek behind the curtain: https://www.usd490.org/article/1191471

September 4 No School - Labor Day

September 8 EHS Grandparent Social, 9:00 a.m.

EMS Grandparent Celebration, 1:00 p.m.

Grandview Grandparent Celebration, 2:00 p.m.

September 11 Blackmore Grandparent Celebration, 1:30 p.m.

Skelly Grandparent Celebration, 2:15 p.m.

September 11-15 Arts in Education Week

September 17 Constitution Day (celebrated in schools on Sept. 15)

September 19 IT Professionals Day

September 23 PIE Sporting Clay Shoot at Lynbrook Sporting Clays, 9:00 a.m.

September 25 No School - Staff Professional Development

Email: usd490@usd490.org
Website: www.usd490.org
Location: 124 West Central Avenue, El Dorado, KS, USA
Phone: (316) 322-4800
Facebook: facebook.com/eldorado.schools
Twitter: @eldoradousd490