The Cardinal Connection

Cooke Cardinals Families:

We’re challenging every student to show up on time, every day, and ready to learn. Every day in school means more time to learn, connect with teachers and friends, and build habits that lead to success.

Be present. Be on time. Stay engaged. Every day counts.

Families are an important part of the challenge! Keep consistent morning and bedtime routines, plan ahead for transportation, and reach out to your school when you need support.

Let’s make EVERY ONE count!

IT’S TIME FOR YOUR ANNUAL UPDATE!

A successful school year starts with staying connected! Families can now complete the 2026–2027 Annual Student Information Update through the Infinite Campus Family Portal.

Take a few minutes to make sure we have the most current information for your student, including:

Parent/guardian contact information

Mailing address

Emergency contacts

Student health information

Preferred language for family communications

Already have an Infinite Campus account? Simply log in and select Annual Update / New Student Registration to get started.

Need an account? Check your email from August 17 for an activation message from Red Clay. An automated email will be shared every Monday until you create an account.

PLEASE DON’T SKIP THIS IMPORTANT STEP!

Accurate information helps us stay connected with your family and ensures we can best support your student throughout the school year.

Get instructions and complete details here.

*Please note emergency information must be updated in order for a child to attend field trips! Take care of this today! Don't delay!

Let’s start the year connected and ready to move Forward Together!

Help your child become more independent by teaching them how to open common food packages. This helps ease frustration when students are eating breakfast and lunch here at school.

Besides the Cardinal Connection, Cooke uses social media to communicate school happenings! If you haven't followed us, do so today! We are on Facebook, Instagram and X.

Many of you have reached out looking for ways you can support our school. We would love to have donations for our MTSS School Store. Students visit this store once per month and use their Cardinal Credits they've earned for being respectful, responsible, and ready. We put together an Amazon Wish List. If you choose to donate, the items will be shipped directly to Cooke Elementary School. As always, thank you for your support!

The deadline for 4th and 5th grade students to sign-up to play a band or string instrument is Wednesday, September 16th and classes begin the week of September 22nd . As we know, this is an exciting time for our elementary students to start on an incredible journey of playing an instrument.

Any student who is interested can reach out to our band teacher, Heather.Hughes@redclay.k12.de.us or our strings teacher, Stephanie.Stabley@redclay.k12.de.us .

Here is a link to the sign-ups: www.tinyurl.com/RedClayBand .

It is very important to read through our Cooke Family Handbook! It is full of information about our school and may answer questions that you have about routines, procedures and expectations at our school. We are going paperless with our Family Handbook this year!

If you plan to volunteer at Cooke (chaperone a field trip, help in the classroom, help at a school event such as the Book Fair or Holiday Shop, etc.) you must complete the State of Delaware process to become an approved volunteer.

New This Year!

If you have completed a Delaware Child Protection Registry (CPR) clearance through another agency with the past year, we can now accept those results. You will not need to complete a new CPR registration as long as your clearance is current within the calendar year.

There are three documents you need to turn in:

1. Confidentiality Agreement

2. TB Risk Assessment

3. RECEIPT for the $14 online fee for the Child Protection Registry OR Results from another agency.

These can be turned in to the office now and once school begins, to the homeroom teacher.

Documents must be received in the office BEFORE the date of the volunteer opportunity/field trip. We cannot accept paperwork the day of, without the confirmation of clearance from the District Office.

Volunteer approval is good for ONE calendar year. So, if you completed this last October, you are cleared through October 2026. Then you must resubmit the three documents. If you are unsure when you expire, you can call the main office at 302-235-6600.

Some parents have expressed trouble with the Child Protection Registry site. We do not have tech support for this. We have learned that it is best to do this on a computer versus a phone. That seems to be more successful. We also have directions to use for assistance (see below).

Some clubs such as Science Olympiad who supervise students without a Red Clay staff member present, you must also complete a Criminal Background Check (fingerprinting). Please contact the school office for direction on additional requirements.

We have a translate feature! Simply click "translate newsletter" and you can pick from many different languages!

¡Tenemos un botón de traducción! Simplemente haga clic donde dice "translate newsletter" y podrá elegir entre muchos idiomas diferentes.

The Red Clay Consolidated School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, handicap, veteran status, domicile, genetic information, or any legally protected characteristic. Inquiries should be directed to Human Resources at 302-552-3783.