Crane R-III District Updates

Summer School 2025: We had a fantastic summer session this year, with the highest enrollment we've seen in quite some time! A big thank you goes out to all the students and staff who made it such a success. We hope everyone is enjoying a well-deserved summer break, and we look forward to seeing you at Open House on Thursday, August 14, from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM!

Track Updates: With drier days ahead, we’re optimistic that progress on the track will continue moving forward. However, we kindly ask everyone to stay out of the track area during the construction phase. While we understand that many have enjoyed activities like arrowhead hunting in the past, this is now an active construction zone. For safety reasons, only authorized construction personnel are permitted in the area. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding as we work to complete this project safely and efficiently.

New Crane High School Sign: We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Mrs. Kylee Williams and her JAG students for their outstanding work on this past year’s JAG Service Learning Project, the new Crane High School sign. As part of the project, students researched various sign options and selected the final design based on a budget they developed using allocated JAG funds. The result is a significant improvement over the previous broken sign, and it proudly represents our school. We’re grateful for their hard work, creativity, and dedication to making a lasting impact on our campus!

Football Begins: Crane will be launching a Junior High Football program this fall! Coach Chane Hutton has been hired to lead and develop the program. He brings a wealth of experience in building football programs from the ground up and has played a key role in the success of football programs in other school districts. To kick things off, a Football Camp will be held August 11–14 from 5:45 PM to 7:45 PM. This camp is open not only to junior high students who plan to play this fall, but also to any students entering 3rd through 6th grade who are interested in learning the fundamentals of the game. For more details, check out the post on the Crane R-III app. We’re excited for this new chapter and can’t wait to see our students on the field!

Jr. High Basketball Season Change: With the addition of Junior High Football this fall, we’ve adjusted the Junior High Basketball season to take place during the winter months. The JH Girls will play in November and December, while the JH Boys season will run through January and February. Due to the overlap with the high school basketball season, we’ve brought on a new coach to lead our junior high teams. We’re excited to announce that Allen Wilson has been selected to coach both the boys’ and girls’ junior high basketball teams. Coach Wilson brings a wealth of experience and a strong connection to our community, having coached many former Crane Pirates over the years. We look forward to a great season ahead under his leadership!

Meal Prices for 2025-2026 School Year: We’re pleased to announce that meal prices for the 2025–2026 school year will remain the same as last year. We strongly encourage all families to complete a Free or Reduced-Price Meal Application during Open House at the start of the school year to determine eligibility. Even if you’re unsure whether you qualify, submitting an application helps ensure we receive important funding and support for our school programs.

Upcoming School Year Academic Calendar: The 2025–2026 academic calendar was shared earlier this past semester, but in case you missed it, you can view it here and below. Please note that this calendar includes a few additional Mondays where school is in session to accommodate a scheduled Spring Break. We kindly ask that you keep these dates in mind when planning appointments or vacations for your child to help minimize time away from school.

CSIP Updates: As we have shared in previous communications, our school has an Continuous School Improvement Plan, which is our district's plan to improve our schools! There are multiple areas of this plan that drives everything we do at Crane. Each month, at every board meeting, we provide an update on one of the goals. You can find the reports here if you are unable to attend our board meetings. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to any of our administrators.

Unfortunately, our attendance rates fell below the state’s target this year. The state defines satisfactory attendance as at least 90% of students maintaining a 90% average daily attendance rate. As shown in the table below, Crane Elementary had only 80.5% of students meeting this benchmark, while Crane JH/HS reached 85.2%.

Parents, we need your help to improve these numbers. Consistent, on-time attendance is critical to student success. Please help us by ensuring your child is at school every day and arrives on time. Together, we can work toward meeting, or better yet exceeding, the state’s expectations.

August 5: New Student Enrollment

August: 14: Open House 4:30 PM-6:30 PM

August 19: First Day of School: Tardy bell rings at 7:50 AM.