This week feels like Spring is almost here. When March arrives at EES, we are always very busy. I feel like the month is slipping by already. As a whole our building is pushing on toward being truly great. Many new and wonderful things are happening and we are happy to be able to share them with our parents and community.

Our first big item in March will be our Parent Teacher Conferences that are now being held on March 9th and 10th. This Monday and Tuesday is a bit earlier than originally planned but we are very hopeful that we will all need to be cheering on our Red Devils at state basketball on the following Thursday so it is a good change. If you are a parent and are not sure when your time slot is, please call, email, or Dojo as all notes and reminders should be out. We are very hopeful that you will enjoy our new student-led formats brought to you by the hard work of our students and teachers. Please feel free to give us feedback on what you liked about the new style or also what we could improve on for next year. We hope to give our students more ownership in this process so they begin to take more ownership of their learning as well.

We have now completed our dental screenings and services that were held this week. Thank you to CHC of SEK for keeping the dental health of our kids in mind.

EES and our students would like to thank Coach Daniels, Coach Pontious, the EHS ladies basketball team and the Erie Rec for such a great Bitty Ball season. The kids had a blast and loved it very much. They also learned a great deal about the great game of basketball. When we all come together, great things happen.

We would also like to thank Mr. Francis, Mrs. Myers, and the EHS crew for bringing our state bound wrestlers to visit us at EES. We love showing our love for this bunch of great kids.

We also want to wish the EHS boys and girls basketball teams the best of luck at their sub-state tournaments. We hope to see them both victorious.

Our EES Chess team is very young this year. While they have had a lot of fun and some good results, their true test will be at the state chess meet on March 14th. With several of our young students going, let's give a huge shout-out to them and their coaches as well. Good luck little devils.

We do currently have some openings for our afternoon child care option. This affordable, high quality child care option is great for families who are already in our Pre-K. If you would like more information or to visit our top notch child care room please call the office at any time. Mrs. DeLange is doing a wonderful job providing excellent activities for our child care kids. More information will be out soon to prepare for next year.

Our March Teacher of the month was recently chosen by a committee of staff members based on nominations from our students and staff. It makes me very happy to say that Mrs. Lisa Maher was selected as our March teacher of the month. If you see Mrs. Maher out and about give her some congratulations. She definitely deserves it. Please take a minute to thank the fine people at D"Angelo's and Horizons for helping us sponsor this monthly award.

We have completed our last predictive interim test to get ready for our state assessments. We showed amazing growth as a building last year and we hope to carry that forward for this year as well. Our 3rd through 5th grade students are being prepared very well by our squad of teachers. We will be looking forward next month to our Test Fest 2020. If you would like to be a part of this or be a special partner to encourage our kids to do their best on the test please contact me and we will find a way to contribute to this drive for greatness. We already know that EES is the best, we want to show the world that we are the best choice in Southeast Kansas to prepare your students both academically and socially for success in life. We won't rest until we make it!

Our much needed Spring Break is right on the horizon as well. From March 13th-22nd we will not have school. Get rested for our final push through April and May and on to excellence.

Our IT Factor after school program is getting ready to begin its fourth session of the year. Our staff have created some amazing experiences this year and the students are loving it. If you have not encouraged your student to try it in a while, please do so. Some of the new options are pictured below. We will have archery, 3-D printing, electronics, animal science, cosmetology, meditation, yoga, sports, community service and so much more. The staff work very hard on creating amazing experiences for our kids so let's all support this wonderful program. If you are a community volunteer we can also find a place for you to help out and share your talents. We want to expose our kids to all the best that Neosho County has to offer. Parents, please return your IT Factor Session 4 sign-ups before Spring Break. Information about the summer program will be coming out soon as well.

While it looks like we are starting to head out of flu season, we would still like to remind all parents to look for signs and symptoms. We will call home if your child develops a fever of over 100° or is exhibiting symptoms such as vomiting etc. We would also like to share some good information about head lice. This has not been a huge problem this year but we always want to be prepared as our little ones can find ways to spread these if they do show up. Please take a minute to look over the information below.

I would like to ask for help with a few items as we get going for the last quarter of the year but first I would like to thank those of you who are already meeting expectations. We have a few requests for all parents and families, which are very normal requests. This is really just a reminder, as we all change a little moving through the year.

If at all possible, I would like to remind parents to avoid dropping students off until at least 7:30. We do not typically have staff to supervise until that time. Student safety is our top priority and this can be a negative in terms of safety.

Next, please make any changes to our daily dismissal routines prior to 1:30. While emergencies do happen, all calls should be made prior to this time if your student is doing something different after school. Once again, this is a student safety issue.

An additional request would also be a safety need for our kids. Please, if you come in the building, do not leave the front office area without signing in and getting a visitors badge. We are training our kids to look for badges and strange or unknown folks and this is one method we use to ensure that all guests are accounted for. Also, we will not allow parents to enter classrooms in the morning or afternoon without a staff member and a badge. This is not to make your day more difficult, it is only to protect our students. This also includes drop-off and pick-up time. Our little ones are becoming so independent and we would like for them to get into their morning routine as quickly as possible so please avoid bringing them in unless you need to speak to the office.

The last favor that I would ask is to please reinforce the need for consistent attendance at school. One day missed every three weeks, would result in a chronically absent student. This would be 12 absences in one year. This adds up to over half of one school year just in the elementary years and is like missing more than a full year by graduation. Students who do not have good attendance show much lower gains and ability as early as third grade. Please help us by ensuring that your students are here whenever they can possibly be so those days when they are very ill do not hurt them as much. Thank you for your understanding and support with this issue.

Also we need to remember that students should not attend school activities on days that they are absent from school due to illness. If they are too sick to attend school, then please do not allow them to attend school functions. We appreciate your help with this.

We have several dates that we should be aware of in the next month. They will be listed below on our Month at a Glance.

As always please let us know via email, Dojo, or call if you would like to visit or volunteer at any time or if you simply have questions about the great things we are doing at Erie Elementary.

Thank you all for such great support that we have been given over the last year. I couldn't be happier with the way you all respond to our needs and care for our kids. It really shows the heart of this district. Thank you!

3/2-3/5 Dental Screenings

3/7 EHS Ladies and Men punch their ticket to state with Sub-state championships! Go EHS Devils!

3/9 Parent Teacher Conferences 4:00-8:00

3/10 Parent Teacher Conferences 4:00-7:00

3/12 Session 4 IT Factor Paperwork is Due

3/13 Spring Break begins

3/14 State Chess

3/23 Back to school!

4/3 Class Pictures at EES

Email: bpontious@usd101.com
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/usd101.com/elementary-school/
Location: 410 West 3rd Street, Erie, KS, USA
Phone: (620) 244-5191
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eesrocks/
Twitter: @mr_pontious