West Liberty Elem/ELC Times

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Celebrating Hard Work!

It's hard to believe that we are up and running into the second half of the 2025-26 School year! Every year I think that time moves faster and I often comtemplate if that is because my own children continue to get older or if is because of how grown up the current fourth graders have become (they were first graders when I started in my role)! I am sure it is a little of both:)

Through our collaborative PLC process that teachers are engaged in this year, one of the things we have been trying to do more often is celebrate our successes. I would like to take a moment and celebrate our staff. They work tireless hours each week to meet the needs of the students in the classroom as well as continue to grow professionally by learning with each other on a weekly basis. This takes on many forms-regular PLC meetings, outside professional development opportunities, analyzing data, and problem-solving with colleagues when challenging situations arise.

The teaching profession is extremely personal; students become family and seeing their success is one of the best gifts an educator can receive. Your sons/daughters mean the world to us and we are grateful for the opportunity to inspire curiosity amongst them each and every day. If you have a moment of celebration to share, please do not hesitate to send it to the teacher or to Mr. Ryan and I. We love to hear about the good things that are happening!

Oh, and if you didn't see the building celebrated my half-birthday this week. It's been a lot of years since I have celebrated my birthday in January (about 32 to be exact), but it was a great day and I had a lot of fun--and am thankful there wasn't anyone around to record when I was getting all of the balloons into my car!

We look forward to seeing you all at our conferences in February so we can continue to share the good things that are taking place!

-Mrs. Kruse

Building Goals

We have three building goals this year that we are working to achieve.

1. Increase our literacy scores as a building by 10% from May 2025 to May 2026

2. Increase our math scores as a building by 6% from May 2025 to May 2026

3. Maintain our chronic absenteeism from May of 2025 to 9% or less of our students (a student who is chronically absent misses 10 or more school days in a school year).

We will continue to monitor and track our progress with these goals as we move throughout the year. These goals will help us to achieve our building mission to "ensure high levels of learning for ALL students and empower them to have a successful future."

Attendance and Sickness

Influenza, strep, and COVID are high in Muscatine County. Influenza can take 5-7 days for symptoms to resolve. Please keep your children home if they are sick. Here is a guide to help you determine if it is appropriate to send them to school. Ways to help stop the spread of germs: good hand hygiene, disinfecting surfaces, and covering sneezes and coughs.

The Iowa Department of Public Health recommendations for communicable diseases will be followed. If your child’s temperature is over 100 degrees before school, you should arrange for them to stay home. Do not give your child fever-reducing medication (Tylenol, Motrin, ibuprofen, Advil) before sending them to school. Students may be sent home from school if exhibiting symptoms of various illnesses.

Examples of reasons students will get sent home:

fever over 100.4
upset stomach
vomiting
diarrhea
pink eye
unexplained rash
general illness that is preventing them from participating in their normal activities.

Please do not send your child back to school for 24 hours following the last episode of diarrhea or vomiting.

To ensure the health and safety of all students, we kindly ask that if your student had a fever at any time the previous calendar day, they cannot attend school the following day. Children should remain home until they are fever-free for at least 24 hours without using fever-reducing medications. This helps prevent the spread of illness and supports the well-being of everyone in our community.

Upcoming Events

Jan 26 → ELPA Parent Night @ HS Library 5:30 PM
Feb 11-12→ Conferences
Feb 13 → No School (conferences)
Feb 16 → No School for Presidents Day
March 5 → Dr. Seuss Family Night
March 16-20 → No School, Spring Break
March 31 → Spring School Pictures

Please use the bus lane when dropping off in the morning or picking up in the car lane after school. This allows other individuals who are leaving the parking lot the opportunity to do so. We would also ask that students exit from the right side of the car so they are not getting out into traffic. We encourage parents to stay in their vehicles.

*** If you are dropping your student off in the morning and arrive after 8:00, you need to bring your student to the main doors either at the ELC or the Elementary, they cannot be dropped off at the Breezeway doors from 8:00 on. ***