What a great first week back! We love seeing the smiles, hearing laughter in the halls, and the energy that our students bring to school each day. This week has been a whirlwind as we welcomed our newest Bulldogs to the building and helped them get used to our building and how school works. With the first 4 days now under our belt, instruction is beginning to happen in each classroom and learning is off to a strong start.

As we begin instruction, our assessment window is opening. All students in grades 1st-5th will be completing their iReady test in the next couple weeks. These assessments help our staff determine students' current learning level and provides us with next steps for instruction so that we can meet the individual needs of each student. Your child's teacher should be communicating the specific date for your child's assessment so you can help him/her prepare.

By law, we must practice all of our drills during the first 2 weeks of school. We will explain these and walk through the purpose of each with students before we do them, but for younger students, drills can be scary that first time, especially with the loud alarms and sirens in the halls. You can help us by discussing these with your child at home to better prepare him/her. Drills we must practice include fire, earthquake, tornado/severe weather, lock down, and bus evacuation. If your child comes home talking about "hiding" in the classroom or having to get under a desk and cover their heads, this is why.

These drills will be completed later this week:

• an earthquake drill (hunkering under desks and covering their neck)
• lock down drill (hiding in the classroom in case of a dangerous person in the building)
• severe weather drill (otherwise known as tornado drill)
• fire drill
• bus drills (completed second week of school)

Last year, BCPS began using the Thrill share app for classroom teachers to communicate with parents. That will continue this year. If you did not download that app previously, you will want to do that soon so you can see classroom updates, news from your child's teacher, and much more. After the school year gets started, the app will also be used for behavior (similar to what we used to use Dojo for previously). Parents will have instant notifications of behavior points and how their child is doing throughout the school day. Thrillshare really is a one stop shop, and if you have students in multiple schools you can access each of their schools through this one app.

We have an open seat on our SBDM Council for a minority parent.

What is SBDM? A process that involves councils that set school policies that are consistent with district board policies. The goal is to improve student achievement and help schools meet their goals. SBDM councils may cover topics such as curriculum, instruction, assessment, budgeting, staffing, and school organization.

The Council meets once a month after school.

Per state policy, a parent on SBDM is defined as:

A “parent” means a parent, stepparent, or foster parent. Guardians also qualify as parents if the student lives with them and they have a court order giving them legal custody. A parent council member will be the parent of a student pre-registered to attend the school during the parent's term of council service.

If you are interested in serving in this position, please reach out to Mr. Mullins!

Ms. Willis, our school counselor, is always available if your child or your family has needs that involve counseling in any way. She is here to support your child's transition to school, address barriers to attendance, and provide counseling for a wide array of issues. If you wish to speak with Ms. Willis regarding any of these topics, she can be reached at jami.willis@bullitt.kyschools.us.

So many things happening and so little time! We were so busy the first few days of school that capturing pictures of all the smiles slipped right past us. Here are a few pics we were able to snap in all the energy of those first couple days.

Interested in viewing previous editions of the Bulldog Bark? Click here.