Email: dupreet@usd231.com
Website: https://www.usd231.com/o/sunflower
Location: 775 North Center Street, Gardner, KS, USA
Phone: 913-856-3700
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sunflower-Elementary-2134875270174250/
Twitter: @SEEagles231
September 22: PTO Color Run
- Dinner 6:00 pm
- Run 7:00-7:30 pm
September 26: Watch DOGS and Eagle MOMS Orientation 6:30 pm in the cafeteria
September 27: Early Release Day 1:55pm
High School Homecoming Parade at 6:00pm
October 3: Pre-K Field Trip
October 3: PTO Meeting 7:00 at Sunflower Library
October 4: NO EARLY RELEASE
October 4: 3rd Grade Field Trip
October 5: 4th Grade Field Trip
October 6: No School
October 11 & 12: Parent Teacher Conferences- No School
October 13: No School
October 17: Fall Picture Retakes
October 18: Early Release Day 1:55pm
October 19: 4th Grade Goodies, Games, & GRAND Event
4th Grade Musical 7:00pm
October 20: 1st Grade Field Trip
Dear Parent/Guardian,
The safety of your child and all children in our school, as well as the safety of staff members, is my utmost concern. Subsequently, we take proactive measures by practicing our emergency operation plan through drills designed to exercise our procedures. The information provided below hopefully helps you understand each type of drill we will practice during the 2023-24 academic year.
The students and staff of Sunflower Elementary will be practicing three primary emergency drills: fire, tornado/severe weather, and intruder/campus evacuation. Each type of drill is explained in further detail below:
Fire Drills
Sunflower Elementary School conducts a fire drill four times (one per quarter) during the school year. The rationale for this practice is to ensure students and staff are safely able to exit the building using primary and secondary exits.
Tornado/Severe Weather Drills
Tornado drills are conducted two times per school year (September & March). The purpose of this drill is to be prepared to move to a safe location within the building in case of severe weather or tornadoes.
Intruder/Campus Evacuation
The intruder (lockdown) drill will secure the school building and safely shelter all students, staff and visitors inside the building. The evacuation drill will be activated any time students/staff need to be evacuated from the building. The purpose of these drills is to keep students and staff safe from any danger outside or inside the building. Intruder drills will be conducted four times (one per quarter) during the school year. The evacuation drill will occur once.
In closing, please remember our drills are reviewed, rehearsed, and refined with the support of emergency personnel to ensure our school is a safe place to learn and work. To maintain the integrity of our emergency operation plan, I may not be able to communicate specific details, but I would gladly visit with you should you have questions regarding our emergency drills or other safety concerns.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jason Jones, Ed.D.
Watch this video as Dr. Jones explains why your student's attendance matters!
October conferences are quickly approaching! On 9/27/23 you will receive a link to schedule
your K-4 student conference. If you have an EC student, your child’s teacher will contact you
prior to this date with your EC conference time so scheduling conflicts can be avoided for older
siblings. Fall conferences are facilitated by your child’s teacher and are designed to be conducted in-
person. If your family will need a Zoom option, you will need to contact the respective teacher to
make him/her aware.
Share Your Travels
Have you recently taken an amazing trip or have lived somewhere other than the Midwest? We would like to highlight the location on our new segments during announcements...World Wide Wednesday! Reach out to Mrs. Rains (rainsj@usd231.com) or Mr. Prall (prallg@usd231.com) with photos and we will do the rest.
Watch this video for our latest example. Share Your Travels Video
Hello, Sunflower Families!
We are introducing a change to how we are handling Sunflower’s Got Talent this school year. There will be two in-person talent shows on Wednesday, December 13th, and Thursday, May 16th. More information about those talent shows will be available at a later date. Video talents have been very popular in the past, so we will be introducing a new weekly segment to our morning announcements: Talent Tuesday! Rather than two opportunities per year to submit a video talent, students will be able to send in videos throughout the school year to be premiered on Talent Tuesdays. We are requesting the length of the videos be no more than a minute to keep the announcements at a reasonable length. Additionally, parents are asked to review any content or media within the videos to ensure that they are school appropriate. Videos deemed inappropriate will not be premiered and families with rejected submissions will be informed as to the reason why. All videos can be sent to Mr. Prall at prallg@usd231.com. Any questions regarding Sunflower’s Got Talent, or Talent Tuesdays can be directed to Mr. Prall as well. I am excited to share this new opportunity with our students and I look forward to all of the amazing talents we will get to experience this school year!
Mr. Prall
IF YOUR STUDENT...
...HAS AN EXCUSED ABSENCE due to illness, appointment, funeral or family emergency, please email the attendance line SEattendance@usd231.com as soon as possible. If we haven't heard from parents by 9:00 am, we will call to check on your child. You can also call in student absences to the absentee line at 913-856-3749.
...WILL BE LATE TO SCHOOL, please let our office know ahead of time (if possible). When your student arrives at school, they will need to stop by the office first, and the secretaries will give them a hall pass.
...WILL BE ABSENT BECAUSE YOU'RE GOING OUT OF TOWN, this is considered an UNEXCUSED absence, unless preapproved by Dr. Jones. Please do not just tell the teacher! Please request approval in writing by emailing Dr. Jones at jonesja@usd231.com.
...NEEDS TO LEAVE SCHOOL EARLY, you can call to let us know you are on your way, but students will not be called out of class UNTIL a parent is present to sign them out. Please plan ahead for appointments, as we would like to minimize missed class time. You will need to come into the office to sign your student out. You won't be able to park outside and call us to send your student out to you.
...HAS DIFFERENT DISMISSAL INSTRUCTIONS, please call the office as soon as possible. If change of dismissal instructions are received after 3:00 pm, we can do our best to relay the message to your student.
AND LAST, BUT NOT LEAST...
If you notify your student's teacher of an absence, please also let the office know. Everybody's lives are crazy and busy...everybody's human...everybody can forget to forward an email on to the appropriate person. So, if you send an email to your student's teacher about an absence, please "cc" Terra (dupreet@usd231.com) and Janet (mcconvillej@usd231.com). That way, at least one of us gets the email and gets it taken care of right away. Thank you!!
The Sunflower Site Council will be meeting at 6 pm in the library on the following dates:
September 5, 2023, December 5, 2023, February 6, 2024, April 9, 2024
All meetings are open to the public.
Kansas schools are required to establish site councils composed of the principal, teachers and other school personnel, parents, business representatives, and other community groups.
Site councils have a responsibility to provide advice and counsel in the following areas: evaluating district and school performance goals and objectives, determining methods to meet those goals and objectives, and other areas as requested by the board of education.
Remember, the work of the site council is advisory only;
it makes recommendations, not decisions.
We invite everyone to join the Sunflower PTO Facebook page. By searching "Gardner Sunflower PTO" under Pages, you will be able to join the group and receive updated PTO information.
