You may have noticed that I have not been around Baron Elementary the past couple of days. Well, in full disclosure, I am in the process of recovering from hip replacement surgery. All those sports and Summer landscaping work over the years finally caught up to me. I'm happy to report that my recovery is going well and I hope to return to school on Feb. 12th...pain free! In the meantime, Baron Elementary is in great hands! Ms. Kim Marrolli, Asst. Principal at Doe Run, and Mrs. Keisha McCauley, Asst. Principal at the high school, have been covering for me during the day. Officer Lucky, Officer Yarnell, and Dr. Flannery are also faces that you will see from time to time helping to support the learners of Baron Elementary. I am proud to say that we have an incredible team of teachers and staff at Baron Elementary! Please continue to call the school office if you have any questions or concerns (717) 665-8900.

We have a lot of fantastic events planned for the month of February. Please review this newsletter and look for ways to connect with what is happening at school. As your child encounters more challenging content and skills in their classrooms, your ongoing encouragement and support at home will help us move forward together!

Thank you for your continued support from home in helping us to create the ideal learning environment for your child at Baron Elementary!

Proud to Be a Baron!

Mr. Michael Pyle

Principal, Baron Elementary

We are excited to welcome families for our annual Kindergarten Registration process for the 2024-25 school year. Please review the information linked below and let us know if you have any questions.

Kindergarten Registration (2024-25)

At this time of the year, our Reading Practice goal for learners is 157 STEPs (1 STEP = 15 mins.). Please continue to encourage your child to read at least 15 minutes each night at home and sign and return their reading logs to their teacher. Let's continue to celebrate the joy of reading at home and at school!

We continue to see positive connections being formed across grade levels and throughout our building with the help of our House Meetings and 4-Houses...1-Baron Family Assemblies. On January 31st, our learners and staff enjoyed a visit from local musician, Mr. Steven Courtney!. He played songs that connected to our PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Support) program and even created a song just for Baron Elementary! It was a great event that got everyone moving to his music!!!

Congratulations to our Blue House for accumulating the most points through the month of January! Way to go Critical Thinking Cobras!

Our theme for the month of February is Cooperation. Please look for ways to connect with our theme through discussions that you have with your child at home.

Check out the song that Steven Courtney created for our school (linked below)...this has become our Morning Song for February!

Our PurposeFULL People theme for February is cooperation. We enjoy seeing our young learners at Baron Elementary cooperating with one another throughout their day. Each day, we model, demonstrate, and entrust one another to be cooperative when attending to tasks in the classroom, playground, or cafeteria. When kids are able to lead with empathy and demonstrate a willingness to help others, a cooperative learning environment is created. We are proud of the efforts that we have seen from our learners in helping to create cooperative learning environments at Baron Elementary! Continue to look for ways at home to help your child understand the benefits of cooperation. Together we can achieve more!

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." - Helen Keller

Kindergarten (Cooperation Family Letter)

1st Grade (Cooperation Family Letter)

2nd Grade (Cooperation Family Letter)

3rd Grade (Cooperation Family Letter)

4th Grade (Cooperation Family Letter)

The Super Bowl is scheduled for Feb. 11th. As a tradition at Baron Elementary (carried over from H.C. Burgard), we like to help the Manheim Food Bank by donating soup cans through a fun competition of selecting the winner of the Big Game. Will Baron Elementary select the K.C. Chiefs or the S.F. 49ers as the winner of the Super Bowl? Your child can place their soup cans under the team that they think will win and earn points for their House Color. Donations will be collected until Friday, Feb. 9th. The Manheim Food Bank greatly appreciates the help with your donations!

For over 20 years, we have supported the American Heart Association through the Kids Heart Challenge program. The focus of this year's program is to encourage our learners to commit to their heart health and take the online health challenge to MOVE MORE or BE KIND. It is our goal to have 50% of learners take the challenge. If we are able to reach our goal, we will receive $500 towards new "heart-healthy" playground equipment and Mr. Pyle will be silly stringed by learners at our next 4-Houses...1-Baron Family assembly!

February is heart month! Show your support of a heart healthy lifestyle by wearing red on Friday February 16th!

School dentals are required for kindergarten and 3rd grade students. Any current 2nd grade learner who has had a visit this school year, may hand in a completed dental form to be compliant for 3rd grade. Please reach out to me if you need a form sent home or they can be found on our district website under student services.

Thank you,

Nurse Heistand

Kristin Heistand, LPN

Baron Elementary

Manheim Central School District

717-665-8904 – office

717-665-8909 - fax

As we approach Valentine's Day we wanted to provide some information about bringing candy/treats into school. Children will be permitted to bring in candy with Valentine's cards, however, the candy will not be consumed at school due to our many peanut-free learning environments. Learners will bring home their treats in their decorated bags.

Please only send in store bought and individually packaged items.

Hello!

We are looking forward to another rewarding IU13 Federal Programs Parent Conference on March 12, 2024. (April 2, snow make-up day)

The theme for the conference is It Takes a Village.

Please review the invitation attached below and contact Raluca Snyder (contact information below) if you have any questions.

Please help us make this conference a successful IU13 Federal Programs Parent Conference for the parents we service and support within all our public and nonpublic schools. It does take a village to do that!

Thank you!

Raluca Snyder, Ed. D.

Federal Programs Administrator

ELD Supervisor

Lancaster-Lebanon IU13

1020 New Holland Ave., Lancaster, PA 17601

Phone: (717)947-1984

Fax: (717) 606-1935

Learners will be going outside for recess on days where the temperature is above 20 degrees (real feel). With that in mind, please have your child dress accordingly for the weather conditions. Along with winter coats, hats and gloves are recommended during these cold winter days. To make sure that coats are returned to their rightful owner, please write the name of your child inside the coat...this is very helpful!

If your child is in need of a coat, please contact Mrs. Melissa Evans at Baron Elementary. evansm@manheimcentral.org or (717) 664-8535.

With the colder days of winter approaching, we may make the decision to move to a Flexible Instruction Day(s) when weather closes our school. Your child's teacher will communicate the plan for the day if we move to a FID Day.

Please review the information linked below from the MC district's website regarding Flexible Instructional Days.

Flexible Instructional Days

Student Attendance

Consistent school attendance is essential to maximize student learning. The school ascribes to the belief that a learner cannot receive maximum benefit from his or her school experiences, nor a parent maximum return on the tax dollar, when students are not in regular attendance. Continued and excessive unexcused absences will result in the formation of a Student Attendance Improvement Plan (SAIP) according to the Manheim Central policies and PA Act 138. This section outlines the procedural guidelines for complying with the PA Act 138 (2016) and Policy 204 of the Manheim Central School District Board Policy. All guidelines may be subject to administrative discretion.

• A tardy is defined as absent from the start of the day (7:45AM) until 10:49AM. An excuse must be provided for this time or it is coded as an ‘unexcused tardy’

• Students may accumulate a combination of up to 10 days of parent excusals and unexcused/illegal days per school year. Should this limit be reached, all additional absences will only be excused with a note from the treating physician. Excuses from a physician are preferred for illness and will not count towards the 10 day limit for parent excuse notes for absences. Any parent/guardian written excuse notes following the 10 day limit will be coded as an illegal or unexcused day.

• Case by case exceptions may occur and must be reviewed and approved by the building principals.

• A Student has 3 school days to submit a signed excuse note following a return from an absent day. If a valid, written and signed excuse is not submitted within the 3-day period, the absence is logged as illegal.

• In the High School, Illegal/unexcused days may result in the student receiving a 0 for all school work missed during the day of absence.

• An attendance letter is mailed home when a student has 3 and 6 illegal/unexcused attendance days documented.

• If a student accumulates 3-5 days of illegal absences, a 3-day illegal notice letter will be sent to the parent/guardian.

• If a student accumulates 6 (or more) illegal absences, a letter will be mailed to the parent/guardian, which will include an invitation to the Student Attendance Improvement Plan (SAIP) meeting. This is a team meeting to discuss and address concerns and create a plan of support and an improvement to attendance. Students who accumulate 6+ days of illegal absences are identified as ‘habitually truant.’

• SAIP’s are individualized and will be reviewed regularly. If attendance does not improve following a SAIP, additional options to address continued truancy may include a referral to the Office of the District Justice.

All Students K-12

1. Students absent from the start of the school day until 10:49 AM of the school day = Tardy.

2. Students absent from 10:50 until the end of the school day = ½ day absence.

3. Students absent the entire school day = full day of absence.

4. Students absent on a day that is an early dismissal or late start school day are counted as a full day of absence.

FID Day Attendance: All students must complete the assigned work from their teacher on a Flexible Instruction Day. All attendance procedures still apply on a FID Day.

Parents and guardians should contact the building office, (717) 665-8900, to update any changes with addresses and/or contact information. All of our applications (Home Access Center, Blackboard Connect, and Transportation) rely on up-to-date information so that you are receiving messages and are able to access important information from your school. Please call our school office to make these necessary changes.

Main Car Rider Lane: Please be respectful of others, including our neighbors, when arriving to pick-up your child at the end of the day. Our car riders are dismissed at 2:08PM. Staff members will be waiting with your child until 2:30PM. We would appreciate if parents/guardians would arrive no earlier than 2:05PM to reduce the number of cars that have to wait to enter the line on Linden Street. We also ask that you do not enter the car rider line from Gramby Street to help with the flow of traffic during dismissal. Do not use the Bus Lanes to pick-up and drop-off learners (PreK is permitted due to the time of their arrival and dismissal).

Kindergarten Lane: Please continue to access Baron Way from Scout Alley. Make sure that you are displaying your car rider sign as you pull-up to pick up your child. Any siblings of Kindergarten learners will also be picked-up at the same location. As you exit Baron Way, please turn RIGHT onto Hazel Street.

As always, if dismissal plans change for your child throughout the day, please notify the office as early in the day as possible by calling (717) 665-8900.

With the safety of our learners, staff, and parents being our top priority, we appreciate your patience and support during the arrival and dismissal of learners to and from Baron Elementary.

Our PTO is excited for a fun second half of the school year with lots of fun things in the works! Please consider joining us for our next PTO Meeting on Monday, February 5th at 6:30pm in the Baron Music Room to hear more about what is coming up! Childcare is provided for school age children.

Elementary Science Night is Thursday 2/8 from 6pm to 8pm at the High School. Please RSVP here: Science Night RSVP

The Art Show will be Thursday, March 14th from 5-7pm and Friday, March 15th from 9am-3pm at the Farm Show Complex/Building

We congratulate 1st grade learner, Pearl Glick, for being a difference maker at Baron Elementary! Pearl is joined by her 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Christman.

Our school breakfast is being provided free of charge. We appreciate all of the hard work that our food services department is doing in providing healthy food choices for our learners. If you have any questions, please contact our food services director, Sara Payne, at paynes@manheimcentral.org or 717-665-8816.

Feb. 1-29...Kids Heart Challenge (KHC)

Feb. 2...Happy Groundhog Day! (Yes...we have school!)

Feb. 5...PTO Meeting (6:30PM)

Feb. 8...Elementary Science Night (6:00PM-8:00PM...MCHS)

Feb. 14...Happy Valentine's Day

Feb. 15...1/2 Day (Early Dismissal at 11:10AM)

Feb. 16...School is in session (Snow Make-up Day)...WEAR RED!

Feb. 19...President's Day (School is Closed)

*The Art Show will be Thursday, March 14th from 5-7pm and Friday, March 15th from 9am-3pm at the Farm Show Complex/Building