Yost Weekly Update: August 11, 2023

The Yost staff would like to wish you and your family the best this holiday season. Have a safe break filled with time together. Students return to school Tuesday, January 7, 2025.

Yost Student Council made cookies and cards for senior citizens in our local retirement homes. Some student representatives made deliveries this week.

Gym- Anna Didelot (Mrs. Mendenhall) Greyson Clemans (Mrs. Hernandez)

Library- Nevaeh Norman (Ms.Toth), Matthias Crots (Ms. Spain)

Art- Mila Kovacich (Ms. Hasselberger), Emme Marks (Ms. Hasselberger)

Music- Vincent McPherson (Mrs. Smith), Stella Gregory (Mrs. Faher)

The link below will be used for any necessary safety reports for an elementary school in Duneland.

DSC K-4 Anonymous Safety Reporting Form

Due to unforeseen additional repairs, the Wagner Road bridge over I-94 will be closed two weeks longer, until approximately the week of December 16th

Thank you so much to all of the wonderful volunteers and faculty members who helped make the Winter Shop and Pancake Breakfast such a magical success! We'd especially want to express our deepest gratitude to all the families who sent in monetary donations to help ALL of our Yosties to be able shop!

Upcoming PTO Meeting

January 14th 4:30PM-5:30PM

Send any Questions to YOST PTO, yostpto@gmail.com

For those families that volunteered, the student directory is attached.

Please refer to the video for updated traffic patterns.

https://youtu.be/sVQEas2ZlOA

Yost is committed to supporting and honoring those men and women that currently serve and have served in our military.

12/20 End of Semester 1

12/23-1/6 Winter Recess (no school)

1/7 Second Semester begins

1/10 Quarter 2 Grades available

1/20 Martin Luther King Jr. Day (no school)

1/27 Teacher Professional Development Day (no school)

2/14-2/17 Winter Break (no school)

3/14 End of Quarter 3

3/21 Quarter 3 Grades available

3/24-3/28 Spring Break (no school)

The first step to maximizing academic growth throughout the year is getting to school as much as possible. This year, we have a goal of a 95% attendance rate for the year. We will celebrate class winners and share our school attendance rate for the week.

In an effort to improve attendance which directly positively impacts student growth and achievement along with adhering to the new state law regarding attendance, Senate Enrolled Act (SEA) 282, Duneland School Corporation has developed a new Attendance Policy.

A few important changes:

• Parent/Guardian Verified Absence: This is a new category of student attendance. It is used when an absence does not meet the criteria to be considered "Excused" or "Unexcused." There will only be four (4) Parent/Guardian Verified absences allowed a semester. Additional absences called in by a parent or guardian not meeting the definition of "Excused" will be considered "Unexcused."
• Parents only have one (1) week to verify an absence or provide documentation for an "Excused" absence.
• A student who is absent from school for five (5) days within a ten (10) week period without the absences considered "Excused" will be deemed a student in need of truancy prevention.

1. Absenteeism in the first month of school can predict poor attendance throughout the school year. Half the students who miss 2-4 days in September go on to miss nearly a month of school.
2. Chronic absence appears to have doubled by the end of the 2021-22 school year. We estimate that it now affects nearly one out of three students (or 16 million vs. 8 million students in the 2018-19 school year).
3. Poor attendance can influence whether children read proficiently by the end of third grade or be held back.
4. By 6th grade, chronic absence becomes a leading indicator that a student will drop out of high school.
5. Research shows that missing 10 percent of the school, or about 18 days in most school districts, negatively affects a student’s academic performance. Chronic absence is considered two days a month.
6. When students improve their attendance rates, they improve their academic prospects and chances of graduating.
7. The most important thing to track is not just how many are missing school without an excuse but how many are missing so many days in excused and unexcused absences that academics are off track.
8. Missing one (1) day of school every two (2) weeks, adds up to almost a year and half of school from kindergarten to senior in high school.

Yost Attendance- 95.1%

Kindergarten- Mrs. Nay 98.1%

1- Mrs. Hernandez 97.9%

2- Mrs. Mendenhall 95.2%

3- Mr. Dodds 96%

4- Ms. Hasselberger 98.2%

This is an important notice regarding an upcoming change to the Duneland School Corporation Skyward system. We will be migrating Skyward from our on-premises servers to a hosted environment. This transition will take place from December 23, 2024 to December 31, 2024.

In preparation for the migration, DSC will also be backing up Skyward 3x a day at 6 a.m., 2:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. beginning Friday evening, December 20 at 10:00 p.m. and continuing until the beginning of the Skyward migration. During this time Skyward WILL become unavailable until the backup is done. After the backup is finished Skyward will be available again.

Why are we making this change?

Moving to a hosted environment offers several benefits, including:

• Improved system performance and reliability: Expect faster response times and greater system stability.
• Enhanced security: A hosted environment provides increased protection against data breaches and cyberattacks.
• Reduced maintenance: This allows our IT staff to focus on other critical tasks, improving overall efficiency.
  
  

What to expect during the migration:

Skyward will be unavailable during the migration period from December 23 - December 31, 2024. We understand that this downtime may cause inconvenience, and we sincerely apologize for any disruption this may cause. We have carefully selected this timeframe to minimize the impact on our users, as it falls within the school holiday break.

The Duneland Education Foundation will host their 5th annual Trivia Night on Saturday, January 25, 2025 from 5-9 p.m. at the Chesterton Moose Lodge, 602 Broadway in Chesterton. Doors will open at 5:00 p.m. and trivia will begin at 6:00 p.m.

Teams are strongly encouraged to dress up and decorate their table according to this year’s theme is The Great Outdoors. The cost is $30 per person (age 21 and over) which includes dinner. The maximum team size is eight (8) persons.

First place prize $500; Second place $250; Special Prizes for Best Theme Costumes, Best Theme Table Decor, and Best Team Name; 50/50 Raffle, Heads or Tails, and more.

Buy your tickets now at https://25deftrivia.eventbrite.com/

In keeping with our Core Values, Duneland School Corporation is committed to fostering partnerships to improve the quality of life in our community. One of our most important partnerships is with our families. As we strive to continue to build upon and strengthen our family partnerships, DSC is applying for renewal from the Indiana Department of Education as an IDOE “Family Friendly Schools” corporation. In doing so, we will continue to “focus on addressing students' academic, physical, emotional, and social needs while providing the needed resources and fostering the active involvement of their families through schools and the community.” (Indiana Department of Education Family Friendly Schools Handbook)

Please help us as we continue to support our students and community by completing the IDOE online survey by December 20, 2024

Your ongoing support in educating the children of our community is greatly appreciated!

SURVEY LINKS AND INSTRUCTIONS:

Survey Links:

• 2025-2026 Family Friendly Survey Questions for Families

• 2025-2026 Family Friendly Survey Questions for Families-Spanish

School Name: choose your school from the drop-down list

School Corporation: 6470 Duneland School Corporation

School Liaison Name: MICHELLE PALKO

School Liaison email: mpalko@duneland.k12.in.us

School Codes for your convenience:

6928 - Bailly Elementary School

6819 - Brummitt Elementary School

6817 - Jackson Elementary School

6823 - Liberty Elementary School

6941 - Newton Yost Elementary School

6821 - Liberty Intermediate School

6927 - Westchester Intermediate School

6925 - Chesterton Senior High School

6926- Northwest Indiana Online School (Trojan Virtual Academy)

Welcome to our 2024 Winter Baseball Camp!

The Holiday Baseball Camp consists of 3 days of baseball activities for $50.

DECEMBER 26-27-28

• Grades 3-5 11am-12:30PM
• Grades 6-8 1:00 – 2:30 PM
  • Day One = Defense (IF, OF, P/C Drills)
  • Day Two= Offense (Tee Work, Soft Toss, Short Toss, Batting Practice, and our most important TWO STRIKE APPROACH**)
  • Day Three = FUN! TROJAN OBSTACLE COURSE and the World Series Wiffle Ball Tourney

  
  

  Link to Sign Up:

  https://forms.gle/ooCiW3hWxBjERhVu7

Below is information regarding the universal screener for dyslexia. This link connects you to information from the IDOE. As required by state law, all kindergarten, first, and second graders were screened for learning characteristics of dyslexia this year. Your child's results will be shared through the mCLASS Home Connect report. School staff will be contacting parents/ guardians of students who were identified as at risk or at some risk for characteristics of dyslexia to schedule a meeting

Learn more about the Duneland Early Learning Classes at the the HUB. Click on the image below to enroll.

To make an appointment please call 219-763-8112. Let NorthShore know you are a Duneland School student or staff member and that you would like to make an appointment at the Duneland School Clinic located at the old CMS.

Information regarding student bus transportation for the 2024-2025 school year is available on DSC website under the Transportation Department.

TRACK STUDENT'S BUS WITH MYSTOP APP- The Duneland School Corporation Department of Transportation has now made My Stop available to our families.

My Stop is a web-based application which will allow parents to access live bus GPS information using a smartphone, tablet, or computer and securely view the current location of your child’s bus on routes. The system also provides the bus’s estimated time of arrival at your child’s bus stop.

Please read the attached letter to parents for more information on how to use My Stop to track your child's bus.

The DSC Child Nutrition Department utilizes NutriSlice as its menus program. This app is available for iPhone and Android through your mobile app store. Parents can also access the full website for Duneland Schools on a computer via this NutriSlice link.

This app will allow parents and students to view the menus as well as the nutritional info for each menu item at any of the Duneland Schools. This program will be developed further incorporating images of the actual food items being served at each of the Duneland schools.

Email: jhuwig@duneland.k12.in.us
Website: https://www.duneland.k12.in.us/Domain/12
Location: 100 West Beam Street, Porter, IN, USA
Phone: 219.983.3640