Quail Call

Hello PPCS Families:

We look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones! Please read the following information to learn about the upcoming school year at PPCS. Contact the office with questions.

Please note the school parking lot is for staff only. Parking is available on Southview Avenue, Nursery Street, and Powers Avenue before the circle. Limited handicap parking is available in front of the school.

Back to School Night! - Monday, August 25

Please meet in the multipurpose room for a brief presentation at 5:30. Classrooms are open for grades K-3 before and 4-8 after. See the schedule below. Families will have the opportunity to explore the classrooms and meet their students' teachers. Please look for important forms and sign-up sheets in the classrooms. Stop by the office with questions.

5:00-5:30: K-3 classrooms open

5:30-5:45: Introductions and Information

5:45-6:15: Grades 4-8 classrooms open

Families Email List

Our e-newsletter, the Quail Call, is how the office will communicate all important school-wide information with families. Please sign up here. Please add ppcssmore@users.smore.com to your contacts to prevent the newsletter from ending up in your spam filter.

Please plan to check your email daily. Palouse Prairie Charter is an EL Education model school. Our students get out into the world on a regular basis. Teachers will communicate schedule information with parents/guardians with as much notice as is possible. Some fieldwork and adventures will depart before school hours. Parents/Guardians are responsible for ensuring that their students will arrive on time for departure. Students who miss the bus will remain at school in a different classroom.

First Day & School Hours

The first day of school is Wednesday, August 27. School begins at 8:20 for middle school and 8:25 for K-5 and ends at 2:55 Mondays through Thursdays. On Fridays, we have early release at 2:10. The school doors open at 8:10. If you wish to drop your student off before then, we offer Before School Care for a reasonable fee. Look for the application form on our website or at this link.

Busing & Parent Ride Day

If you plan to have your student ride the bus, contact Moscow School District Transportation Office at 208-882-3933. MSD buses will run on the morning of Tuesday, August 26 to give families an opportunity to ride the bus with their child prior to the first day of school, meet the driver and ask questions. This opportunity is available to kindergarten through 3rd grade. Due to laws regarding children being transported in child safety seats they are not be able to transport younger siblings of the students participating in this program. Contact the MSD Transportation Office with questions.

Pick Up and Drop Off

Remain in your cars and keep right, circling to the loading zone. Students will be helped out of or into your car by a staff member. Families will receive a colored card to be displayed on the car's rear view mirror at the time of pickup. Please have single students sit on the passenger side for easy exit and entrance.

Free and Reduced Lunch Program

FRLP applications are available for the 2025-2026 school year. If you think your student may qualify, please fill out the form available on our website at this link or at the school office. You will find instructions included with the form. If you're unsure whether you qualify, please fill out the application, even if you do not plan to get school meals. Qualifying numbers determine whether and how much state and federal funding our school receives. This funding supports literacy programs, paraprofessionals, at risk student programs, special education and more. Email the completed application to office@palouseprairieschool.org or drop it off at the office.

School Supply Donation

To save families time, ensure all students have what they need, reduce waste and our carbon footprint, we purchase all student school supplies in bulk. To support this effort, we request a donation of $40 to $60 per student from our families. Supply donations can be made at this link on our website.

Before School Care

Before School Care is available for $60 per month and begins at 7:15 each morning. The registration form is available on the website at this link. Payments can be made through our website by scrolling over the Payments tab and selecting school payments. BSC scholarships are available for eligible families. Contact the office for more information.

Immunizations and Birth Certificates

Please make sure you have turned in your child's birth certificate and immunization records to PPCS. Students need to be up to date on their immunizations. Seventh grade students are required to have two new vaccines before starting class in the fall. If your child is exempt, please turn in an form. You can find the exemption form here.

Backpack, Water Bottle, Breakfast & Lunch

Please send your child with a backpack, water bottle, and snack each day and lunch, if you choose not to order school lunches. Breakfast will be available from 8:10 - 8:25 a.m. The cost is $3.00 for students and $4.85 for adults. School lunches cost $4.75 for students and $6.50 for adults. Milk is provided with lunches. If a student would like to order just milk, the cost is $0.75. We order school lunches from the district by 9:00 a.m. If your student will be late and needs a lunch, please call to order it before then. If your student will be getting lunch regularly, please make a lunch payment by the start of the year and keep a positive balance on the account.

Payments for lunch, art camps, before school care, and school trips can now all be paid for online. Instant Payments is our online platform for payments to the school. You can also see lunch balance information through Instant Payments. Once you have your student’s ID, you can set up an account for lunch payments at this link. New student IDs will be available at Back to School Night. Other payments can be made through links available on our website. Go to palouseprairieschool.org and scroll over the Payments tab.

School Messenger is an email and text messaging service to communicate important, time sensitive information to parents. Safe Arrival is part of School Messenger that allows you to easily report absences via mobile device app. Safe Arrival is accessed through the attendance option in School Messenger. The office will be using Safe Arrival to notify parents of an absence if it has not already been reported. In order to get these messages, you must opt in by scanning the QR code or by sending "Y" or "YES" to 67587.

PowerSchool Parent Portal provides access to attendance and lunch balance information. (It is not a payment platform.) To receive scheduled lunch balance emails, you must opt in using the notification setting and you must use the same email provided to the school to set up your account.

1. Go to palouseprairieschool.powerschool.com/public.

2. Click the "Create Account" button at the bottom of the page. Complete the fields on the top half of the page.

3. To link a student to your account, enter the student's name, Access ID, and Access Password into the appropriate fields. These will be provided to new families at Back to School Night. Select your relationship to the student from the drop-down menu.

4. If you have other students in grades K through 8, add their names, Access IDs, and Passwords to the list. You can also add additional students after you have logged in for the first time.

5. Click the blue "enter" button to finish creating your account.

6. Once your account is created, enter the username and password you chose for your parent account.

7. View your student's information. A guide to navigating PowerSchool can be found here:

ps.ocusd.net/public/parentguide.htm

8. Remember to log off when you are finished.

The Access ID and Password are not the student ID number. New families will be given this information the first week of school. Returning students can contact the office for this information.

For a calendar of the complete school year, go to https://palouseprairieschool.org/calendar/.

We look forward to seeing you at Back to School Night!

Email: office@palouseprairieschool.org
Website: https://palouseprairieschool.org/
Location: 406 Powers Avenue, Moscow, ID, USA
Phone: 208-882-3684
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PPCS.org/