Mustang Newsletter

• WINTER CONCERTS: Our students have been working hard in music class to prepare a beautiful display of musical talent for our Winter Concert Series. Please mark your calendars for your child’s performance day. All shows will begin at 8:30 a.m.
  
  

  We are expecting a large number of guests, so we ask that you use the designated parking spaces and please do not block other cars.
  
  

  In addition, Cliftondale Elementary School is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for your children. Please be prepared to show a picture I.D. at check-in. This measure is for your child’s protection and for overall school security.
  
  

  We look forward to celebrating our students’ hard work and creativity with you!

• GRADES CHECK! We officially have only 10 days left in Semester 1. Student Progress Reports were posted before we left for Thanksgiving Break. Please make sure that you are monitoring your child's grades within the Parent Portal weekly. All missing assignments must be submitted to teachers immediately, with a final acceptance date of December 19th. If you have questions pertaining your child's grades or academic progress, please contact your child's teacher immediately. If you haven't already done so, please take some time to review FCS Grades Reporting Policy:
• GRADES & REPORTING
  ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GRADING
  FCS RECOVERY POLICY
  
  
• SEMESTER 1 CLASS CELEBRATIONS: Each class will have a class celebration on December 17th and 18th. Each teacher will provide communications to parents pertaining the celebrations. *As a reminder, we DO NOT accept candy, desserts, baked goods or any other edible items prepared at home. We may only accept sealed, store-purchased items.
  
  
• SCHOOL LOST & FOUND: We accumulate lost/unclaimed items DAILY, and we don't have the capacity to keep the unclaimed items. We will continue donating unclaimed items to a local charity the first Friday of every month. Our next donation day is Friday, January 9th, so please, please, please, reminder your student to visit the Lost & Found! Parents are welcomed to visit the lost and found at any time.
  
  
• HOLIDAY SPIRIT CALENDAR: We love a good spirit week as educators! Detailed below is our holiday spirit week calendar, and students are welcomed to patriciate.

• NO RESTAURANT FOOD IN THE CAFETERIA: Parents, please be reminded that outside restaurant food is not permitted in our school’s cafeteria. You are always welcome to enjoy lunch with your child, and you may either purchase a meal from our cafeteria or bring a lunch from home. Thank you for helping us maintain a safe and consistent environment for all students.
  
  

• BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS: Parents, family members and friends are not allowed to bring in cakes, balloon bouquets, flowers, goodie bags, gifts, pizza, or any other type of treat to celebrate a student birthday. Teachers are not allowed to celebrate birthdays in the class with a party or a snack either. Rather, parents may purchase a Smart Celebrations Package from the cafeteria. This can be done to student birthdays and/or any other classroom celebrations. Smart Celebration packets should be purchased in the cafeteria at least (2) days in advance. Please contact our Nutrition Manager, Ms. Curry at curryd1@fultonschools.org
  
  

• VISITORS ATTIRE: Visitors are asked to dress appropriately while on school property, in a manner that is tasteful, safe, and suitable for the school environment. Clothing or accessories that are distracting, unsafe, or contrary to maintaining a positive school atmosphere are not permitted. This includes unusual or disruptive styles, garments with inappropriate messages, and clothing—such as dresses, shorts, skirts, or tops—that is excessively short, tight, or revealing. Thank you for helping us maintain a respectful and safe environment for all students.

Shortly after we return from break next week, we will begin our middle-of-the-year assessments in all grade levels. While students may take additional assessments depending on their grade, all K–5 students will participate in the iReady Reading and Math assessments. The iReady Math assessment will begin on December 2nd, and the iReady Reading assessment will begin on December 9th and will continue over the next few weeks.

Parents, we ask for your support by encouraging your child to take their time, do their best, and feel confident in their ability to succeed. Thank you for partnering with us to ensure a strong and successful testing season.

Please contact your child's teacher if you have additional questions or concerns.

DID YOU HEAR THE NEWS? This past week, our award winning Beta Club attended Georgia's Beta Convention in Savannah, Georgia where they competed against other Betas from across the state. Cliftondale's Betas brought home 12 awards, including an impressive 8 FIRST PLACE CHAMPION honors! Job👏 Well 👏Done! Several of our students will move on to competing at NATIONAL LEVEL this summer.

• 4th Grade Math - 2nd Place

• 4th Grade Science - 2nd Place

• 4th Grade Social Studies - 1st Place

• 4th Grade Spanish - 1st Place

• 4th Grade Spelling - 3rd Place

• 5th Grade ELA - 1st Place

• 5th Grade Math - 1st Place

• 5th Grade Science - 1st Place

• 5th Grade Spanish - 1st Place

• Campaign Skit - 1st Place

• Performing Arts: Solo, Duo, Trio Vocalist - 5th Place

We are especially appreciative of our Beta Club sponsors, Ms. Battle, Ms. Houston, & Ms. Johnson! I appreciate your leadership, time, commitment, patience & persistence. Thank you to our supportive parents!!!! Whether you supported our students in their preparation to attend the conference and/or attended the conference with our students, WE APPRECIATE YOU!

Our Chill and Paint event was a great success! Thank you to the many families who were able to attend. Our students thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and the joyful atmosphere was wonderful to see. We also extend our appreciation to the Math Bee Committee for creating this opportunity for our Mustangs.

That’s right—Cliftondale students are advancing to the Elementary SS Bowl! 🎉

I am incredibly proud of our students, and I want to extend a huge thank you to our SS Bowl sponsors. Your hard work and dedication ensured that our students were well-prepared for this competition. A special thank you to all of the parents who supported our students with practicing and those who joined the chat to cheer on our students. Your support means so much!

Great job, team! Let’s keep the momentum going! 💙💛

The application window for the 2026–27 Change of School Assignment (COSA) opens December 1, 2025, and closes January 9, 2026. Information about the COSA process is being shared in several formats and at key times to ensure parents and school leaders are fully informed. This month, COSA updates are being featured in the district’s newsletters for parents (FCS Messenger) and employees (The Educator) to raise awareness of the upcoming application period, with more targeted communications planned for December and January. These include multiple mass emails with detailed instructions, reminders about key dates, and promotional messages marking the opening and closing of the application window.

The COSA website, www.fultonschools.org/COSA, provides comprehensive details about the process, application timeline, and FAQs. Printable PDF resources explaining the process are available on the site, and posters will be delivered to schools for display in school buildings.

Schools with enrollment at 95% or below capacity, based on a three-year enrollment projection, will be eligible to accept COSA students. The list of eligible schools will be shared with principals by November 21, 2025, and published on the COSA website on December 1, 2025, along with the link to the online application.

The official list of approved COSA students will be available by January 23, 2026, and placed in each school’s Student Assignment Teams folder. If you are unable to access your school folder, please contact your school technology specialist or submit an IT Helpdesk ticket to be added to the Active Directory group.

The list of schools eligible to receive COSA students will be released to principals on November 21.

• Link to COSA - Process Overview.pdf
• Link to COSA - What Parents Need to Know.pdf

NOVEMBER

• November 4th: Election Day/Teacher Workday - No School for Students
• November 7th: Mustang of the Month at 8:30 am
• November 18th-19th: Title I Technology Workshop
• November 18th & 20th: Holiday Luncheons
• November 21st: Fall Picture Retakes
• November 21st: 13.5 Week Progress Reports (Viewable in the Parent Portal)
• November 24th-28th: Thanksgiving Break - School Closed

DECEMBER

• December 5th: Mustang of the Month at 8:30 am
• December 8th: School Spelling Bee
• December 9th-11th: Winter Concerts - TBA
• December 17th-18th: Class Holiday/Semester 1 Celebration
• December 19th: Last Day of First Semester

📄 2025–2026 School-Family Compact & Parent-Family Engagement Plans

Please take a moment to review Cliftondale Elementary’s 2025–2026 School-Family Compact and Parent-Family Engagement Plan (PFEP), as well as Fulton County Schools’ Parent-Family Engagement Plan.

Parents, school staff, and students partnered together to jointly develop the School-Family Compact and PFEP. Input was gathered through annual surveys, feedback forms, and spring input meetings. The School-Family Compact explains how families and teachers will work together to ensure all students reach grade-level standards at Cliftondale Elementary School.

🔹 Need Help or a Printed Copy?

If you have questions about Title I, need assistance with completing the digital acknowledgment, or would like a printed copy of any documents, please contact our Parent Liaison:

Ms. Hope Render
📞 470-254-3040
📧 renderhh@fultonschools.org

ANNUAL TITLE I TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP: Many thanks to the families that attended our Technology Workshop. If you missed it, the full presentation is attached for you here. Please use the link below to review the Title I presentation from Tuesday. Please make sure to complete the evaluation link at the end of the presentation. Your feedback is greatly appreciated!
https://bit.ly/Evaluation_FE

Distraction-Free Education Act

House Bill 340 | Fulton County Schools

In alignment with Georgia’s new Distraction-Free Education Act (House Bill 340), all Fulton County elementary and middle school students (Grades K–8) are prohibited from using or accessing personal electronic devices during the school day.

Prohibited Devices Include (but are not limited to): Cell phones, Smartwatches, Laptops, Tablets, E-readers, Smart glasses, Headphones, Any device with wireless communication, messaging, internet access, gaming, video recording, or social media capabilities. These devices must remain powered off and stored away during school hours, including classroom time, lunch, recess, and transitions. We appreciate your support in helping us create a focused, distraction-free learning environment for all students.

Although breakfast and lunch is free for all students, students may purchases extra food portions or snacks. As we are a cashless school, students should not bring cash to school for these purchases. All funds must be added online through MySchoolBucks. Parents should visit MySchoolBucks

to add funds to their child's account in order for students to purchase ice cream, snacks, or extra food portions during lunch.

Thank you for your support in helping us maintain a safe and efficient cafeteria experience!
FCS School Nutrition

All families are required to log in to the Infinite Campus Parent Portal and verify emergency contacts and household information through the “Census Update” feature. This ensures schools can contact you quickly in case of an emergency. Each student must have at least one emergency contact who is not a parent or guardian.

To read Board Policy - JGFC Emergency Release of Students and Dismissal Precautions, CLICK HERE

Scan the QRCode on the flyer or CLICK HERE to enroll your child(ren).

📧cliftondale@apecprep.com

📲470-701-4973

Cliftondale remains a uniform school, and we will continue to encourage all students to wear our school uniform Monday - Thursday.

Our uniform consists of:
Top: Navy blue, yellow/gold, or white
Bottom: Khaki or navy blue

Uniforms and other school spirit wear are available through our online spirit store:
https://www.cliftondalestore.com/

Thank you for your continued support in helping us promote school pride and a sense of community!

• Please be alert at all times! We have students exiting vehicles, parents and students crossing the street, and staff supporting students as they exit their vehicle. Please be attentive to all mustangs.
• Please do not park in the car rider loop. The car rider loop is for quick drop offs only. If you would like to exit your vehicle and escort your child into the school, please park in a nearby visitors parking space. Parents may escort students to class up until 7:35 am daily.
• For morning drop-off, parents are expected to ONLY use the car rider loop where staff members are monitoring students. Parents SHOULD NOT release students from their vehicles in the parking lot.
• Parents SHOULD NOT park along any red curb.
• Parents SHOULD NOT pass other vehicles in the car rider line or while in the school parking lot.
• Please have your student ready to exit from the passenger side of the vehicle. This means, make sure his/her bookbag and other belongs are ready and easily accessible. This speeds up the process tremendously!
• For car rider drop off & pickup, please pull all the way forward to cone #1.
• Help your student learn his/her car rider number for afternoon pickup.
• Please be patient!

• SCHOOL HOURS are 7:40 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. Our school front office is opened 7:00 am - 3:30 pm daily.
• MORNING ARRIVAL PROCEDURES: Morning arrival for students is 7:10 am-7:40 am. Students arriving after 7:40 am will be marked tardy as the instructional daily begins promptly at 7:40 am. ** Students should not be dropped off prior to 7:10 am as we do not offer before school care.
  📌IMPORTANT - Visiting parents may accompany their children to class during the first week of school (August 4-8, 2025) only. This measure is to ensure the safety of all students and staff. All visiting parents will be required to exit the building using the front office entrance no later than 7:35 am.
  

• BREAKFAST/LUNCH: Breakfast and lunch are completely free for all Cliftondale students. Breakfast is available for all students 7:10 am - 7:40 am. Although breakfast and lunch are free, students may purchase extra portions or snacks. Parents should visit My School Bucks to add money to their child's account in order for your student to purchase snacks and extra food portions. During school hours, students may not have restaurant food in any FCS cafeteria at any given time.
  

• SCHOOL FUNDS: We are now a 100% cashless organization. All funds collected at Cliftondale ES for student activities and school sponsored events are accepted only through Fulton County Schools Online School Payments.
• SCHOOL UNIFORMS: Cliftondale remains a uniform school, and we will continue to encourage all students to wear our school uniform. Our uniform consists of a navy blue, yellow/gold, or white top with khaki or navy bottoms. Uniforms and other school spirit wear are available through our online spirit store Home | Cliftondale Store
  

• DISMISSAL: Parents can check students out early anytime up until 2:00 pm. If you wish to check your student out early, please report to our front office with identification. Our students will only be released a bus rider, car rider, afterschool, or van. If your child is a car rider, you must join the car rider line. It will be long as we many of our students are car riders, and we thank you for your patience and your cooperation.
  

• BUS RIDERS/BUS STOP INFORMATION - During Open House, parents can verify their child’s bus assignment and bus stop times. All stop times are approximate times. If you have questions pertaining your child’s assigned stop or assigned bus, please contact FCS Transportation Department at 470-254-6060.

• TRANSPORTATION CHANGES: Please keep in mind that changes in transportation must be in writing and shared with your child’s homeroom teacher and the front office staff. Please do not depend on teacher e-mail or Dojo messages as some teachers do not have an opportunity to check e-mail/Dojo during the school day.
  

• BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS: Parents, family members and friends are not allowed to bring in cakes, balloon bouquets, flowers, goodie bags, gifts, pizza, or any other type of treat to celebrate a student birthday. Teachers are not allowed to celebrate birthdays in the class with a party or a snack either. Rather, parents may purchase a Smart Celebrations Package from the cafeteria. This can be done to student birthdays and/or any other classroom celebrations. Smart Celebration packets should be purchased in the cafeteria at least (2) days in advance. Please contact our Nutrition Manager, Ms. Curry at curryd1@fultonschools.org
  

• CLIFTONDALE'S 2025-2026 FAMILY HANDBOOK - Cliftondale’s 2025–2026 Family Handbook provides a wealth of information for parents about Cliftondale Elementary and our school-wide expectations. We encourage all families to review it thoroughly. Printed copies will be distributed to all students during the first week of school. An electronic version will also be accessible at all times on our school’s website and included in our weekly newsletter.

• 🆕STUDENT DEVICE PROTECTION PLAN: Each student in Fulton County Schools (FCS) is issued a school-owned device to support learning in and out of the classroom. This year, we are switching to charging full price for damaged and lost devices, as opposed to the reduced fees that we have previously charged. To help families avoid unexpected repair or replacement costs, we offer an Optional Student Device Protection Plan that provides affordable coverage throughout the school year.

Are you registered for your Campus Parent Portal Account? If not, REGISTER TODAY! Everything you need as a parent is contained in the parent portal. You can monitor your student's grades throughout the school year, review your child's schedule, download progress reports and report cards, update your contact information, register other students within your household, withdrawal your student and so much more! If you already have an account, you do not need to register again. New users should click the link provided to register: Parent Portal Registration

*Please note, if you DO NOT have an email address on file, you will be unable to register via the provided link. Please call the school and ask for our Data Clerk, Ms. Allen.

"Here Comes The Bus App" is a free, easy-to-use website and app that enables you to see the location of your child’s school bus on a smartphone, tablet, or personal computer. This way, you know when the bus is near your stop, so you can send your child out at just the right time. No more worrying about whether your child has missed the bus! If you have questions or concerns regarding your child's assigned bus or bus stop, please contact FCS Transportation Department at 470-254-6060 OR contact our supervisor:

Cheowana Henderson, Supervisor
Hendersonc1@fultonschools.org

Charisse Weigner, Special Needs Supervisor
weignerc@fultonschools.org

• The app will request a school code, which is 87428
• How do you access your student's student ID number? Parents may access their child's student ID number from the parent portal in Infinite Campus.
  
• If you add your child and the bus number or bus stop is incorrect, please contact our supervisor, Ms. Henderson
• If you add your child and their is no bus route displayed, please contact our supervisor, Ms. Henderson.

School safety remains a top priority for us in Fulton County Schools. We take maintaining a safe and secure learning environment very serious. I expect all Cliftondale students, parents and staff members act in a manner that keeps everyone safe. I strongly encourage all parents to review the Code of Conduct, and speak with your child about his/her behavior. When incidence of misconduct arise, consequences will be assigned based on the infraction as detailed within the Code of Conduct.

Each member of the Fulton County Board of Education sponsors a monthly meeting open to all members of the community. The sessions provide an opportunity for direct contact with community members and give board members a chance to listen to local issues and concerns.

Principal: Mrs. Canty- cantya@fultonschools.org

Assistant Principal: Mrs. Long- longt@fultonschools.org

Curriculum Support Teacher: Yazmin Hicks- hicksz@fultonschools.org

School Counselor: Sara Porter - porters5@fultonschools.org

504 Coordinator/MTSS - Tanya Hall- hallt5@fultonschools.org

Instructional Support Teacher: Dr. Shabo- shabog@fultonschools.org

Literacy Coach: Mrs. Kalista- kalista@fultonschools.org
Literacy Coach: Ms. Johnson- johnsonkr1@fultonschools.org

Math Coach: Mrs. Everett - everettba@fultonschools.org

Parent Liaison: Ms. Render- renderhh@fultonschools.org

School Social Worker: Dr. Carver- carvera@fultonschools.org
APEC Afterschool Enrichment - cliftondale@apecprep.com