Mustang Messenger September 2026

Greetings Mustangs Families-

It is hard to believe that the first month of school is already behind us! As we head into September, I want to take a moment to simply say THANK YOU! I am so appreciative of the support and cooperation you have shown as we have settled into a new school year. One of the things that makes NWES such a special place is the partnership we share with our families. Whether you are helping with homework, keeping up with school communication, attending events, volunteering, or simply encouraging your child to come to school ready to learn each day, your involvement matters. Our students are most successful when both their families at home and their families at school are working together. I am so excited about all of the learning, growing, and fun that the 2026-27 school year has in store for us!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Mindy Dablow, Principal

Tomorrow is Saddle Up for Success Day at NWES, and we are inviting all students and staff to wear their new Saddle Up for Success tshirts to school tomorrow. We will be taking our annual whole school picture in the gym tomorrow during our School Family Assembly. It is going to be a great school year as we implement our school theme of Saddle Up for Success: Every Mustang, Every Day! Special thanks to our PTO for generously purchasing our school theme tshirts for all students and staff each year!

Both our car rider arrival and dismissal procedures have gone so smoothly this first month of school! Please continue to drop your children off from the car rider line along the sidewalk in the front of the building rather than in the parking lot. Not only is this much safer for our children, it also helps our car rider line flow more efficiently as Officer Rex does not need to stop the line to allow students to walk across. As for dismissal, we are so pleased with how well everyone has adjusted to our new procedures. It has been so much more efficient to dismiss car riders from the gym! It is nice to have so much more space for loading cars along the sidewalk, and moving our buses to the back parking lot has been helpful as well. THANK YOU for your cooperation in keeping our students safe!

Regular attendance is crucial to your child's success in school. If your child is absent, please communicate with our office staff by calling 812-293-3331 to report the absence. Communication with our office staff is key. We care about your kids and want to hear from you when they are not going to be at school. Beginning this year, schools will once again receive annual school letter grades. In addition to student achievement, attendance is another factor that is considered in determining our school letter grade. Being at school on time and ready to learn each day is vital in helping our students succeed. Our school goal is to achieve a 96% attendance rate each week. Tomorrow we will be rolling out some fun attendance incentives at our monthly School Family Assembly! As a reminder, our doors open at 8:05 and students arriving after 8:30 are considered tardy. Students eating breakfast at school should arrive by 8:15. Please be sure to read through our entire attendance policy in the NWES student handbook, which is linked at the end of this newsletter. We appreciate your commitment to your child's attendance!

Please read through the information about birthday celebrations at school that is in our NWES handbook:

Due to student health needs such as diabetes and food allergies, as well as being in compliance with the GCCS Wellness Policy, cookies, cupcakes and other sweets are NOT ALLOWED to be brought in for birthday celebration purposes. You may bring in any type of healthy food such as fruit, low fat muffins, cheese or vegetable items or trinkets/birthday goody bags for each student in the class to recognize the special day. *Low fat frozen yogurt, individual bags of popcorn or pretzels, and fruit cups are other fun options that students enjoy! Any student birthday celebration/recognition must be approved, in advance, by the teacher.

Please refrain from having flowers, balloons, etc. delivered to school. Students may not have these items in the classroom. These types of items must be kept in the office until dismissal and parents will need to plan on their child being a car rider in order to take these items home from school.

Birthday party invitations are not allowed to be distributed at school. This helps us avoid hurt feelings when it is not possible to invite everyone. The exception to this policy is if your child is able to invite ALL students in the class. If this is the case, birthday invitations may be distributed at school.

We work very hard to make sure students feel special on their birthday! We announce each student's birthday, and they receive a birthday pencil and token for our book/STEM vending machine. We definitely love celebrating birthdays at NWES!

Our cafeteria staff works hard every day to ensure that our students are served a healthy and delicious breakfast and lunch! Please see meal prices below:

Breakfast: $2.00

Lunch: $3.10

A school breakfast or lunch includes one helping of the main entree and each side. If students want an extra helping, it must be purchased.

Students may also bring lunch from home. Students who bring lunch from home are also welcome to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables from our salad bar. Due to the Greater Clark County Schools Wellness Policy, restaurant food as well as soft drinks are prohibited in the school cafeteria.

It's not too late to apply for free/reduced meals! You can find the free/reduced meals application, menus, and all other school breakfast and lunch information on the GCCS website:

https://www.gccschools.com/home/our-district/departments/food-services/

Kroger community Rewards

Kroger Community Rewards makes fund-raising easy. By signing up for Kroger Community Rewards, you can easily earn money for our school. All you have to do is shop at Kroger and swipe your Plus Card. Start by:

1) Going to www. Kroger.com

2) Assign your Kroger card to your preferred Kroger location.

3) Assign your Kroger card to: New Washington Elementary School.

4) Scan your card or enter your alternate ID each time you shop.

5) New Washington Elementary will receive funds quarterly.

• Using kind words like "please" and "thank you"
• Being a good listener: waiting for your turn to speak and not interrupting others
• Respecting boundaries: giving others personal space
• Treating things with care: taking care of belongings and the environment
• Including everyone: inviting others to join in the conversation, activity, game, etc.
• Apologizing: saying "I'm sorry" when you make a mistake

Students can earn P.R.I.D.E. tickets from any staff member for demonstrating P.R.I.D.E. characteristics. They can cash in their P.R.I.D.E. tickets each Friday and receive special passes for fun rewards such Pajama Day, No Homework Pass, Choosing their Seat in the Classroom, Hat Day, Reading to Preschool/Kindergarten Students, etc. We also occasionally offer small prizes. Each teacher also chooses a P.R.I.D.E. Student to be recognized at our School Family Assembly. We love to see our students showing Mustang P.R.I.D.E.!

Fall parties are coming up in October! Classroom Coordinators will be reaching out to parents in each class regarding volunteer and donation opportunities. Students will be permitted to wear Halloween costumes on Fall Party day. Fall Party day is always lots of fun for everyone! Fall Party times are below:

1:00-1:45: Kindergarten and 4th Grade

1:30-2:15: 1st Grade

1:45-2:30: 2nd Grade

1:45-2:45: 5th Grade

2:00-2:45: Preschool and 3rd Grade

We are excited about our upcoming NWES Grandparents Day on Friday, September 11th. All grandparents or other special adults may attend. Doors will open 15 minutes prior to each grade level's assigned time. Guests may enter the gym and sit in the bleachers after entering the building. Students will perform a few special songs for grandparents, and then have the opportunity to enjoy refreshments, take pictures, and shop at the Book Fair. We ask that students dress nicely for this special occasion if possible. Please see each grade level's assigned times below:

5th Grade: 8:35-9:20

4th Grade: 10:10-10:55

Preschool: 10:55-11:25

1st Grade: 11:25-12:10

3rd Grade: 12:45-1:30

2nd Grade: 1:30-2:15

Kindergarten: 2:15-3:00

Teachers will come to the gym to pick up students at the conclusion of each grade level's assigned time. Students are encouraged to say goodbye to their special guests and return to class for the remainder of the school day. The students are so excited to celebrate their grandparents and other special adults who are making such a positive difference in their lives!

The Scholastic Book Fair will be at NWES and open for shopping from Wednesday, September 9th-Wednesday, September 16th. All students will have the opportunity to shop at the Book Fair during their designated weekly Library time as well as during Grandparents Day. Special thanks to our Library Specialist, Mrs. Smith, for her hard work in organizing our Book Fair!

Congratulations to the following 4th and 5th graders who were chosen to serve as NWES Student Ambassadors for the 2025-26 school year:

• Abigail Kruer
• Connor Callis
• Eva Dickey
• Haley Pangburn
• Kaylee Stewart
• Nolan Wahl
• Tinslee Hopwood
• Aliya DeWitt
• Elana Roberts
• Faith Miller
• Iree Sarver
• Mila Courtney
• Olivia Whitlock
• Willa Wright

We are looking forward to watching these students grow in their leadership skills this year!

Congratulations to our new 4th and 5th grade Student Council members! Student Council representatives were required to create a campaign poster and give a speech to their classmates about what they would like to do to make NWES the best it can be. Not only will the Student Council be working together to make our school a better place, but they will also be participating in activities that will benefit our community. We can't wait to see the positive impact that our Student Council will have on our school and community!

• Connor Callis
• Haley Pangburn
• Bennett Stewart
• Willa Wright
• Ava Masingo
• Abby Garuccio
• Kaylee Stewart
• Hayden Hardwick
• Addyson Haley
• Aiden Webb
• Gavin Dunn
• Abby Schaefer
• Nicole Heitfeld
• Maddie Conlen

Congratulations to our boys and girls Cross Country teams on a great season! Although it was cut short due to our Regional Meet being canceled this week due to the heat, we are proud of the growth in our Mustang runners as they have been practicing for the last few weeks. Best of luck to the top 8 finishers for the boys and girl in last week's meet against Charlestown Elementary who are moving on to next week's District Meet on September 9th. This will be a school wide Mustang Spirit Day- Go Mustangs! Special thanks to our coaches, Jessica Wahl and Haleigh Graves, for the time they have spent investing in our Mustang runners!

Students should not be bringing toys to school unless they have special permission from their teacher, such as for a Compliment Party or a Show and Tell opportunity. We are seeing many students bringing toys to school, particularly squishies and stuffed animals, and it is a distraction to the learning environment. Toys also cause arguments and there is always a chance they could be damaged or broken. Toys do not belong at school. Please be sure to check your child's backpack to ensure that toys are not making their way to school. We appreciate your help in ensuring that toys stay home where they belong. Thank you!

Picture Day is coming up on September 15th! Order before Picture Day to receive free shipping to the school. Order online at https://inter-state.com/FlyerEntry/0505TJF

The Mustang Run Club is sponsoring the Leyla'Rei Mile coming up on Friday, September 25th. This is a fun opportunity for families to run or walk a mile course together to support Leyla'Rei Samartino, our Kindergarten student who is battling Diffuse Midline Glioma (DMG), an aggressive brain cancer. Part of the one mile course consists of running or walking by Leyla's home, where we are sure her family will be outside waving to all of the Mustang families and community members who are participating. Let's fill the streets with blue, gold, and lots of Mustang Pride as we come together as a school community to show our support for Leyla!

Huge shoutout to 4th grade students Olivia Whitlock and Valerie Barber for the time and effort they put into organizing and running a Lemonade Stand on Sunday, August 30th in honor of Leyla Samartino. All proceeds were donated to Leyla's family, and Olivia and Valerie were able to raise over $800! Olivia and Valerie were invited to join Mrs. Dablow as special guests on our daily video announcements earlier this week to talk about this special fundraiser they organized. Both girls shared that it feels good to be able to do something kind to help a member of our school family. This is the perfect example of what Mustang Pride and being a member of our Mustang School Family really means. We are so proud of you, Olivia and Valerie!

Just a reminder that there is no school on Monday, September 7th in observance of Labor Day, and students also do not have school on Tuesday, September 8th as it is a staff professional development day. Enjoy the long weekend!

September 4th: Saddle Up for Success Day- wear school theme tshirts

7th-8th: No School- Labor Day and Staff Professional Development Day

9th-16th: Book Fair

9th: District Cross Country meet- 5:00 CCSA Soccer Fields

Mustang Spirit Day- wear your Mustang gear or blue/gold!

11th: Grandparents Day

14th: Student Ambassadors Training Field Trip- IUS

15th: Picture Day

17th: Kindergarten Field Trip- Cornucopia Farm

2nd Grade Donuts with Grownups- 9:15

21st-25th: 3rd-5th Grade Girls Basketball Tryouts- Times TBA

College Go Spirit Week

22nd: PTO meeting- 6:00 in Library

25th: Leyla'Rei Mile- 6:00

28th-30th: 3rd-5th Grade Cheer Tryouts- Times TBA

October 2nd: 5th Grade vs. Staff Dodgeball Game- 1:15

Mustang Spirit Day

October 5th-9th: Fall Break

https://www.gccschools.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/NWES-Student-Handbook-26-27-board-approved-7_28_26.pdf