Weekly Warrior

Students will be taking final exams for the last 4 days of the semester. We hope all families will support their students by making sure they are in school and have a good meal before they start their day. Breakfast is served before school for those students who prefer to eat at school.

As always, if you know you will be checking your student out early, please send a note to the office with them before school, or call by 8:30am.

If you will be checking your student out early for an appointment or family event, please keep the exam schedule below in mind, and try to work around those times to ensure your child has the best opportunity to perform well on their exam.

Tuesday, 12/13/22 -- Finals in Blocks 1A (7:42-9:08am) and 3A (11:19am -1:10pm)

Wednesday, 12/14/22 -- Finals in Blocks 1B (8:02 - 9:23am) and 3B (11:29am - 1:15pm)

Thursday, 12/15/22 -- Finals in Blocks 2A (9:13 - 10:39am) and 4A (1:15 - 2:41pm)

Friday, 12/16/22 -- Finals in Blocks 2B (9:13 - 10:39am) and 4B (1:15 - 2:41pm)

The staff at Smithville High School wants to thank all the community members who support us throughout the year, and especially during the holidays. Your donations and cookies and care are greatly appreciated.

Congratulations to the Varsity Scholar Bowl Team for placing 2nd at the Lee's Summit North Bronco Classic. Team members were Eli Bosley, Alex Duckwitz, Nate Kershaw, Ben Kershawn, and Abby Nichols.

Congratulations to the JV Scholar Bowl Team for placing 3rd at the Lee's Summit North Bronco Classic. Team members were Owen Knight, Mason Throm, Will Bailey, Isabella Monachello, Lily Burns, and Logan Throm.

Congratulations to Nathan Fletcher for being selected to the Missouri All-State Orchestra for his tuba playing! Way to go Nathan!

All Staff and Students that had perfect attendance for the first quarter will receive a pizza lunch and special treat on December 13th. An email will go out this week to those individuals.

Students who had 95% attendance, at least a 3.5 GPA and less than one minor infraction will receive a coupon for a free ala cart item from the cafeteria or free drink from The Grind.

*Rewards for Quarter 2 will go out in January.

What strategy/strategies are we using?

We are implementing specific strategies for tier 2:

• Attendance Plans for students who drop below 90% which include:

1. Attendance plans are implemented by our counselors to address any barriers. (ie. transportation, mental health etc.)

2. Partner students with a caring adult so they hear from the school that we “see” they are not present. Our routine has been that Mrs. Griggs emails administrators, counselors, and Mr. Mason and we reach out to the student by email or phone call when they are absent.

3. increased communication for attendance by utilizing our robocalling feature for families so our attendance is truly “live.” That means each block a call goes out to students’ families when they are not in attendance and a caring adult in the building reaches out when the student is not present.

In addition to those goals, we also wanted to focus on the following for tier 3:

1. Continued support with the counselors and attendance plans with increased communication.

2. Family plans for students who drop below 80%. These are done with Dr. Platt and Ms. Manz (Family Resource Specialist).

3. Loss of privileges for students and seat time make-up if necessary for credit. (Students can’t miss more than 9 blocks)

The last strategy we are implementing is to provide incentives and recognition for students. Here are the first steps:

1. All students received a frozen treat for their part in raising money for our PTO fundraiser.

2. Students with 95% attendance; 3.5 GPA, and one minor infraction or less receive a free coupon for an ala cart item, coffee, or snack for 1st quarter.

3. Students with PERFECT attendance receive a pizza lunch and a sweet treat.

*2nd quarter rewards will be given in January after the quarter has ended.

How are we measuring the effectiveness?

We measure effectiveness by analyzing our systems approach (Red, Yellow, Green) utilizing the weekly attendance reports pulled weekly.

The number of students on attendance plans in 1st Quarter: 147

The number of students dismissed from plans during weekly check-ins (Meaning they have pulled their attendance back to 90%): 43

Effectiveness is measured by the impact the steps that have been implemented for attendance issue have made on student attendance. THANK YOU Ms. Johnson, Ms. Weis and Mrs. Robinson for your time and dedication you put into meeting with these students and following up on their attendance issues.

What does the data show? Have we improved, stayed the same or regressed since the first quarter? [Compare Data]

GOAL: 95% attendance rate and maintain the MTSS standards of no more than 5% Red, 10-15% Yellow, and 80% Green (95%) quarterly.

*Although we are a little higher in the red we still have met our goal overall keeping 80%+ in the green.

What strategy/strategies are we using?

Discipline Systems - Continuum of discipline

Refocus Room

Restorative Conversations

Teacher/Student Conversations

Student/Admin Conversations

Lunch Detentions

Friday School (Detention)

ISS

Loss of Privileges

How are we measuring the effectiveness?

Weekly reports

Decrease in tardies

Decrease in office referrals

What does the data show? Have we improved, stayed the same or regressed since the first quarter? [Compare Data]

August/September Data:

4% of the student body had a violation other than cell phones

8% of the student body had a cell phone violation.

After August/September data we determined the top areas of discipline and calculated percentages.

October Data:

5.1% cell phone/technology

2.6% tardies (number of students with at least 8)/truancy

2.0% sent to refocus room

1.3% substance issues (vapes and alcohol)

4/1% general disruptions

11.1% of total student discipline

Have we improved, stayed the same or regressed since the first quarter?

Currently, we are using the PBIS tiered triangle of 5% tier 3, 15% tier 2, and 80% tier 1. We will be able to compare monthly data and have more uses as we move forward with this same format.

We will continue to monitor and adjust to our data

What strategy/strategies are we using?

Teachers are updating grades more frequently so students and parents have a better understanding of their current grade.

A ceramics class and an algebra class are piloting a Response to Intervention (RtI) process which can help students and teachers identify gaps in skills for their understanding of content. These teachers spent the month of October developing this process and rubric and started implementing it in November.

How are we measuring the effectiveness?

A goal for the school is to decrease the unique number of Ds and Fs in the school. The goal is less than 20% of students at SHS will have a D or an F at each grading period.

Since the RtI process is a new venture for these teachers, we are evaluating this system on an individual basis. If we believe this process helps in identifying gaps in skills we will increase the number of teachers piloting during 3rd and 4th quarters.

What does the data show? Have we improved, stayed the same or regressed since the first quarter? [Compare Data]

2021-22 Quarter 1: 22.2% of students had a D or an F

2021-22 Quarter 2: 25.4% of students had a D or an F

2021-22 Quarter 3: 21.3% of students had a D or an F

2021-22 Quarter 4: 24.6% of students had a D or an F

2022-23 Quarter 1: 16.1% of students had a D or an F

The data discipline sub-committee met to calculate the October discipline data. They categorized the discipline information into 5 major areas; technology, tardy/truancy, alcohol/drugs, refocus room, and general disruptions.

Technology - 51 Incidents by 46 students = 5.1%

Tardy/Truancy - 41 incidents by 24 students = 2.6%

Alcohol/Drugs - 13 incidents by 12 students = 1.3%

Refocus Room - 18 incidents by 18 students = 2.0%

General Disruptions - 47 incidents by 37 students = 4/1%

Total Discipline for October 2022 - 157 incidents by 101 students = 11.1%

The discipline data sub-committee will be meeting next week to gather and document November 2022 discipline information.

First semester Friday school detentions:

Several students still have outstanding Friday school detentions which will need to be served before the semester ends. Ms. Leary will be sending letters home and emailing letters outlining student options and consequences if these detentions are not served when rescheduled this week.

Senior parents / guardians should have received an email on December 1st asking them to review the name we have on file for your student's diploma. If the name in the email is correct, you don't need to do anything.

If the name in the email is not correct, or you did not receive an email, please contact Donna Vennera at vennerad@smithville.k12.mo.us

Thank you!

Do you have a special message for your 2022/2023 senior? Purchase your senior ad now to have your shoutout in the yearbook! Senior ad orders are due by December 16th (the end of first semester.) Go to yearbookforever.com to order.

https://yearbookforever.com/schools/smithville_high_school_buy_yearbook_302572/iEcoXZ2Rcos2jLYW7I8Uki7W/personal-ads

Feed Northland Kids is a unique organization focused on addressing weekend nutrition and hunger by providing healthy, kid-friendly foods for school-age children, living in the Northland of Kansas City, MO.

The Feed Northland Kids food kit program requires sign up. To receive a food kit, families MUST sign up by the dates listed below for that month's distribution - NO EXCEPTIONS. ie, December 30th for January 12th distribution. Families must sign up for each month needing assistance - one sign up equals one month of food kits. Families must have a child enrolled in Smithville School District to participate.

• Sign up by December 30th for January 12th distribution
• Sign up by January 27th for February 9th distribution
• Sign up by February 24th for March 9th distribution
• Sign up by March 31 for April 13th distribution
• Sign up by April 28th for May 11th distribution

Families of 4 or less will receive 4 kits. Families of 5 or more will receive 6 kits. Each kit typically contains food for a week which may include two canned soups, two canned vegetables, two canned pastas, two boxes dry mac and cheese, a canned tuna, a canned chicken, a jar of peanut butter, a breakfast cereal, granola bars, a loaf of bread, and a main meal.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f45aeaa2fa7f4c25-feed2

Email: communications@smithville.k12.mo.us
Website: https://www.smithvilleschooldistrict.net/o/shs
Location: 645 South Commercial Avenue, Smithville, MO, USA
Phone: 816-532-0405
Facebook: facebook.com/SHSWarriorStrong
Twitter: @SmithvilleSD