The Piper Prairie Press

On Monday, September 16th, there will be no school for students. On this important day, our dedicated teachers and staff will be reviewing valuable student data results from reading and math screeners and diagnostics recently performed.

September is School Attendance Awareness Month, a time to recognize the connection between regular school attendance and academic achievement. Last year, we saw a 17% Chronic Absenteeism rate among our Prairie students. Any student missing 10% or more of the school days is considered chronically absent. Chronic Absenteeism includes both excused and unexcused absences. Truancy occurs when a child is absent without a valid excuse. (see Attendance section, beginning p. 17 of the 2024-25 Student Handbook). Our goal is to decrease the Chronic Absenteeism Rate at Piper Prairie. We appreciate your efforts in scheduling appointments, vacations, and other activities to ensure your students attend class as often as possible when they are well.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Bast and Mrs. Porras

Mon. 16th - No School (Professional Development for Teachers)

Thurs. 26th - School Picture Day

Fri. 18th - No School (end of first quarter)

Wed. 30th - Thurs. 31st - Parent Teacher Conferences (info to come!)

Prairie staff is committed to supporting all children’s academic and social learning. Part of this work involves teaching social and emotional competencies - these are the everyday skills children need to interact positively with others and to participate successfully in school and in life. In fact, a hot buzz word in the world right now is “Social Emotional Learning” or SEL, and we wanted to clear up some possible confusion.

Social and emotional competence includes things like picking up on how other people are feeling, understanding other points of view, problem solving, managing feelings, listening to others, focusing and paying attention, and more. Most social emotional skills do not come naturally, but rather they need to be explicitly taught to our kids.

Prairie classroom teachers use a curriculum called Second Step to teach social emotional skills, and we counselors use the same topics to teach additional lessons in each classroom. You can see the entire scope and sequence of lessons here: Second Step Lessons

With competencies such as math and reading, assessments help guide what and how we teach and give us insight into how well students are learning. For the same reasons, students complete SELweb, a brief, web-based screener that measures student social and emotional competencies. SELweb ties directly to Second Step skills, and you can see that alignment in this document: SELweb-SS alignment

Additionally, you can see a description of the types of questions on SELweb here: Module Examples and you can read a description of each module here: Module Descriptions

As you can hopefully see from these links, we want to assure you that SELweb is not a mental health assessment and is not used to diagnose, label, or otherwise stigmatize children. It is a teaching tool we use to do the best work we can with all of our students.

Between September 30 and October 11, Mrs. Kelsey and Mrs. Keenan will be going into each classroom to help students complete SELweb. All questions are read aloud to your students and all are answered on iPad (K-1st) or computer (2nd). We will share all reports after the assessment with you at or around parent-teacher conferences. Please let us know if you have any questions!

It is great to see the enthusiasm and excitement the Piper community has for supporting our students’ athletics and activities. Attending these events is a great way to come together to show school and community spirit. We thank you for your support of our students, coaches, and activity supervisors.

As our district has continued to grow over the past several years, so have crowds at district events. The larger crowds make supervision of unsupervised youth even more difficult. We have had a few concerning issues where student safety has been compromised.

In an effort to provide a safe, positive and fun fan experience, parental supervision of middle school and elementary school students will be required at ALL district functions for the 2024-25 school year (unless otherwise noted by the building principal or other administrator). Middle school and elementary school student MUST attend games with a parent, guardian, or trusted adult. Unsupervised students will not be permitted to enter the events.

For football games, as per last year, the expectation is that young people sit in the stands with their parent or guardian or on the hill with staff supervision. Students will be able to access concessions and restroom facilities without supervision but will be directed back to their seats to enjoy the game.

Thank you for helping us with these updated procedures to help make Piper USD 203 athletics and activities a safe and positive experience for all.

Piper High School Home Football games will begin this Friday! Let's show Pirate Nation our support by wearing PURPLE on Home Football Game Fridays! These are 9/6, 9/13, 10/4 and 10/18.

We are grateful for your help in making our car line run smoothly!

School Hours:

• Mondays-Thursdays: School starts at 8:30 AM and ends at 3:40 PM.
• Fridays: School starts at 9:10 AM and ends at 3:40 PM.

• If you arrive after morning arrival supervision (8:30): Please park your vehicle and walk your child inside to the office.
• Teachers' duty day is over at 3:55. If you arrive after the dismissal supervising adults have come inside (3:55): Please park and come inside to get your child from the office.

Thank you for helping us keep kids safe!

As we navigate Car Rider traffic, we have reached out to adjust some car lane traffic. Please follow this map below, unless Mrs. Kelsey or your child's teacher has reached out to you personally. Thank you for helping us make dismissal efficient! If your child needs assistance buckling up, please pull forward to the Buckle Up zone!

If your little pirate rides the school bus to or from school, we ask for someone to be at the bus stop to see them get on and off the bus. Student safety is a priority!

Y Club is offering before school care for those in need of only Friday morning times. If you are interested, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/MUYAnaguYbawHwCAA

Please follow the communication matrix.

Assistant Principal: Mrs. Porras - laura.porras@piperschools.us

Attendance: heather.bryant@piperschools.us

Transportation changes (request must be by 2:30): kristin.miller@piperschools.us

Phone: 913.721.1243

Nurse or medical concerns: taunisha.mcdonald@piperschools.us

Health Services: https://piperschoolscom.finalsite.com/departments/health-services

Counselors: daneen.kelsey@piperschools.us or serena.keenan@piperschools.us

Hours: Monday- Thursday 8:30 am - 3:40 pm

Late Start Friday: 9:10 am - 3:40 pm

Email: darcey.bast@piperschools.us
Website: https://ppe.piperschools.com/
Location: 3131 N 122nd St, Kansas City, KS 66109, USA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PiperElementary/?scrlybrkr=41859c6e
Twitter: @PiperElementary