The Falcon Express
October 2026
Stevenson Elementary School is a welcoming community hub that engages, supports and strengthens students, families and neighborhoods. As the demands of our world continue to change, we will empower all students to be dedicated, lifelong learners and responsible citizens by preparing them to excel academically, emotionally, physically and socially.
Dear Falcon Families,
As we wrap up our five weeks of school, I want to take a moment to reflect on how proud I am of the collaboration, support, and strong sense of community we have experienced so far. From our dedicated staff and amazing scholars to our incredible families, your partnership continues to make a positive difference at Stevenson Elementary.
A special thank you to everyone who joined us for our first Family Engagement Event and Open House. Your presence, enthusiasm, and support helped make these events truly special. We are grateful for the opportunity to welcome you into our school and celebrate our Stevenson community together.
As we continue to establish strong routines and expectations, I also want to ask for your partnership in addressing morning tardiness and early pickups. We have noticed an increase in both, and these interruptions can impact instructional time and the learning environment for all scholars. Please make every effort to have your scholar at school and ready to learn on time each morning and to remain at school for the full instructional day whenever possible.
Every minute matters, and every minute of learning counts! Your partnership in this area is essential to helping our scholars have a successful school day.
Looking ahead, we are excited to announce that Stevenson will soon be launching several community service projects. These opportunities will allow our scholars to learn the value of giving back, serving others, demonstrating compassion, and becoming active and responsible citizens within their community. We can't wait to share more details with you!
Thank you again for your continued trust, support, and partnership. Together, we are creating a school community where our scholars feel loved, supported, challenged, and empowered to thrive.
With Falcon Pride,
Principal Hickman
Stevenson families,
Stevenson Elementary School is proud to be a Community School, and we believe that being a part of a community means caring for one another, giving back, and supporting causes that impact the lives of our scholars, families, and community.
Throughout the month of October, we are launching our first Community Service Project in support of breast cancer awareness and cancer research. We are asking every Stevenson scholar to donate $1 to support the American Cancer Society and its efforts to support individuals and families impacted by cancer.
Breast Cancer Awareness Walk
On Friday, October 9, 2026, Stevenson will host a special Breast Cancer Awareness Walk at our school.
Before we begin our walk, we will take a moment to celebrate and honor the breast cancer survivors within our Stevenson family. These remarkable individuals will be recognized for their strength, courage, perseverance, and resilience. We want our scholars to understand that behind every cancer diagnosis is a person, a family, and a community that can come together to provide encouragement and support.
The walk will begin promptly at 1:00 p.m. in front of the flagpole.
We invite our families, staff, scholars, and community partners to join us as we walk together in remembrance, celebration, awareness, and hope. Families who choose to participate in the walk are also encouraged to make a $1 donation to support our community service project.
This is more than a walk, it is an opportunity to teach our scholars the importance of compassion, service, generosity, and standing together for others.
One Scholar. One Dollar. One Community. One Cause.
Every dollar matters. Every step matters. Every survivor matters.
We encourage our Falcon families to participate, wear pink, bring your positive energy, and help us make our first Community Service Project a meaningful experience for our entire Stevenson community.
Date: Friday, October 9, 2026
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location: Stevenson Elementary School Flagpole
Theme: Breast Cancer Awareness
Suggested Donation: $1 per scholar and $1 per participating family member
Beneficiary: American Cancer Society
100% of proceeds will be donated to the American Cancer Society
Together, we can show our scholars that giving back is not just something we talk about, it is something we do. Let’s walk together. Let’s give together. Let’s honor our survivors together.
Mrs. Boatner and Mrs. Parrish
Event Sponsors
Make Everyday Count
We have started to notice a pattern of scholars who are consistently late or picked up early from school. Every second of the day matters as we continue to close the achievement gap.
Please email dhanmite.slappey@southfieldk12.org or contact the office at (248) 746-8844 to excuse your scholar's absence.
Our PTA meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 14, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. and will be conducted virtually.
We encourage all Falcon families to join us for this important meeting. Our PTA plays an important role in strengthening the connection between our school, families, and community. This meeting will provide an opportunity to learn more about upcoming school events, family engagement opportunities, fundraising efforts, volunteer opportunities, and ways you can become more involved in supporting our scholars.
Whether you are a current PTA member or simply interested in learning more about how you can support Stevenson, we would love to have you join us! Your voice, ideas, and partnership are valued.
Meeting information and the virtual link will be shared with families prior to the meeting.
See the link below:
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/ybo-ijuq-nfx
Or dial: (US) +1 716-906-2063 PIN: 676 048 007#
Mrs. Tiffany Sims
PTA President
As we reflect on the first month of school, we want to thank our parents for keeping your scholars home when they are under the weather. Failing to do so puts other students and school staff at risk. In order for us to keep our learning community healthy, we must all do our part!
Many parents ask, “When is my child sick enough to stay home from school?” This is not always an easy question to answer! We hope that these guidelines can help! A child who is sick will not be able to perform well in school and is likely to spread the illness to other children and staff. We suggest making a plan for childcare ahead of time so you will not be caught without a comforting place for your child to stay if he/she is ill.
Our school strongly suggests that you should NOT send your child to school if he/she has:
* Common cold – irritated throat, watery discharge from the nose or eyes, sneezing, chills and/or general body aches. Keep your child home if symptoms are serious enough to interfere with your child’s ability to learn. Seek care from the doctor if symptoms persist beyond 7-10 days, fever or cough producing phlegm develops, or nasal discharge becomes yellow or green.
*Cough – Cough that interferes with the child’s ability to fully participate in classroom activities. Seek care from the doctor if the cough lasts beyond 7-10 days, or if coughing phlegm.
*Fever – If the child’s temperature is 99.9 degrees or higher, the child should remain at home until they are without a fever for a full 24 hours. Remember that a fever is a symptom indicating the presence of an illness.
* Flu – symptoms include abrupt onset of fever, chills, headache and sore muscles. Runny nose, sore throat and cough are common. Your child should remain at home until the symptoms are gone and they are without a fever for a full 24 hours.
* Pink Eye – The white of the eye appears red, swollen, burns, itches or has pus-like drainage. This requires treatment from a doctor. Your child may return to school after taking antibiotic treatment for 24 hours. School Health Services
* Strep Throat – The throat appears severely red, swollen or has whitish pus spots. Other symptoms include, throat soreness, fever, swollen glands of the neck, nausea or vomiting. This requires treatment from a doctor. Your child may return to school after taking antibiotic treatment for 24 hours and no longer is vomiting or has fever.
* Skin Rashes – If your child has a rash of unknown origin, they must be seen by a doctor before coming into school.
* Vomiting & Diarrhea – Your child should remain at home until without vomiting, diarrhea or fever for a full 24 hours.
Thank you for helping to make this school year as healthy as possible,
Bullying Prevention and Reporting Hotline.
Please click the link below to report bullying to your school administrators.
Parent Schoology Access
For Grades 3 -5
Go to Schoology.com
Click login
Choose forget password
Enter your parent portal ID or email from MISTAR in the username
Reset your password in your email then login again
Below is a video you can give your parents as well.
Communications to/from Administration
A simple way to stay connected to your scholar's school. Join us on Remind101
National Hispanic Heritage Month
With our school population becoming more diverse, we are intentionally inclusive and show community spirit to other cultures.
The blue pumpkins have been adopted by families all across the country to raise awareness to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). As the fall holiday approaches where children are dressing up and going door to door asking for treats. We want you to be aware of the blue pumpkin.
Blue pumpkins may be seen displayed at a home to signal a child in the home has autism. However, if you see children carrying blue pumpkins, please be mindful of your interactions with these children, as they may have autism.
This could mean that the child has a sensitivity to flashing lights and/or spontaneous sound. In addition, these children may be non-verbal and unable to say the key phrases some may expect to hear during this season. Nearly 1-in-54 American children are on the autism spectrum, we want you to be informed of the happenings in our community and equip you with tips to improve safety and make this season inclusive to all children.
Over the past few weeks, our students were assessed using the i-Ready Diagnostic Assessment. Immediately following each assessment, i-Ready places your child into Online Instruction to support his or her progress in mastering essential skills in reading and math. i-Ready Instruction provides students with lessons based on their individual skill level and needs, so your child can learn at a pace that is just right for them. These lessons are fun and interactive to keep your child engaged as they learn.
The Online Instruction, if used more than 45 minutes per subject, per week, has been proven to help students grow academically. The online instruction is designed to be both challenging and engaging. iReady delivers instruction using engaging animation. Lessons are interactive for students. The result is an experience that attracts and holds your student’s interest while also teaching important skills and concepts. We encourage you to work with your teacher to find out how you can help your child at home access this instruction beyond the hours of formal class instruction.
It is very important that the student completes the lessons independently to the best of his or her ability. Teachers review data collected from student lessons to better serve your student academically. Lessons may or may not be on the student’s grade level. Keep in mind that student’s lessons have been assigned based on Diagnostic score, which provides targeted, online lessons for each student. These lessons allow students the opportunity to catch up or advance skills based on their own level.
How to Start
Log in to Clever, and click the i-ready icon
Select subject. Choose either Reading or Math.
Start lesson: Click the green "next lesson" button under My Path or the blue "lesson" button under Teacher Assigned (may not be any blue buttons at times).
Family Center: Click on the top right to visit the iReady Family Center for additional information and answers to FAQs.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your child’s instructor. “Happy Learning”
Mrs. Sharnae Oden
Testing Coordinator
We are excited to celebrate a day filled with harvest fun, fellowship, and fall festivities with our Stevenson scholars!
Donations Needed!
We are asking families to donate individually wrapped cookies and/or peanut-free candy for our celebration. Please send all donated items to school by October 23rd.
Harvest Day Costumes
Scholars are welcome to wear their harvest/Halloween-themed costumes on this special day. No masks, please!
Trick-a-Truck
We are also looking for parents and families who would like to decorate their vehicles and participate in our Trick-a-Truck experience! Our goal is to have at least 30 decorated cars for our scholars to enjoy.
A Google Form will be sent out by October 5, 2026, for families who are interested in signing up to participate.
Please contact Mrs. Hickman, if you elect not to have your scholar (s) participate in these festivities.
We are looking forward to a fun-filled Oktoberfest Extravaganza!
See link below for menus:
Breakfast
Lunch
PLEASE NOTE....BREAKFAST IS ONLY SERVED UNTIL 8:15 AM.
Stay Connected
27777 Lahser Road
Southfield, Michigan 48034
(248) 746-8840 (phone)
(248) 746-8945 (fax)
Building Leadership:
Tonya Hickman (Principal)
tonya.hickman@southfieldk12.org
Melanie Land (Community Coordinator/Admin Support)
