MUSTANG NEWS

Happy Friday!

We had an exciting and fun-filled week celebrating the end of Semester 1 with learning, laughter, and plenty of sweet treats! Thank you, parents, for your unwavering support!

One of the week’s highlights was our Spelling Bee. Please join me in congratulating Cliftondale Elementary School’s 2024-2025 Spelling Bee Champion, Mr. Kato Fedrick! Kato will proudly represent Cliftondale at the Fulton County Schools District Spelling Bee in January 2025.

A special shoutout to all our spelling bee participants, who performed exceptionally well. It took an impressive 45 rounds to crown a winner! Thank you to the parents who joined us both in person and online to support this exciting event.

Have you heard the news??? Our PTA is excited to present Our Annual Father-Daughter Dance- A Night of Hollywood Glam! Tickets are on sale NOW. Parents may purchase tickets ONLINE ONLY by CLICKING HERE. , Tickets will be available now through January 31st OR tickets sell out, whichever comes first. Guests will not be able to pay on event day or at the door. Unpaid guests will not be admitted. This event is opened to Cliftondale Elementary School students only. Have questions or suggestions for PTA? Please email our Executive Board at any time 📧Cesmustangspta@gmail.com

We have officially completed our first semester of the school year and what an awesome semester it was! My staff and I are appreciative and blessed to have such awesome and supportive parents! Have a safe and happy winter break! As always, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out at any time cantya@fultonschools.org.

Kind Regards,

Mrs. Canty

Tragically on Monday, another school shooting occurred. This time in Madison, Wisconsin at Abundant Life Christina School. This tragedy will impact our communities, state, and nation. Our school police and our municipal partner agencies will be visible and vigilant as we close out the semester. Please stay alert as we are all part of the culture of safety. Additionally, the district has been continuously working to strengthen our safety protocols and has made significant investments in this area over the years. You can find a detailed overview of our efforts to maintain a safe learning environment on the FCS website, under A Culture of Safety. This includes information on our Safety Plans & Drills, and ongoing Investments in Safety.

When tragic events like this occur, our students may have questions about their safety at school. Please see the attached tips on how parents and educators can talk to children about violence. If staff and teachers have questions about our school safety efforts, then please review the information shared in the links.

Our PTA is excited to present Our Annual Father-Daughter Dance- A Night of Hollywood Glam! Tickets are on sale NOW. Parents may purchase tickets ONLINE ONLY by CLICKING HERE. Tickets will be available now through January 31st OR tickets sell out, whichever comes first. Guests will not be able to pay on event day or at the door. Unpaid guests will not be admitted. This event is opened to Cliftondale Elementary School students only. Have questions or suggestions for PTA? Please email our Executive Board at any time 📧Cesmustangspta@gmail.com

DECEMBER 2024

• December 1st-13th: iReady Testing - Schedule TBA
• December 5th: Mustang of the Month at 8:30 am
• December 9th-13th: PTA Fundraiser - Holiday Shop
• December 10th: Winter Concert Series: 4th and 1st Grades
• December 11th: Winter Concert Series: 2nd and 3rd Grades
• December 12th: Winter Concert Series: 5th, PK, KK
• December 13th: PTA Event- Family Movie Night
• December 19th: School Spelling Bee - 4th and 5th Grades
• December 18th-19th: Class Holiday Parties
• December 20th: End of Semester 1

JANUARY 2025

• January 6th: Teacher Work Day/ January Staff Meeting - NO School for Students
• January 7th: First Day of Semester 2 - Students Return to School
• January 16th: Semester 1 Report Cards (Viewable in Parent Portal)
• January 20th: MLK Holiday Day - School Closed
• January 28th - 30th: Semester 1 Awards - TBA

The Georgia Department of Educations and Keys to Literacy will be conducting a virtual professional learning series on Adolescent Literacy: Effective Instructional Practices. This series will focus on evidence-based strategies to enhance literacy outcomes for students in Grades 4-12. Please see the attached flyer for dates and information regarding the focus of each session. The sessions will occur virtually from 3:30-4:30 pm via Microsoft Teams and will NOT be recorded.

Adolescent Literacy: Effective Instructional Practices Series - GaDOE Community

If you have any questions, please contact Kelley Webb at webbk@fultonschools.org.

As we observe Attendance Awareness Month, it's crucial to highlight how everyday attendance significantly impacts our children's educational journey. Consistent school attendance is more than just a routine—it's a key factor in their academic and social development.

Why Attendance Matters:

• Academic Achievement: Studies show that students who attend school regularly are more likely to achieve academic success. According to the U.S. Department of Education, students who miss 10 or more days of school in a year are significantly less likely to graduate on time. In fact, students who miss 10-20% of the school year (18 or more days) are at risk of falling behind in their studies.
• Social Skills Development: Regular attendance helps children build strong relationships with peers and teachers. The National Center for Children in Poverty found that students with consistent attendance are more engaged in school and participate more in classroom activities.
• Long-Term Success: Data from the National Education Association indicates that students who develop good attendance habits early on are more likely to succeed in higher education and future employment. Regular attendance helps build discipline, time management, and commitment—skills valuable for lifelong success.

How You Can Help:

• Create a Routine: Establish a consistent daily schedule that includes time for homework, extracurricular activities, and adequate rest. This helps children understand the importance of routine and punctuality.
• Monitor Attendance: Keep track of your child’s attendance records and address any issues promptly. If your child is struggling with frequent absences, don’t hesitate to reach out to school staff for support and resources.
• Communicate with Us: If there are barriers to regular attendance, such as health concerns or family challenges, let us know. We are here to work with you to find solutions and provide assistance where needed.
  
  

Every day in school is an opportunity for growth and learning. By prioritizing and supporting regular attendance, we can help our children thrive both academically and personally.

Thank you for your continued support and partnership.

Students can substitute up to 5 absences per semester (a max of 10 per year) with a remote learning day by meeting the remote learning participation benchmarks listed in policy. This would result in the student being counted as present for the day(s) they participate remotely.

• To be marked present, work must be submitted within 2 days of absence.
• Students may not use a remote learning day on a test day.
• Parent/guardian or student must notify teacher in advance to the start of the instructional day to utilize the participation benchmark rule.
• Schools will make their best effort to provide instruction given early notice.
• For security reasons, students who are out of the country may not participate in remote learning.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

• 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.
  
• 🚩🚩🚩MORNING ARRIVAL....SCHOOL STARTS AT 7:40 AM: We have a significant number of tardy students in our school.
  

  We kindly request that you ensure your child arrives at school on time each day. Timeliness is crucial for your student's success and helps foster a positive learning environment. Thank you for your cooperation and support in this matter.

• BREAKFAST/LUNCH: 📌NEW❗ Breakfast and lunch are completely free for all Cliftondale students. Breakfast is available for all students 7:10 am - 7:40 am. During school hours, students may not have restaurant food in any FCS cafeteria at any given time.
  

• DISMISSAL: Parents can check students out early anytime up until 2:00 pm.

• 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.

• ATTENDANCE: MATTERS: Regular attendance in elementary school is important for a student's academic and personal growth. Attendance is important! Please be sure to send your student to school every day! If your student is sick, please email a note to your child's teacher and our data clerk, Ms. Allen at allenk3@fultonschools.org

• 📌Excessive late student arrivals, excessive early check-outs, and/or excessive late pickups will result in your student being withdrawn from Cliftondale ES until your residency documentation have been resubmitted to the school.📌

• HANDICAP PARKING SPACES: Handicap parking spaces are designated exclusively for individuals who possess valid handicap permits. It is essential to respect these designated areas and refrain from parking in them unless you have the appropriate permit. This ensures that these critical parking spots remain accessible to those who genuinely require them. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated in maintaining the availability of these spaces for individuals with the appropriate parking permits.

In addition to your child's teacher, our curriculum team is here to support you! If you have questions pertaining the curriculum, understanding a specific skill/standard, need additional strategies to support your child at home, please feel free to reach out to one of our curriculum team experts. They are here for you and happy to support you and your Mustang! Each month, we will share resources with parents so that you can support your child at home. Please connect with each of us if you have any questions.

Curriculum Support Teacher: Yazmin Hicks- hicksz@fultonschools.org
-Curriculum Administrator for all curriculum/content areas and PK

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

Literacy Coach: Mrs. Kalista- kalista@fultonschools.org

Literacy Coach: Ms. Johnson- johnsonkr1@fultonschools.org

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

COUNSELING

Throughout December, the school counselor will continue emphasizing career education. Classroom guidance lessons for grades 2-5 will center on the Finance Career Cluster, while grades 1-2 will explore the roles of community helpers. These lessons are designed to encourage students to begin considering future career paths, even at the elementary level.

Need support? 📧 email me at hallt5@fultonschools.org

ATTENDANCE
Having positive attendance is crucial to student success. Use the tips below to help your scholar(s) develop strong attendance:

1. Make attendance a priority.
2. Schedule appointments for after school or as close to dismissal as possible.
3. Use your remote learning days. You have 5 days per semester.

Student Success Skills are a set of standards that will be taught in all schools, to all students, by all teachers throughout the school year. These standards include six skills that are broken down into several standards across grade levels. Teaching these skills will support students in creating a foundation for managing emotions, healthy relationships, understanding and empathizing with others, being responsible and safe, and learning to cope with difficult life situations

HOME CONNECTION - Student Success Skills can also support parents and caregivers as they help their student manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, and make responsible decisions. Home Connection letters and other resources are available to provide tips and strategies to reinforce learned skills at home

***The Student Success Skills Inventory is used to measure student growth across Student Success Skill standards as a result of Rethink Ed lessons. Students in 3rd-5th grades will complete the 15-20 item pre-inventory between August 26, 2024 - September 13, 2024. The post-inventory will take place between April 14, 2025 - April 25, 2025. It takes about 15 minutes to complete. The inventory is pushed out to students using the Illuminate platform. Parents can choose to opt their student out of the inventory. To opt out, parents must submit a written request to opt out to the school principal.

Fulton County Schools partners with Chris 180 to provide on-site and virtual counseling services to students during the school day and after school at low or no cost. To refer your child, please download and complete the referral form and waiver below and email the fully completed packet to CareTeam@chris180.org or contact Cliftondale's Guidance Counselor, Ms. Hall at hallt5@fultonschools.org

Parents are encouraged to volunteer at Cliftondale Elementary School. All parents who want to volunteer in the classroom will be required to contact the teacher, our parent liaison or CST to schedule the day and time they will volunteer. When parents volunteer in the classroom, there must be a clear understanding for expectations. Teachers are not allowed to share confidential information with volunteers. While serving as a class volunteer or chaperoning a field trip or other school-sponsored activity/event, parents/guardian may not bring others or student siblings while performing volunteer duties. Volunteers are not permitted to disciple students. Rather, volunteers must notify the teacher or nearest school official.

A Supervised School Volunteer is a non-paid individual who contributes their time and effort to actively supporting school functions under the direct supervision and guidance of school staff. The category of Supervised Volunteer includes, but is not limited to, one who performs duties that an employee could perform, such as making copies, filing, sorting, assisting with lunch duty, media center or front office tasks, and school day field trips.

All persons interested in volunteering in the Fulton County School District must complete an application every two years. Even if a person has completed an application in the past. To keep in compliance with State Law and best practices, we will require everyone to re-register/register every two years based on the following volunteer service periods.

In order to support learning, Fulton County Schools provides devices for students. Like a textbook, the device is an instructional resource to support learning. Students with devices are expected to follow the guidelines within our Code of Conduct, our user agreement document, as well as school and classroom policies and procedures regarding behavior and technology usage. Please review the 2024-2025 Device Agreement document with your students and send the signed copy back to school. All students received a printed copy, and an electronic copy is attached here

Please review Cliftondale's 2024-2025 School-Family Compact, Parent-Family Engagement Plan as well as Fulton County School's Parent-Family Engagement Plan by CLICKING HERE. Parents, school staff, and students partnered together to jointly develop the School-Family Compact and school Parent and Family Engagement Plan (PFEP). This was done through input collected from feedback forms, surveys, and input meetings held annually in the spring. The School-Compact explains how families and teachers will work together to make sure all students reach grade-level standards at Cliftondale Elementary School.

All students above 10 years of age and their parents/guardians are asked to digitally sign the School-Family Compact in the Infinite Campus Parent/Student Portal. Your digital signature acknowledges you have received, read, and agree to the School-Family Compact. read, received and agree to the School-Family Compact. If you have questions about Title I or need assisting with acknowledging receipt of the Title I documents or would like a printed copy of any of the documents, please contact our Parent Liaison, Ms. Hope Render at 470-254-3040 or by email at renderhh@fultonschools.org

This past week, we hosted our Annual Title I Meeting and Curriculum Night. Many thanks to the families that attended our Annual Title I Meeting and Curriculum Night! The purpose of this meeting was to inform parents of the school’s participation under Title I and explained the requirements, as well as the right of parents to be involved in the education of their child. 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!

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

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.

• 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!

"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. Parents are expected to read the electronic version of our Code of Conduct with their student(s) and complete the Acknowledgment of Receipt Form by using the provided link to access Infinite Campus' Parent Portal. Please download the instructions on how to complete the Acknowledgment of Receipt Form. All parents and students (over 10 years old) MUST sign this form found within your INFINITE CAMPUS PARENT/STUDENT PORTAL ACCOUNT. If you would like a paper copy of the Handbook, you or your student can pick up one in your school's front office. When incidence of misconduct arise, consequences will be assigned based on the infraction as detailed within the Code of Conduct.

Principal: Mrs. Canty- cantya@fultonschools.org

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

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

School Counselor: 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