DeKeyser News

Principal: Mrs. Shannon Hathcock

Administrative Assistant: Mrs. Lisa Russo

Clerk: Mrs. Heather Mansour

Location: 39600 Atkinson, Sterling Heights., MI 48313

Office Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Office Phone Number: (586)797-4400

24 Hr Attendance Line (586)797-4499

Fax (586)797-4401

Email officedekeyser@uticak12.org

Website: DeKeyser Elementary / Homepage (uticak12.org)

Facebook: DeKeyser Elementary School

School Hours: 9:05 AM - 3:55 PM (full days) and 9:05 AM -12:09 PM (half days)

Morning SACC (DeKeyser): 6:45 am - 9:05 am

Afternoon SACC (Messmore): 3:55 pm - 6:00 pm (Students bussed from DeKeyser to Messmore)

Breakfast Hours: 8:45 - 9:05

October 2025

VIP Parking – Danyette Embry

National Cyber Security Awareness Month

Bully Prevention Month

Down Syndrome Awareness Month

Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind / Purposeful People Character Trait: Respect

K- 5 - mClass DIBELS 8 – Fall Window – Sept. 22 – Oct. 17

Monday, Oct. 13

• Happy Birthday Ms. Sandra! 🥳

• Columbus Day

• Last day of Sukkot

• Digital Citizens Week Oct. 13 – 17

• 9:15 – 10:00 – Fire Department Visits Preschool

• 12:30 – 1:15 – Fire Department Visits Preschool

• K-6 Parent Report Card Letter Emailed Home

Tuesday, Oct. 14

• Happy Birthday Mr. Street! 🥳

• Digital Citizens Week Oct. 13 – 17

• 9:15 – 10:00 – Fire Department Visits Preschool

• 12:30 – 1:15 – Fire Department Visits Preschool

• 9:30 – 1:30 - 6th Grade Field Trip – Tree Runner Adventure Park

• 5:00 – 8:00 – Fall Conferences

Wednesday, Oct. 15

• Digital Citizens Week Oct. 13 – 17

• Global Hand Washing Day

• ½ Day – 12:09 Dismissal – AM SPECIALS

• 1:00 – 4:00 - Fall Conferences

• 5:00 – 8:00 – Fall Conferences

Thursday, Oct. 16

• Boss’s Day

• Digital Citizens Week Oct. 13 – 17

• World Food Day

• 4:00pm-5:00pm Macomb Crew Soccer –Session 1 (Gym)

Friday, Oct. 17

• Frozen Friday - $1 Popsicle Sale

• Happy Birthday Mrs. Miller! 🥳

• Digital Citizens Week Oct. 13 – 17

• LAST DAY for Candy Donations

• eSpark Showcase at DeKeyser

• Pumpkins sent home to decorate

Saturday, Oct. 18

• Sweetest Day

October 2025

VIP Parking – Danyette Embry

National Cyber Security Awareness Month

Bully Prevention Month

Down Syndrome Awareness Month

Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind / Purposeful People Character Trait: Respect

Monday, Oct. 20

• Halloween Grams

• School Bus Safety Week (Oct. 20 – 24)

• Safe Schools Week (Oct. 20 – 24)

• 3:55pm-5:15pm Crayola Wild World Animal Rescuers (Art)

Tuesday, Oct. 21

• Happy Birthday Melissa McDonald! 🥳

• Halloween Grams

• School Bus Safety Week (Oct. 20 – 24)

• Safe Schools Week (Oct. 20 – 24)

• Apple Day

• 6th Grade SMART Moves

• 4:15 - ATG Coaches Meeting - TEAMS - Hoffman / Pfeiffer

Wednesday, Oct. 22

• No School – Teacher DPPD

Thursday, Oct. 23

• Halloween Grams

• School Bus Safety Week (Oct. 20 – 24)

• Safe Schools Week (Oct. 20 – 24)

• Pumpkins Due Back to DeKeyser

• 9:15 – 11:30 – PTCG Candy Sort

• 4:00pm-5:00pm Macomb Crew Soccer –Session 1 (Gym)

• 6:00 – 7:30 – EDAC Parent Meeting @ Bemis

Friday, Oct. 24

• Frozen Friday - $1 Popsicle Sale

• Halloween Grams

• School Bus Safety Week (Oct. 20 – 24)

• Safe Schools Week (Oct. 20 – 24)

• 4:30 - 5:15 - Cars Arrive for Spooktacular Set-Up

• 6:00– 7:30– Spooktacular / Trunk or Treat

Important Information:

We are asking for your support to help keep our students safe.

• All visitors to our school will now be required to swipe their Government Issued Photo ID upon entry to the main office. This swipe will provide an immediate check against the sex offender registry. This process is for anyone who is going past the school office.

• It is strongly recommended parents/guardians download the Raptor Safe app in order to create a visitor profile. The Raptor Safe app offers a convenient and secure way for visitors to manage and verify their identify before arriving at school. This profile provides a Raptor Passport which can be used to quickly and easily check in at the school office via the app.

• If you plan to volunteer in our classroom, work directly with a student and/or chaperone a field trip, etc. you will need to have a volunteer background check on file. The new volunteer application form is located at this link: www.uticak12.org/volunteer. The background check involves multiple state and federal law enforcement databases.

We greatly appreciate the involvement of our families and the difference you make at DeKeyser Elementary. Thank you for your partnership with this extra step that will improve safety in our school.

Happy October to all our DeKeyser dolphins!! Thank you to all the families that came to our PTCG meeting on Tuesday and signed up for some volunteer opportunities. We also appreciate everyone that enjoyed Panera Bread on Wednesday to support our school as well! Please be sure to check out our October calendar for the busy month ahead with restaurant nights, our Halloween Candy Drive, pumpkin decorating, Spooktacular, and so much more. We are very excited for lots of smiling faces and fun activities for our kiddos!

PTCG hosted our Fun Run Raffle Prize day on Friday in the Gym!! Students that raised money for our Fun Run earned one raffle ticket for every $10 or three raffle tickets for $25. Students that earned raffle tickets got called down to the Gym on Friday morning to put their tickets in the prize bins that they hope to win. Congratulations to all our lucky winners!! A tremendous THANK YOU to Laura Quast for charging all the Fun Run prizes, donations, and raffle tickets for our school. It is a HUGE job, and we appreciate her endlessly! Next week, PTCG will be sharing posts on our social media FB page to say THANK YOU to all the generous businesses and sponosors that helped support our Fun Run.

PTCG kicked off our Candy Competition this past week and LOVE seeing kiddos feed the candy monster every day!! We are asking DeKeyser kiddos to bring in bags of candy to donate for our Spooktacular Trunk or Treat event which will be on Friday, October 24th. The classroom that brings in the MOST CANDY wins a PIZZA PARTY! PTCG volunteers will be weighing the candy for each classroom every morning to keep a running record of which classroom is in the lead! We'll be sharing the results on our FB page every couple of days to get the kiddos excited to bring in all the candy possible. Please remember that all the candy will be used at our Spooktacular for families to pass out if they're decorating their trunk or a table during the event. We truly appreciate the candy donations and can't wait to have it all passed out to our kiddos while they TRUNK or TREAT on October 24th! Thank you for your help!

Our Spooktacular Trunk or Treat sign-up is all set and ready to be filled out!! We're looking for families that are willing to decorate their TRUNK or a TABLE to pass out the donated candy on Friday, October 24th from 6:00-7:30pm. You can decorate the trunk of your vehicle for this event, or we'll provide a table for you to decorate if you prefer! PTCG will provide a map to families that sign-up for a trunk or table as the event gets closer. Please remember that you do NOT have to bring any candy. PTCG will use the donated candy from our Halloween Candy Drive for this event!

We're also looking for families that are willing to decorate and paint a pumpkin for our PUMPKIN RAFFLE at Spooktacular!! PTCG will be buying pumpkins to send home with interested families that can transform their pumpkin into something AMAZING! We'll be selling Pumpkin Raffle Tickets at Spooktacular for families to win these incredible pumpkins and take home to put out on the porch for Halloween! We appreciate your help making our Pumpkin Raffle a great success!!

Click here to sign up for decorating a trunk or table for our Spooktacular Trunk or Treat: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B49A8AE2AA1FEC61-58816358-spooktacular#/

Click here to sign up for decorating a pumpkin to raffle off at our Spooktacular Trunk or Treat: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B49A8AE2AA1FEC61-58816325-pumpkin#/

Thanks so much for all you do to make our DeKeyser community such an amazing place to be! Have a super weekend!!

We are asking for your support to help keep our students safe. If you plan to volunteer in our classrooms, work directly with a student and/or chaperone a field trip, etc. you will need to have a volunteer background check on file. The new volunteer application form is located at this link: www.uticak12.org/volunteer. The background check involves multiple state and federal law enforcement databases. We greatly appreciate the involvement of our families and the difference you make at DeKeyser Elementary. Thank you for your partnership with this extra step that will improve safety in our school.

A few reminders:

• Please have all required documentation ready before you begin.
• The application must be completed in one sitting.
• One application can be used for multiple schools
• Once approved, you will be cleared to volunteer in UCS schools

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to the DeKeyser Office: OfficeDeKeyser@uticak12.org or 586-797-4400.

Thank you for supporting our students and school community through volunteering!

Utica Community Schools is pleased to provide an opportunity for School Age Child Care (SACC)!

DeKeyser Options are as follows:

Morning SACC: Monday - Friday 6: 45 am - 9:05 am (Currently registering on a waitlist)

Afternoon SACC: Monday - Friday 3:55 pm – 6:00 pm at Messmore Elementary

Students will be bussed to this location after school.

Please click on the link below for more information and the opportunity to register your child for SACC.

Consider signing up for Utica Community Schools texting service. This is a service for parents who would like information texted directly to them. The texting service provides school news and announcements, district information such as emergency school closing situations, or updates issued from UCS departments, such as transportation. To join this system, please text “Y” to 67587

Utica Community Schools has a new mobile app! Search for 'Utica Schools' in your phone's app store and download the free app to stay up-to-date on district and school news. The old mobile app 'Utica Community Schools' is no longer supported and should be deleted from your devices. Download at the App store here and Google Play here.