Southeast Star

School Hours

Office Hours: 8a-5p

School Hours: 9:10a-4:10p

Arrival/Breakfast: 8:50-9:10a

**Please do not drop off students before 8:50a. Students eating breakfast should report to the cafeteria between 8:50-9:10a.

Dismissal: 4:10p

**We will begin helping students make it to their dismissal locations at 3:55p.

Contact Information

Address: 5704 NW Northwood Road, Kansas City, MO 64151

School Phone: 816-359-4360

Technology Support: 816-359-5000

Principal: Jason Pope Assistant Principal: Lynsey Peck

Counselor: Mandy Frayer Social Worker: Sidney Thomas

Office Staff: Dianna Kernel and Jordan Meals

Nurse: Cassie Grantham

Dear Southeast Families,

We are so excited that August is here, knowing that we will have students back in the building in a few weeks. We hope you all have been able to enjoy some family time this summer. The first day of the new school year, Monday, August 19th, is quickly approaching!

For those new to Southeast, we wanted to take a moment to introduce ourselves. Jason Pope is the proud principal of Southeast. The 2024-2025 school year marks his 25th year in education. Prior to becoming a principal, the majority of his teaching experience was as a music teacher. He has served as the assistant principal/principal at Oak Grove Elementary School, Robeson Elementary, High Road School of Bloomington, and Bottonfield Elementary in Illinois, for 10 years prior to transitioning to the Park Hill School District. This upcoming year will be his 15th year as an administrator and his fourth year as the principal at Southeast.

This will be Lynsey Peck's first year as Southeast's assistant principal. The 2024-25 school year will mark her 20th year in education. Prior to becoming the assistant principal at Southeast, Lynsey was a 2nd grade teacher at Union Chapel Elementary for 2 years and a 5th grade teacher at Tiffany Ridge Elementary for one year. Both Park Hill Elementary Schools. She has also taught kindergarten, second, third, and fifth grade in other neighboring school districts and Texas.

If you need anything before school starts or during the school year, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We are looking forward to seeing you at Back-to-School Night on Thursday, August 15th from 5:30-7p!

On behalf of the entire Southeast staff, we look forward to working with your child this school year!

Wishing you well,

Dr. Pope & Mrs. Peck

August 12th: Class Placement Information Published to Families with Completed Residency & Enrollment Process, after 4p

August 13th: Kindergarten Family Orientation, 5:30-6:30p

August 15th: Back to School Night, 5:30-7p

August 19th: First Day of School!

September 2nd: Labor Day, No School

September 5th: 1st-5th Grade Family Orientation, VIRTUAL

• Staff will record videos for families to view regarding practices and expectations for the school year. We hope this will be a convenient way for you to learn more about what is going on in your child's classroom and prepare for a successful year ahead!

September 9th: PTA Meeting @6:30p in SE Library

If your family has completed the annual residency verification process, you will receive class placement information on August 12th after 4p.

All Park Hill families are required to complete the online residency verification process and submit relevant immunization records before student enrollment is finalized and a class placement is made. We are unable to officially send classroom placement information to households who have not verified residency or submitted their immunization information.

If you are unsure if you have completed this process, please call the school office at 816-359-4360 to verify your child's enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year is complete. All Park Hill families must provide a copy of your lease or mortgage statement and one utility bill. Additionally, please ensure your child's immunizations are up to date with our school nurse. Students will not be permitted to begin the 2024-2025 school year without having this verification of residency and updated immunizations.

Families with kindergateners are invited to attend Kindergarten Family Orientation on Tuesday, August 13th from 5:30-6:30p.

Our 1st-5th grade families will gain access to videos as our Parent Orientation event on Thursday September 5th. We will share more details about this event soon.

Families with kindergarteners are encouraged to attend both Kindergarten Family Orientation (August 13th) and Back to School Night (August 15th). Kindergarten Family Orientation is meant to be for parents/guardians (not kids) while Back to School Night is an opportunity for you and your child to meet their teacher and drop off school supplies. If you are unable to make it to one or the other, you can reach out to your child’s teacher to get some guidance about what to do.

All families are invited to attend Back to School Night on Thursday, August 15th from 5:30-7p.

Back to School Night will return to our previous model - an open house! Families are invited to join us at a time that is convenient for them between 5:30-7p. When you visit, you will see your child's teacher and drop off school supplies. Consider coming mid-way through the evening to avoid large crowds at 5:30p.

All families should also plan to stop by the cafeteria to visit several tables with information about things such as: family resources with from our social worker, PTA, volunteer screening, and breakfast/lunch services!

We look forward to welcoming you and your family to our school that evening, and we expect lots of people! There will be signs directing overflow parking to our school playground. As always, please be attentive in our parking lot to ensure safety.

If you haven't completed your residency verification and enrollment, please do so as soon as possible. Log into your parent portal to verify your students and upload your residency documents. This also enrolls for your child for next school year! Click HERE for more details or call the Southeast Office if you need assistance.

Please join us in welcoming new staff for the 2024-2025 school year!

• Gisselle Ulloa-Rios (3rd Grade)
• Abbygail Brewster (4th Grade)
• Heather Fritts (Instructional Coach)
• Skylar Wood (Resource Teacher)
• Mallory Lukasik (Occupational Therapist)

• Iris Eltinnay (TA)

• Haley Shafe (Nutrition Services)

• Josh Benigar (Recess Supervisor)

• Lynsey Peck (Assistant Principal)

Dismissal will occur at 4:10p. We will begin helping students make it to their dismissal locations at 3:55p. Please refer to the map below for how we utilize our parking lot for car riders and for bus riders.

Prior to the first day of school, please be sure that you communicate with your child’s teacher the details of your child’s mode of dismissal transportation.

• Bus Rider: Please confirm your child's bus number with his/her teacher.
• Car rider: All families with car rider students will receive a car rider placard to place in the front car window to help staff assisting with student pick-up. All cars leaving the parking lot during arrival and dismissal MUST turn right when leaving the parking lot. This is posted at our entryway. Please see the arrival & dismissal map below that was created for us by a parent who is a police officer.
• Walkers- Please confirm with your child's teacher that they will be a daily walker and indicate if they will be walking across the crosswalk at Northwood/Strathbury or from behind the school (students will enter through the front doors and exit through the gym if they are a 'back-door-walker'). Teachers will share this information with our staff who will support walkers during dismissal.
• Adventure Club-If your student has a dismissal change and attends Adventure Club, please call Danielle Reeder (reeders@parkhill.k12.mo.us).

Bus information will be in the Parent Portal on August 15th for students who are assigned a bus prior to August 5th. Our recommendation is for you to contact First Student if you have any concerns regarding your child’s stop. First Student can be reached at 816-359-4560 or contact Kay Burnos at kay.burnos@firstgroup.com

With the changes in Park Hill School District transportation where students who are within a .5 mile radius to the school will not receive bus transportation, we are anticipating more students walking to school. With this, we wanted to share the map below to highlight the crosswalk that is located at N. Strathbury Avenue and Northwood. We anticipate the city making changes to help make this crosswalk more highly visible to the traffic on Northwood. We are asking that all students who need to cross Northwood for arrival and dismissal use this crosswalk to do so.

Please refer to the map below!!

If your student is going to have different transportation, a note or phone call from the parent must accompany the request. Please contact the office prior to 2:30p to request a change in transportation. Bus changes will only be issued for changes in daycare or for the safety of the student. If an alternative person is checking out your student, the person must have their ID scanned.

If you are picking your child up prior to the end of the school day, please arrive in the office prior to 3:30p. Parents who arrive after 3:30p, will need to join the car rider line or wait until dismissal begins for their child to be called out of class. If your child is a bus rider, it is especially imperative that we plan for any transportation changes prior to dismissal. Buses leave once they are loaded.

Please make sure the Southeast office has up-to-date contact information, throughout the school year. In addition to parents/guardians, we should always have at least two current emergency contacts on file.

Backpacks: This makes it easier for students to bring essential supplies to and from school.

Water Bottle: We are asking students and staff members to please come to school and work with a water bottle, if possible. We discourage any beverage in the classroom besides water. Gatorade, soda, energy drinks, coffee drinks, etc. cause more work when spilled for our custodial staff.

Badge & Lanyard: Like years past, students will be issued a student ID badge. The ID badge supports our safe and caring environment by providing proper identification and improved processes for lunch, media checkout, bus transportation, and more. Your child should wear his/her ID badge to and from school each day on a school provided lanyard. Your child's badge will be provided by the school and one replacement badge will also be provided (in case of a lost badge). After the first free replacement badge, a $5 fee will be charged for each additional badge.

Charged Device: K-1st students will be provided a district iPad. Students in 2nd-5th grades will be provided a district laptop. It is the responsibility of the student to charge their device at home and bring it back to school each day.

AVID Planner. Classroom teachers will be distributing AVID planners to students during the first week of school. Students will reflect on their learning each day and record notes. Families can support our work by reviewing entries with children at home and signing the planner. It can be a great communication tool for staff and families. Please reach out to your child's classroom teacher with any questions!

We understand the desire to send students to school with cell phones and smart watches. Please see the important passage from our Park Hill Parent-Student Handbook below regarding their use during the school day (p.25):

All other electronic devices, such as but not limited to cell phones, tablets, e-readers, watches, headphones, air pods, and iPods/MP3 players, may be in the student’s possession but not used during active instructional time or when the use of such devices is disruptive to the educational environment or in violation of building site guidelines. The school district will not be responsible for lost or stolen items.

Students will be asked to turn off these devices and stow them in their backpacks upon entry to the school and through the school day. Thank you for your support with maintaining our educational environment.

Attendance is one of the most important factors in academic achievement and we would like your help regarding attendance and punctuality. When students arrive late or leave early consistently, they miss important instructional time. Missouri guidelines require 90% of our students to be in attendance 90% of the time. To help meet this goal, Park Hill has established expectations for attendance and letters will be sent to families if the following attendance percentages are not met.

Level 1: Attendance rate of 90%

Level 2: Attendance rate between 85% and 90%

Level 3: Attendance rate is below 80%

Mrs. Frayer (Counselor) and Ms. Thomas (Social Worker), will be working with students and families to make sure we meet the 90/90 goal at Southeast. Please help us by making being at school a priority for your family.

If your child does have to absent, please use the Infinite Campus Parent Portal to document the absence or call the school office (816-359-4360) to report the student's absence. If the school does not receive a call when a student is absent, we will attempt to contact you to check on the student.

Breakfast and lunch are served daily. This year the price for breakfast is $1.75 and lunch is $2.95. The cafeteria will be open for breakfast from 8:50-9:10a. Please refer to the monthly menu for specific meal selections. August menus will be available on the Park Hill School District Nutrition Services Website.

Park Hill offers automated prepayments to a child’s meal account via telephone or internet. Money can be applied to a child’s food service account so children will not need to carry cash to school. If you do not have your child’s meal pay number, please contact the office. Adults using this system may also view a child’s purchases, account activity and set up e-mail notifications for low account balances. Please note: A $2 service fee is charged per transaction regardless of the amount being added to the account. However, money can be applied to multiple student accounts for a single transaction fee. If that is not your preference, payment envelopes are available for students to pick-up in the cafeteria. Parents who would like to set up a School Café Account can go to www.schoolcafe.com. You must have your student’s school, ID number, and birth date to establish a School Café account.

An application of free/reduced meal pricing is available in the school office or on this Free & Reduced Application Page. We encourage everyone to complete an application to determine if they may qualify.

This is typically advertised as Free and Reduced Lunch, but there are many more benefits beyond lunch.

Families who qualify for Free and Reduced Benefits have access to:

• Free/Reduced Price Lunch
• FREE insurance for student device
• FREE WiFi Hotspot from Park Hill School District
• Free/Reduced application costs for college applications
• Free/Reduced Cost access to PTA Events
• …and more!

Visitors: Visitors are welcome at Southeast! Visits should be prearranged with the appropriate Southeast staff member at least one day in advance of the visit. All visitors must check in at the office, identify the purpose of the visit, and will receive an ID sticker to wear during the visit.

Volunteers: We welcome all volunteers into our schools and classrooms, with prior arrangements made with Southeast staff. All volunteers who work with our students need to complete background screening by Park Hill. Forms for the screening are available here. Volunteers must check in at the office and wear an ID sticker.

Early Student Check-Out: Anytime a student is checked-out, the adult checking the student out must present appropriate ID.

Field Trip Volunteering:

• Any volunteer who will be alone with students must have a full screening, which includes a criminal background check, a check of the child abuse and neglect registry, and a check of the sexual offender registry. Volunteers must complete the paperwork found here. Please submit all paperwork to Park Hill School District Central Office.

• Any volunteer that plans to attend a field trip with students must have a full screening completed which includes the above information.
• If you completed a background check with Park Hill before March 2020, you must do it again, because the earlier screening process did not include the criminal background check.
• If you completed the full screening last year, you will NOT need to do it again.
• All volunteers must read and agree to the rules in our policy and procedure, and each volunteer will sign in and reaffirm the rules each time they arrive at a school to volunteer.
• The district will receive updates if a volunteer’s screening status changes. Someone’s volunteer status can change at any time.

• The district must pay a fee of $42.75 for each background check, as required by the state. If you would like to donate to help defray this expense, please enclose a check made out to the Park Hill School District for this amount with your screening form. This donation is not required.

The screening process can take up to two weeks or longer, depending on the time of year. Please be aware of this when submitting your application in anticipation of volunteering for specific events.

Club Flyer - Printed flyers will be distributed by Friday, August 23rd.

Application Process— Club sign-ups will be online, but paper sign-ups will be available too! Check your email for a google club form sign-up (coming Tuesday, August 27th at 10 am). Students may sign-up for only one club online. Students will be able to number their top 3 clubs in case their first or second choice fill up. 5th grade Choir, 4th & 5th grade Mathletics, and 4th & 5th grade Battle of the Books will not be considered a club since they are district wide. Students who are in these grades may sign-up for these and one club.They have until Friday, August 30th @ 10am, when the google form closes. If you are unable to sign-up online or need support in filling out a paper copy please contact Mrs. Peck by email (peckl@parkhill.k12.mo.us) or phone (816-359-5737).

Club Start Dates—Club sponsors will begin communicating with families beginning the week of September 2. In order to participate in a club, families will need to submit permission slips prior to the first day of the club starting.

Parents can purchase additional insurance protection for accidents that may occur during school classes and while students are away from school, at home, during weekends and vacation periods, including the summer months. For information regarding this optional coverage, visit www.kidguardinsurance.com for additional benefit and on-line enrollment information.

The PTA of the Park Hill School District runs a clothing center that provides free, gently used clothing and new socks and underwear to district students.

The PTA Clothing Center serves all Park Hill School District students from Kindergarten through 12th grade, and the PTA asks you to bring some proof that you are enrolled in a Park Hill school. This could be a student ID, bus pass, dated letter from a principal or social worker, class schedule or enrollment form.

Donations are welcome at the Clothing Center. Please make sure your donations are clean, in good condition and bagged in kitchen-sized bags that the volunteers can lift.

2024-2025 Park Hill PTA Clothing Center Shopping Dates

• August 20th: 10am-12pm and 5pm-7pm
• September 3rd and 17th: 10am-12pm and 5pm-7pm
• October 1st and 15th: 10am-12pm and 5pm-7pm
• November 5th and 19th: 10am-12pm and 5pm-7pm
• December 3rd and 17th: 10am-12pm and 5pm-7pm
• January 7th and 21st: 10am-12pm and 5pm-7pm
• February 4th and 18th: 10am-12pm and 5pm-7pm
• March 4th and 18th: 10am-12pm and 5pm-7pm
• April 1st and 15th: 10am-12pm and 5pm-7pm
• May 6th: 4pm-6pm

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Missouri Department of Mental Health, there is tremendous need for 988 services in Missouri.

988 is the three-digit number to call (multiple languages), text or chat (English only) that connects people to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, where compassionate, accessible care and support are available for anyone experiencing mental health–related distress. The chat feature is available through the Lifeline’s website. People can use 988 if they are having thoughts of suicide, mental health or substance use crises, or any other kind of emotional distress. People can also dial 988 if they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support.

Have you joined PTA? Look for an opportunity to join at Back to School Night on August 15th.

Do you shop on Amazon? Use Amazon Smile to benefit Southeast PTA on every order!

2024-2025 PTA Board and Positions

President - Erin Rau

Recording Secretary - Jessica Patterson

VP Communication - Lauren Ragland

Dine Out Night Coordinator – Julie Sola and Shelby Yearout

VP of Membership: Jessi Corriston and Ashley Vlach

Treasurer - Gina James

Classroom Events Coordinator – Cara Barnett

Family Events Coordinator - Jamie Karr and Laura Smith

Staff Appreciation Coordinator - Stacy Mudd and Kenzie Peace

We are committed to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) work in Park Hill. Please use the link below to let us know when you have a comment about DEIB in Park Hill. We will keep this link within the helpful links section of this newsletter throughout the school year for your easy-access.

Park Hill Perspectives

Our employees are the reason we are so successful here in the Park Hill School District, and we would like to recognize them for all they do for our students. That is why we present the Park Hill Star award once a month to a pre-K or elementary teacher, a secondary teacher, and a support employee. Nominations from families are so meaningful to our staff!

We will keep this link within the helpful links section of this newsletter throughout the school year for your easy-access.

Park Hill Star Award Nomination Form

2024-2025 Park Hill School District Calendar

Email, Text, and Social Media for PHSD

Menus for Breakfast/Lunch

Parent Student Handbook

Park Hill Perspectives

Park Hill Star Nomination

School Cafe

You will find several ways to stay up to date on school activities on the Southeast website , Facebook, and newsletters from your child’s teacher. You will also occasionally get an automated email or voicemail message sent to you, by the school, with important information and reminders. We know two-way communication is best, so please feel free to call or email with any questions you may have regarding your child’s education.

Dr. Jason Pope

Principal

PopeJ@parkhill.k12.mo.us

(816)359-6707

Mrs. Lynsey Peck

Assistant Principal

PeckL@parkhill.k12.mo.us

(816)359-5737

Website: https://southeast.parkhill.k12.mo.us/
Location: 5704 Northwest Northwood Road, Kansas City, MO, USA
Phone: (816)359-4360
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Southeast-Elementary-School-Park-Hill-School-District-390510981515939/