Weekly Events and Important Dates

Red Thursday:  This week is RED Thursday at Richardson as we cheer on the Chiefs for their first home game.  Staff and students are invited to wear their favorite Chiefs shirt or Richardson shirt.

Grade Level T-Shirts:  Grade level t-shirts will be sent home on Friday.  We will take grade level pictures on Friday morning.  These pictures will replace the pictures we have hanging in the front hallway.  *Please note:  Class pictures will be taken on picture day.

PTA Carnival:  We hope you will join us for the PTA carnival this Friday, September 18 from 5:00-8:00 p.m.  PTA is still looking for volunteers.  Please visit the PTA website if you are able to volunteer.  

Important Dates
9/21:  Watch D.O.G.S Kick-off, 6:00 p.m.
9/22:  Books and Breakfast (4th-6th), 7:30 a.m.
9/22:  Culver's Night, 5:00-8:00 p.m.
9/25:  Summer Reading Celebration
9/29:  Fall Picture Day

Procedure change for Elementary YouTube access

Please see below for communication from the district regarding YouTube access for elementary students. A letter containing the same information was sent home with each student last week.

Beginning last week, our school district made a change in elementary schools’ procedures related to access to YouTube, a sharing service that allows users to watch videos posted by other users. During spring 2015, our district eliminated all access to YouTube within elementary schools when Google discontinued YouTube Ed. Since then, we have heard from numerous teachers in our school and elementary schools throughout Lee’s Summit R-7 that the unintended consequences of this decision has been a negative impact on student instruction. YouTube has become a major source of a number of high-quality educational sites for both school and home use. Many YouTube videos had been embedded into our district’s curriculum as recommended resources. When YouTube was eliminated from our elementary classrooms, these important teaching tools were also removed from our teachers’ instructional toolbox.

Based on this significant feedback from our teachers, all Lee’s Summit R-7 elementary schools are allowing restricted YouTube access for elementary staff and students, Thursday, Sept. 10. We wanted to take this opportunity to communicate this change, its rationale and our ongoing emphasis on safety.

• By allowing restricted access to YouTube, our teachers and students will be able to use these important instructional tools that enhance learning and further engage children.
• Without YouTube, students were also unable to use these resources for their school projects and assignments, another detriment to the learning process. These sites included Bookopolis (reading minute recording site), LearnZillion (math site) and Kahn Academy (instructional videos for teachers, parents and students) to name just a few.
• As part of this newly reinstated restricted access, videos with mature content or that have been age-restricted will not appear in video searches, related videos, playlists, shows or films. While no filter is 100-percent accurate, YouTube utilizes community flagging and image detection to help identify and hide inappropriate content as well as objectionable comments.
• In addition to operating under YouTube Safety Mode, we have the additional protection of the district’s overall content filtering and safe search. This restricts Internet access both at school and away from school while using a district Chromebook or any device on the district network. Our district filter restricts inappropriate content and images as well as other search engines if they do not have a way for us to force a safe-search feature.
• This filter also restricts images that are copyright protected so that students will only receive images that are not only restricted through our filter, they are also labeled for commercial, not-for-profit use.
• As always, our teachers are emphasizing supervision of students’ Internet use and will continue comprehensive instruction on digital citizenship.
• If an instance occurs where a child unintentionally accesses inappropriate content via YouTube students have been and are being instructed to adhere to the following steps:
• Close the device.
• Report to a teacher or other appropriate adult immediately.
• Staff will report the site to the Technology Department so it can be investigated via our content filter provider.
• If, however, a child intentionally seeks to access inappropriate content disciplinary measures consistent with Board policy and the Elementary Handbook will be applicable.
• With this restricted access to YouTube as well as our ongoing content filtering and monitoring of students’ online activities, our school district continues to meet the requirements of the Children’s Internet Protection Act as well as our Board of Education Policy EHB (Technology Usage).

Weekly Events and Important Dates

PTA Meeting/Volunteer Training:  Please join us on Tuesday, September 8 at 6:30 for the first PTA meeting of the school year.  As part of the PTA meeting we will be having volunteer training for anyone who is interested in volunteering at Richardson this year.  The meeting will be held in the cafeteria.

Important Dates
9/14:  Volunteer Training, 10:00 a.m.
9/18:  Pictures with our NEW grade level t-shirts
9/18:  PTA Carnival, 5:00-8:00 p.m.
9/21:  Watch D.O.G.S Kick-off, 6:00 p.m.
9/22:  Books and Breakfast (4th-6th), 7:30 a.m.
9/22:  Culver's Night, 5:00-8:00 p.m.
9/25:  Summer Reading Celebration
9/29:  Fall Picture Day

Weekly Events and Important Dates

What a great start to the school year!  It has been fun watching the excitement as students receive their chromebook.  Teachers are being diligent about teaching proper care and use of the chromebook.  There is no doubt that students and teachers love this learning tool!  Thank you for your tremendous support of this initiative!

Sixth Grade Curriculum Night:  Sixth grade will hold curriculum night Monday, August 31 from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the RHE library.

Band Rental Night:  Band rental night will be held at PLMS on Thursday, September 3 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.  Please contact Mr. Gerhardt if you have any questions.

Student MAP Reports:  Individual student MAP scores will be sent home with students in Grades 4-6 on September 3.  We are very proud of our students!  RHE scored above state and district average in all tested areas!

Volunteer Information:  Interested in volunteering at Richardson?  All volunteers must attend one volunteer training before volunteering in the school.  Volunteering training will be held on Sept. 8 (6:30 p.m.), Sept. 14 (10:00 a.m.), and Sept. 21 (Watch DOGS only, 6:00 p.m.).  Once you've attended training your name will be given to teachers.  Teachers will contact volunteers as needed.


Important Dates

9/7:  No School, Labor Day
9/8:  PTA Meeting/Volunteer Training, 6:30 p.m.

Weekly Events and Important Dates

Welcome to the 2015-2016 school year!  

Teacher Assignments: Teacher assignments will be posted on the front doors of the school after 4:00 p.m. on Friday, August 14.  

Meet Your Teacher:  We hope you will join us for Meet Your Teacher on Monday, August 17.  This is a come and go event where you and your student can visit the classroom and meet the teacher. Come by anytime between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m.  Hope to see you there!

Grade Level T-shirts:  Each grade level will have order forms for grade level t-shirts at Meet Your Teacher.  We want every child to have a shirt for field trips, spirit days, and special events.  The cost is only $5.00.  We will take pictures in our new shirts to place in the hallway.  Orders are due by August 27.  Please see your child's teacher if you have questions.  

First Day of School:  We are excited to start the new school year on Wednesday, August 19!  This is not a late start Wednesday.  School will start at 8:20 a.m. and dismiss at 3:20.

PTA Ice Cream Social:  Please join us for the PTA ice cream social on Thursday, August 20 from 6:00-7:00 p.m.

Chromebook Distribution:  All parents must return the Chromebook Parent Agreement and pay the Chromebook insurance fee prior to Chromebooks being sent home with students.  Chromebooks will be sent home with students in Grades 4-6 on August 20 and Grades K-3 on August 26. Please visit the website http://connect2learn.lsr7.org/ to learn more information or find answers to the most frequently asked questions.  

Enrollment Information

Welcome! The 2015-2016 school year is quickly approaching! Below is important information regarding enrollment. All students must enroll and provide proof of residency before being placed on a class list. We look forward to seeing you this week!

Dates and Time:  Wednesday, July 29 from Noon to 7:00 p.m. and Thursday, July 30 from 8:00 a.m. to 4 p.m.  

Location:  RHE Gym (please enter through the 6th grade doors)

• Enrollment forms can be found by clicking on Elementary Enrollment Information on the school website.   http://rhe.lsr7.org/ Please feel free to print and fill out to bring with you.  This will make the enrollment process faster when you come to the school.
• All students need the following forms: Basis for Admission and Student Medical Information Form. New students will also need: Safe Schools Statement (1st-6th grades) and Elementary Student Information Form.
• All parents/guardians must provide proof of residency at enrollment.  Proof of residency can be provided in the form of a gas, water or electric bill dated July or August 2015 (must be 30 days old or less).
• This year we will be collecting a Chromebook insurance fee for each student.  We will accept cash, check or credit card.  Parents/guardians will also be asked to sign the parent/student agreement. For more information about Connect2Learn please visit the Connect2Learn website http://connect2learn.lsr7.org/ This FAQ tab contains answers to the most common questions. There is also a link to the technology handbook.
• PTA will be set up at enrollment to provide opportunities to order spirit wear and join.  There are many opportunities for you to become involved through PTA.  

End of the Year Events and Important Dates

This is the last blog post of the year.  I hope each of you have a safe and fun summer!

Field Day:  Field Day is this Friday, May 15.  We are hoping for a fun day with no rain!  

MAP Scores:  Our district received notification that 2015 MAP scores will not be received before the end of the school year as previously communicated.  A new release date has not been given.  

Lost and Found:  Please have your student(s) look through the lost and found one more time before the end of the school year.  The lost and found items will be cleaned out over the summer.

Enrollment:  Please mark your calendar for enrollment on July 29 (Noon-7:00) and July 30 (8:00-4:00).  

Residency Requirements:  As we plan for the 2015-16 school year, please make note of our school district’s continuing focus on verifying the residency of all R-7 School District students. Residency requirements are designed to make it more difficult for non-resident students to attend our schools at taxpayer expense.

            To help us with this effort, we are asking all parents and guardians to provide proof of residency during enrollment/registration.

Residency can be verified by providing your school’s office with one of the following:

•       A current, original utility bill (only electricity, gas-not propane, water or water statement of account required). For enrollment prior to the beginning of school a billing/statement date of within 30 days of the date the student is attempting to enroll. The bill must be in the resident’s name with no final or disconnect notices accepted. The service address must be included on bill.
•       On-line payment information will be accepted only from the utility company (not a third-party pay service) and include all the information listed above.
•        A rental/lease agreement including dates of agreement and the name, address, phone number and signature of the landlord and tenants/lessee.
•       For more detailed information regarding proof of residency please see Board Administrative Procedure JECA-AP.

For additional information about the R-7 School District’s residency requirements, visit http://www.lsr7.org/parents/enroll/proof-of-residency-within-r-7-school-district-boundaries/. 

2015-2016 Staff:  Richardson is happy to welcome Beth Gasimalla to the teaching team for the 15-16 school year.  Mrs. Gasimalla comes to RHE with 13 years of experience and will be teaching third grade. She will be a great addition to RHE!

We also have a few teachers who will be teaching in different grade levels next year.  Providing there are no unforseen changes, below are the teaching teams for next school year.

Kindergarten:  Mrs. Caby, Mrs. James, Mrs. Root, Mrs. Thompson
First Grade:  Mrs. Elam, Mrs. Mathews, Mrs. Schumacher, Mrs. Tegenkamp
Second Grade:  Mrs. Beard, Mrs. Godfrey, Mrs. Greening, Ms. Walkenhorst
Third Grade:  Mrs. Allison, Mrs. Gasimalla, Mrs. Graybill, Mrs. Kaleikau
Fourth Grade:  Mrs. Blackshere, Mrs. Boenker, Mrs. Pannell, Mrs. Smith
Fifth Grade:  Mrs. Bernard, Mrs. Coalter, Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Morehead
Sixth Grade:  Ms. Lair, Mr. Mix, Ms. Rasmussen, Mr. Vinck

Important Dates
5/18  DARE Graduation, 1:00 p.m.
5/19  Choir Tour
5/19  Choir Concert, 6:30 p.m.
5/22  Talent Show
5/27  Last Day of School,  Not a late start, Early Dismissal (12:50)