HH 9/23/2022

September 23, 2022   *   Edition 4

Important Dates

 

september

26 - 30 Homecoming Spirit Week
26 - 30 School Custodian & Maintenance Staff Week
27 Dine to Donate - Big Lug on the Prairie
29 General PTO Meeting - 6:30pm

OCTOBER

5 Late Start
7 

Hawks Herald
11 Dine to Donate - Chipotle on 146th Street
12 Walk to School Day
13 - 14 Fall Break - No School
17 National Boss / Admin / Managerial Staff Day
17 - 21 National School Bus Safety Week
18 Picture Retakes
19 Late Start
21 Hawks Herald
22 CEF Ghosts & Goblins Run 
24 - 28 Red Ribbon Week
28 Fall Class Parties
28 5th Grade Event - Headless Horseman

All PTE parents are invited to the
General PTO Meeting

Date: Thursday, September 29, 2022
Time: 6:30 pm
Place: PTE Cafeteria
Topics: The PTO will give an overview of their organization. Mrs. Piper and Officer Harris will be speaking about safety measures in place at PTE as well as Carmel Clay Schools. 

 

Dear Incredible PTE families!  

I’m writing this letter after an awesome day at Prairie Trace! Our students did an amazing job during the fun run today. We laughed, smiled, sang, danced, and ran around the track during the Race to Prairie Trace. Thank you so much for all of your support and engagement in the process. I want to thank Laila Limor, the PTO representative for the Race to Prairie Trace, for all of her hard work and coordination. The fundraiser and day were both so smooth. We met our goal of $40,000, and Mr. Reid and I can’t wait to have pies in our faces and become human sundaes! It’s going to be a few sticky days at PTE! 

We have a fun week coming up next week leading to Carmel High School’s Homecoming game on Friday.  Please take a look at our spirit days and participate when you can:

  • Monday:  Jersey Day (wear your favorite team’s gear)

  • Tuesday:  Tie Dye Day 

  • Wednesday:  Wild About PTE!  (wear animal print or something with an animal on it)

  • Thursday: PTE Spirit Day

  • Friday:  Carmel Spirit Day (wear blue and gold)

We will have our first evening PTO meeting on Sept. 29th at 6:30pm in the cafeteria. The PTO will give an overview of their organization. Then Officer Harris and I will be speaking about safety measures in place at PTE as well as Carmel Clay Schools.  Please join us if you can! 

We are so excited to have parent teacher conferences back on the calendar.   Please look for information coming out from teachers in the near future about times for their conferences.  If you have multiple children at PTE, we will do our best to try to schedule your conferences back to back.  We look forward to sharing our beginning of the year data and observations about your children at this time.  

Again, I thank you for a great start to the school year.  I could not ask for a better school community to work with each day, and this includes our teachers, students, classified staff, and YOU!  Thanks for all you do to help PTE be a wonderful place for our students!

Sincerely, 

Kim Piper 
Principal 

Dear Parents and Families: 


As you all have probably noticed by now, our office procedures have changed and our security measures have tightened since last year.  I have seen and heard some of the frustration from parents and family members who desire easier accessibility to their students and a more welcoming, open-door, homelike feel from our school.  While I certainly understand that sentiment, I wanted to provide the reasoning behind the change in procedures.
 
If you are anywhere close to my age, you probably remember how easy it was to get into your elementary or high school, even when you weren’t supposed to be there.  Doors were left unlocked for ease of access to both students and teachers, ID cards that open doors were in the distant future, and almost anyone could come into the building for almost any reason, including visiting a student or a teacher.
 
Unfortunately, the world in which we grew up no longer exists.  Now, it is far too risky to think, “It can’t happen here,” or “Our community is safe, so we don’t need to worry.”  While Carmel is an extremely safe community, a point of pride for our citizens and police department alike, we cannot be naïve in our thoughts on safety.  In fact, I believe our community is so safe because we have citizens, schools, and businesses that are constantly thinking, “What will I do if/when it happens here?”
 
The acts of violence in our country over the past 25 years are not limited to schools alone.  We have had to change the way we do business in grocery stores, places of employment, churches, temples, mosques, parks, malls, and movie theatres. 
 
The most recent act of school violence at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX reinforced why the procedures used by Carmel Clay Schools are in place.  One eye-opening fact learned from that tragedy was that Robb Elementary School had many of the same safety polices as Carmel Clay School, but they weren’t being followed.
 
Our staff has been trained thoroughly on keeping your students safe.  It is a heavy responsibility that everyone in Carmel Clay Schools takes extremely seriously.  Our police department, and our school resource unit in particular, have trained extensively to ensure we have the proper response to any emergency incident or situation.
 
It seems this world is changing faster than we can adapt.  As we adjust our policies to keep your students safe, please have patience with our staff.  The front office staff has the particularly critical role of gate keeper to our school, the first line of defense.  They are trained to ask who you are, the purpose for your visit, and judge your demeanor before ever giving you access to the front office.  This is no easy task and requires concentration and focus.  When you ring the bell, it may take a minute before our administrative assistants can devote their full attention to answering your call and making their assessment.
 
Ultimately, our staff is devoted to preventing a tragedy like the shooting in Uvalde from ever happening here.  That may mean that you encounter a more inquisitive staff member who is trained to put safety ahead of politeness.  While we know we can trust the vast majority of you, we no longer have the luxury of assuming anything.  This is how we are showing our love for our students and our community. 
 
If you haven’t yet seen our informational video outlining our front office procedures, please check it out here: https://youtu.be/-wi2cnsRWGU.
 
I wish you all a happy, healthy, and safe school year.
 
Respectfully,
Officer Harris

get your costumes ready!

The Ghost & Goblins fun family event takes place Saturday, Oct. 22nd at 9:00AM at Carmel High School. 

Prairie Trace has decided as a school to have students wear their grade level t-shirts and families can dress up in the same colors as their kids. This event is presented by the Carmel Education Foundation, which provides scholarships and education grants to students and teachers throughout our district. See you there!

Register at GhostsAndGoblinsRun.com 

CAFETERIA VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

 

 

We need parents just like you to help us in the cafeteria during lunch time.  As a cafeteria helper, you will help the children find a seat, open their lunch items, get all the extras (think parmesan cheese, ketchup, napkins, and utensils!), and maintain PTE lunch room standards!  ...all while getting to socialize with your kiddos and their friends. (We all love seeing your FB and Instagram selfies!)
This is a way to help out in the school, get to know all of your child's classmates, and interact with the staff at PTE.  

YES, I WANT TO HELP!

 

ESE Late Start Image

Free ESE Late Start Before School Program

Late start school days happen 1-2 Wednesdays each month. On late start days, ESE offers a free before school program for all CCS elementary school students. To participate in this program, pre-registration is required.

The ESE late start before school program is offered from 7-8:20 a.m. and school breakfast is provided. The next ESE late start before school program is scheduled for Wednesday, September 21..

Registration just takes a few minutes and is free. For your child to participate in the ESE late start before school program, they must be enrolled in our EZChildTrack system prior to the beginning of the late start program day. We strongly discourage enrolling your child day-of and may not be able to accept the child into the program.

Register here!

school dismissal manager - don't forget! 

Now that afterschool clubs are starting, please remember to change your child's default dismissal by 1:15pm each day in School Dismissal Manager by submitting an exception. This is extremely important for your child to get to where they need to go at the end of the day.

log into school dismissal manager

First page of the PDF file: ChipotleD2DOct2022

PTE Walk to School Day - Wednesday, October 12th

Walk to School Day logo

The idea behind Walk to School Day is to promote health, safety and physical activity with families and friends in the school community.

We believe that International Walk to School Day will help bring the Carmel community together to help make walking a safe and enjoyable part of everyone's lives. So, get those shoes ready for walking!

Hope to see a great turn out! Meet by the back parking area for a snack and water. Look for the Prairie Trace banners!!

be an exam proctor

Carmel High School has paid positions for test proctors at various times of the year. We are a host site for the ACT and SAT tests a number of times throughout the school year. In addition, every year in May, we administer around 4000+ Advanced Placement exams.  The large volume of tests requires many proctors to keep the process moving smoothly.
 
We will be hiring proctors throughout the year to prepare for these exams. Specifically, for the first 3 weeks in May when Advanced Placement testing is administered. The hiring process is simple. A brief application needs to be completed and a full background check is performed. The employment background check is more extensive than a regular volunteer background check but lasts for 5 years. Once it is on file with CCS you can use it to proctor, substitute teach or apply for employment with the school district. It makes the application process much easier and quicker. There is an initial fee of $24.90.
 
The proctor jobs are very flexible. We assign positions based on the availability you provide to us. You can work as much or as little as you like. We provide paid training and a parking pass. The current pay rate is $14.80.


If you are interested, please contact Tricia McGuire at tmcguire@ccs.k12.in.us.

are you missing something??

Please remind your children to check the lost and found for any of their belongings. It's getting full and we haven't even started losing hats and gloves yet!

First page of the PDF file: APznzabFx8zViyfu_KRp_JEwMM5iybAlVDdqply8Z-H5R9HwltFdDJ9iBfWGfYnSE7I-Tii991QqvzzxHqP6i7pPqZVF9_PR7