Welcome Back message from Principal King

Dear Viewmont Families,

Welcome to the 2023-2024 school year! Our teachers and staff have been hard at work in preparation for our students to arrive on Monday. We are so excited to see our 1st-6th graders back in the building and our Kindergarten students come in for their KEEP testing next week. We can’t wait to see how our Viewmont Eagles ASCEND this year.

Changes To Our Building:

Over the summer the district’s maintenance team has been hard at work making physical changes inside the buildings to help make our schools more secure. With these increased security measures, only students and staff members will be allowed to enter through exterior doors. This means that parents and grown-ups will not be allowed to walk their child(ren) to class unless they come through the front doors, check-in, and receive a visitor’s pass. 

For the first three days of school, all teachers will be outside on the playground to welcome our students and help them know where to line up. When the bell rings we ask that all parents and grown-ups please say their goodbyes and help their child line up in the appropriate place. We will do the same for Kindergarten on their first few days of school as well.

Additional First Day of School Info:

• On the first day of school, there will be picture stations set up thanks to our amazing PTA.

• Students who are eating a school breakfast should wait by the front doors until they are opened for the students at 8:30 to let them into the cafeteria to eat.

• For the 1st three days of school, teachers will be outside at 8:30 am to greet students and families. Beginning on Thursday, 8/24, teachers will meet their students in the same locations when the warning bell rings at 8:40 am.  

Bell Schedule:

MCSD has set its elementary bell schedule so that teachers have dedicated preparation and collaboration time for grade-level teams each morning. As such, the schedule is as follows:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday: 8:40 am – 3:15 pm

Wednesday (early release): 8:40 am – 1:15 pm

Note: For the entire first week of school, we follow a Wednesday early release schedule and students will be dismissed at 1:15 pm each day.

Morning Supervision:

*** Please DO NOT drop students off or have your students arrive at school before 8:30 am. There is no adult supervision prior to 8:30.

Student Drop-off/Pick-up Reminders:

If you are driving your student to school, please drop off quickly and then slowly merge into the pull-through lane.

• The red curb is not a place to park, comb hair, finish eating, etc. Traffic backs up when this happens.

NO students, at any time, should be dropped off or picked up in the pull-through lane. The curb in front of the school is the only place where students can be dropped off and picked up.

• This is a safety issue for everyone and will be monitored carefully.   

 DO NOT, at any time, send students to run across Anderson Avenue. The street is very busy, and children suddenly running out into the road can be hard to see. If you park along Anderson Avenue, an adult must walk all the way across the street with the child(ren).

Please use caution and follow all traffic laws when driving near the school and when in a school zone. As a friendly reminder, do not use your cell phone while in front of the school.

• Please watch for the Stop and Slow signs carried by those in the crosswalk area.

• Please be courteous to the staff and volunteers who help with the crosswalk. They are there to protect the safety of everyone.

If you send your child with a home lunch, please be sure that he/she can open their own food and drink items without assistance. While we have personnel in the cafeteria to help, getting to everyone quickly can be a challenge and students tend to wait and not eat anything until someone comes to assist. Putting straws into Capri Suns and opening fruit snacks and chip bags can be so hard for little hands so if you can practice in advance, we sure appreciate it.

Also, you may want to consider putting your child’s name on his/her lunchbox, so it is easily identified. Many children have the same lunchbox and, at the end of the day, it can be hard to determine whose is whose.

School Meal Prices for SY’ 2023-24:

FREE and REDUCED Student Meals (federally subsidized):

Lunch – $0.00 / •   Lunch – $.40

PAID Student Meals (not federally subsidized):

Lunch – $1.90 / •   Milk – $.50

Your child(ren) may qualify for Free or Reduced Meals. If you think you may qualify, please fill out either the online application (also in Aspire) or by filling out a paper form (available at school and at Back-to-School night on August 23rd).

1. Each school year, EVERYONE must reapply/qualify for free and reduced meal benefits (after July 1). These federal meal benefits do not transfer from year to year.
2. Submit only ONE APPLICATION for your entire household. Do not submit a separate application for each child who attends school.
3. Be careful to include ALL students and members of your household on the application.
4. You must provide your student(s) birth date and/or student identification number to complete the application. Contact your school secretary if you do not have this information.
5. Until the application is approved, the parent/guardian is responsible for all meal charges accrued.

We are so excited for this school year! Thank you for your support and for allowing us to teach your children. Viewmont is a truly special community and an amazing school.

We can’t wait to see everyone on Monday morning!

Kind regards,

Mrs. King