Hello Chapman Families,
I want to start with a special thanks to all of the parents for providing a meal for us to enjoy during conferences. We had a chance to enjoy a variety of options from families’ favorite dishes. We have been hearing from teachers that conferences were a success. We know how important it is for you all to hear about your child’s learning and the progress they are making. From our side, it is always an exciting opportunity to connect with families.
We have a few reminders/announcements for you all in this edition.
First, we are working on improving our overall school attendance and reducing tardiness. Did you know that students with good attendance are 4 times more likely to graduate high school than those who are chronically absent? When children miss more than 2 days a month, or 17 days a year they are considered chronically absent. Missing more than 10% of the school year can make it harder to learn to read.
As a school, we are currently at 92%. This falls in the ‘Acceptable’ attendance category, in order to reach a ‘Good’ level of attendance we have to be above 95%. As you can gather, parents are key in achieving this goal. In regards to Tardiness, our office staff are having to write more than 40 tardy slips a day, this is too many. Please remember that the learning starts at 8am, which means students should be in line ready to come into the building by 7:55, teachers are out receiving their students a few minutes before. If you would like to come or drop off even earlier we have support staff out by 7:45. If you received an attendance report card from your teacher and are having trouble dropping off on time or your student is feeling anxious to come, please reach out to us in the office or our counselors for support. Mr. Hall (dhall2@pps.net) and Ms. Oztan Schemel (hoztanschemel@pps.net).
Continuing with the fun, the Attendance Bearded Dragon stuffy has visited the classes with best attendance. In the last 10 days, the class with the best attendance was Ms. Munoz with 90% of her students with ‘Good’ attendance. They will get to keep the stuffy for the next two weeks. Good job getting to school every day and on time!
We are also announcing that our next in-person Round-up is on Friday 12/9. Our wonderful music teacher, Mr. Clark has led the 4th and 5th grade student choir for many years and this year they are ready for their first performance. It is inspiring to see and hear all the ways in which students are participating in the creation of a fun, safe and welcoming school culture for all. We are hoping to have an in-person Round-up once a month.
One more, a few of our great teacher leaders have been planning and in some cases started their different affinity groups at Chapman. Examples of these are the American Indian / Alaska Native Club, Black Student Union, Gay and Straight Alliance and Hispanic / Latinx Affinity Group.
There are only a couple of weeks left until we go on Winter Break. Let’s make sure we finish 2022 on a strong note and in celebration of all the hard work everyone in your family has put in. We hope you enjoy some time with family and friends.
